Constructive Versus Destructive Pain

Knowing the difference between good pain and bad pain is one of the most important things you can learn.

If you’ve injured yourself training you’ve learned the hard way that you can’t ignore signals from your body. On the other hand, avoiding all forms of pain can rob you of the opportunity to grow stronger and healthier.

How do you know the difference between pain that is constructive and pain that is destructive? In this video, I teach you about the different kinds of pain we encounter and whether you should lean into the pain or stop immediately.

First, you will learn how to know when you are out of your safe zone while stretching, and the long-term damage that can be done by overstretching. I tell you how you can stretch safely and use the discomfort from stretching to build grace.

I then teach how to decipher the different kinds of pain during some massage. Self-massage, especially trigger point massage, can fast-track us into alignment and into a pain-free state. But it hurts like hell while it’s being done! You will learn how you know when you are in a good, productive (but intense) pain versus when you are about to damage a nerve.

The third part of this video addresses how to avoid destroying your body by ignoring its pain signals while also not pandering to its whining when you’re out of shape. The ‘no pain no gain’ attitude is what can get us strong, it’s also what can result in blown-out knees, bulging discs, and torn tendons. Knowing how hard to push yourself is especially confusing but very critical when you are recovering from illness or injury, and I talk you through that.

Finally, I talk about the harm done to the physical body when we don’t process emotions properly, and I offer tips for processing emotional pain and trauma.

I didn’t plan on it, but this ended up getting personal. It is also a manifesto of the movement part of the C. Twain Method.

I hope that by learning what I offer here you’ll avoid damaging pain and move comfortably and optimally for many, many years to come!