Loyal Empoword blog readers know I broke my foot three months ago (see post below.)

When I first saw the orthopedist back in early June, he informed me that bone heals at a “glacial pace.” I was told there wasn’t anything I could do to accelerate the healing process. Of course, the doctor didn’t know about Empoword and the power of word-symbol pairings.

Right after I broke my foot, I created a visual mantra (what we call the Empoword word-symbol pairings) to speed my recovery along. The word I chose was KNIT. As in bone “knitting” itself back together. Then I drew an image that symbolized the word. Together, word and symbol became my visual mantra. I looked at the image on my bulletin board throughout the day. Every time I glanced at the scrap of paper, I imagined bone growing, looping back and forth, connecting my foot back together.

Broken feet heal over time. First you stay off your foot. When you move around you wear a boot cast to manage pain and protect against further injury. Then you graduate to a brace. Eventually you start physical therapy and begin a slow journey back to normal activity. While normal activity typically resumes around the three month mark, the bone does not appear fully repaired on x-rays until around the 18 month mark.

Today, the doctor walked in to see me after viewing my x-rays. “Your foot looks great! How long has it been?” he asked. “Almost three months,” I said. “Well, your x-rays look more like this happened 9 months ago.”

No this is not a placebo-based double blind study. Just an anecdotal report. But visual mantras work. Tomorrow morning I get to start jogging again. And this weekend, tennis!

Stephanie Ross, MA is the co-founder and co-CEO of Empoword. She is a certified MARI practitioner and maintains a private counseling practice, Intuitive Health Management, in St. Paul, MN.