Compressed Cold and Altered States

I'm having physical therapy for a repetitive stress injury I got when working at AOL. Some days are good, others are bad. I've never been one for taking drugs - ibuprofen, etc. But I pop those little white pills practically daily. I've been getting phys there for many months now, with varied improvement. It took a lot of time to have the injury, so I guess it takes the same or more time to retrain my body.

Physical Therapists are modern day torture artists. Don't take that the wrong way - that's in a good way. They have (and use) all these interesting devices. I've been put in this brace that stretches my neck (and gives me a pounding headache later in the evening), have electric fatigue for my muscles and the other day was in this new device.... some kind of cold compressor. Of course there is soft tissue manipulation (ART or massage), acupuncture, strength building exercises and stretches.

As I have these things done to my body and put into these machines, something happens to my mind. It's not like I go to sleep - I'm completely aware of what my body is doing (or rather, what is being done to my body), but I go someplace else - into some altered state.

I remember when I was in College and various friends of mine were experimenting with altered states. I never saw the big deal with drugs, because I found myself in "altered" states all the time, without the "help" of drugs.

It's interesting to me, as my body is physically manipulated - space added between my vertebras, muscles stretched, mind relaxed, that I find myself in "altered" states. States of profound relaxation, different worlds assembled. These states and experiences can be had by anyone. It seems to me the barrage of crap from this modern world, makes these states inaccessible to many of us.

What do you do to find yourself in an altered state?