Category: What is chronic pain
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This Mind-Body Reaction Blew My Mind
Confessions of a chronic pain recovery therapist I recently returned from attending a retreat in Sedona. And I had a pretty wild experience there that I thought I’d share, because it’s so relevant to the chronic pain recovery journey. One of the activities at this retreat was a session with a local healer who guided…
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If You Don’t Set Boundaries, a Symptom Flare-Up Might Step In and Do It For You
As a child, you may have been taught to always say “yes” to authority figures — even when your inner self wanted to say “no.” At work, you may have been taught to always say “yes” to your boss — even when your inner self wants to say “no.” In relationships, you may have been taught to…
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Untangling the False Binary of “Medical vs. Mind-Body”
Tips from a chronic pain recovery therapist One of the common stumbling blocks that can come up on the path of chronic pain recovery is confusion about whether or not a mind-body approach is right for you. In my opinion, this confusion often stems from a false binary that is unhelpful to our recovery: The…
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What IS the connection between stress and symptoms?
It’s no secret that symptoms like chronic pain and anxiety are related to stress. Even the mainstream medical field has embraced this basic truth and you may have had doctors advise you to “reduce stress.” But what actually IS the relationship between stress and symptoms? How does one lead to the other — and what can we do…
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The Biggest Misconception About Chronic Pain
When people use the phrase “𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱” to describe stress-induced pain, the implication is that the pain exists only in your mind — in your thoughts — in your fantasy. Not only is this notion dismissive and hurtful to those experiencing pain, it’s quite simply untrue. Anyone who’s ever experienced stress-induced pain (i.e.…
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Chronic Pain Explained
We intuitively understand more than we think we do… Emotions are energy, plain and simple. And when we constrict around energy (because culture has told us that emotions are “wrong”), that energy becomes compressed and explosive inside of us — manifesting as uncomfortable symptoms like anxiety, depression, pain, inflammation, etc. We understand this intuitively. If we…
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6 Steps for Getting Out of a Panic Spiral
Anxiety can be a (chronic) pain. Here’s something you can do about it. Chronic pain and anxiety go hand in hand. And one of the most common chronic pain triggers is what I call “the panic spiral.” Maybe you know what I’m talking about. The panic spiral is like a traffic jam of anxiety triggers…
From Chronic Pain to Passion 