Want to Reduce Pain? Learn to Relax Your Brain
Mar 29, 2018

Oliver Parsons
Core Spirit member since Dec 24, 2020
Reading time 2 min.

Think of pain as being your “harm alarm,” a signal designed to get your attention, to motivate you to escape whatever is causing it. After all, pain—potential harm—could mean injury or even death. In this way, pain serves a useful purpose because its function is to keep you safe and alive. This all works quite well if you simply cut your finger while dicing vegetables for dinner.

But what about chronic pain? According to the American Academy of Pain Medicine, more than 100 million Americans are living with a chronic pain condition, such as fibromyalgia, migraines, or back pain. Once pain becomes chronic, pain sounds its alarm regularly, perhaps even constantly. How do you escape something that’s coming from inside you?

Pain is in the Brain.

People often think of pain as being purely a sensory experience—meaning a highly unpleasant physical sensation—and they tend to ignore the psychological aspects of pain.

No matter the cause of your pain, or where you feel it in your body, it is all processed in your central nervous system which is controlled by your brain and spinal cord. It’s common to think of pain being located in the part of your body that hurts, such as back pain being located in your back. However even in cases where people have had surgery for back pain—their back pain is actually located centrally, in the nervous system.

Your brain and entire nervous system are influenced by your thoughts, your feelings, your beliefs, your memory, and your environment. In fact, to a very large degree, how much pain you feel after surgery is determined by your mood and other psychological factors.

This doesn’t mean your pain isn’t real. It means that pain is fundamentally a psychological phenomenon. For everyone. Narrowly focusing on pain as a sensory problem has contributed to the overprescribing of opioid medication.

We’ve been treating pain the wrong way.

In fact, psychology is built into the definition of pain. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as both “…a noxious sensory and emotional experience.” Treating pain from the physical perspective only ignores half the definition of pain. If we treat half of anything, can we be surprised when it does not work well?

Pain acts as a stressor on your nervous system and your mind. It causes changes in your respiratory and heart rates, increases muscle tension, constricts blood vessels, and can cause anxiety, over-focus on pain, and feelings of helplessness.

You can learn specific skills to calm your nervous system, thereby dampening pain processing in your brain and spinal cord. Used regularly, these skills can work as effectively as medication to ease pain and related distress.

4 Tips for Calming Your Nervous System for Pain Control

1. Take stock of your triggers and treat your stress. Stress amplifies pain, so it’s important to reduce it. You may not be able to control the circumstance that triggers your stress, but you can control your reaction to it. Learn to become less reactive and you will find you have much greater control.

2. Tune in to your breath. Work to change your breathing pattern so that it becomes deep “belly” breathing (also called diaphragmatic breathing). Use diaphragmatic breathing several times daily. Stick with it and release your expectation that it will change your pain right away. Remind yourself that the goal is to retrain your nervous system first; pain reduction comes later.

3. Learn to meditate. Meditation gives you brain control and helps you focus less on pain—thereby directly reducing pain and suffering. Used regularly, meditation is powerful pain medicine.

4. Harness the power of your thoughts and emotions! Your everyday thoughts and feelings have a profound effect on your pain. This means the more you focus on your pain the worse it will get.

With pain psychology and cognitive behavioral therapy, you can learn how to view things differently in order to chart a positive course towards less pain. Consider working with a pain psychologist, health psychologist, or therapist skilled in cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic pain.

by Beth DarnalL For Care2


Leave your comments / questions for this practitioner

To write a comment please
or
Services
Category filter
Concern filter
Type filter
Sort
 

All categories

Herbal Medicine (Herbalism)
$20 USD
consultation
Winter wellness advice

This is a short consultation, intended to provide you with generalised advice that does not require the amount of information I typically gather during a 1-hour consultation.

I can provide advice around supporting your body to get through winter feeling strong, calm, uplifted and protected against sniffles. If you or your child has come down with something, I can provide more specific advice around herbal and nutritional approaches that may be of benefit to help you feel better sooner.

Emma Hickey
Herbal Medicine (Herbalism)
$25 USD
consultation
Natural transition

I am a nonbinary individual, and as such, I want to fall somewhere in the middle of male and female with my gender expression. This can be problematic for the medical system, as it views transition as either "ftm" or "mtf."

Likewise, seeking HRT or other gender affirming care can be expensive and inaccessible.

I'm here to provide you with the information you need to get around these barriers, naturally.

When you come to me as a client, rest assured you will receive:

  • Thorough research into the concerns you have
  • An empathetic listener
  • Fast turnaround of information (such as links, articles) or anything else you might need

With my help, you'll find more euphoria in yourself and the peace of mind that comes with using methods born from Mother Earth.

Please book only on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays!

Yarrow Brown
Herbal Medicine (Herbalism)
$60 USD
consultation
Herbalism

Start your journey to health and wellbeing by connecting with me for an online naturopathy consultation TODAY.
Herbs continue to be the foundation of much of modern medicine.
Herbal medicine supports holistic treatment, with prevention of disease being as important as the treatment of a particular illness such as:
Upset stomachs,
common Cold and Flu,
Headaches,
Menstrual problems,
Sore muscles,
Skin rashes,
Digestive disorders,
Rheumatic and Arthritic Conditions,
Chronic skin problems,
Anxiety and tension related stress,
Bronchitis and other respiratory conditions,
Hypertension,
allergies, and so forth.

Helena Szollosy
Herbal Medicine (Herbalism)
$85 USD
consultation
Aromatherapy and Herbalism

When we are trying to grow a plant, it is important that the soil is moist and properly fertilized. When the roots are happy, the plant will flourish, producing fruit, flowers, oxygen and life! We can take the same approach to our own bodies. If our soil or living environment isn't habitable or the nutrients we are feeding ourselves aren't nourishing enough, we grow weak, unstable and sometimes it can lead to chronic conditions and disease.

This consultation will walk us through your medical history, diet, exercise and daily life so I can determine what areas we need to focus on. We will discover what kind of constitution you have as to identify which herbs and esscenses are the best fit for your body. We will then come up with a plan on how to overcome the issue or issues at hand.

Jody Pesapane

Related Articles

View All
Herbal Medicine (Herbalism)
Mar 29 2018
Cherries For Inflammation, Joint Pain, Muscle Pain and Soreness

Cherries are considered to be among the most powerful disease-fighting foods available, largely because of their high anti-oxidant content. Cherries are becoming well known for their ability to improve the circulation, along with possessing anti-aging and…

Oliver Parsons
Herbal Medicine (Herbalism)
Sep 16 2019
Latest Research Reveals: Essential Oils Can Help Treat Depression

Essential oils have many purposes. It is used in serving as a natural mosquito repellent and also in reducing pain. New study reveals that essential oils can help in treating depression. Essential oil cannot cure depression and should not be used as alter…

Demi Powell
Herbal Medicine (Herbalism)
Mar 29 2018
Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) for Diarrheal Disease

One of the most important things to do when a kid is sick is to keep the kid hydrated. Kids have a lot less fluid in them than us. A fever or diarrhea can quickly deplete them. It’s important to keep them drinking the right sorts of fluids so they get wel…

Oliver Parsons
Herbal Medicine (Herbalism)
Mar 29 2018
Molecular Biologist Explains How THC Completely Kills Cancer Cells

Below is a video of Dr. Christina Sanchez, a molecular biologist at Compultense University in Madrid, Spain, clearly explaining how THC (the main psychoactive constitute of the cannabis plant) completely kills cancer cells.

Cannabinoids refer to any of g…

Richard Warren
Registered individuals enjoy all the possibilities of Core Spirit.