How to Recover From Chronic Pain by Reassuring Your Brain It’s Safe

A client I’ll call Molly was shoe shopping when she got a sudden stab in her back. That old visitor. Molly had experienced chronic pain since she was rear ended more than 30 years ago. Eventually, she learned about the mind-body connection and realized her tissues had healed but her brain hadn’t gotten the message. 

Just as we learn to walk, ski or play the violin, our brains get trained to create pain when we focus on it over and over. Attention married with emotion tells the brain “this is important” and it shores up those neural pathways. But clearly, we don’t want to live in a symptomatic state 30 years after a car accident, illness or any other stressful event.

To understand this, we turn to the amygdala in the middle of the brain. This almond-shaped region regulates emotion and triggers the flight or fight response when it perceives a threat.

I think of the amygdala like a scared lizard we’ll call Lightning liz. Imagine a hypervigilant creature constantly scanning for signs of danger. when its stressed out, it can perceive a candle flame as a conflagration.

My friend is upset with me? My boss moved up my deadline? I have 24 new emails? Three doses of cortisol and a side of adreneline coming up! 

The reptilian brain is particularly protective of the body. If Molly is fretting over her pain, or if doctors say worrisome things about her vertebrae, it gets busy pumping out stress hormones. That causes a cascade of real physical symptoms—even through there is nothing physically wrong with her body.

The amygdala perceives physical issues and psychological upsets in the same way. Given that there’s no woolly mammoth to escape, those hormones can feel like a dump truck landed inside you. 

Aching, burning, dizziness, tinnitus, weakness—these can all be neural pathway symptoms, caused by the brain and nervous system, rather than a damaged body part. 

All injuries heal and scars don’t hurt, says internal medicine doctor and mind-body expert Howard Schubiner. Pain that lasts longer than three to six months is typically caused by a revved up nervous system and learned neural pathways in the brain. Imagine Lightning Liz frantically shoring up those pathways for Armageddon.  

The miraculous part is that our brains are neuroplastic. They change based on our experiences, thoughts, emotions and behaviors. We can start thinking in ways that calm our limbic brain and activate our rational mind.

Instead of abandoning her shopping mission and retreating in despair, Molly began a conversation with her amygdala. Molly explained that she’s not in danger and will continue her shopping excursion, thank you very much. Being a visual person, she imagined her happy, pain-free neural circuits growing bigger and stronger. 

While in the checkout line, molly realized the pain had vanished! This is evidence of a mind-body process. Physical injuries don’t disappear when you find new shoes, however cute and discounted they may be.  

Standing has long been a trigger for Molly, meaning that her brain linked that position with danger even though there’s no structural reason for the pain. This is akin to Pavlov’s dogs salivating when they heard the dinner bell, even when there was no food to be eaten. Molly has been challenging her learned associations in baby steps, resting and relaxing when the pain gets too high.

As we unpacked the incident, I asked Molly what she was thinking and feeling when her back flared up. She recalled that an ill-fitting sneaker was irritating her foot at the shoe store. Pausing wistfully, she explained that her late husband used to massage her feet when they were sore. She missed him and this bonding ritual immensely.  

I gave her space to feel the grief and let the tears flow. She felt lighter as waves of emotion passed.

This is an example of the subconscious mind in action. Molly’s sore foot triggered a thought that there’s no one to touch her lovingly, and then came feelings of loneliness and grief.  

The brain can perceive strong emotions as alarming, which can activate the nervous system. When we fear or fight our feelings, it revs up the amygdala (i.e. Lightening Liz) and autonomic nervous system even more. 

Fortunately, Molly was able to talk her brain out of a tailspin, reminding it that being vertical is fun! She also practiced “outcome independence,” being indifferent to sensations.  

These techniques work with other mind-body symptoms, too. I recovered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, interstitial cystitis, insomnia and headaches. People overcome anxiety, irritable bowel and sciatica using this approach, originally coined Tension Myositis Syndrome, or TMS, by the late Dr. John Sarno. 

Sarno taught us to shift our focus from physical symptoms to psychological triggers. Emotions drive our nervous system so we want to acknowledge and allow them.

When symptoms arise, try these three simple and potent steps:

 1) Ask yourself, “what emotions am I feeling?” 

 2) Pause to acknowledge your emotions, such as anger, sadness, fear, shame or contentment. If you experience emotions in a cognitive way, you can name the emotion (i.e. I feel frustrated). If you can feel them viscerally, breathe into your body sensations (tingling, burning, pulsing, aching, heaviness etc.). Best case scenario, do both.

 3) When the intensity has passed, ask the emotion “what do you want or need?” Pause and listen. See if your body wants to move or make a sound. You can touch your chest, walk, breathe, shake, sigh, groan etc. The body speaks in sensation, emotion and movement so you may or may not receive a message in words.  

You might also notice what you were thinking when the symptoms began. Worry, self-criticism and pressure can trigger the nervous system. remember, Lightning Liz reacts whether there’s a saber-toothed cat or a snarly thought. 

For years, I was so worried about my symptoms and the slew of doctor’s diagnoses, they stayed locked in place. When I started moving away from a fixed and scared mind state to curious acceptance, I found emotional and physical relief.  

Molly concluded the moral of her story is to attend to her thoughts and emotions, so she can continue standing, walking and shoe shopping.

By soothing her brain, feeling emotions and challenging triggers, she’s now able to wear those new sneakers on her daily walks!