Charlotte Riley's
Healing of Fibromyalgia

From the Inspired Times, The Journal of Breath, 4th Quarter, 1998

"It hurt to live. It hurt to breathe, and it hurt to be here. I had so much physical pain, it brought on depression, and then more chronic pain. I tried every drug and therapy available and when nothing worked, I just didn't want to live anymore. then I discovered Full Wave Breathing. It allowed me to quit focusing on my pain and begin experiencing a joy I had never known. the pain is reduced by 95%" ~ Charlotte Riley

Meet Charlotte

For almost 20 years, Charlotte Riley couldn't seem to get on the track of good health. There were emotional traumas. Charlotte's mother died. She got divorced. She had several accidents-whitewater rafting, snow skiing, driving. Each accident affected the right side of her neck and shoulder. She had several abdominal surgeries for endometriosis. Pain became like a stalking shadow, constant and threatening.

Every time a doctor said, "You'll have this for the rest of your life," Charlotte refused to believe. She searched for relief. And she found it through Full Wave Breathing!

Forty-three year old Charlotte Riley has been a Master's level nurse for 21 years. During this 20-year cycle of accumulating physical pain and emotional trauma, she fell into periods of depression and chronic stress.

"I tried every antidepressant ever prescribed. I floated in those salt tanks. I went to Rolfers and to massage therapists. I went to Chiropractors, and I wore a tenz unit. I went through three rounds of physical therapy, and finally entered a pain-management program.

"Though I kept working full time to support myself, the depression and the pain were so intertwined that I really hit a bottom. You know, I really didn't want to live very long.

"That's when I decided to take a short term disability and go through a pain program even though I'd lost faith in traditional Western medicine. I didn't know what else to do. Well, when I went through the pain program, I let them do trigger point injections-the worst. They were just awful, and finally something in me said, 'You have to stop this. This is actually like an assault on your body.'

"This was the most desperate time. The doctors were all saying, 'The good news is fibromyalgia won't kill you. The bad news is that you'll have it for the rest of your life'

"Chronic pain is one of the most draining conditions. It affects every aspect of your life. Every time a doctor would say 'You'll have this for the rest of your life,' a very clear voice inside of me said 'No, Charlotte, you will not. Do not accept that.'

"I've always had a belief, at least as far back as I can think, that our bodies know how to heal if we could figure out how to let that happen. I just had that belief and I wasn't going to give up until I found something that was going to help. I just would not accept that."

Finding Her Answer

Sometimes, when we pray for a way out of our condition, the universe responds to our requests. Yet, it may not be in the way we expect.

One evening, when Charlotte had time on her hands, she pulled a book from her bookshelf. It was a book on Rebirthing that she had bought years before. The more she read, the more it touched her "in my soul is the best way to describe it. I thought that I have to do this."

That first book led to another on the subject. Then she started calling her local resources to determine if anyone could refer her to a "rebirther." After weeks, her chiropractor had a patient who knew somebody who might do what Charlotte requested.

Charlotte asked the woman, "Are you a rebirther?"

"Actually, rebirthing is the Volkswagen of breathwork, and I teach the Cadillac version," the woman replied.

"I said, OK. I just knew what I had read about breathwork and how it could work emotionally and physically, spiritually and mentally. It can just do so much. I made my first appointment. My intent for the session was just relief from this pain. She asked me what I wanted my life to be like. I said, 'That I wouldn't hurt. I would have all this energy to do what I want to do.' I had no idea what that was at that time. I just wanted to get out of pain. Beyond that, I couldn't think.

"Yet I could describe my very first breath session. First it felt like electricity was going through me. Then I felt like I was the electricity. I was the current. I had places in my body come alive that I either hadn't felt or shut down for years. And it was a good feeling. It wasn't scary. It was awesome. And then I went back every three to four weeks probably for six months."

How Full Wave Breathing Helped

Charlotte remembered that her facilitator said, "I think Fibromyalgia is fear frozen in your muscles."

When she said that, it resonated. Charlotte felt like she was moving boulders of fear. When the new feelings frightened her, she just kept breathing through those times.

Then, three months into it she had made the decision that she also wanted to facilitate breathwork.

"I want to do this. People need to know about this. I need to share this. "Something in me wanted more. I wasn't totally comfortable with the approach but I couldn't put my finger on why. I think I had a feeling that this facilitator's focus was similar to talk therapy. I did talk therapy for six years, and in some ways it was very helpful. But you just stay stuck, not feeling like anything is moving inside. And I think you can come up with things to process forever. My energy was moving, and now I wanted another perspective. I wanted to go where the research was being done."

After about six months, Charlotte felt well enough to return to her nursing position. She wondered if she could actually make a living facilitating breathwork. And she wanted to study more. She reported that when she started coming to Colorado for the training certification, a whole shift occurred. When Joy became her intention during breathing sessions, she felt her pain relief went from 50% to 90%. Her breathing experiences became less cathartic and explosive and more gentle. What made the difference for Charlotte was the statement of the intention of joy and focusing her mind to that end. She finally quit focusing on her pain and her past. She started living again when she could determine a new life goal-joy!

Dreams Come True

"So now I have a whole lot of dreams coming true in my life. I wanted to be more passionate about what I teach. Nothing has grabbed me or been so healing and so transforming as Full Wave Breathing. And so I read it, study it, share it and talk about it.

"It's a dream that's going to come true- that I'm going to bring this breathwork to other parts of the country-introduce this into communities where it isn't yet. I think what finally has happened is that I believe in myself. I feel very guided from my spirit. This is just meant to happen."

Once Charlotte's flow of life opened up for her, everything seemed to fall into place. She wanted to take a trip out west, be in the mountains and really take a break from the last 21 years. To do so she had to sell her house.

As she tells it-- "I wanted to sell my house for a particular price. I want to put 2/3 of that money in the bank. I sold it in two weeks for what I wanted. And people who want to breathe with me are just popping up. It's so awesome. And the fact that I'm able to exercise is a miracle. I mean I haven't exercised my arms or upper body in maybe ten years, and now I could do it every day. I sleep at night without getting up five times. I used to get up every morning because it hurt too much to stay in bed.

"What Full Wave Breathing has done for my life is awesome, and it just keeps getting better. It reduces my physical pain by 95% when I do it consistently. "It has brought much more clarity to my thinking. Emotionally, my depression completely lifted. I still get angry, still get afraid, and the feelings just go right through me. It lasts only an hour when it used to last a week. And it's so completely uplifting on every level."

Charlotte has demonstrated tremendous courage in moving from a debilitating chronic pain syndrome into reclaiming her life and her health. Throughout the years of depression and pain, she refused to be a victim. She never lost hope. Charlotte continued to search. Now that her search is over through her tool for health, Charlotte plans to bring Full Wave Breathing to others as a Facilitator and Trainer.