surgical scars are tough, fibrous, poorly vascularized stuff with entrapped nerves that can cause pain. the fibers are usually laid down kind of willynilly, whichever way they happen to grow. this is reasonable because the wound has to be knit together and the tissues rejoined but it is also complicating. the goal of post-surgical scar amelioration is to allow ordinary tissues to infiltrate into the scar zone to soften, disperse, shrink the scar. infiltration happens naturally but the process can be helped with manual manipulation. if the scar is big enough it will be impossible to get rid of it completely but improvements can always be made.
the center of the scar relatively hard but there are threads of the connective stuff projecting out into the healthy tissue. they have to be there to anchor the scar. they limit movement of course. if we think of them as pathological we call them adhesions. these are subjects of possible amelioration too.
the method:
1. while the stiches are in gently stroke the area around the scar in radial lines from about an inch or two from the stiches out, the general idea to "encourage" the excess fluid of the swelling away from the trauma zone. as days go by a little more vigor perhaps, and maybe eventually some small circular motions with light finger pressure. avoid pulling on the stitches.
pain: if there is pain try to find out exactly what it is at what intensity, don't do that. as the amelioration continues try advancing into the pain zone, see if it can be rolled back.
2. after the stitches are out start working directly on the scar.
a. the skin scar will be adhesed to under layers, eventually one wants to separate the layers. take scar between thumb & finger, push it transversely back & forth, if there is pain explore it, avoid tearing things but allow stretching to occur.
b. also use fingers to dig under the scar.
c. to promote infiltration of normal tissue into the scar hold the scar itself by pressing directly down on it with a thumb or other finger, dig in lightly just lateral to that hold down finger, give it a little yank. if pain expect it to diminish over time.
with new scars nice results can be obtained: they look and feel better. as time goes on the scar shrinks & hardens and it becomes harder to get results, but still something can be done.
ask me questions.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
drilling down
1. attention circles yield insight on different kinds of spacing out.
the circle is there in the "imagination." "i" can "see" it in my "mind's eye."
spaceout types:
1. the lumpy bumpy distorted "circle" "drawn" by the "gross attention" trying to control itself in guise of doing it right. the attentional equivalent of holding the pen too tightly in the fingers leading perhaps over time to carpal tunnel syndrome.
2. the true space out of simple aversion from the (boring) higher energy attentional task to a favored neutral task (daydream, conditioned prayer, desire for some habitual thing, etc.)
3. ongoing internal commentary: "hmm, lumpy today..."
i'm sure further categories of spacing out exist. name some for me please.
2. still the tendency to space out the middle of an eye movement: to jump from start to end "skipping" the middle with the "intention." the justification is "i know what's there, i can skip that part." that's probably true, probably there's not a spear coming through that zone, but the exercize is to progress gracefully through the entire movement, bumpy & plodding better than skip the whole thing & pretend i really did clean the toilet.
3. varieties of head circles:
a. move internally stationary head-neck assembly around vertex at c6-7
b. hold neck internally stationary, move head only
c. attempts to lower the vertex down the next
very different neck crackles produced, some muscles apparently isolated for the first time.
4. an aura like others describe as migraine in right eye, drank usual 2 cups of coffee ~1h earlier.
5. continuing to prepare for sideways breakfall, a new position: overbalance to side in extension like i will do a sideways cartwheel, spasm in the outer lower down leg, burn in upper outer thigh & above hip, down leg.
the circle is there in the "imagination." "i" can "see" it in my "mind's eye."
spaceout types:
1. the lumpy bumpy distorted "circle" "drawn" by the "gross attention" trying to control itself in guise of doing it right. the attentional equivalent of holding the pen too tightly in the fingers leading perhaps over time to carpal tunnel syndrome.
2. the true space out of simple aversion from the (boring) higher energy attentional task to a favored neutral task (daydream, conditioned prayer, desire for some habitual thing, etc.)
3. ongoing internal commentary: "hmm, lumpy today..."
i'm sure further categories of spacing out exist. name some for me please.
2. still the tendency to space out the middle of an eye movement: to jump from start to end "skipping" the middle with the "intention." the justification is "i know what's there, i can skip that part." that's probably true, probably there's not a spear coming through that zone, but the exercize is to progress gracefully through the entire movement, bumpy & plodding better than skip the whole thing & pretend i really did clean the toilet.
3. varieties of head circles:
a. move internally stationary head-neck assembly around vertex at c6-7
b. hold neck internally stationary, move head only
c. attempts to lower the vertex down the next
very different neck crackles produced, some muscles apparently isolated for the first time.
4. an aura like others describe as migraine in right eye, drank usual 2 cups of coffee ~1h earlier.
5. continuing to prepare for sideways breakfall, a new position: overbalance to side in extension like i will do a sideways cartwheel, spasm in the outer lower down leg, burn in upper outer thigh & above hip, down leg.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
8/30/2011
it is actually physical energy that is used in mental work. mentally hard things take more energy, the active cells actually get depleted, mental fatigue occurs. the only way around the physical limitations is to properly employ the passage of time so that the required repletions can occur.
the beacon for example. it revealed itself to me a few days ago. place the attention at a given physical spot, draw an imaginary line to the visual vertex (the 2 cones meet at that point back in the middle of the brain). that line can sit there and can be noticed as the body position changes. lots of energy needed to keep that locator process going. mind gets fatigued, slips back into the lazy state.
9/4/2011
the beacon thing is continuing to be interesting. i do not yet find it possible to maintain the line for more than a few seconds. i draw the line to my visual vertex, admire it for a few seconds while standing still, start to move & quickly forget about it, always remembering later & having to reestablish it, gets pretty approximate if i'm far away, idle poky exercises of trying to figure out where it is while i'm running or driving, somewhere behind me at some angle when i'm heading out.
generally, the ability to establish points of reference so that one can attempt to refer to something as one continues to explore reality as it rushes at us. maybe i don't know where i am, but i know where something is. that spot over there. so if i know it's there, i'm here, i have that relation, oh, good, i know something. i can relax, try to figure out what's going on.
it is actually physical energy that is used in mental work. mentally hard things take more energy, the active cells actually get depleted, mental fatigue occurs. the only way around the physical limitations is to properly employ the passage of time so that the required repletions can occur.
the beacon for example. it revealed itself to me a few days ago. place the attention at a given physical spot, draw an imaginary line to the visual vertex (the 2 cones meet at that point back in the middle of the brain). that line can sit there and can be noticed as the body position changes. lots of energy needed to keep that locator process going. mind gets fatigued, slips back into the lazy state.
9/4/2011
the beacon thing is continuing to be interesting. i do not yet find it possible to maintain the line for more than a few seconds. i draw the line to my visual vertex, admire it for a few seconds while standing still, start to move & quickly forget about it, always remembering later & having to reestablish it, gets pretty approximate if i'm far away, idle poky exercises of trying to figure out where it is while i'm running or driving, somewhere behind me at some angle when i'm heading out.
generally, the ability to establish points of reference so that one can attempt to refer to something as one continues to explore reality as it rushes at us. maybe i don't know where i am, but i know where something is. that spot over there. so if i know it's there, i'm here, i have that relation, oh, good, i know something. i can relax, try to figure out what's going on.
8/28/2011
i started this morning facing the glass door, the big tree behind, saw it reflected in the door. idea: second time i tried i hit the poplar tree with the acorn i tossed behind me over my right shoulder with my right arm.
the morning sessions are exercizes in selective discomfort, conditioning to be comfortable with said discomfort. always good candidates: knees, thighs, low back, top of neck. not natural man position. exaggerated natural man. knees too bent, pelvis tilted too front up, chin too tucked. into the discomfort while doing the attention/eye/head movements.
attention/eye/head exercises designed to open possibilities of intentional looking. i am surrounded constantly with things that want me to look at what they want me to look at. what i might want to look at is irrelevant to the purposes of those things. the untrained eye will look at what it what attracts its attention, to look at a specific spot regardless of what happens to occupy that space is different from seeking out the desired category of thing and focussing on that.
i started this morning facing the glass door, the big tree behind, saw it reflected in the door. idea: second time i tried i hit the poplar tree with the acorn i tossed behind me over my right shoulder with my right arm.
the morning sessions are exercizes in selective discomfort, conditioning to be comfortable with said discomfort. always good candidates: knees, thighs, low back, top of neck. not natural man position. exaggerated natural man. knees too bent, pelvis tilted too front up, chin too tucked. into the discomfort while doing the attention/eye/head movements.
attention/eye/head exercises designed to open possibilities of intentional looking. i am surrounded constantly with things that want me to look at what they want me to look at. what i might want to look at is irrelevant to the purposes of those things. the untrained eye will look at what it what attracts its attention, to look at a specific spot regardless of what happens to occupy that space is different from seeking out the desired category of thing and focussing on that.
daily exercise the thing turns the pauper to the king
the essential element of exercise is to willful desire to explore the discomfort zone to see if anything can be done about it. one goes around trying to notice particular uncomfortable things. there is a choice to be made: to ignore something or to explore it, see if lemonade is possible. a lifetime habit of declining to explore stuff will lead to a tendency to stasis, stasis in organisms leads to atrophy, atrophy has another set of discomforts, so the organism ends up with the discomfort anyway, so might as well embrace it.
that is why dogs barking, phones ringing, people walking in, talking with me, etc. are welcome aids to concentration, concentration being the gateway to meditation, the voluntary practice of holding the awareness open, allowing reality as it is (sentimentalist sectarians call that gods grace) "in." not to ignore anything, only to try to always re-member.
this morning did the basic routine with a sword. sword brings added precision, better angles, easier to align. the stretches are deeper because the arms are locked. it is automatically uncomfortable, not having been done in a while. the general idea is to find position, when it arrives the joints sort of align with gravity & the body "settles," then to locate the guarding muscles that could just as well sit there & relax, & relax them, then on to the next little problem, whatever it happens to be. like that sequence i've been doing of keeping the quads relaxed in to-the-side bendovers where the hands go toward the outside of one foot or the other & the stretch up the outside of the leg when the knee is fully extended goes from the little toe to the upper thigh. in my left leg the burny feeling is intense, i say expletic superlatives in the inner monologue, things one typically says in the presence of intense superlativity. level of intensity occasionally may attain energy levels that are uncomfortable merely by the intensity, flavor so intensely wonderful it makes us sick, even we crash, but we don't regret, even if we did it wrong & damaged something, more, want more, again.
take the uncomfortable thing, arrange the parts of the organism for maximum comfort, then relax the guarding muscles, attitudes, etc. & let the significance of the position gradually emerge, pain & fear emerging like volcanic islands out of the ocean of our willful ignorance.
sword edge not allowed to touch the floor. offense. must apologize to sword. sword always forgives.
that is why dogs barking, phones ringing, people walking in, talking with me, etc. are welcome aids to concentration, concentration being the gateway to meditation, the voluntary practice of holding the awareness open, allowing reality as it is (sentimentalist sectarians call that gods grace) "in." not to ignore anything, only to try to always re-member.
this morning did the basic routine with a sword. sword brings added precision, better angles, easier to align. the stretches are deeper because the arms are locked. it is automatically uncomfortable, not having been done in a while. the general idea is to find position, when it arrives the joints sort of align with gravity & the body "settles," then to locate the guarding muscles that could just as well sit there & relax, & relax them, then on to the next little problem, whatever it happens to be. like that sequence i've been doing of keeping the quads relaxed in to-the-side bendovers where the hands go toward the outside of one foot or the other & the stretch up the outside of the leg when the knee is fully extended goes from the little toe to the upper thigh. in my left leg the burny feeling is intense, i say expletic superlatives in the inner monologue, things one typically says in the presence of intense superlativity. level of intensity occasionally may attain energy levels that are uncomfortable merely by the intensity, flavor so intensely wonderful it makes us sick, even we crash, but we don't regret, even if we did it wrong & damaged something, more, want more, again.
take the uncomfortable thing, arrange the parts of the organism for maximum comfort, then relax the guarding muscles, attitudes, etc. & let the significance of the position gradually emerge, pain & fear emerging like volcanic islands out of the ocean of our willful ignorance.
sword edge not allowed to touch the floor. offense. must apologize to sword. sword always forgives.
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