Physical pain is often treated as something to suppress, ignore, or push through. But what if pain is actually carrying important information?

In this episode of Spirit Sherpa, Kelle Sparta and Jules explore the spiritual approach to physical pain, with a special focus on chronic back pain, stress-related tension, nervous system overload, and the messages your body may be trying to communicate. Kelle shares practical strategies for working with pain without becoming consumed by it, along with energetic, emotional, and spiritual perspectives that can help support healing and recovery.

Whether you're dealing with chronic pain, stress-related tension, burnout, or recurring physical symptoms, this episode offers a grounded and empowering framework for listening to your body and working with it instead of against it.

What You'll Learn

• Why focusing on pain can sometimes make it feel worse
• How to "get above" pain instead of becoming overwhelmed by it
• The connection between stress, emotions, and chronic back pain
• Why magnesium deficiency may contribute to muscle tension and discomfort
• Practical techniques for relaxing muscles and releasing tension
• How to communicate with your body through meditation and self-inquiry
• The spiritual messages that physical symptoms may be carrying
• When pain may be signaling the need for rest, recovery, and deeper self-care

References Mentioned

• Louise Hay
• You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay
• Arnica
• Topricin
• Magnesium Glycinate
• Sciatic Nerve
• Kegel Exercises
• Beltane
• Mercury Retrograde

Resources Mentioned

Kelle Sparta Website:

https://kellesparta.com

Shadow Work Readiness Quiz:

https://learn.kellesparta.com/shadowworkquiz

About Spirit Guides School

Spirit Guides School trains transformational practitioners, spiritual coaches, facilitators, and conscious leaders in ethical spiritual development, energetic mastery, discernment, and transformational leadership. The school's mission is to develop practitioners capable of creating lasting transformational impact with integrity, responsibility, and sustainable personal growth.

Hello, and welcome back to Spirit Sherpa, the show that helps and encourages you on your journey to unlock your magic mojo. If you're new to this type of work, we suggest you start with episode one and move your way forward from there. Each episode builds on the last, and you'll have a solid understanding of the spiritual world by the time you get to the end.

If you're further along in your journey, please start at episode 98. And if you're ready to step into being a spiritual practitioner or teacher yourself, then episode 200 is the best place to start. Wherever you are in your journey, we're here to help guide you to the next level. With me, as always, to share her insights and wisdom is the spirit doctor, Kelle Sparta.

Hello, Kelle. Hey, Jules. How's your day going? Oh, it's... I'm, I'm, I'm dragging. My, my karaoke is, is just bleeding into my day. There's a reason we moved our podcast days to Thursdays, and today we didn't do it. So yeah. I, I host karaoke on Monday nights here in Boquete, and it's, it's a late night, and I'm like, "Mama needs a nap."

I didn't have an, uh, have a late night and my mama needs, over here needs a nap too. You know? Boy. Yeah, Mercury retrograde, man. It'll kick your ass. That's it. Yeah. And then, well, we're recording this on May 2nd, so, um, May 1st, that was Beltane. There we go. Does that have any effect on, on sleep patterns? 'Cause- It can.

I mean, so Beltane, much like Samhain, uh, those are the two times when the veil is thinnest between the worlds. So if you don't have up a, you know, w- a ward and, and protections on your sleep space and, you know, if you don't have any of that going on, then you could be getting visits from spirits from the other side because this is when it's easiest for them to reach us.

So yeah. I mean, that could, could have an impact. And you know, even if you have a ward up, if you have an open invitation to your ancestors, then, you know, you might have had a little bit of a hard time sleeping last night, so. Yeah. They're gonna be coming in, "Hi, honey. Grandma's here. How you doing? I'm just peek-a-pooing in."

"Hey, let's hang out." Right, yeah. Ugh, and then you're just like, "What?" in the morning. Yeah. Like, "Hello, McFly." Yeah. That's it. Yeah. Well, today we're gonna be talking about the spiritual approach to physical pain. Yes. So you know, we, we were actually gonna do a different topic today. We... Th- this is a theme. But I, I create this great list of things that I want to talk about, and then I go, "Nope" in the moment.

But, you know, on the days that I don't have something else, it's really helpful to me to have a thing that just says, "Talk about this." And I'm like, "Okay, I can do that." So, um, but I got a call from Kathy yesterday 'cause she threw her back out. And, um, yeah, and, you know, I spent most of my 20s on the floor with my back being out, and so she knew this, and she was like, "Okay, I need some hints."

And I'm like, "Okay, here we go." So, um, I want to talk about that today because there is, uh, you know, specifically back pain, but any pain. You know, there, there are s- some things that you can do. The first thing that's important is to remember that spiritually, what you focus on expands, and so you do not want to pay attention to the pain.

So we wanna ignore the pain. It's different than ignoring it. There's a way... What you're trying to do is you're trying to get on top of the pain, right? So that the pain is underneath you, and you're not in it, right? So when you focus on the pain, it's like you're diving into the water of the pain, and it becomes all-encompassing, and it's all you can feel, and it's all you can pay attention to, right?

And so what you wanna do is you wanna get out of the water, right? And you wanna put the water underneath you, right? So you're literally, like, walking on water, right? So but the idea is to get above the pain. Uh, so in this case, and I'm gonna use having your back out as an example, because I was deep in it with Kathy yesterday.

Um- Oh, I'll, I'll, I'll take that from, uh, planting the garden. My lower back has been killing me. So this'll be helpful, helpful for me also. Yeah. So the first thing you have to do is you have to put the pain underneath you. You have to get on top of it, right? And then from there, what you have to do is you have to respect your body's limits, right?

So, so you get on top of the pain by not focusing on it. You're just, like, shoving it back. Um, it's not ignoring it, because the pain is informative. The pain tells you that your body doesn't wanna do this thing, right? So you wanna still listen to it, because pain is your body's way of saying, "Hey, don't do that," right?

But you don't want to dive into it where you are in, you know, overwhelmed by it, right? So there's a difference. It's, it's a reference point. It's not a I'm paying attention to the pain, and I'm all encompassed by it. So I can, I can acknowledge it, but not let- Yeah ... but not let it overtake me, and that's all that I'm focusing on.

Yes, exactly. Okay? So for instance, um, you know, if you've got back pain, we're gonna use this as the example today. So the first thing you're gonna do is you're gonna look for the place where the pain is coming from, which most often is not your back in back pain. It's often from your sciatic nerve or from locked muscles in your legs or in your butt.

You'd be surprised how much pain from the back is actually from your butt. I'm a big fan of take two tennis balls, put them in a, a, an old sock, tie it, and then sit on those tennis balls and move them around on your butt in different places so that you can break up the muscles. Now, one of the things that people with chronic back pain or, you know, stubborn back pain that doesn't wanna go is that it's not...

They're like, "It's not releasing. It's not releasing. I can't get it to release. I've taken, you know, 800 milligrams of ibuprofen, and it doesn't get any better." Yeah, that's because you're chronically low on magnesium. The, the average American is chronically low on magnesium. If your muscles are not releasing, it is most likely because you are low on magnesium.

Be very careful taking large doses of magnesium depending on the type of magnesium you get because it is also a, uh, it'll make you b- v- it's, it's an anti-const- constipation. It'll make you shit your pants if you're not careful. So, um, so- Gets everything rolling. Yeah. If you take magnesium glycinate instead of magnesium citrate or citrate, um, then the chances of that happening are much m...

They're eliminated is my understanding. I haven't tried it, but I'm... The next time I buy magnesium, I'm buying glycinate. I just got that from a, a neuroscientist on TikTok recently, uh, who said that. And so glycinate, magnesium glycinate. Now, you can only absorb 100 milligrams of magnesium in an hour. So there is no point in taking multiple pills at the same time because most pills are four hundred milligram pills, and so three hundred milligrams is going to waste anyway.

Okay? So unless it is time-release. If you can get a time release at four hundred milligrams, you'll be stylin'. Okay? You can also get it in droplet form, and the drop, the... and then you can just drop a few drops in your water every time you, you put some water in your container, and that'll, that'll get you up and running too.

So but if your muscles aren't releasing, it's because your magnesium is low. Mag- low magnesium actually causes a lot of problems, including depression and a whole host of other things. It... Go, go search it on Google. You'll be floored at how much a low magnesium can do to your body and the fact that the average American is chronically low on magnesium.

Every time you have a cup of coffee, every time you drink a s- a carbonated drink, you are sucking all the magnesium out of your body. It's all the caffeine and the, and the carbonation. Those suck magnesium out of your body. And do not take your magnesium with your calcium because they compete with one another, so, you know, y- one or the other will not be absorbed.

So take them separately. Um, mag- uh, i-if you're having a hard time sleeping, insomnia can actually be a low magnesium thing, so taking your magnesium just before you go to bed is also a good idea 'cause it helps with good sleep. So all sorts of good stuff, right? All right. So if your muscles aren't releasing, magnesium, right?

Um, there's also this wonderful stuff called Topricin, T-O-P-R-I-C-I-N, and it is an... It, it's an herbal. You can get it from Whole Foods. You can get it from Amazon. I don't know anyplace else, but probably your local co-op with health food stuff. Um, it is a, an anti... So it's good for bruises, it's good for tendons, and it's good for muscles, and it includes arnica gel.

So, uh, if you're a big arnica fan, this is arnica on steroids. Okay? Love this. Love this stuff. Okay? So if you've got one spot that's really giving you a hard time, Topricin or arnica would be a good thing to use topically. Okay? Now From a perspective of how... So we're, we're getting on top of the pain. Now what we have to do is we have to talk to our body, and what we're doing is we're talking to our body and, and asking it to relax.

Okay? So the first thing is if you're having back pain, sitting is bad. Sitting is the worst thing you can do when you have back pain. So you either stand or you lay down. If you're gonna do the relaxation, you wanna lay down. Okay? And what you're gonna do is you're gonna consciously bring your attention to the, the spots that you think are causing the pain, right?

Now, with specifically with low back pain, uh, or sciatic pain that goes, that often will radiate down into the legs, uh, what you wanna do is you want to make sure that you are focusing on the pelvic region. Uh, the, the glutes, the pelvis, the pelvic floor specifically. Now, when I talk about the pelvic floor, we're talking about the muscles you use to pee or not pee, to poo or not poo, the Kegel muscles if you're a woman, right?

Um, uh, the muscles that men use to bounce the pe- penis, right? Those are the, all the muscles, right? These are the muscles that we're talking about. When you sit for too long, those muscles tense up, and they can actually cause nerves to get stuck and things to inflame and whatever, right? So what you want to do is you wanna focus on releasing those.

So first you're gonna stretch, right? You're gonna stretch your legs. You want both the hamstring- strings and the quads, and then cross your leg in front of you and lean over it so you get your butt and your low back, right? So one leg at a time, do that. It's easy to do on the side of your bed. You don't even have to get on the floor for it.

Then you can, if you want, do cross-legged and cr- and lean over both, but it's not as m- I, I mean, it'll help some. It'll stretch the main portion of the back. Just make sure you keep your head down, not up, and that extends the stretch all the way up the spine, right? And then, um, once you've got that stretched out and you've sat on your tennis balls and you've broken up the muscles a bit, then you're gonna lay down and you're gonna have this conversation with yourself, okay?

And you're gonna talk to the muscles in your body. Now- My experience is, and I, I was chronically in pain i- throughout my 20s, and I had such bad back pain that I was on the floor all the time. And I gained huge amounts of weight, and I don't have back pain now most of the time, and that's because I've lowered my stress levels.

I've done more conversations with myself. I've done a lot of things, right? And so my experience has been that back pain is related to stress, okay? It can be from physical overwork like you were talking about with the garden and whatever, but if it doesn't go away quickly, it's likely stress-related, okay?

Um, if it doesn't go away entirely with- when stretching, it's definitely stress-related, okay? So at that point, what you have to do is identify what you're stressed about and work on releasing that, that stress. Regardless of whether you deal with the stress, you also need to talk to the muscles, and you need to ask them to relax.

Now, here's the thing. If you're in pain, the first, second, or even third level of relaxation is not gonna be all of it, okay? So what you're gonna do is you're gonna go to that muscle group, and you're gonna say, "I'm, I'm gonna breathe in," 'cause oxygen helps your muscles to release, okay? So we have to be doing deep breathing, not hyperventilation.

We're not doing . We're doing

Right? Slow breath in, slow breath out. You're gonna breathe in. You're gonna ask that muscle group to relax. Don't forget to, to ask the muscles inside the pelvis region to relax, the butt muscles to relax, the low back muscles to relax, the leg muscles to relax, right? You're gonna be focusing on that. Work your way through a sequence, and then go back to the top and start the sequence over again and ask for the next level of release and the next level of release.

So at least three times. It may take five to eight times to really get a level that makes a huge difference, okay? Because each muscle group is tensing in response to each other muscle group. Kinda like a m- monkey see, monkey do. One tenses up. Why are you tense? I'm gonna tense up. Right. And so each time you release, you're gonna release a little bit, and then the other muscle groups are gonna follow suit, and then you gotta do it again, and then you gotta do it again.

So you're working your way through this iterative process that is allowing things to relax, right? Now, let's say you get to the point where you can't move, you can't breathe, you're, you're, like, in screaming pain, right? Um, 'cause you ignored your pain instead of honoring your pain and paying attention to it and dealing with it, right?

So when that happens, you're... it's gonna take you a while. It took you several days to get into that space. It's gonna take you several days to get back out. That's the nature of the beast, unfortunately. But you're gonna have to move in that interim, right? So first thing I'm gonna say is if you have to go to the toilet, I know it's gonna hurt to sit down.

Get off the toilet as fast as possible. Do not sit there on your phone and, and, you know, try and work up the courage to get off the toilet because of the pain, right? Because sitting on the toilet for long periods, even when your back is in good condition, can cause your back to go out, okay? So it's a bad idea to spend long periods of time on the toilet, okay?

So second, don't be sitting. You gotta be laying down or standing up. No sitting because that c- it, it compresses the, the spine. It, it's just, it's bad in so many ways, right? It tenses up all the muscles that help you sit. It's... which tenses up everything that's a problem in the first place, right? And when you move, and this is the other thing, you, you have to stop anticipating the pain because when you anticipate the pain, you tense up, okay?

So what you have to do when you move is you're gonna move very slowly and very consciously, and you're gonna move until you hit that twinge point, and you're gonna go, "Okay, that's the limit." And you're gonna back off the twinge point, and then you're gonna breathe, and then you're gonna move to the twinge point until you can keep moving, right?

Yeah And okay, you're not gonna push past the twinge point, 'cause that will amplify the, the... It'll undo everything you've ever done. Okay? And then you want to move as though you are a dancer dancing with the pain. Okay? And I know I can say this to Jules 'cause she's a dancer. But, but literally the pain is your partner in this, right?

So you dance up to the pain, and then you dance back, and then you dance up, and then you dance back. And, and the idea is to dance and not get into the pain space, right? So that you can come up to it but not go into it, and then that way you can get your movements going. But it, it is a conscious presence practice, so you can treat it as such, as a gift from the universe to help you practice your presence.

Because you cannot do this effectively if you are not present. If you are at the, "I have to go get this thing from the other room," or, "I have to make myself food," or, "I have to pee," or whatever it is, right, that you, that forced you out of your bed, then what you have to do is you have to be present with it.

And the idea is to consciously be relaxing the muscles all the time that you're moving. So the- So, and- Yeah, go ahead. Oh, I was gonna say, you were mentioning about, you know, dancing with the pain, and it's similar to... For me, it's similar to how when I'm stretching and I go to where it's comfortable, and then I just hold it there, so then next time I eventually, I get more flexible.

And it's like working through that flexibility. So it's similar, 'cause it's like, "Ooh, let's not do that. Okay, I'm gonna back off of it, and I'm just gonna hold, breathing through it. Okay." Yeah. And under no circumstances... So I know there are some of us out there who are old enough to have been told to reach to the end of your, your stretch and then bounce.

And then you're gonna come off the stretch for five seconds. And then you will go back into the stretch for 10 to 15 seconds again using the same rule. You'll probably be able to go further, but breathing is important, right? If your s- if your stretch is not getting further with each one, again, I refer you back to the magnesium.

It is not because you suck. It's not because your body isn't working with you. It's because you are low on magnesium, and your body can't work with you. Needs all of the things it needs to function. And water, water in- intake could also affect that, yeah? Water can, can impact it. If you're, if you're dehydrated, yeah, it can absolutely impact it.

Um, so sufficient hydration, always good That's, again, our electrolytes don't work without sufficient moisture, and if you're, if you're sweating a lot and you're not replenishing your electrolytes through drinking coconut water or, like, a Gatorade or a, a... I like Emergen-C 'cause it's got less sugar than Gatorade.

Um, through something like that or a Pedialyte, right? If you're not replenishing your electrolytes, then that, that will also mess with things. So all of these things and more, right? But ultimately, and if you, if you look up, um, Louise Hay is, um... What was the book's title? It was how, how, Why We Don't Heal and How We Can, I think is the name of the t- the book.

Um, she has a complete list of absolutely everything energetically that is associated with, uh, physical symptoms, and so that book is phenomenal for that. And where'd you go, Jules? You wandered off. Um, I'm, I'm here 'cause I thought I had the book with me. Ah. But it's at, it's at the house. Yeah. 'Cause I have that book, and I was trying to remember what it was, and is it at the house?

Yes, it's at the house. Yeah. Never mind. I'm here. I don't remember what the low back pain is. Mid back pain is financial. Upper back pain is emotional stress. I can't remember what low back pain is.

But, but, um, you know, everything that could possibly go wrong with you is in that book, so I highly recommend that, that you pick up a copy. It's a great reference book. Um, and, you know, going in and talking to the pain is another way to do it, but you're talking to it as though it's still outside of you.

You're not going into it to talk to it, right? So you, you sit down, you go into a meditative state, and then you bring up the pain as a person in front of you, and then you have a conversation with it. And you're like, "Okay, tell me what's going on. Why are we here?" And it'll say, "Well, you know, I'm pretty stressed out about this," and you're like, "Oh, okay."

Or, you know, "You haven't been treating me very well. You know, we've been sitting for 12-hour days for 15 days straight," you know? It's like, you know, you get what you get. You're not listening to your body. Your body said done at three hours, and you kept going, right? That sort of thing. So it'll tell you what the problem is, and then you have to actually listen to it and make an adjustment, which I know we're not so great at, so What?

I have to listen to something? What is wrong with you? I'll listen to it- ... but I'm not gonna do anything about it, right? Right. Right. Now, you've mentioned in other podcasts that we've had, um, I don't remember exactly which one, but one in particular, I remember the story. I believe you were at a restaurant or somewhere, and you just happened to see, like, an alien that was attached to a child, and they were actually causing the child harm.

But they didn't know that, and they were like, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry." If it's something like that where something is attached or whatever, and how would I know that as opposed to, hey, my body's fussing at me for not listening to it? Uh, an ener- So first off, if you've got shields up, you shouldn't have this problem.

We'll start with that. Uh, but let's assume you don't, or for some reason, your, your energy is messed up and your shields are broken in some way, which doesn't happen very often, but it could. Um, w- the first thing you can do is, is you... When you go into that meditative state, you can step outside of yourself and walk around yourself and look at you on the energetic and see if there's anything there.

Okay, so I would actually see said thing that would be attached to me on, on the energetic. Okay. On the energetic, yeah. So you literally step out of your body, um, your consciousness out of your body, and then just walk around yourself. Pick up your feet, look under your feet, look, look behind your back. So that's one way.

If you go in to talk to the pain, if you forget to do that or you don't feel comfortable doing that or whatever, when you go in to talk to the pain, if the pain feels like it's alien, then you may be talking to the thing that's causing the pain Oh, okay. That's what I was, I was wondering if you, if I would be able to tell the difference between, you know, my back pain, oh, I'm not li- I'm pushing it too much, or, you know, uh, some form of ET, you know, that, that's there.

The ET thing is so unusual. I would, I would assume that it's your pain. It is very rare that that's the case. That would be, like, the exception to the rule. Absolutely, yeah. Well, there you go. So I wouldn't- So don't blame E- don't, don't blame ET for those of you who don't wanna listen to your back and your body.

It's not ET. See how I did that? Mm-hmm. Um, um, yeah. Dadgum it. Me. You don't wanna listen. Me. Exactly. You wanna be Superwoman. You don't want anything- ... to bother me. I gotta do it all myself. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, 'cause I don't trust anybody else to do it. Hello, have you met us?

'Cause they're gonna fuck it up. Yeah. They're g- they're gonna fuck it up. I cannot go. If they try at all because they won't even bother. They'll just let me down. Yeah, I understand. Yes. Yes. Yes. I get it. I really, really do. See, we hear that. I was hearing that so much I get it. But- Oh my God, the struggle is real

you know, your body doesn't care that you don't trust other people. Your body doesn't care. It's like, "Mm-mm." Yeah. The- Oh, man ... this is the other thing, is that som- sometimes we will get, our bodies will, will tighten up to force us to take some downtime. You know, it is a message from Spirit saying, "Sit the fuck down.

Better yet, lay the fuck down," right? "Stop pushing yourself. We're trying to talk to you, and you are pushing yourself so hard that we can't get through, so we're gonna tighten up some part of your body to force you to sit down." Do not push past that point, because if you don't listen the first time, they will l- do something that will lay you out entirely.

They'll give you a car accident. They'll make you trip and fall. There's any number of things. If you are not listening, Spirit will do some shit to get your attention. S- so pay attention, please, 'cause they don't wanna do it, but they will, right? Yeah. So I'ma tell you a quick funny on that. So my husband had a little surgery, supposed to be down for six weeks.

Well, he's not so good at, you know, sitting, 'cause he's like, "If the sun's up, I'm working. If sun goes down, I go to bed," right? All, you know, the opposite of lazy. So I was so worried. I'm like, "Babe, you got to, like, chill. I know you're gonna f- start feeling better. I know you're gonna wanna do something. Like, you need to chill."

He gets COVID for his surgery For like the third time. And I told him, I said, "You see? You feel like shit, and the universe made it so, so you wouldn't feel like doing anything." He said, "You're exactly right." He said, "They made sure that I just laid down and all I wanted to do was sleep." And I said, "Yes." I said, "I didn't have to, I didn't have to worry about a thing.

Universe..." I'm like, "Universe got me." We laughed about that, but that was so true. I'm like, "Number three, I, I knew why you were gonna get it." And, and I didn't get it. 'Cause it wasn't for you. 'Cause it wasn't for me. It wasn't a cold. It wasn't a sinus infection. You know, whatever it was, you know. And, and it was just for him, you know?

And I didn't get it. It wasn't for me. So I'm like, "You see?" So yes, plea, please heed Kelle's very lovely warning. Don't push past. No messing with the clue by four. No. Clue by four to the forehead, boosh. Yeah, toof. Knocks you right down. Yeah. Yeah. No messing with the clue by four. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no, no. So, okay.

Yeah. So I think that covers it for today. Yes. So I, I think what we're gonna say to wrap this one up is dance with the pain. Dance with the pain. Yeah Um, slow, slow, quick, quick, slow Slow, slow. Oh my God, what step is that? I know what step that is. Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow. Slow. Two-step. Thank you. Yeah, yeah.

I was like, "I know this one." I've, I've, I've done that one. Yeah. Yep. So, yeah, so guys, if you are getting a, a lot out of this podcast, please share it with your friends. Please rate it and, and review it on your podcast player so that other people can find it more easily. Uh, you know, share it on social media.

You know, we so appreciate anything you do to help us, uh, get the message out. And, uh, don't forget to join the, the, uh, Spirit Sherpa Facebook group because, uh, we've got, like 800 people in there, and, uh, all of the people who come onto the podcast are in there. So if you have any questions for anybody who's ever been on the podcast, you can reach them in that group.

They'll, they will answer your questions. Uh, and we also do specials in that group from time to time, so things that you don't get anywhere else, so. And, uh, make sure you join the mailing list because there's all sorts of great stuff that comes out in the newsletter once a week and, uh, you know, additional things above and beyond the podcast that, that are, that I'm sharing.

And you know, if you're not on TikTok, then we'll pick a, we pick a TikTok every week to share with you. And I've been telling stories on TikTok about my, uh, my spiritual awakening and how that's, you know, how, how those pieces went. So that's a really good reason to, to get onto the mailing list if you don't wanna be on TikTok itself.

Um, you can get the, the videos there. So yeah, and that's it for this week. That's it for this week. All right, well, tune in next time when Kelle adds another chapter into your guide to energy, magic, and the spirit world. I'm Jules, here with Kelle Sparta, and you have been listening to Spirit Sherpa. So long, everybody.