From The Professor:
This is an important clarification. You are pointing to one example of a big problem we have when discussing pain and pain care – terminology. We also believe that you are pointing to the need for precision in our communications.
For those who missed it, our previous post left off ‘spiritual’, and did not intend to send the message that we were ignoring any specific aspect of our existence.
Our view is that pain is biopsychosocialspiritual – it is impacted by and impacts every aspect of our existence.
Our view is also that effective pain care addresses the individual as an integrated whole – while considering every aspect of their existence.
Our view is that we are not parts put together to make a whole, but rather a whole unified being which we can look at from different perspectives. And of course that we as individuals do not live in a vacuum. We are impacted by our history, our culture, our society, and the world.
Our view is that pain is a unified experience. It is always multifaceted, with the weight of some factors impacting it more, and it is ever-changing – the moving target making pain care that much more challenging for people living in pain.
From The Swami:
Biopsychosocial, add spiritual or not, is a western understanding; it is the use of culturally-relevant words to remind people that their job is to address individuals, not parts of a machine.
Yoga says we are already whole and it does not need to be identified any other way. Yoga does not require separation to become whole or to understand Self, but rather is a practice of remembering the Truth in our original goodness and wholeness and aligning with that. Yoga IS an original bio-psycho-social-spiritual truth, the conscious bridge between the unknown self and the True Self. If one is practicing Yoga they are applying a BPSS approach. I prefer to just say Yoga.
Yoga is a path to connecting to our true nature. When we are connected to our true nature there is understanding, yielding and love, rather than pain. In accessing our true nature we can live in Prajna (wisdom) Ananda (love and joy) and Moksha (liberation from suffering)
The practice of Yoga teaches us that pain arises from not remembering (avidya) we are spirit, and from the longing to return home. I’ve heard Neil say that the antidote for pain is love. For me, the antidote is Yoga, the original BPSS bridge home to Self.
All pain is changeable.