I want to explore a very powerful notion with you – that pain can be like a bad habit.
At one stage the reflex to withdraw, to rest, to protect yourself from a difficult stimulus is important. For example, if you twist your ankle, you do need to rest and protect so that you can recover. That’s a useful reflex.
If your pain persists after the time for optimum healing, then the noisy signal of pain has become divorced from the actual state of the tissues.
Most of the time our bodies heal really well. Sometimes the tissues are a little thicker – there can be some scarring, and sometimes they’re a little bit more sensitive. But generally they’re fit for purpose – we can run, we can move, we can bend, we can lift, without fear.
However, in some cases, the alarm signal can hang around. We can get stuck in a state of withdrawing, and a contraction or protective reflex can take over and it becomes a bad habit.
The latest pain science is very clear that persistent pain involves habitual fixed responses. The protective feeling that can be useful at the start to help the tissues heal can become overprotective.
So what can we do?
I wrote my book Pain is Really Strange to explore exactly this question, and in my upcoming new course, we’ll walk through the themes of the book in real time together, so that you can discover your way to create safety in the body, and ease the experience of pain, whether it’s for you personally, or for the people you work with.
New online course: Transform your pain with mindful, somatic movement
A seven week online, video course to help you (or your clients) rewire your mind-body response to your persistent pain, using a diverse toolkit of mindfulness techniques, gentle movement exercises, and stress-reduction strategies.
When: July 18th – August 29th
How to join: You can find out more about the course here >>
I’m really looking forward to exploring these teachings and it would be great to have you with us.
P.S: There’s a special bonus available until Friday, July 12th – a series of two guided audio meditations with me, Steve Haines called “Navigate & Understand Your Pain”. You can join the course and receive this bonus here.