CLEARING BEFORE HEALING

For a long time I’ve been dealing with issues on my left shoulder. Back in March, when I was confinée en Paris at the hight of the pandemic in Europe, I began doing very intense exercise routines in an attempt to counteract the effects of all the baguette and butter eating that normally are balanced out by all the walking I would do around the City of Lights. But constricted inside, I felt a bit desperate and against my inner knowledge, I exerted my body physically to the point of injury.

Yet, I knew that the pain that came from my left shoulder was just a louder cry for help for an issue that had been incubating in that area long before. The pain got so intense that I went to see an osteopath to get a treatment, which gave me some temporary relief but, more importantly, what I got out of the session with this practitioner was surprising; while she was massaging my left shoulder she asked if I had been to the dentist lately. No, I had not. The truth is that although I am pretty diligent about getting at least once-a-year tooth cleanings, I had been told that my teeth were perfectly fine for the past several years, and with all the traveling I had been doing, I neglected going to regular check ups. 

What I did know was that, out of the 4 wisdom teeth that people might get at some point in their young adult years, I only got one: the bottom left. 

The osteopath told me that teeth are connected to the shoulders, and I didn’t question this assessment in the least, knowing that we are living organisms and as such, every single element of our beings is interconnected. It also made a lot of sense that I would be having issues on my left shoulder for many years, possibly for as long as the bottom left wisdom tooth made its appearance.

So yesterday, I finally went to see the dentist. I kept putting it off for even longer because with this pandemic I don’t even want to open my mouth after I leave my house, but I knew I had to take care of my teeth if I wanted to heal my shoulder, for which I’ve been having physical therapy for months with very tiny improvement.

Thankfully, the dentists found my teeth were just fine, except for the one wisdom tooth which, unlike all the others, didn’t have a protective sealant and therefore was starting to decay. He said I should have it removed to which I squirmed. Firstly, because I knew I had enough space in my mouth for it to be there without pushing all my other teeth out of place, but mostly because the thought of having a small surgery like that made me woozy. So he said I could just have a filling. Yes! Perfect, that sounded like a much easier solution. 

Luckily, right after the hygienist finished doing the cleaning, he was available to go ahead with the filling and I thought, this is ideal! I’m getting all the things done in this appointment and I won’t have to be back in a while. I willingly opened my mouth big and closed my eyes, for what I thought would be—as its names suggest—the “filling” of my tooth. But, as I felt the slow sensation of anesthesia invading my gums, I opened my eyes to see the scariest syringe I had ever seen. It was metallic, and big, and so very unexpected. What a horror! At that moment I summoned all my self control prowess to try and avoid panic because I new if I even tried to utter the slightest sound, this injection could turn into a massive disaster in my mouth. 

It felt like forever. When he finally finished injecting me with the liquid I told him I had no idea he would be doing that. To what he seemed surprised and asked if I had never had a filling before. No, I didn’t! I had not had a need for it and my philosophy of life (one of them, at least) is ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!’ At the end I was grateful that he caught me off guard because knowing my anxiety around syringes, the whole thing would have been ten times more stressful. 

The dentist continued to explain that, in order to put the filling in, he had to remove that part that was decayed. Of course! It makes perfect sense; there is in no way to have real healing without clearing first, unless you're just interested in a cosmetic fix up that would surely be merely temporary and not very effective at the end. Now numb, he dug out what needed to go in order to make space for the resin—or whatever material it is dentists use for fillers—to cover up the freshly cleaned and exposed wisdom tooth.

As I walked out of the dentist office, I felt a rush of something in the whole left side of my body. Could it have been the effects of the anestesia? Maybe, but I just had the sense that something  deeper was taking place. A release was happening; stemming from my bottom left wisdom tooth, to my left shoulder, my arm, passing through the middle of my body, and finally my left leg. I even think I was limping a bit as this shift was taking place. Wow. How could it be so immediate? The body is so wise; it’s amazing how it responds quickly to heal and compensate.

This morning, the difference I am feeling in my left shoulder is unbelievable. There is still a bit of the pain I have been feeling when making certain movements, but it is reduced significantly. I am absolutely certain that now, with a few more physical therapy sessions, I will finally achieve the results that I need because I have finally dealt with the source of my shoulder problem: my wisdom tooth!

When we recognize the interconnected intelligence of living organisms (my body, in this case), and the indisputable need to uncover, to peel off the layers, to remove the old before attempting to instill the new, we can be sure to achieve powerful regeneration. True transformation of the body or mind, requires that we clear the space of the accumulated junk first. Only then, we can allow for a regenerative process to take place.