(bright music) - And this will stay with me forever, As one of the most interesting
pain stories I've ever had. I was with my mom. I'd taken her to, we'd gone to India, I had gone for work and she had joined. And we got to this point where
we were gonna take a hike up to a very important Hindu temple which housed Hanuman, which is an important deity in Hinduism, and she'd always wanted to see it. And my mom is like 73 years old, and so walking up mountains,
you know, she's not, it's not exactly not
her strong suit anyhow, 'cause she has so much pain. And there's like X hundred steps, like several hundred steps. It's like a stepped-out trail. And I said, "Mom, are you up for this?" She'd been having some
pain during the trip. And she's like, "It feels
like a spiritual journey. It feels like this is
something I have to do. This is my only chance." I took a group of students
and I will never forget, the students said, they called her by, her Indian name was grandmother,
which was so respectful, they're like "Ammoomma,
we'll all surround you, and we'll take the steps," I'm even getting teary thinking it, "We'll take the steps slowly with you." Kyle, she was clearly in pain, but all these people, and
people were clapping for her, she went up. And then she got up and she
started, she got tearful, she was like, "I can't believe I made it." And it was so beautiful 'cause I thought, "I know how much physical pain she's in, but it was so important to her, and so many people cared that she did it." And to me it was a sign
of what could happen in management of treatment of chronic pain in so many people, if people could see
deeply into their story and help them find the meaning in it, that they could push through
their chronic pain too. And I think that's what makes me sad for so many people with chronic pain, many of them have a big story in them, but they don't feel supported. And if we could help them feel supported, and help them find a way to
contextualize that journey, it could become a really
profound space for them. And she did it and she was in pain, and I have all these beautiful
photos of her at the top. And it took a while to get her back down, and we helped her back down, and she went back and she laid down, but she said, she's like, "I felt like I was
carried up there on love." And I said, "Girl, no, you were carried up there
on pushing through." And for her, it made her more courageous to push through her pain in
other circumstances after that. She feels her pain through her neck, and she said, "As soon
as I felt that neck pain, it was a trigger, like, you better stop, you better stop, you better stop." But she said, all the
other voices were saying, "You can do one more step, and if it feels unbearable,
it's okay to turn around." But that trigger was telling her to stop. But she's like, "I think I can
do this and I'm supported." That's what I wish more
people with chronic pain had. And I think that that's what
many chronic pain programs attempt to do for clients every day. (bright music)
