Forget About Your Pain -- New Book Tells How To Manage And Heal Those Chronic Hurts

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com)  —  Watch TV for ten minutes and the idea that America is obsessed with pain becomes fairly obvious. Within short order, you are bombarded with commercials for  -- back ache, fibromyalgia, tooth ache, leg cramps, joint pain, arthritis, migraines, angina, menstrual cramps, muscle spasms, headaches and on and on and on.

We are, clearly a country in pain.

A new, LA-based author says pain can be managed and even better -- alleviated once and for all.

Peter Bedard has helped thousands of people overcome pain and the fearful shadow it has cast over their lives.

With an MA in consciousness studies and an extensive training in hypnotherapy and alternative health, Bedard has now put his best practices to paper.

His new book, "Convergence Healing: Healing Pain With Energetic Love"  (Simon & Schuster, CBS' sister company.) is for anyone suffering or wondering where to turn.

The book was recently number one on Amazon in the categories of Pain Management and Mental Health & Spirituality and number one on Kindle in the category of Pain Management. (You can also find his book online, at Barnes & Noble, and through most booksellers -- Indie Bound, B&N.com, iBooks, Google Books, Amazon, GoodReads.com.)

Bedard says, at any given time in the world, one in five people are in pain. Some chronic, some that comes and goes. But he feels one reason some never get over pain is that they don't know how to embrace it, deal with it.And move on.

"What if you stopped avoiding it and actually embraced it and what it has to share with you? It is time to step out of the fear of the pain and to start working with it. It can be a gift," he says. "Don't be a victim to your own pain."

A gift? In the way that pain can be a warning sign or a wake up call.

The book, of course, goes into extensive detail on just how to manage and heal pain but, for starters, there are simple things Bedard suggests to get there in a relative hurry. These include:

Name Your Pain: Stop resisting! You're in pain. It is what it is. Take a moment to actually stop running from it and pause. Face your pain, give it a name even and embrace it. No more shoving it down and avoiding it.

Love Your Pain: So, as crazy as it sounds, love your pain. It is part of you and this part of you that is suffering needs to be loved more than anything. Take a moment right now to send love to that part of you that is hurting. Most likely, you've been sending anger and frustration to it. Stop. Breathe. Be present with it.

Ask The Pain What It Needs To Heal: Healing must take place on all levels of who we are. Often, wounds of the heart and mind are more damaging than physical wounds so ask the part of you that is in pain what it needs from you to heal on all levels, body, mind, spirit. Listen for the answers and when they come and act upon them immediately. This new way of communicating with your pain is an ongoing dialogue of love, respect, and action. Through these conversations you will begin to develop your own individual recipe for your healing.

Bedard left acting about six years ago -- "One of the best decisions I've ever made," to concentrate on pain management. And he should know from embracing pain and healing.

Several years ago, he slammed into the back of a parked semi-truck.

He was killed in the car crash, not just literally but figuratively, as well. Died. As in declared dead. On the operating table. He was brought back to life and spent years wracked with his own pain, physical, emotional and spiritual.

The car wreck didn't just almost destroy him physically. He's also healed himself from anxiety, depression, sciatica and the aforementioned arthritis and fibromyalgia.

Bedard has taken that experience and learned to help others. A lot of his business is helping people one-on-one. If only because every body is literally different.

"Everybody is different," Bedard says, " and that's why the work I do is so rewarding. The process of Convergence Healing can be used to heal any kind of pain -- emotional, physical, spiritual--  but the path created by each of my clients towards their healing is totally unique to them."

While he candidly says leaving the world of acting was one of the best decisions he ever made, he says the transformation to being a healer was not easy.

"To be honest," he says, "the journey from actor to healer was an arduous one. I had to heal myself first and that same learning helped me become someone who now works with others to help them heal. It's sort of a teach what you know thing. The Convergence Healing process was something I created by trial and error -- to help me heal when my doctors had nothing to offer me but drugs that would only mask the pain and surgeries that might help but often did not."

CBSLA.com asked Bedard if Americans were too dependent on drugs to help them with pain and if more Eastern approaches wouldn't do us a world of good. He didn't hesitate to reply.

"Yes! We are also a country and people that expects everyone else to fix us. We don't take responsibility for ourselves and we're always looking for answers outside of ourselves. One of the first steps of the Convergence a Healing process is to 'Step Out of the Fog' and take charge of your life. In this way you release the victim and start to make your own choices for creating your own wellness instead of just always doing what you're told by the 'experts.'"

For someone who has been through so much pain in his past, Bedard these days is remarkably upbeat and happy about his present and his future. It's not like he has an alternative.

"I don't pay attention to almost dying. I celebrate living," he says, smiling, "I celebrate my birthday every year and acknowledge that I'm still here. I even celebrate my birthday for an entire month!"

In addition to his convergent healing work, he also markets a series of teas -- "How Mother Nature intended for us to heal." The teas he  says have healing properties far better for the mind and body. The teas are available on line and select farmer's markets.

"Our newest blend is called 'Turmeric Spice' and it's a blend of turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and cayenne. It's super good for the gut, reduces inflammation, and supports a healthy immune system," he says.

For more about Convergence Healing and Bedard's work, click here.

For more about Bedard's blends of teas, click here.