'Relax and Release
Your Pain' - by Jan Sadler
BackCare review - Talkback May 2006

Jan Sadler, the author of Natural Pain Relief, suffers with back and leg pain (sciatica) and has been working with people in pain since 1990. Her books and CD's for pain control and pain relief are used by many NHS hospitals, pain clinics, chiropractors, physiotherapists and self-help groups.

'Relax and Release your pain' is Jan's latest addition and it was recently reviewed by 8 members of BackCare's Harrogate Support Group, one Yoga / Relaxation therapist and a Personal Councillor. They unanimously agree that this is by far the best relaxation compilation they have ever had the pleasure of listening to and, more importantly, benefited from. Our Yoga and Relaxation therapist said " I have listened to many tapes on similar lines but found this one far superior - I would personally recommend it to anyone needing to relax for whatever reason."

The CD is well structured in 5 parts:

• Part 1 - Introduction to pain management and relaxation. Jan describes breathing techniques and encourages us to discover the power we have in ourselves to help control our pain naturally.
• Part 2 - Body Scan relaxation - an excellent and easy to follow routine relaxing the body from toe to head in easy stages - whilst this has been done many times before Jan's gentle technique and soft voice can't fail to work.
• Part 3 - Pain Management skills - An excellent introduction for those who are new to pain management and a good reminder for those who have already completed a course in pacing, exercise and positively
• Part 4 - Visualisation relaxation - Jan gently talks us through our hidden garden - a familiar but highly successful technique which worked for us where others have failed.
• Part 5 - 22 minutes of relaxing music - always the difficult part because everyone's taste is different but only one out of our 10 trial members found it not quite to taste all the way through.

Even from the very start, even though some of our pains had been worse than usual, we were encouraged to take deep relaxing breaths and smile, we were taken on a journey which left all of us feeling very refreshed, relaxed and with reduced pain. The 5 sections make it very easy to select the sequence preferred without having to listen to all the intermediate talk as well. This is a real bonus over tapes and makes the whole concept totally useable. One of our members now uses the visualisation and music sections every night to help her sleep.