Your brain is constantly trying to make life easier for you. It does this by predicting what’s about to happen -- what you'll feel (including pain!), see, hear, and need -- so you don’t have to consciously process everything in real time. This creates efficiency in the nervous system, which our brains really like as a way to get through our day-to-day lives. Sometimes though, the brain gets these predictions wrong, especially when it comes to chronic neuroplastic pain. So how can you help your brain overcome this largely subconscious process? Read on to learn six key ways to rewire your brain’s pain predictions.

Imagine your brain not as a passive observer of reality, but as a prediction machine -- constantly making its best guess about what’s happening in your body and environment, and adjusting based on those guesses. Emotions and sensations like pain aren’t hardwired reactions that live in specific parts of your brain like we've long assumed. Instead, they’re constructed experiences. Your brain draws on your past history, context, and sensory input to make meaning and experience, and pain is one of those experiences. Keep reading to learn more about what leading-edge neuroscience has taught us about how the brain creates pain.

Working to create more space & ease from pain or challenging emotions? Slow down, tune into your body & mind, and get to know the little details about what you’re experiencing in the moment. When you slow down in mindfulness and get into the granular details of your experience, the activity of two important neural networks shifts significantly, helping your nervous system move from “fight or flight” to “rest & digest.” Learn more here about how a specific mindfulness practice can turn down the volume on intense feelings, and the neuroscience behind why it works so well.