LION'S HEART WELLNESS - DR. KIM PEIRANO, DACM, LAC
  • Home
  • About
    • Media and Publications
  • HEALING OFFERINGS
    • Intuitive Chinese Medicine
    • Transformational Spiritual Life Coaching
    • Energy Medicine & Esoteric Acupuncture
    • Cosmetic Acupuncture >
      • Integrative Cosmetic Acupuncture Education
    • Rates
  • EDUCATION
    • Meditations
    • Courses & Webinars
    • Continuing Education
  • REQUEST APPOINTMENT & CONTACT
  • Blog
  • Shop

True Healing: Finding Purpose in Pain

1/17/2020

0 Comments

 
Published in Acupuncture Today February 2020 Vol 21, Issue 2
What do we think of when we hear the word ‘healing’? For many, the first conclusion is that healing means to get better, or to heal from a disease.  But what if this belief and concept about healing isn’t the whole picture? If healing doesn’t just mean to get better, then what does it mean? And how can this help us help our patients?

Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines healing as:
heal - transitive verb
1a:  to make free from injury or disease : to make sound or whole // heal a wound
B:  to make well again : to restore to health // heal the sick
2a:  to cause (an undesirable condition) to be overcome // MEND the troubles … had not been forgotten, but they had been healed — William Power
b: to patch up or correct (a breach or division) // heal a breach between friends
3: to restore to original purity or integrity // healed of sin

Our approach in healthcare focuses on the first 3-4 aspects of this definition - to heal a wound, the sick or overcome an undesirable situation.  While it is important to help our patients find recovery from the ailments that bring them into our office, in some cases, this isn’t always possible.  Chronic disease, terminal illness or life situations that are permanent are not so simply overcome in the sense that we can erase them from reality entirely.  It’s in this case where we have to focus on the last definition of the world healing - to restore to original purity or integrity. And while the sample of being ‘healed of sin’ takes on a different tone, what I believe this definition to point to is simply: to return to our original intention. 
Picture
The intention of most beings on this planet is to learn, and one of the best routes we have to accomplish this is through pain - pain forces us to pay attention and address something we may have been ignoring, most simply put: we experience pain because it is important.  We tend to lose sight of the opportunity to learn when we’re dealing with a problem that is solvable - a broken bone will mend, a cold will run its course, but what do we lose when the focus is only on getting over it, rather than learning through it? Finding the purpose in the pain is what instigates the path of true healing, where healing can be experienced on every level of being - the body, mind, emotional body and spirit and when this happens a new level of awareness is reached, along with a new level of peace with where we are at.  This type of healing is what is essential for improved quality of life outcomes, where we may not be able to get a pain level to change, but they are able to find an improved outlook, less anxiety, better sleep and ultimately have a better relationship with their pain, rather than looking at it as something that is ‘bad’ and needs to be eradicated. Shifting the perspective on healing in this way allows our patients to find purpose in any pain, or discourse in life and results in an improved ability to handle stress, and find purpose in the World free from suffering.    
Pain is inevitable, but our resistance to our pain is what causes suffering. We may take on the mindset that we even hate our pain, or resist our emotions and hold them back, and while this may be temporarily motivating - to find the solution, it’s actually reinforcing the need for the pain in the first place. If we aren’t listening to the pain, we aren’t learning the lesson in it.  It comes down to looking into our pain straight on, facing that darkness we would rather ignore or resolve without awareness, to be able to truly heal and find purpose. Walking that path is rarely straightforward, and is never instantaneous, finding that purpose is a practice in awareness which takes time to build on, and at first begins with reflection on the past.  
Helping our patients with this reframing of pain comes in many different sizes and flavors, and it’s important for us to use our intuition when counseling a patient to tune into how to approach their complaint in order to find a path which works for that particular individual. 
Picture

Taking a Step into Awareness

We can’t heal what we aren’t aware of, just like we can’t fix our finances without looking at our bank account.  Cultivating this awareness takes patience and a strong willingness to break free from the common patterns of how we approach healing.  It's ultimately about learning how to stop lying to ourselves, which is commonplace for practically everyone, we lie, omit or downplay our true feelings, and most often our intuition.  From a space of compassion with an open heart we are able to help our patients start to access this truth within them, where we can see how they might be downplaying something that’s true for them, with gentle coaching we can help them acknowledge it and own their truth in the process.  Helping them to begin to pay attention to true feelings, thoughts or desires is a significant step in this process of awareness. Getting to the root of what’s truly going on is essential to help them move through it. Most importantly we must also model this awareness for our patients, by making that commitment to catch our own lies to ourselves, we can not only help coach a patient but also be a model for them to witness in the process.  ​

Accepting Reality

One of the first steps in true healing is acceptance.  In an extension of lying to ourselves, it’s also easy to ignore, or paint a different picture of what our reality actually is, how we are feeling or our reactions to it.  By accepting reality, thoughts, feelings, pain and all, we have the opportunity to learn through it, transcend it and begin to find peace with a different perspective. Helping our patients come down from the perceived fantasy about a situation or illness is essential to help move through it, while miracles do happen; ignoring a real problem or wishing it away doesn’t promote ownership of one’s own opportunity for healing and growth, and ignores a vital step in the healing process.  We have to own our healing process to fully participate in it, no matter how much we don’t want it to be true. It’s this step in actually facing the problem that gives us the chance to address it.  
Picture

Holding Compassion

As a practitioner and a patient, compassion is one of the most useful tools we have, it allows us to simply allow what is, and when we do this we stop resisting and start letting in.  Compassion isn’t just being nice or warm hearted, compassion is holding your space while allowing another to have their reality. It’s not about changing anything, it’s about staying true to you, while letting others have their own experience.  When we turn this practice inward it’s about staying present in the face of something that causes pain or that we dislike. By not giving up ourselves or our space to a problem, we are able to be fully present with it and effective in addressing it. 
​

Finding purpose in pain is not an easy process, but it is a rewarding one.  It will leave patients feeling empowered as opposed to victimized by their diseases and problems, and is a catalyst for instigating the process of true, multi-dimensional healing of all aspects of being. 
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Dr. Kim Peirano, DACM, LAc is the Owner and Acupuncturist at Lion's Heart Wellness, the San Francisco Bay Area and Marin's #1 Cosmetic Acupuncturist and #1 Holistic Healer.

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    May 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All
    Acne
    Acupressure
    Acupucnture For Acne
    Acupuncture
    Acupuncture Class
    Acupuncture Facelift
    Acupuncture For Athletes
    Acupuncture For Bell's Palsy
    Acupuncture For Kids
    Acupuncture For Pain
    Acupuncture For Teens
    Acupuncture Today
    Acupuncture Vs Medication
    Anti Aging
    Anti-aging
    Anxiety
    Beauty
    Bell's Palsy
    Beyond Quantum Healing
    Brainwaves
    Brazil
    Chinese Herbs
    Chocolate
    Chronic Pain
    Conception
    Consumer Information
    Coronavirus
    Cosmetic Acupuncture
    Covid 19
    Depression
    Emotional Health
    Eyebrows
    Eyebrow Tattoo
    Facial Acupuncture
    Facial Paralysis
    Facial Rejuvenation
    Fertility
    Five Spirits
    Forgiveness
    Healer
    Health Coaching
    Health & Wellness
    Herbal Medicine
    How Acupuncture Works
    Hypnotherapy
    Insomnia
    Intention Setting
    Intuitive Acupuncture
    Japanese Acupuncture
    John Of God
    Jungian Life Coaching
    Knee Pain
    Life Coaching
    Low Back Pain
    Makeup
    Marin County
    Medical Medium
    Meditation
    Medium
    Mei Zen Acupuncture
    Menstrual Pain
    Mental Health
    Microblading
    Mindfulness
    Natural Anti Aging
    Natural Anti-aging
    Natural Beauty
    Natural Pain Relief
    Networking Events
    Ombre Brow
    Online Course
    Open House
    Open Water Rowing
    Overactive Bladder
    Pain Management
    Paralysis
    Past Life Regression
    Pediatric Acupuncture
    Pediatric Health
    Permanent Makeup
    Pilrgrimage
    Pregnancy
    Prostate Health
    Remote Healing
    Rowing
    Rowing Injury
    Safe Tattoo
    San Francisco
    San Rafael
    Shen
    Shoulder Pain
    Skincare
    Spiritism
    Spiritual Acupuncture
    Spiritual Growth
    Sports Injury Prevention
    Sports Medicine
    Standard Process
    Stress
    Tattoo
    Teenagers
    Telehealth
    Telomeres
    Traditional Chinese Medicine
    Transformational Life Coaching
    Trigger Point
    Trigger Point Acupuncture
    Urinary Leakage
    Weight Loss
    Wellness
    Wellness Coach
    Women's Health
    Wrist Pain

    RSS Feed

We Would Love to Have You Visit Soon!

Intuitive Traditional Chinese Medicine - Intuitive Acupuncture and Transformational Spiritual Life Coaching. TeleHealth Wellness and Health Coaching, Esoteric Acupuncture, Sports Acupuncture, Transformational Life Coaching, Remote Healing, Reiki, Guided Meditation and Herbal Prescriptions available online! Serving Marin County - San Rafael, Mill Valley, Fairfax, San Anselmo, Greenbrae, Larkspur, Novato.

​Accessibility Statement

Hours

San Rafael:
Tues / Thurs:  10am - 6:30pm 

Telephone

415-366-6708

Email

LionsHeartWellness@gmail.com
BOOK AN APPOINTMENT
  • Home
  • About
    • Media and Publications
  • HEALING OFFERINGS
    • Intuitive Chinese Medicine
    • Transformational Spiritual Life Coaching
    • Energy Medicine & Esoteric Acupuncture
    • Cosmetic Acupuncture >
      • Integrative Cosmetic Acupuncture Education
    • Rates
  • EDUCATION
    • Meditations
    • Courses & Webinars
    • Continuing Education
  • REQUEST APPOINTMENT & CONTACT
  • Blog
  • Shop