Healing back pain with Ayurveda - the physical, psychological & spiritual causes & treatments.
I write from my own experience of a severe injury to the back which I am currently healing.
Today is Wednesday, it has nearly been 1 week since the severe pain started in my right lower pack and hip- with a shooting pain radiating down my right leg.
I say the severe pain pain started - but in all honesty the mild pain started 4 months ago - I simply kept going on with usual life thinking I could handle it - or that it would go away.
After seeing a chiropractor 2 days ago, there has been significant improvement and I whole heartedly believe that the speed of this improvement was facilitated by the knowledge of Ayurveda.
Lets go back before the chirpractor - who saw me at my absolute worst. I went to ask a local yoga teacher for someone that can help me with my back - he recommended me a gentleman who said he works more with Chi and energy flow - and can very well help me with my back - but there might be a little pain in the emotional release aspect - he informed me that there is some emotion sitting in there causing the poor circulation and pain.
I already know all of this I thought to myself. And yet - in his offering to release it with some pranic work I freaked out and felt this fear. What am I afraid of? I thought. Whatever it is there was a clear resistance to it. I didn’t want to put my awareness onto it right now.
After a day or so the pain got so severe I went to the hospital where they gave me IFT therapy to relax the muscles and some exercises to do at home. The scootyy ride was unbearable - the pain got so severe I couldn’t walk. The lady at the hospital said I had to take bed rest for 1 week.
Who is going to do Bhuvis bath? Clean the floors? Cook the food? How will I look after her? I panicked.
In the end I had to surrender and it was this surrender that allowed people around me to start helping as I got some much needed rest. Although I say rest it was enough rest considering there is a 9 month old to look after! An active one at that!
Upon reflection I noticed all the signs of Vata. My legs were clicking as I limped around - or even crawled. I hadn’t passed any stools for 2 days - my feet were dry - I wasn’t hungry and I felt incredibly light - as if my right leg was full of air. I also had tingling and numbness too.
After 3 days with acute pain - and taking anti inflammatories both internally and externally - I was finally able to see the chiropractor who further cemented the picture by focusing on my extraordinarily low body weight of 45kg.
Vata imbalance for sure.
This meant that there was too much air in the body - causing coldness, dryness and pain - weakness too. It needed to belanced with heaviness, moisture, unctuousness and warmth.
Here is what I did and why:
Stopped all cold things - or even room temperature - yep I had been drinking water from my bottle all the time and rarely had hot water - something I used to do. I even stopped having teas at home - I was only having coffee once a day.
Stopped coffee! Stimulates the nerves
Used sesame oil well massaged into my lower back, hips, both legs - calves and feet. Including soles of the feet as well as the tops of the thighs as places of deep massage. followed by a hotter than usual shower twice a day. The top of the thighs are a classic place of Vata - so massaging a warming oil like sesame into this area helps to bring it into balance.
Started having a large glass of date shake daily - 3 medjoul dates blended with oat milk. Dates are heavy and nourishing - date shake also helps to improve the rasa - which helps to improve the digestion.
Took out all sticky carbs like bread and pasta - instead I had ragi & rices. More vegetables and added a lot of cheese to my diet (I was craving it)
Insisted on help and care of Bhuvi so that I could take it easy and rest more.
Stopped moving so much - complete bed rest - not even using phone, laptop or even reading. Simply laying in silence. Prior to the pain I had been taking Bhuvi out nearly three times a day with the carrier up and down some big hills!
Nadi Shodhana pranayama & deep breathing. Vata is connected to prana and prana is on the breath. Since the issue was on the right side I knew balancing the left and right would be helpful.
Prayer - I prayed a lot. In moments of intense pain I cried and prayed. Fears ran through my mind of what the issue could be - is there a growth in my hip? What if Bhuvi gets taken away from me? Mostly irrational fears. I realised later that my prayer was coming from a place that had no answer - I had to shift my consciousness into a space that made the prayer more effective. This was the prompt towards the spiritual healing I felt was on the horizon now.
Accepting love and touch. I get easily sensed out and even do not like to be touched that much. I have never been a fan of massage. But this time I accepted the gently rubbing from loved ones along the pain in my leg. And I appreciated that this was often at very late times in the night when they could be sleeping.
Stopped all work related activities - including posting on instagram! (Just for one week!)
Did my exercises for the back - which I knew from practicing yoga - as much as I could.
Kept the AC off - I had been a bit addicted to it lately - feeling more fresh with it on - but actually it was so cold!!
Made an effort to poop - yep I honestly forget to poop because the bathroom is very close to where Bhuvi sleeps and it wakes her up when somebody uses it! When she is awake she insists on being with me on the toilet. For a Vata type - it can be difficult to poop easily - one needs to relax and ground the energy first. Lately I had just been forgetting and I guess it all built into the imbalance. I also had a deep feeling that the gas in the colon was leaning on some nerves too.
Started eating and making a concerted effort to eat. I was feeding Bhuvi but not myself!
I do feel that all of this helped. On a psychological and spiritual level one has to ask - why were you moving so much? From what? These deeper questions are something I will explore now that the acute phase is over. and I am going to share it with those that want to join me on their healing journey too.
But you can just see how much we can do with the knowledge of Ayurveda to help ourselves in something like back pain. Painkillers are useful - but a lot more can be done too!
It also shows that when it comes to diagnosing an issue - it is never due to one thing.
I now embark upon some healing. First with some deep rest over the next weeks along with the oiling and good food.
Then I plan to do my new own online course, Ayurveda for All which takes you through the application of Ayurveda step by step. It is ideal for these moments in life when we feel a little off - and need to get back on track again.
I will be sharing my own personal journey in my healing back to myself again with regular webinars for all students that are enrolled onto the course.
Maybe you’d like to join me?
If there is one thing I have deeply learnt from all of this - its that medicines, oils and herbs work - but the most potent medicine is community and people. We need each other to heal. To carry each other and keep us going.
So do not feel alone in your journey - start with me too - just one lesson a week and share in the weekly webinar how your doing. We can all help each other :)
The course comes with a workbook too so we will use that as our guide.
You can enrol onto the course here and I will be sharing details of the offering in the coming weeks.
I look forward to connecting with you all soon! :)
Naina
