Do you have a spot on your body that is red, warm, swollen and hurts? Most likely it’s an inflammation. It probably bothers you because it will undoubtedly hinder you. And that’s exactly your body’s intention! The body is incredibly clever!  The more I study it, the more impressed I am! If there’s something going on, the body will get busy dealing with it.

The body’s mysterious ways

Your body has various fantastic ways of doing this. Sores (for working a splinter out of your body, for example), getting rid of something (like your skin peeling), encapsulation (if your body can’t get it outside of the body, it surrounds it with a thick layer), fever (to “roast” bacteria and viruses), the production of phlegm (to get waste out of your body by sniffling or coughing) or by creating an inflammation. And, inflammations are great!

What is an inflammation?

Inflammations are described in the medical world by four characteristics: rubor, calor, tumor and dolor. These are the Latin words for:

1. Redness (rubor). The body supplies the spot where the inflammation can be found with extra blood. It does this to be able to send good substances to it, to get rid of waste. That’s why the spot appears red. The skin appears to be redder because of the red color of your blood, which can be seen through your skin.

2. Warmth (calor). At the location of the inflammation, your skin feels warmer. That’s because more blood is flowing to this point. Blood is warm, and therefore the area of inflammation is warmer.

3. Swelling (tumor). Have you seen that the word “tumor” means nothing more than “swelling”? For many people the word tumor has come to have a very scary meaning, but it’s nothing more than a spot on your body at which swelling has developed. Either because a lot of fluid has collected there, or because more cells have been created with the intention of healing. With inflammations, it is fluid. Extra fluids, so your body is better capable of healing that spot.

4. Pain (dolor). With inflammations, pain develops at some point. That is the moment that you become aware that something is there. The inflammation developed weeks ago(!), but because it starts to hurt, you begin to notice it! The pain develops because of the swelling and is usually caused by extra fluid. The spot swells up, the skin is taut and there is more pressure on the tissues underneath. And you feel that!

Should you cool that area?

If you take a good look at how the body works, it’s actually strange to cool it! That advice is often given to reduce the pain. But the body wants a lot of blood to flow around this area and cooling thwarts that. If you can bear the pain without cooling, allow the body to be warm! An example of this is sucking on ice blocks or eating ice cream when you have a sore throat. It reduces the pain but actually hinders your body from doing its work…

Painkillers, anti-inflammatory medication

An inflammation is usually gone in 2-3 weeks. Small inflammations can disappear within a few days. If it takes longer, people can’t cope with it because it hinders daily life, such as work or taking care of other people. They go to their primary care physicians, who prescribe painkillers or anti-inflammatory medications. A doctor can’t do much more for you and often advises you to rest. Rest?! That’s the last piece of advice you want to hear! You’ve already had the inflammation for a few weeks and are tired. You want to feel better again and for the inflammation to quickly disappear.

Rest to prevent overdoing it

And, unfortunately, the doctor is correct! Rest and relaxation are the best medicine for an inflammation, because you need your body to do it’s job. You just kept going on without taking care of yourself. “What kind of rest? Sitting still? Impossible! I have to work!” If we’re talking about bursitis, it’s definitely a good idea to give that part of your body a rest, so your body can take care of itself.
And it’s often about inner peace. Letting your mind relax. Getting rid of stress! Or, working on the real cause of the inflammation! What went on beforehand? What happened in the months before your inflammation? The answer is often very literal. Look at the part of your body where the inflammation can be found and observe what you can’t do because of it. I’ll name a few. What happened before an inflammation of the following started bothering you:
– Jaws: did you have to keep your mouth shut? Did someone silence you?
– Feet: did someone get in your way? Are you afraid to take a step forward?
Afraid of something? Did you unwillingly give in to someone?
– Shoulder: what burden is on your shoulders? Has it become too much for you?
– Skin: did someone touch you in an unpleasant manner? Are you trying to hide yourself?

Chronic inflammations

If the inflammation becomes chronic, you still haven’t found the cause of it. Maybe it’s from your childhood. Your body can only cause the inflammation to spread, to make it worse, until you give up and look for the source of it. Rest. Call in sick. Ask someone to take care of your children, to do your shopping, to take over at work. And unfortunately, medication may be necessary.

Inflammations and the MIR-Method

The MIR-Method has the interesting characteristic that you don’t have to know the source of an inflammation. Your subconscious does! By doing the MIR-Method, you systematically work on this. That saves you a lot of searching and unnecessarily reliving of traumas. We’ve already had reports from people about pain disappearing and people reporting that they were able to stop taking medication for a tennis elbow!

Extra MIR-Method technique

What you can do is to lay your hand on the inflamed area. When you lay your hand on the area, you stroke your hand while doing the 9 steps. See also article 120, An Extra MIR-Method Technique. You can watch me doing it in a video. This works well with sore throats, for example; put your hand on your throat and stroke!

Have you already had the experience that an inflammation was gone more quickly by doing the MIR-Method? I’d love to hear about it from you! Please write about it below. Thank you!

Have a good inflammation-recovery!
Sincere greetings, 
Mireille Mettes

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P.S. Are you not yet familiar with the MIR-Method? Please go to the homepage: www.mirmethod.com.  You can watch the video there and also the instruction video. Register on the homepage to receive the newsletter and 6 weeks of coaching e-mails for extra support!