Michael J. Murray - My Pain-Body Solution: A Journey to the Other Side of Suffering

PRAISE FOR
My Pain-Body Solution

The tender frankness by which Mike recounts an individual experience of the human truth of pain is truly moving. This story reminds us of two essential features of life: Suffering is an inescapable part of the path, and there is absolutely a way through it.

Kali Basman of Kali Durga Yoga

My Pain-Body Solution: A Journey to the Other Side of Suffering by Michael J. Murray points you toward understanding pain, its personal message, and its ultimate relief. Murrays story is riveting, and its your story as well. His persistence in tracking down the truth and the inspiring self-awareness that resulted will set you on your own path to a new relationship with your body. My Pain-Body Solution is an enjoyable read while serving as a guide to living more fully.

Tina Welling, author of Writing Wild: Forming a Creative Partnership with Nature

If you are suffering from pain and looking for answers, Mike Murrays book, My Pain-Body Solution, is a must read. We are lacking patient-centered stories about pain that offer valuable information. As an acupuncturist and pain therapist for ten-plus years, I have dedicated my life to helping those who struggle with difficult pain conditions. This book is both an excellent resource on the current state of mind-body medicine and a trail map for those suffering from unexplained chronic pain.

Brendan Carney, Acupuncture North

Mike shares his firsthand journey healing from severe pain. If youre looking to understand the deeper roots behind pain and move beyond trauma, this is a great read.

Bess OConnor, founder and CEO of Well Spirit Collective

Much of the chronic and recurrent pain and discomfort that we experience has a psychological basis. This explains why so many continue to suffer despite the best efforts of well-meaning practitioners, whether part of traditional medical fields or alternative ones. Embracing the concepts of mind-body medicine, learning how very real physical symptoms may have a psychological cause, can be life changing. Mike shares his journey to this knowledge with remarkable candor. Its clear that his goal is to help others, and I have no doubt that he will.

Marc D. Sopher, M.D., author of To Be or Not To Be... Pain-Free: The Mindbody Syndrome, contributor to The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders by John Sarno, M.D.

This book is a memoir reflecting the authors present recollections of experiences over time. Its story and its words are the authors alone. Some details and characteristics may be changed, some events may be compressed, and some dialogue may be recreated.

Published by River Grove Books
Austin, TX
www.rivergrovebooks.com

Copyright 2022 Michael J. Murray

All rights reserved.

Thank you for purchasing an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright law. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the copyright holder.

Distributed by River Grove Books

Design and composition by Greenleaf Book Group
Cover design by Greenleaf Book Group
Cover photo by Michael Murray, Montana Backcountry

Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication data is available.

Print ISBN: 978-1-63299-454-7

eBook ISBN: 978-1-63299-455-4

First Edition

This book is dedicated to Becky, Mikey, Kaylee, Jaimie, and
our four-legged friends, Bernie and Sweet Lou!

Our bodies hold memories of the past. The goal is to
access the body memory of the event, not the story, then
work to heal and release embodied trauma patterns.
PETER LEVINE

Contents

About the Title

T he pain-body is a phrase coined by spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle. The pain-body is a container of emotional pain stored from the past, carried inside the body. Its an accumulation of difficult experiences that were never fully processed as they happened. We all have a pain-body and it is either dormant or active. It manifests as anger, hurt, hate, anxiety, depression, jealousy, and even physical pain. When active, the pain-body is alive and in control. Its feeds on negative energy of the mind. The solution is to notice the moment the pain-body awakenscatch it then and bring mindful awareness to it.

This has led me to the other side of suffering.

Introduction

T his book was written as it was happening, over a span of four years. I wrote it while I was in extreme pain, both physically and, as it turned out, emotionally. I am not a writer, nor have I ever attempted to write a book. I consider myself a regular guy. Needless to say, this was a huge undertaking and a challenge for me.

Ive learned many lessons along the way. It is my hope as you read these words on the pages that follow that you will be inspired by the teachings I received from the many books I read, the countless podcasts I listened to, the seminars I attended, and the many soulful healers I encountered along the way. Some of this wisdom dates back some 2,500 years.

As you walk with me in to navigate when you are in the thick of things, confused and in pain. I experienced ineffective treatments, contradicting diagnoses, and often dispassionate care. But what I have come to understand is that each and every doctor acted with my best interest in mind. They were treating me with the tools at their disposal and what they were taught.

In , a chance discovery in a book led me to a dawning of awareness of the emotional root of my pain. As I dug deeper into this line of medicine and therapy, I uncovered truths about my past and discovered how protective behaviors I developed along the way caused emotional trauma that was presenting itself as physical and emotional pain for me, at fifty-two years old. The pain would eventually lead me to the other side of suffering, where I began to see what pain was teaching me, and to heal parts of my past that were hidden deep within my consciousness.

The remainder of chronicle my healing journeythe type of healing that is readily available to all of us, if we are willing to do the work to uncover the hidden lessons along the way.

No journey is linear and everyones path is different. In my case, I often took two steps forward and three steps back. Sometimes life is messy. Pain was my teacher and I its unwilling student. Today, however, I view it much differently and, ironically, the pain is practically a distant memory in the rearview mirror of my life.

My wish is that this impacts you and those around you in a positive way. Pain affects each and every one of us.

This is my story.

Michael J. Murray

PART 1 :

Searching for Answers

CHAPTER 1

In Pain

A s I drove my big red van up Teton Pass under the falling snow, I was still a bit tired from the previous nights flight, the late-night cocktails, and spending time searching the internet for up-to-date information on the incoming storm. In recent years, I had become somewhat obsessed with tracking winter storms that were headed for Wyomings Teton Range. But there was a reason for my passion.

Skiing powder had become a meaningful part of my life. I had to know the weather patterns, especially since I would be traveling from New Hampshire to Wyoming on short notice to chase these storms. Chasing storms? Sounds ridiculous, right? Not really, not for those who, like me, have discovered the joy in skiing undisturbed snow. Ive always been a weather buff and with todays technology, it is easy to track these storms with almost pinpoint accuracy. Its tough to explain, to put into words, the thrill of skiing fresh snow; the experience of skiing deep, virgin powder gives you the sensation of weightlessnessit is really an amazing experience.