Your Mind-Body Solution
For Chronic Pain

Many, many times over my years working with folks in pain (going wayyy back to 2008 now!), I've had clients come into sessions and pepper me with questions about a pain episode they've experienced since our last meeting. For a long time I tried to figure those things out, there must be something going on! But time and again, based on my own experience with my body and by working with hundreds and hundreds of people over the years, I've come to learn this simple truth: Bodies just do weird shit sometimes. And most of the time, it's not a big deal. Read on to learn more and discover some simple tools you can use to reduce the uncertainty that goes with random pain episodes.

Returning to movement and activity while recovering from pain can feel extremely high stakes. And it's often laced with advice, guidance & prescribed routines from professionals like PTs or physios, as well as fear, frustration, uncertainty and a host of other emotions. To recover from chronic pain, finding safety, ease, and even playfulness & laughter are incredibly important. What’s a shortcut to get there? An exploratory mindset when you move. Read on to learn exactly what an exploratory mindset is, how to cultivate one, and how it can help you in your pain recovery journey.

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.