Yes a person's pain tolerance can be increased. The body has natural defenses that allow this to take place. A very simple example of this is a callous. A blister is formed from a repeated rubbing on a certain area of the skin. Blister is very painful. So what does the body do? It builds up extra layers of skin in that area to protect that damaged spot, thus making it tougher and have less feeling. Besides the physical aspect to pain tolerance, I also believe the mind kicks in as well. I believe that it develops a tolerance to a repeated action. In essence closing down certain receptors in the brain, thus increasing its level of tolerance for said action, whether it be a whip being struck against the body, or an insult being repeated. So in my mind, the answer is definately Yes. A person's pain tolerance can be increased.
Understand that pain is a mechanism that is meant to protect us from damaging our bodies and to keep us away from dangerous situations. When it really comes down to it, it's not the body part that hurts, it's your brain convincing you that it hurts. It's the brain's way of warning you not to repeat the action that caused you the pain in the first place. In our lifestyle this is a mixed feeling our brains give us because the physical act that is causing us pain is also in many cases giving us pleasure simultaneously. With this in mind, know that the brain is very suggestible. It will listen to you if you demand something of it. For example, if you tell yourself before you go to sleep that you will have a lucid dream, you may very well have one. So tell your brain that you're fed up with its nagging. Instead of letting it convince you that you are in excruciating agony, convince it that it's wrong. Tell it to stop sending out the pain sensation and to only focus on the pleasure. Tell it to cut off feelings of pain from the affected area. Let your mind become enveloped in the moment. "Focus." If you believe it will work, it will. In a nutshell however pain tolerance is very much in all I have read and experienced gender and genetic specific for all of us. For example as a group women can tolerate more pain than men as there bodies and minds are designed to endure the pain of childbirth... Also there are a few studies on different races or etho-types that seem to as a group have a higher pain tolerance... Even redheads are factored as one of those groups. The rest of us that don't have this ability or the pain that you wish to tolerate is beyond the bounds of what you normally can stand, will need to condition your self and your mind to deal with it. There are many books on this subject and many of them are in the martial arts realm. This may not seem applicable to us in the lifestyle but I would submit the mind conditioning is very similar to what you would go through in a controlled conditioning exercise. This is why there is a mix of pleasure and pain in these sessions to distract the mind from the pain and get it to focus on the pleasure. All this I say with a strong word of warning. Only subject yourself to painful situations alone that you can stop alone no matter what "space" you may go into. And only tread on the ones you would not be able to with someone with tons of experience and that you would trust with your life because that is really what you would be doing. ie. A big difference between flogging your self to increase your pain tolerance and finding your pain threshold and suspending your self with no supervision. You can die from suspending yourself incorrectly but not from flogging yourself. I hope you can understand the risks and differences in the two examples. Remember that the presence of pain, even if there is no apparent cause, may be an indication that there is something wrong. See a doctor if you are concerned about the underlying cause of your pain. Being able to ignore the pain and deal with it mentally is no substitute for real medical treatment.
Please feel free to continue this thread with additional questions on this topic I will watch it to see if any more needs to be added :)
Yes a person's pain tolerance can be increased. The body has natural defenses that allow this to take place. A very simple example of this is a callous. A blister is formed from a repeated rubbing on a certain area of the skin. Blister is very painful. So what does the body do? It builds up extra layers of skin in that area to protect that damaged spot, thus making it tougher and have less feeling.
ReplyDeleteBesides the physical aspect to pain tolerance, I also believe the mind kicks in as well. I believe that it develops a tolerance to a repeated action. In essence closing down certain receptors in the brain, thus increasing its level of tolerance for said action, whether it be a whip being struck against the body, or an insult being repeated.
So in my mind, the answer is definately Yes. A person's pain tolerance can be increased.
Understand that pain is a mechanism that is meant to protect us from damaging our bodies and to keep us away from dangerous situations. When it really comes down to it, it's not the body part that hurts, it's your brain convincing you that it hurts. It's the brain's way of warning you not to repeat the action that caused you the pain in the first place.
ReplyDeleteIn our lifestyle this is a mixed feeling our brains give us because the physical act that is causing us pain is also in many cases giving us pleasure simultaneously.
With this in mind, know that the brain is very suggestible. It will listen to you if you demand something of it. For example, if you tell yourself before you go to sleep that you will have a lucid dream, you may very well have one. So tell your brain that you're fed up with its nagging. Instead of letting it convince you that you are in excruciating agony, convince it that it's wrong. Tell it to stop sending out the pain sensation and to only focus on the pleasure. Tell it to cut off feelings of pain from the affected area. Let your mind become enveloped in the moment. "Focus." If you believe it will work, it will.
In a nutshell however pain tolerance is very much in all I have read and experienced gender and genetic specific for all of us. For example as a group women can tolerate more pain than men as there bodies and minds are designed to endure the pain of childbirth... Also there are a few studies on different races or etho-types that seem to as a group have a higher pain tolerance... Even redheads are factored as one of those groups.
The rest of us that don't have this ability or the pain that you wish to tolerate is beyond the bounds of what you normally can stand, will need to condition your self and your mind to deal with it. There are many books on this subject and many of them are in the martial arts realm. This may not seem applicable to us in the lifestyle but I would submit the mind conditioning is very similar to what you would go through in a controlled conditioning exercise. This is why there is a mix of pleasure and pain in these sessions to distract the mind from the pain and get it to focus on the pleasure.
All this I say with a strong word of warning. Only subject yourself to painful situations alone that you can stop alone no matter what "space" you may go into. And only tread on the ones you would not be able to with someone with tons of experience and that you would trust with your life because that is really what you would be doing. ie. A big difference between flogging your self to increase your pain tolerance and finding your pain threshold and suspending your self with no supervision. You can die from suspending yourself incorrectly but not from flogging yourself. I hope you can understand the risks and differences in the two examples.
Remember that the presence of pain, even if there is no apparent cause, may be an indication that there is something wrong. See a doctor if you are concerned about the underlying cause of your pain. Being able to ignore the pain and deal with it mentally is no substitute for real medical treatment.
Please feel free to continue this thread with additional questions on this topic I will watch it to see if any more needs to be added :)
Master Merlin