Understanding the Mind-Body Connection in Chronic Pain

So if someone's interested in exploring this approach, what are some of the first steps that they can start taking today alongside the care that they're receiving?

Yeah.

It's...

The first step is education.

It's education and reading the stories and listening to podcasts and looking at some of the websites that are out.

There's so much out there now all over the world on this work, and just seeing if it fits, if it resonates.

How does it sound to you? Do you fit into that? We've seen so many people, they read a story in my book or other people's books or online, they hear a podcast, they go, "Oh my God, that's my story." I can see myself in that story, in that person's story, and that can make all the difference in the world.

So the first step is education.

The second step is evaluation, looking carefully.

There's a whole chapter in my new book on evaluation, how to determine if the condition is neuroplastic or not.

And then the third step is like, well, what, what can I do? What are first steps that would...

If I think this is truly neuroplastic, what are my next steps? And there's a lot of resources out there for that as well.

So help us understand what the expectation should be as someone is embarking on this journey.

The brain is in charge of our symptoms, and it can turn them on and turn them off and shift them and move them around, and sometimes people get really better quickly, and then their pain comes back or their fatigue comes back, and then it goes away again.

It comes back again.

Or they get 50% better, but they're not getting all the way better.

And the understanding of the fact that the brain can do all this can help us step back and not get too focused and worried about the path because, and you kind of mentioned it before, you were with your back.

You were focusing on, "Am I gonna get better? When am I gonna better? How soon?" And those questions just weigh on our brain and make our brain a little more afraid.

And what I tell people is when your brain gives you pain or fatigue or anxiety or depression, it's also asking you a question, and the question is, "Are you okay? How you doing? Are you okay? Tell me.

Give me feedback." [laughs] It sounds so weird, but I believe this is true.

And when we get the symptom, if we're able to say to our brain, "Thank you very much for alerting me.

Thank you for your concern.

I'm actually okay.

I'm gonna be all right," that simple model can be so powerful, and it's just really understanding.

The other day I was in the gym and I was having this pain in my upper shoulder, and a friend of mine said, "Hey, are you, are you excited about your new book coming out?" And I said, "Yeah, I'm really excited, but I'm also very fearful of it." And as soon as I said that, I realized, oh my goodness, I think this pain was due to this concern that I'm having, this fear.