Predicting Pain

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.

The Details Are Important

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.

Somatic Tracking Isn't Working!

So you've tried Somatic Tracking for your chronic pain a bit but it doesn't seem to be working. You're feeling frustrated; impatient even. What's the deal? Does it not work? Is PRT a bad fit for you? Nope. That's not it. Somatic Tracking is a great practice for creating safety in our nervous systems around pain sensations. And, for most people it offers only one dimension of the healing process and is not a complete solution. When my clients stall out on pain relief from using that mindfulness practice alone, I know very clearly that it's time to go deeper and begin addressing the belief and emotional realms too.

Soma Sapien Journal