I don’t know about you but as I get healthier, I’m becoming more acutely aware of my body, internally as well as externally.  I’m learning to tune in and listen to what my body is telling me, rather than ignoring it as I used to.

What I’ve been listening to in particular lately, well for some time actually, is the pain in both my knees.  To be troubled by your knees in your mid forties is not a good sign is it.  Anyway, I’m really happy to be sharing this post with you because I think (touch wood, so far so good), I’ve cured my pain.  Though I didn’t really believe it for some time, I’m still pain free, so here’s my story.

I can’t lie to you and say my painful knees were a result of years of strenuous workouts because as a rule, I don’t exercise.  Still, I’ve always admired runners.  Like any winners, it’s evident to be at the top of your tree, a huge amount of determination and hard work has gone into getting there.  As my Vipassana teacher SN Goenka is fond of saying ‘work patiently, consistently and diligently and you’re bound to succeed’.

I’m not sure if this resonates with you too but for me consistently has never amounted to more than a few weeks before I give up, bored.  I simply don’t enjoy exercise.  I never want to spend time working out (and that’s just a few of the dozen or so good excuses I could list for not keeping fit).  Of course, none of that stops me from wanting all the benefits of having a body that does work out (think sexy, toned and confident to name but a few)!

Anyway, my father was an accomplished athlete, he even ran 4 marathons and I think that was part of my problem.  Having spent my childhood years hanging around race tracks and pitches galore, I was turned off sport and thought I didn’t like ‘exercise’.

However, I’ve since realised that’s not strictly true.  That’s how I found out I had painful knees.  I took up jogging (I’d be a fraud to call it running) and cycling.  It was during these activities that I first experienced ‘the pain’.  Pain best described as being poked with a needle deep inside my kneecap.

Bizarrely, the pain stops the minute i stop jogging.  Consequently, for the past few years, I managed to ignore it by cycling or jogging intermittently.

Then in 2009 I had the opportunity to ‘take my own medicine’.  I’d studied Family Herbalism at The School of Natural Healing and read the wonderful works of Dr Christopher http://www.drchristophers.com/search/ and decided to try his range of herbs to see if my knee pain could be effectively treated.  After all, the alternatives were limited; surgery or give up these activities and surgery wasn’t really an option.

I self-diagnosed Complete Tissue & Bone capsules, tea, syrup and massage oil.  I took these supplements daily for five months during that autumn.  As I’m a fair weather girl, I didn’t have the opportunity to put my knees to the test until spring 2010.

So you can imagine I was hesitant when we applied to run in the Great North Run, a famous half marathon on my home turf, Newcastle Upon Tyne.  Naturally I was concerned as to whether my knees were up to it.  Well, I’m delighted to report that I tentatively started training in June and felt no pain.  However, I was still holding onto the sabotaging belief that I wouldn’t last the 13 ½ mile route because of my knees.

Finally, I took the precaution of registering with a Doctor and having my knees X-rayed to explore possible cartilage damage as I couldn’t believe the problem was really over.   Even I with an untrained eye could see the X-rays showed no problems.  I just wish I’d thought to have my knees X-rayed before I took the herbs so I had a comparison.

Regardless, I’ve been running (I’ve now graduated from being a jogger) so that’s all the evidence I need that the pain experienced, for now at least, is over after years of trouble.

These days I’m better able to analyse aches and pains and think about why they came about and through meditation, where they start and finish. Also explore what is the most likely cause (think karma here – there’s no cause without effect), instead of simply seeking to stop the issue being experienced.   Then, think through an appropriate cleansing program to support the healing required.

This greater awareness has in the main been due to my quest for greater health regardless of my biological age.   My goal is to actually be fitter both physically and mentally by the time I’m fifty (3 years time) than I was in my twenties and thirties – not too difficult perhaps as I was struggling with a horrendous eating disorder, but more of that in another post.

So in the past five years, I’ve becoming a Health Coach (various schools), a Living Foods Practitioner (UK Centre for Living Foods) and a Heal Your Life Teacher (Louise Hay).   I’ve also studied Herbalism (The School of Natural Healing), Nutrition (Open University) and a host of holistic based subjects.  I’m still studying in fact – advanced Nutrition and advanced Herbalism and Kinesiology (The School of Natural Health Sciences) and Buddhist philosophy to name but a few subjects I’m interested in.

So if you’re a fellow health seeker and you want to learn more about how best to improve your health and start living the life you deserve, then contact me.  Together we’ll work out some individual solutions that work best for you and your lifestyle to get you back on the road to good health.

To support me in this half marathon, please visit – http://original.justgiving.com/dawncampbell – (you may have to cut and paste the link into your browser), I’m raising money for the British Heart Foundation.

Thank you

Dawn