The Pain Switch: How To Force Your Brain To Shut Off Chronic Pain

Copyright Notice and Disclaimers

This ebook is Copyright © 2018 Adam Napolitano (the “Author”). All Rights Reserved. Published in United States. The legal notices, disclosures, and disclaimers within this ebook are copyrighted by the Internet Attorneys Association LLC and licensed for use by the Author in this ebook. All rights reserved. No part of this ebook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system -- except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine, newspaper, blog, or website -- without permission in writing from the Author. For information, please contact the Author by e-mail at support@thepainswitch.com or by mail at 512 Northampton St, Box #102, Edwardsville, Pennsylvania 18704, United States. For more information, please read the “Disclosures and Disclaimers” section at the end of this ebook. First PDF Electronic Edition, November 2018 Published by Pain is Not Prison, LLC (the “Publisher”).

Preface “The greatest pain in the world is not the one that kills with a single stroke, but the one that, drop by drop, pierces the soul and breaks it.”-Francisco Villaespesa

This quote by Francisco Villaespesa perfectly sums up chronic pain. While chronic pain comes in many different forms, there’s something all sufferers have in common: a feeling of frustration, despair and lack of control over their pain.

About 90% of patients with chronic lower back pain stop seeking treatment after only three months. Most likely, these numbers are similar for other types of chronic pain. But what’s a hard reality? In most cases, the pain will still be there after treatment.

When you’ve tried everything under the sun—like medications, physical therapy and spinal/joint injections—to make the pain go away? It can make you feel like you’re out of options. And that you’ve been failed by healthcare. Especially, if they couldn’t find a reason behind your pain.

But you’re NOT out of options. Nikola Tesla once said: “The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.” Luckily, that’s exactly what started happening. Science started studying the mind-body connection: the way your thoughts, emotions and mental-state influence your physical health.

What’s been uncovered is your mind and body are deeply connected. Your thoughts and emotions play a key role in causing your pain. And mind-body connection techniques are not only an extremely powerful tool to switch off pain. But they’re also the key to living a happier, more fulfilling life.

And that’s exactly what this book will make you realize. It was written with the goal of being a ray of hope in what can often be a dark time. To stop you from feeling like you’re at the mercy of your pain. Or that you’re a victim of circumstance.

It fully empowers you by giving you a clear understanding of the mind-body connection. How you can use the mind-body connection to switch off pain immediately. But it also gives crucial advice to make the necessary changes in your life easier. Changes that will help you live life with less resistance. Essentially, this book is your blueprint to force your brain to switch off pain.

Table of Contents Copyright Notice and Disclaimers ................................................................................................... 2

Preface ............................................................................................................................................. 2

Part 1: The devastating effects of chronic pain ............................................................................... 5

Ch 1: How chronic pain affects the quality of life ........................................................................... 5

Ch 2: The risks of painkillers & surgery ........................................................................................... 8

Ch 3: Chronic pain: A worldwide epidemic ................................................................................... 10

Part 2: The history of the mind-body connection ......................................................................... 12

Ch 4: What is the mind-body connection? .................................................................................... 12

Ch 5: Ancient civilizations and historical figures and their views .................................................. 14

Ch 6: John E Sarno: The pioneer TMS and TMS-treatment ........................................................... 17

Ch 7: Evidence on the effectiveness of mind-body therapies ....................................................... 19

Ch 8: Important figures that support mind-body approaches ...................................................... 21

Ch 9: How the medical world & society views the mind-body connection .................................. 23

Part 3: TMS: Chronic pain caused by repressed emotions ............................................................ 25

Ch 10. Why you feel pain ............................................................................................................... 25

Ch 11: What is TMS? ...................................................................................................................... 26

Ch 12: How do you to determine if you have TMS ....................................................................... 28

Ch 13: Other conditions caused by TMS ....................................................................................... 30

Ch 14: Evidence on TMS ................................................................................................................ 31

Ch 15: Celebrities that got rid of chronic pain with TMS-treatment ............................................. 33

Part 4: The first 4 essential steps to switching off pain ................................................................. 35

Ch 16: Accept a physical condition is not the cause of your pain ................................................. 35

Ch 17: Learning and understanding the concept of TMS and mind-body approaches ................. 35

Ch 18: Understand the need to identify your repressed emotions and stress-inducing personality

type, traits and behaviors .............................................................................................................. 37

Ch 19: Resuming all physical activities .......................................................................................... 39

Part 5: Make lifestyle improvements to help switch off the pain ................................................. 40

Ch 20: Exercise to your full capacity .............................................................................................. 40

Ch 21: Improve your sleep............................................................................................................. 42

Ch 22: Improving your diet ............................................................................................................ 44

Ch 23: Improving your social life ................................................................................................... 46

Part 6: 9 mind-body connection techniques that make your mind switch off pain ...................... 47

Ch 24: Journaling ........................................................................................................................... 47

Ch 25: Thought reframing ............................................................................................................. 50

Ch 26: Mindfulness meditation ..................................................................................................... 52

Ch 27: Tapping ............................................................................................................................... 54

Ch 28: Developing positive affirmations ....................................................................................... 57

Ch 29: Use movement to break negative thought loops .............................................................. 60

Ch 30: Setting a self-care hour ...................................................................................................... 61

Ch 31: Practicing gratitude ............................................................................................................ 63

Ch 32. Visualization ....................................................................................................................... 65

Part 7: The 3 keys to long-term success ........................................................................................ 67

Ch 33: Realize the difficulty of changing your habits .................................................................... 67

Ch 34: Develop willpower.............................................................................................................. 69

Ch 35: Record and celebrate all your achievements and progress: .............................................. 71

Other Recommended Pain Relief Resources: ................................................................................ 73

1. Release Your Hip Flexors for Less Pain and More Energy. You have a “hidden survival muscle”

that keeps you in unnecessary pain and frustrated with belly fat. >Here’s what you can do about

it. ................................................................................................................................................... 73

2. 2000 Year Old Nepalese Secret for Eliminating Sciatica in 7 Days or Less. >Click here to learn

more. ............................................................................................................................................. 73

3. How to End Chronic Peripheral Neuropathy and Diabetic Nerve Pain WITHOUT Drugs, Surgery, or

Guesswork. >Click here to learn more. ................................................................................................. 73

Disclosures and Disclaimers .......................................................................................................... 73

Limits of Liability & Disclaimers of Warranties .............................................................................. 73

Affiliate Compensation & Material Connections Disclosure ......................................................... 75

Health Disclaimers ......................................................................................................................... 76

Purchase Price ............................................................................................................................... 76

Due Diligence ................................................................................................................................. 76

Part 1: The devastating effects of chronic pain Chronic pain has many devastating effects on the quality of life. But it doesn’t just affect the person

in pain. It affects society as a whole. And it impacts the family unit on a deep, visceral level. In fact,

chronic pain costs society more than heart disease, cancer and diabetes combined. It’s estimated

that more than 1.5 billion people suffer from chronic pain worldwide. So, what’s it like to live with

chronic pain?

Ch 1: How chronic pain affects the quality of life Nothing quite compares to the strain chronic pain puts on your mind, body and soul. It impacts the

quality of your life by changing every aspect of it. It worsens your health not just by affecting you

physically. But also, biologically, socially & emotionally.

Health-related quality of life

Everyone experiences chronic pain in a slightly different way. Obviously, there are many different

kinds of chronic pain. Back pain (27%), headache pain (15%), neck pain (15%) and facial ache pain

(4%) are the most common. The intensity of the pain will also be different for each person.

But sufferers have one thing in common: the hopelessness and despair. Here are some thoughts that

often go through your head when you have chronic pain:

“I’m so tired””

“Why am I still awake?”

“Why won’t the pain go away?”

“Will I have to go through the same pain tomorrow?”

“Will the pain ever get better?”

These frustrations can make time pass really slowly—sometimes making a day feel like an eternity.

For some, the pain doesn’t go away for the whole day. And the pain can—at some points— feel like

too much to handle. Basically, every day is a struggle filled with new challenges.

One of these challenges is learning how to pace your day. Because the pain is so mentally draining it

robs you of energy. You’re limited in how much you can do in day. You have to start using your

energy wisely. But you’re also not able to do the same things you used to.

Simple activities like making dinner, getting dressed or tying your shoelaces can be hard. Sometimes

you have to cut back from work. And some have to stop working completely. Exercising also becomes

a struggle. You want your body to do things it’s not capable of doing. A fear of making the pain worse

can make you avoid exercise completely.

All these changes can have you thinking about how life used to be. Or maybe it’s hard to even

remember. It can make you feel you’ve lost control over your life. And are at the mercy of your pain.

The social consequences of chronic pain

What’s sometimes the hardest part of chronic pain? The strain it puts on your relationships. Chronic

pain is an invisible disability. Other people don’t see what’s wrong with you. Oftentimes, they have a

hard time understanding your struggles. Comments like these can be especially hurtful:

But you look so well

Is the pain still not gone?

You should learn to live with it

It’s said with good intentions. But it has the opposite effect. You want someone to try to understand

your struggles. When that doesn’t happen, it hurts. A lack of understanding can make you avoid

talking about your conditions. Or it makes you avoid social contact.

Many studies highlighted the negative social impacts of chronic pain1. Complete social isolation is not

rare for those in the most pain2. The never-ending pain, the physical limitations and social

implications all impact you psychologically.

The psychological & biological consequences of chronic pain

Chronic pain and mental health problems go hand in hand. Many suffer from long-lasting low mood

and anxiety. You’re three times more likely to have a psychiatric disorder3. And one in five has

depression.

The psychological effects combined with a lack of options can push you over the edge. Chronic pain

doubles the risk of suicide. One in five thinks about suicide. And one in ten actually attempts it4.

The strain on your mental health also makes it more likely you have other health conditions.

Depression significantly predicts new chronic pain and other medical complaints5. Chances are high

you’re suffering from another chronic condition.

The biopsychosocial model of pain & the emotion pain cycle

The negative effects of chronic pain all influence each other. When you’re depressed it can lead to

social isolation. Social isolation can then fuel depression. A lack of sleep causes anxiety. And when

anxiety persists for a long time, it worsens your mental state.

Basically, chronic pain makes it very easy to get stuck in a downward spiral. A downward spiral of

negative emotions, desperation and bad health. The biopsychosocial model of pain illustrates this:

1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4935027/ 2 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4168867/ 3 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4590059/ 4 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3125689/ 5 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18478825

Figure: The biopsychosocial model of pain

Negative emotions also cause more pain. This is because there’s an overlap between the brain’s

emotion and pain centers. Emotions— like fear, anxiety and anger—stimulate the brain. When these

emotions are triggered it increases the intensity of your pain. Conversely, the pain fuels negative

emotions. When you focus on and worry about your pain, it causes frustration, anger & anxiety.

These emotions then increase pain.

Figure: The Emotion Pain Cycle

The way emotions and pain influence each other is called the emotion pain cycle. Learning about this

cycle can discourage you or empower you. Either you feel at the mercy of your condition. Or you

realize you can control the pain by gaining a better control over your thoughts and emotions.

Ch 2: The risks of painkillers & surgery What can make matters worse is how you’re treated by healthcare professionals. It’s now well-

known and accepted emotions influence pain. Yet, painkillers are still being prescribed at an alarming

rate. Surgery sometimes gets recommended—not as a last resort—and despite huge risks.

The risks of painkillers

The relief you get from painkillers can feel almost godsent. It’s an escape from the struggles of daily

life. Finally, something to escape the pain. The problem is the escape is always temporary. And it

never actually solves the problem.

There’s no proof using painkillers over a long period of time (8 weeks) helps6. Opioid therapy to treat

chronic back pain or hip or knee osteoarthritis is not effective7. Strong opioids like Vicodin,

oxycodone or fentanyl were shown to be no more effective than simple over the counter medicine

like Tylenol & ibuprofen.

Painkillers also make you crave the next dose. They quickly cause your brain chemistry to change.

Once you take them for 2 to 4 weeks you develop a tolerance—meaning an increased dosage is

needed to bring the same effects.

Developing a full-blown addiction takes time. But it’s an extremely hard addiction to break. Quitting

opioids cold turkey is close to impossible. And without the proper help, you’re in a huge risk of

relapse. Part of the problem is healthcare. It does a terrible job of educating people. Many doctors

admit they:

Don’t understand how to prescribe opioids safely

Don’t know how to detect abuse or emerging addiction.

And don’t know how to discuss these issues with their patients89.

It’s not surprising there’s an alarming increase in diversion, overdose & addiction. Opioid addiction

costs American society more than $500 billion a year. And around 100 people die from opioid-related

overdoses every day.

What makes matters even worse? Opioids have another dark side many people don’t know about.

They can make it MORE likely for pain to occur. It has been shown opioids may prolong pain

following surgery10. Using morphine after a nerve injury can also double the duration of pain11.

6 Chou R, Deyo R, Devine B, Hansen R, Sullivan S, Jarvik J. The effectiveness and risks of long-term opioid treatment of chronic pain:

Evidence Report/Technology Assessment. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2014. No. 218 (AHRQ publication no. 14-E005-EF). 7 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2673971?resultClick=1&redirect=true 8 Keller CE, Ashrafioun L, Neumann AM, Van Klein J, Fox CH, Blondell RD. Practices, perceptions, and concerns of primary care physicians

about opioid dependence associated with the treatment of chronic pain. Subst Abus2012;33:103-113 9 Hagemeier NE, Gray JA, Pack RP. Prescription drug abuse: a comparison of prescriber and pharmacist perspectives. Subst Use

Misuse 2013;48:761-768 10 https://journals.lww.com/anesthesia-

analgesia/Abstract/publishahead/Repeated_Morphine_Prolongs_Postoperative_Pain_in.96846.aspx

The risks of surgery

Surgery is sometimes a necessary evil. For certain conditions, there’s no other option. But surgery is

also recommended when it’s not the best option. A result of a healthcare system that’s always

looking for a quick fix and big bucks.

It’s been shown that—in many cases—surgery doesn’t relieve pain more than chronic pain

management 121314. Usually, the pain from surgery is supposed to go away within two weeks. But a

lot of times that doesn’t happen. Sometimes the pain lasts for months or even years15. Surgeries also

come with huge risks. It can lead to infections, seizures, nerve damage and, yes, even death.

The scale of the problem makes matters even worse.

11 http://www.pnas.org/content/113/24/E3441.short 12 Brox JI, Nygaard ØP, Holm I, Keller A, Ingebrigtsen T, Reikerås O. Four-year follow-up of surgical versus non-surgical therapy for chronic low back

pain. Ann Rheum Dis. 2010;69(9):1643-8. 13 Delitto A, Piva SR, Moore CG, et al. Surgery versus nonsurgical treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med.

2015;162(7):465-73. 14 North RB, Kidd DH, Farrokhi F, Piantadosi SA. Spinal cord stimulation versus repeated lumbosacral spine surgery for chronic pain: a randomized,

controlled trial. Neurosurgery. 2005; 56(1):98-106; discussion 106-7 as cited in Ganty P, Sharma M. Failed back surgery syndrome: a suggested algorithm of care. British Journal of Pain. 2012;6(4):153-161. doi:10.1177/2049463712470222. 15 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0057672/

Ch 3: Chronic pain: A worldwide epidemic Knowing how many other people suffer from chronic pain can be comforting and frightening at the

same time. It makes you realize you’re not the only in pain. But it also shows you the scale of the

problem. The fact is, chronic pain is putting a huge strain on societies. Here are some disturbing

numbers:

Over 1.5 billion people suffer from chronic pain worldwide

Over 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain

200 million in the developed world suffer from chronic pain on a daily basis

An estimated prevalence of chronic pain in children and adolescents of 25% and with a

third reporting the pain to be severe

One in ten Americans has experienced pain every day for three months or more

More than 30% of American have some form of acute or chronic pain. Among older adults,

this is more than 40%16

Chronic pain affected up to 30 percent of adults across Europe

Chronic pain of moderate to severe intensity has been estimated to occur in 19% of adult

Europeans

77% of people report feeling depressed due to their chronic pain

51% of chronic pains sufferers feel they have little or no control over their pain

20% of American Adults report that pain disrupts their sleep at least a few nights a week

Chronic pain is the number one cause of long-term disability

People with chronic pain are seven times more likely to quit their job completely17.

The cost of chronic pain in the United States is at least $560 - $635 billion annually, or

equal to $200 for everyone living in the US

Lost productivity due to pain costs the US $299 - $325 billion, based on factors including

days of work missed, hours of work lost and low ages

The annual cost of pain was greater than the annual costs in 2010 dollars of heart disease

($309 billion), cancer ($243 billion), and diabetes ($188 billion) and nearly 30 percent

higher than the combined cost of cancer and diabetes.1819

16 Institute of Medicine. Relieving pain in America: a blueprint for transforming prevention, care, education and research. Washington, DC:

National Academies Press, 2011. 17 Epidemiology of chronic non-malignant pain in Denmark.Eriksen J, Jensen MK, Sjøgren P, Ekholm O, Rasmussen NKPain. 2003 Dec;

106(3):221-8.

66% of pain sufferers expect to live with some pain for the rest of their life, while 30%

expect to become pain-free from a cure or treatment

Despite these numbers, chronic pain is often overlooked. It isn’t given enough priority by the political

agenda. Not enough money and effort is forwarded towards finding solutions. In many cases, chronic

pain treatment plans are not even covered by health insurance.

This shows there’s a dire need for change. A change in the way politics and healthcare manages and

treats chronic pain. More needs to be done to:

Raise awareness & fight the stigma

Reduce the socio-economic impact of chronic pain

Improve the quality of life for people suffering from chronic pain

One method has consistently proven to help treat chronic pain without any risks or negative side-

effects: treatments that focus on the Mind-body connection.

18 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4590036/#bibr17-204946370900300102 19 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92521/

Part 2: The history of the mind-body connection If you haven’t heard about the mind-body connection before, you might think it’s new theory. But it’s

not. In fact, societies have known about the mind-body connection for thousands of years. Yet, it

returned to mainstream society fairly recently. Mainly, because—over the last decades—scientific

research started uncovering how the mind and body are connected20.

Ch 4: What is the mind-body connection? The mind-body connection is the influence your thoughts, emotions and mental-state have on your

physical health. It sees your mind and body as a whole—rather than two separate entities. Emotions

are hard to study. That’s why it was difficult to prove the mind-body connection. But it’s no longer

just a theory.

It’s now known your emotions impact you on a cellular level. Your body is made up out of atoms that

are in constant motion. Atoms vibrate within a cell creating a wave of energy. This wave of energy

influences the structure and function of your cells. Your words, thoughts and emotions impact this

wave of energy, changing its function21. And they even have the power to change your DNA

structure22.

What also proves the mind-body connection? The way your body is structured. All of your bodies

systems are deeply connected to your brain. Your brain is connected to your spinal cord, muscles and

cardiovascular system through neurological pathways. But also, to your nervous, endocrine and

immune system. All of these systems are also connected to each other. They communicate with each

other through hormones and neurotransmitters.

When you suppress emotions—like anger, anxiety and resentment—it causes a disruption in the

stress hormone cortisol. This disruption activates inflammation—which is (mostly) regulated by your

sympathetic nervous system23. Inflammation plays a key role in most health conditions24. And it can

have many negative effects:

It increases your sensitivity to pain25

It increases your risk of developing a depression26

It increases your risk of getting a serious illness27

And it even increases the risk of an early death.

20 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1456909/ 21 http://emfschutz.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Coldwell-Web-englisch-2.pdf 22 http://www.aipro.info/drive/File/224.pdf 23 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4396833/ 24 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC34927 25 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4674918/ 26 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4006295/ 27 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3939772/

But there’s a flipside to this. Positive emotions—like happiness, calmness, and joy—have the power

to decrease stress and inflammation. So, when you gain a better control over your thoughts and

emotions? You can use positive thoughts and emotions to reduce your pain, break free from the

emotion pain cycle and improve your health. Here are the three most important things you should

realize about mind-body connection:

➢ Your mind is deeply connected to all parts of your body

➢ Repressing emotions increase your pain and is detrimental to your health. When you stop

repressing emotions, you prevent stress and inflammation. This decreases your pain and

improves your health.

➢ Your mind is a powerful tool you can use to switch off the pain, improve your health and

even change your brain and DNA-structure

Many ancient civilizations and historical figures knew about the mind-body connection.

Ch 5: Ancient civilizations and historical figures and their views Many ancient civilizations and historical figures talk about the Mind-body connection. In fact—in

history—most civilizations treated the mind and body as a whole. Here are some examples of the

most important ones.

Traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine has been used in Asian cultures for decades. It makes no real distinction

between the mind and body. Instead, it beliefs your mind doesn't just reside in your brain. It resides

in all areas of your body. Basically, your physical and emotional well-being are seen as one and the

same.

The Seven Emotional Factors explain how feelings of grief, sadness, worry, anxiety, joy, fear, terror

and anger disrupts the flow of energy in your body. Chinese medicine helps to restore this flow of

energy. And the balance between the mind and body.

Indian medicine (Ayurveda)

The Indians knew about the Mind-Body connection more than 3000 years ago. Ayurveda stands for

“science of life”. It’s one of the oldest healing systems that treated the mind and body as a whole. It

says your health depends on a balance between the mind, body and spirit. Two of the guiding

principles of Ayurveda are:

1) Your mind and the body are inextricably connected

2) Nothing has more power to heal and transform your body than your mind

When you’re aware and in balance? You can improve your physical well-being. Meditation is one of

the main ways awareness and balance is achieved. Thanks to people like Deepak Chopra Indian

medicine is still relevant in western society to this day.

The Ancient Greeks

The Ancient Greeks had a—compared to what we know now—limited understanding of physiology.

Yet, their philosophical views were very advanced28. Many of their thoughts and beliefs are still

relevant to this day.

The Greeks believed you can’t achieve inner-balance when you’re stressed, angry, frustrated, fearful

or anxious. Negative emotions can impact your body and lead to illnesses. Adapting happy thoughts

was considered key to good health. Ancient Greek authors believed anxiety is a medical disorder.

And they also treated anxiety as such29.

Hippocrates stressed the importance of controlling anger Hippocrates—the father of modern medicine—main philosophy on health was: “A healthy mind in a healthy body”. Hippocrates taught that a balance between your mind, body and environment is

28https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pdf/Philip%20van%20der%20Eijk%20Body%20and%20Spirit%20in%20Greek%20medicine%20and%20philoso

phyx.pdf 29 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4610616/

essential for good health. Good mental care of his patients played a key role in his approach30. He told his asthma patients the importance of controlling anger 2500 years ago. He also considered physical activity and proper nutrition key to good health. Sigmund Freud’s subconscious mind theory Sigmund Freud—the father of psychoanalysis—popularized the (subconscious) unconscious mind theory. The subconscious mind theory overthrew a previously held belief: the belief that all our thoughts are conscious, and most behavior is intentional. Instead, the theory says most mental processes happen in your subconscious mind. A part of your mind you’re not consciously aware of. And that has the most influence on your behavior. Your early experiences in childhood program the subconscious mind. And—for a large part—shape your personality. The subconscious mind theory separates your mind into three levels of awareness:

Conscious mind (ego): All thoughts, memories, urges you’re aware of at any particular moment. These thoughts memories and urges represent the top of the iceberg.

Preconscious mind (superego): The preconscious mind consists of anything that can be brought to the conscious mind.

Unconscious mind (ID): The unconscious mind is as a huge reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges and memories. Most of the unconscious mind is made up of unpleasant feelings like fear, pain, anxiety and conflict.

While some of Freud’s beliefs have been overthrown, the subconscious mind theory still plays an important part in psychology today. Many types of researches have proven how unconscious processes influence your behavior313233. Rene Descartes and mind-body dualism Rene Descartes believed in a connection between the mind and body. According to Descartes the pineal gland in the brain stem is where your mind and body communicate. It’s also the place where all thoughts are formed. And it’s the principal seat of the soul. Descartes believed in a spiritual realm that’s separate from the physical body. This belief is called “mind-body dualism”. Mind-body dualism is an extensive and complex philosophical view. But some of the most important beliefs are:

Mind-body Dualism is the only logical explanation for why humans have free will

The mind and body are two separate entities.

Your body resides in the physical realm and your mind in the spiritual realm

Your mind and body— because they exist in separate realms—can’t possibly influence another

Descartes beliefs heavily influenced the world. In the 17th century, almost all scientists and philosophers started agreeing on one thing: the mind and body exist in separate realms and therefore can’t possibly influence each other.

30 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4263393/ 31 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6850269/ 32 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6850269/ 33 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2440575/

Western medicine started seeing the mind and body as separate as well. Making the distinction had many practical uses. It made it easier to treat different types of conditions. And it made it easier to develop medicine. But it also came with many restrictions34: humans were no longer looked at and treated as emotional beings. Descartes views caused the mind-body connection to almost completely vanish from society. But in the 20th century, it started getting attention again. A pivotal moment was when John E. Sarno pioneered the theory “Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS)”.

34 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3115289/

Ch 6: John E Sarno: The pioneer TMS and TMS-treatment

In many cases, there’s no physical explanation for chronic pain. Many sufferers are told by their

doctors they can’t find anything physically wrong with them. Even after all other possible physical

causes are ruled out.

Usually, this comes with a lot of despair. If there’s no physical cause, then what’s causing the pain?

And what can be done to make the pain go away? All of this is explained by John E Sarno’s theory

Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS).

TMS is a condition where chronic pain is caused by repressed emotions in your subconscious mind.

When you suppress too many emotions? It causes more psychological stress than your mind can

handle. As a result, this causes chronic pain. John E Sarno came up with the theory while he was

serving as a physician at the Howard A. Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at the New York

University Medical Center.

The theory was met with a lot of resistance from the medical community. Lots of John E Sarno peers

ridiculed his views. A physical condition caused by something psychological? It’s simply not possible.

Luckily, it wasn’t until long they had to revise their views.

One of John E Sarno beliefs was later validated by The New England Journal of Medicine. His belief

that chronic pain—in many cases—has nothing to do with a herniated disc. Before this research,

many instances of chronic pain were wrongly attributed to a herniated disc.

More and more research also started showing how the mind and body are connected. The

effectiveness of mind-body treatments was proven in clinical trials. And hard evidence showed how

suppressing your emotions can increase pain and impact your health35.

All of John E Sarno’s beliefs were expressed in his 4 books:

“Mind Over Back Pain (1982).”

“Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection (1991)”

“The Mindbody Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain(1998)”

“The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders (2006)”

Thousands of chronic pain sufferers felt a sense of empowerment after reading his books. Some

found immediate relief from their pain after learning about TMS and the Mind-Body connection. And

other used its lessons to take back control over their and life. Many celebrities were also helped by

Sarno.

Howard Stern, Tom Scharpling, Larry David, Anne Bancroft, Terry Zwigoff & John Stossel all say TMS-

treatment played a key role in their recovery from chronic pain. Because of the celebrity

35 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4170675/

endorsement, TMS and the mind-body connection got worldwide attention. It found its way back

into mainstream society.

John E Sarno passed away at age 93 and left behind a legacy. He gave an explanation for instances of

chronic pain that don’t have a physical cause. He helped propel the mind-body connection back into

mainstream society. And he helped thousands find relief from their pain. Or get completely get rid of

their pain. TMS is given more attention in part 3 of the book. But first, let’s look at some key

researches that played a key role in validating the mind-body connection.

Ch 7: Evidence on the effectiveness of mind-body therapies John E Sarno wasn’t afraid to think outside the box. He helped open up the medical world to the

possibility the mind and body are connected. As a result, more people started researching the mind-

body connection. Now, there’s overwhelming evidence for the mind-body connection. Just a few of

the proven benefits of mind-body treatments:

Make structural changes to your brain and DNA

Decrease your pain

A more effective way to manage your pain than addictive painkillers

Improve the overall quality of your life3637

What’s one of the most important discoveries in the last decades? Your consciousness can make

structural changes in your brain38. Your brain is not just a static object as it was once believed.

Instead, it’s proven your brain can be modified by changing your environment, behavior, thoughts

and emotions. One of the studies researchers made the following statement:

“The self-conscious mind exercises a superior interpretative and controlling role upon the neural

events. The unity of conscious experience is provided by the self-conscious mind and not by the neural

machinery”

But what’s equally as amazing? The discovery that mind-body therapies change your DNA structure39.

Before this revelation, this was widely believed to be impossible. Researchers pulled together the

results of 18 different studies on 846 people across 11 years. Ivana Buric—the study’s first author—

stated:

“Millions of people around the world already enjoy the health benefits of mind-body interventions like

yoga or meditation, but what they perhaps don’t realize is that these benefits begin at a molecular

level and can change the way our genetic code goes about its business.

These activities are leaving what we call a molecular signature in our cells, which reverses the effect

that stress or anxiety would have on the body by changing how our genes are expressed. Put simply,

MBIs cause the brain to steer our DNA processes along a path which improves our wellbeing.

These researches put an end to one of Descartes beliefs: your mind can’t possibly influence your

body. With the underlying knowledge that you can consciously change your brain and DNA-

structure? It’s not surprising why countless other researches supported the effectiveness of mind-

body therapy.

36 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17900039 37 https://search.proquest.com/openview/8cf24032c8b312a557273c2e394eb576/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=32528 38 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3706726/ 39 http://www.aipro.info/drive/File/224.pdf

Garth Cook from Scientific American points out that:

“A growing body of scientific research suggests that our mind can play an important role in healing

our body — or in staying healthy in the first place. . . There are now several lines of research

suggesting that our mental perception of the world constantly informs and guides our immune

system in a way that makes us better able to respond to future threats. That was a sort of ‘aha’

moment for me — where the idea of an entwined mind and body suddenly made more scientific sense

than an ephemeral consciousness that’s somehow separated from our physical selves”

Researchers from the Harvard Medical School and the California Pacific Medical Center reviewed all

published material on the mind-body connection. They concluded that:

"There is now considerable evidence that an array of mind-body therapies can be used as effective

adjuncts to conventional medical treatment for a number of common clinical conditions.

And chronic pain is just one of these conditions. Other conditions that can be helped with mind-body

treatment include—but certainly don’t exclude:

Coronary artery disease

Headaches

Insomnia

Incontinence

Improving postsurgical outcomes

Cancer (alleviation of disease and treatment-related symptoms)

It took western medicine a long time to arrive at this point. And it took the support of many

prominent figures.

Ch 8: Important figures that support mind-body approaches Many prominent (medical) figures now support the mind-Body connection. But a few of them

deserve a special mention. They helped make the mind-body connection accepted by mainstream

society.

Tal Ben-Shahar: Tal Ben-Shahar is a Harvard lecturer and the author of the New York Times

bestseller “Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment”. In this book, he talks

about how you can learn to be happy through positive-thinking. Just like in his groundbreaking

Harvard course “Positive Psychology 1504”—which is said to be the most popular course in the

school’s history. Here are some of Tal Ben-Shahar key advice:

Your happiness fully depends on your state of mind. Even when you’re in extreme

circumstances you can control your happiness. How you interpret your circumstances is what

dictates your happiness.

Accept that emotions like fear, sadness and anxiety are a natural part of life. It will make it

easier to overcome these emotions.

Make sure you have goals in a week that are both enjoyable and have meaning.

Meditation changes your brain and should be part of your daily habits

Show gratitude for the smaller things in life.

What you do with your minds influence your body. What you do with your body influences

your mind

Dr. Oz: Dr Oz, you probably either love him or hate him. Fact is, Dr. Oz—as Oprah’s doctor of

choice—has a lot of influence. Just recently he was appointed by president Trump to his sport,

fitness and nutrition council. He talks about the mind-body connection a lot on his blog. And he

includes TMS-treatment in his four recommendations for treating back pain.

Bernie Siegel: Bernie Siegel is a surgeon and a professor of medicine at Yale University. He’s the

author of the book “Love, Medicine and Miracle: Lessons Learned about Self-Healing from a

Surgeon’s Experience with Exceptional Patients”

The book talks about how love and a positive mindset improves your immune system. How your

mind and will have powerful healing abilities. And it tells inspiring stories of people who—partly

thanks to cultivating a positive mindset—survived against all odds. Another great book on the subject

is Norman cousins “The Anatomy of An Illness”. It talks about how you can take charge of your health

after being diagnosed with a serious illness.

Bruce Lipton: Bruce Lipton is an epigeneticist. Epigenetics is a field of study that studies changes in

gene expression that don’t involve changing the underlying DNA. Lipton wrote the book “The Biology

of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles”. Not only did the book give

scientific support for the mind-body connection. But it has also radically changed our view of life

itself.

One of his key discoveries is that genes and DNA do not control our biology. Instead, it’s controlled

by signals from outside the cell—which can include negative and positive thoughts. Lipton beliefs

only 2% of all illnesses are caused by our genes. The environment in which we live—and by which our

body chemistry is affected by—is responsible for 98%. Your minds perception of your environment

controls life at a cellular level.

Because of the support of prominent figures like these? The medical world and society started

changing its views on the mind-body connection.

Ch 9: How the medical world & society views the mind-body connection Research proved the mind can influence the body. The growing support inside—and outside—the

medical world changed the public’s view on the mind-body connection. But that doesn’t mean more

progress can’t still be made.

How society views the mind-body connection

The mind-body connection has reached a mainstream audience. When you have chronic pain

chances are mind-body treatments will be recommended to you. Progress is also being made on the

topic of mental health. Initiatives like Mental Health Awareness month help people talk more openly

about their emotions and remove the stigma.

Yet, there’s still a huge taboo on mental health in society. Around 2/3d of people with mental health

problems feel isolated, worthless and shame because of stigma40. Stigma consist of three parts:

Knowledge (ignorance or misinformation): Someone has a wrong view or a limited view on a

subject.

Attitudes (prejudice): This view can change that person’s attitude towards you.

Behaviour (discrimination): This can cause a person to display negative behaviors.

Basically, talking about your mind and emotions can be seen—and feel—as shameful. Bottling up

your emotions—for a large part—is still the norm.

This shows there’s still a lot of progress that needs to be made. Society needs to get to a point where

it’s acceptable to openly talk about emotions. When this happens, there’s no longer a need to

repress emotions.

How the medical worlds view the mind-body connection

Western medicine is shaped by Descartes beliefs: your body is a machine—separate from your mind.

Your mind can’t influence your body. And the body should always be studied with verifiable

methods: if it can't be studied in the laboratory, it’s invalid.

That’s why doctors still look at chronic pain as a disorder of the machine. It’s your doctor’s job to

discover what’s physically causing the pain. Then correct it. Many doctors are unaware of how

emotions influence your pain. What’s perhaps unsurprising? Research has shown many future

doctors are unprepared to manage pain41.

Doctors can play a negative role on your chronic pain. When they can’t find any physical symptoms

of the pain? They don’t know what to do. And this can lead to comments that can do real harm:

It’s most likely going to get worse as you get older

It runs in your family

40 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3610943/ 41 http://nationalpainreport.com/future-doctors-unprepared-manage-pain-8822008.html

You’re always going to have to be careful of your back.

Your spine is crumbling

Comments like these cause the Nocebo effect42. You start having negative thoughts and expectations

about your condition. And these negative thoughts and expectations can make your pain worse. And

hinder your recovery.

Descartes views once served a purpose. It made it easier to make advancements in areas like surgery

and medicine. But they’ve since been disproven and become an obstruction. Healthcare needs to

start treating humans as emotional beings.

But it’s important to not only focus on the negative. In the last decades, huge progress has been

made. It’s now recognized that psychosocial factors play a key part in all chronic pain conditions.

Most doctors see the mind-body connection as the placebo effect: when you have blind faith in

something and your subconscious mind accepts something to be true? It causes real change.

A research about the placebo effect showed out of 446 physicians believed in the mind-body

connection43. They concluded that the placebo effect involves brain chemistry changes that affect

pain receptors in the brain, resulting in a genuine physical experience of less pain44.

But what’s still a mystery to the medical world? Instances of chronic pain that don’t have a physical

cause.

42 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2650014 43 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17994270 44 The Journal of Neuroscience (2005; 25 (34), 7754–62).

Part 3: TMS: Chronic pain caused by repressed emotions

TMS explains instances of chronic pain that don’t have a physical cause. But before getting into TMS?

It helps to understand why you experience pain. And how you experience pain in the first place.

Knowing this will make you understand why pain is important. And you’ll understand how all pain is

formed by your mind.

Ch 10. Why you feel pain As destructive as the pain is, it helps to realize it’s an important part of your bodies design. It can

help you look at your pain in a less negative light. See—when you can’t feel pain—it will put you in

real danger.

Because pain is a protective mechanism. Biologically, you’re designed to avoid pain. When you feel

pain? It immediately stops you from (potentially) harmful behavior. It makes you aware you have an

existing injury. And it instinctively makes you avoid danger by putting your body into “fight or flight

mode”.

Fight or flight mode happens when both your sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the adrenal

cortical system (ACS) are activated. When you’re in fight or flight mode, your body and muscles start

receiving more blood and oxygen. Your heart starts beating faster. And your SNS makes your body

react automatically through your nerves: it makes you instinctively try to get out of harm’s way.

You can make a distinction between two types of pain:

A fast or acute pain: This type of pain has just happened and will cause you to experience a

sharp, intense pain.

A slow, chronic pain: This type of pain is a continuous dull type of pain caused by an already

existing injury.

How your mind causes you to experience pain Your mind is what causes the physical sensation pain. See, you have pain receptors all over your body. These pain receptors register tissue damage. When they register tissue damage they start sending pain signals to your brain. As soon as these pain signals reach your brain is when you start feeling pain.

But before reaching your brain, they first go to pain processing cells called “Wide Dynamic Range cells (WDR)”. WDR cells are located in your spinal cord. Pain signals travel from the injured area to your brain in a fraction of a second. It makes you react automatically. Even before you’re consciously aware of an injury.

What’s also interesting? WDR cells are also responsible for processing non-pain related signals. When you clap your hands WDR cells receive this information. And they make you feel the clap. But here’s where it gets even more interesting. When you receive this non-pain related signals at the same time as a pain signal? It weakens the pain signal making you feel less pain. That’s why you can distract your mind from the pain.

What’s important to realize is this. Your chronic pain is an unfortunate byproduct of your ability to feel pain. An essential tool that helps you be safe. And it’s your mind that causes you to feel the pain. Now let’s expand your mind for a second. What if pain is not only your bodies way of warning you from physical harm? But also, a way of warning you from emotional harm?

Ch 11: What is TMS? Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS) is when psychological stress—caused by repressed emotions in

your unconscious mind—is the cause of your chronic pain. The word “tension” stands for the

negative emotions generated in your unconscious mind. And “Myo” stands for muscle, the tissue

involved in the condition.

But you’re probably wondering how repressed emotions can cause pain. Your unconscious mind has

a self-defense mechanism. When you have an overwhelming amount of surfacing, suppressed

emotions? It triggers your emotional brain. Your emotional brain then activates your nervous system.

And your nervous system causes less oxygen to flow to muscle-areas. This lack of oxygen is what

causes the pain.

Now, the pain has an important role. It distracts your conscious mind. Your attention is diverted from

your mind to your body. This helps you cope with the overwhelming amount of negative emotions.

And negative emotions are prevented from entering your awareness.

See your emotions as a pressure cooker. When water reaches boiling point? It has reached its limit

and can’t get any hotter. Instead, the water changes shape: it turns into steam. Similarly, your mind

can reach boiling point too. It can only handle so much psychological stress. To cope with the stress,

it changes shape. It turns into something physical: pain.

It’s important to realize everyone represses emotions. Because certain emotions are too unpleasant,

painful or embarrassing to deal with. You don’t want to be confronted with them. Or have an

emotional reaction to them. As a result, you suppress them. The two main repressed emotions that

cause TMS are anger and anxiety.

How anxiety and stress cause TMS

Anxiety is a reaction to a stressful situation. It’s a sensation that’s unique to humans. Unlike animals,

you have the ability to anticipate. The ability to anticipate can cause you to worry about something.

Even when you’re not in any real danger.

Anxiety is closely related to stress. Stress is your bodies reaction to a situation that requires physical,

mental or emotional adjustment. Stress can be caused by both external and internal causes.

External causes are life circumstances like work and family. An example. Almost from the

moment you’re born society puts you under pressure. It has certain expectations. You have

to act a certain way. Do certain things. And showing certain emotions is disapproved. Hence,

you have to suppress your emotions. It protects you by helping you act in a socially accepted

way. Family situations are no different. Your family members have certain expectations of

you. Trying to meet these expectations can cause you to repress emotions. But a

disappointment of not having your expectations met? It can have the same effect.

Internal causes play an even bigger role. Internal stressors are personality traits that cause

you to suppress emotions. Personality traits can either be part of your DNA. Or have

developed in your life and especially in childhood. An example. When you’re a perfectionist

you’ll put yourself under more pressure to perform. While this has its benefits, it also causes

you to repress more emotions.

How anger and rage cause TMS

Anger is also closely related to anxiety. Everything that causes anxiety can cause anger. Anger is an

emotional outlet. A great example of something that can cause anger? Family relationships. You

might have had certain expectations from your parents. Maybe you wanted to be raised a certain

way. And your parents weren’t able to meet those expectations. This can cause you to be

disappointed, resentful and hold anger. To cope, you suppress these emotions.

Narcissism also plays a role in causing anger. Everyone is narcissistic to a certain degree. Even if you

have low self-esteem. Because everyone has an ego. And you’re designed to do everything in your

power to protect that ego. When you do something embarrassing? It can make you angry at yourself.

And you need to suppress this emotion to cope.

It’s important to realize that these are natural responses. Just like pain, emotions—and your

reactions to emotions—play an important role in how you function. But it’s how you deal with these

emotions that makes the difference. When you need to suppress too many emotions? It causes you

to reach boiling point.

What is TMS-treatment

TMS-treatment helps you suppress fewer emotions. And to stop your mind from reaching boiling

point. It doesn’t focus on making you void of emotions. Or to completely stop you from repressing

your emotions. Instead, it helps you to:

Find the personally-traits that cause you to suppress emotions.

Identify stressful life events that cause you to reach boiling point.

Prevent you from worrying, which causes unneeded stress

Helps you find better ways of dealing with negative emotions

Reduce the amount of suppressed emotions and psychological stress

Prevent your mind from reaching boiling point

You’re probably wondering how you can determine if you have TMS.

Ch 12: How do you to determine if you have TMS

Everyone suppresses emotions, that’s why anyone can develop TMS. But if you've been told by a

doctor there’s seemingly nothing physically wrong with you? There’s a good chance you have TMS. A

couple of things give you even more clarity.

You have a personality type that’s commonly associated with TMS

You have personality traits that are commonly associated with TMS

You have a history of emotional neglect or abuse

You have physical indicators

Visit a TMS-doctor

Your personality type

Your personality type can put you at more risk for TMS. Because it can cause you to bottle up more

emotions than normal. If you have one of the following personality types you’re at most risk:

The perfectionist: When you’re a perfectionist you have a strong need for everything to be

perfect. You need to excel at everything. And that’s why you always set the bar high. By

doing so you put a lot of pressure on yourself. And this causes you to ignore and suppress

your emotions.

The people pleaser: You’re a people pleaser if you put other people’s needs before your

own. It usually comes from a strong desire to be liked. When you’re always worrying about

other people? It makes you overlook and suppress your emotions. In many cases, being a

people pleaser comes from low self-worth.

The legalist: You’re a legalist when you think your views are always correct. It’s unlikely you

ever agree with someone with a different point of view. Usually, being a legalist comes from

feelings of not being good enough. Or sometimes even self-hatred.

Stoic: You’re a stoic when you have a hard time opening up to people. Expressing your

emotions to others is hard. Stoic’s hold in their emotions and rarely show them to other

people.

Your personality traits

Personality traits also cause you to suppress emotions. Here are the personality traits that are

commonly associated with TMS:

Low self-esteem

Anxious or fearful people

Always being hard on yourself

Always avoiding confrontation

A strong need to be loved, admired and respected

Easily resentful of other people

Constantly worrying, being anxious or afraid

Being overly analytical

A need to be always in control

Having high expectations of yourself and other people

Frequently hostile and/or aggressive or having rage

Frequently feeling guilt

Feeling dependent on others

Being conscientious

Being overly responsible

Often responsible for others

An inability to express anger

An inability to verbalize how you feel

A history of abuse or emotional neglect and feelings of in

When you were emotionally abused, sexually abused or neglected as a child it has a big impact on

your emotional well-being. Suppressing a huge amount of emotions is needed to deal with all the

negative feelings.

Physical indications of TMS A big indicator is when your pain moves from one part of your body to another part. But there are a few more physical indications you have TMS. According to John E Sarno, you’ll find tenderness when you apply pressure to muscles in three parts of your back:

The outer area of both your buttocks or the entire buttocks

The muscles in the lumbar area

Both upper trapezius (shoulder) muscles

Visiting a TMS-doctor

Lastly, to make sure you have TMS you can visit a TMS-doctor. Not only will it let you know for sure.

When you get a diagnosis, it reinforces your mind your pain is caused by repressed emotions. This

can help you shift your focus from your pain to your mind.

Ch 13: Other conditions caused by TMS

Many other conditions can also be caused by too much psychological stress. Psychological stress

upsets the immune system and the autonomic nervous system4546. Both play a key role in a wide

variety of conditions47. Usually, when symptoms keep coming back with no evidence of a disease, a

fracture infection or auto-immune disorder? They condition will be caused by TMS.

Physical conditions caused by TMS

Scoliosis and spinal degeneration

Osteoarthritis including stenosis

Degenerative disc disease

Cervical spondylosis

Slipped/ prolapsed discs

Facet joint disease.

Migraine and tension headache

Fibromyalgia

But also trapped/ impinged nerves or tendons, muscle imbalance, poor core stability, shin splints,

hypermobility, sacroiliac disorders, back pain in pregnancy, carpal tunnel syndrome, thin splints,

myofascial pain syndrome (trigger points), sciatica, chronic whiplash disorders, complex regional pain

disorder (CRPS), repetitive strain injury (RSI), tendonitis, frozen shoulder, rotator cuff pain,

impingement, wry neck/ torticollis, tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow, joint pain; worn/ torn cartilage and

more.

Psychological disorders caused by TMS.

Trichotillomania (pulling hair out)

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Phobias

Body dysmorphic disorder

Eating disorders

Self-harming

And more

45 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361287/ 46 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780125897624500517 47 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5050399/

Other conditions caused by TMS

A few other conditions that could be caused by TMS: Tinnitus (ringing in the ears), fatigue, blurred

vision and floaters in the eyes, dental pain, changes in voice, unexplained problems with swallowing

or gagging and insomnia, migraines, dizziness/ vertigo, chronic fatigue syndrome, eczema, irritable

bowel syndrome, acne, hay fever, asthma, constipation, pathological dry mouth, frequent urination

and more.

Ch 14: Evidence on TMS

When people first hear about TMS they are sometimes quick to dismiss it. Emotions being the cause

of pain sounds too far-fetched. Maybe you had a similar reaction. The truth is there’s considerable

evidence that shows your chronic pain could be caused by suppressed emotions:

Chronic back pain is often not caused by spinal abnormalities

Oxygen deprivation in the muscle

Emotions influence pain

Effectiveness of TMS-treatment

Chronic pain is often not caused by spinal abnormalities

Spinal abnormalities— like a herniated disc—discovered by MRI scans are often given as a reason for

chronic pain. The thing is, spinal degeneration is found just as often in people who don’t have chronic

pain 48. Basically, it’s a natural part of growing older.

Oxygen deprivation

In 1973—two German researchers workers—reported finding microscopic changes in the nuclei of

biopsied muscles from back pain patients suggesting oxygen deprivation 49. Research also shows the

flow of oxygen to the muscles is low when you have fibromyalgia50.

Also, when you introduce heat to a muscle with diathermy? It increases the blood flow to your

muscles. Massages and certain exercises do the same thing. An increased blood flow means more

oxygen reaches your muscles. All of these methods have been shown to temporarily relieve pain.

Emotions influence your pain

The researches in chapter 7 can be seen as proof for TMS. But there’s plenty more scientific evidence

that shows emotions influence pain. Here are just a few examples:

48 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199407143310201 49 Morphologie und Pathogenese des Weichteilrheumatismus,” Z. Rheumaforsch (Vol. 32, p. 355) 50 The Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology in 1986 (Vol. 15, p. 165)

People with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome have a significantly higher than

average history of emotional neglect and abuse, including physical abuse51. Traumatic events

in childhood like sexual and physical abuse, alcoholism and drug addiction are significantly

linked to chronic pain52.

A research—dating back to 1982— showed that rats that were emotionally stressed were at

more risk of developing cancer53. Other research has also shown you’re at more risk of

developing breast cancer when you’re emotionally stressed.

Bad childhood experiences put you at more risk for frequent headaches in adulthood54.

Effectiveness of TMS-treatment

Lastly, TMS-treatment is an extremely effective way to treat chronic pain. Dr. Sarno used TMS-

treatment to great effect. Out of his 177 patient’s, seventy-six percent were leading normal lives

with little pain or no pain at all. Only 16% of his patient’s conditions remained unchanged. Dr.

Michael Sinel—an assistant director of Outpatient Physical Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center,

Los Angeles— diagnosed fifty of his patients with TMS. With TMS-treatment, he helped 75% of his

patients improve their condition or completely get rid of their pain

But what might be the best proof for the effectiveness of TMS-treatment? It comes from the

thousands of people who read John E Sarno’s books. And found relief from their pain or got

completely rid of it. Among these people were the previously mentioned celebrities.

51 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/acr.20328 52 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10070600 53 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4708200/ 54 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3972492/

Ch 15: Celebrities that got rid of chronic pain with TMS-treatment Over the years, many celebrities came out to support Dr. Sarno. All of them gained absolutely nothing from showing this support. They just knew TMS-treatment could make a difference in the lives of so many people. Here are some of the most noticeable ones:

Howard Stern

Larry David

Terry Zwigoff

Janette Barber

Howard Stern: Howard Stern—because of his outspoken personality and trash talking—is a person you either love. Or love to hate. Before Howard learned about TMS? He suffered from chronic back pain for many years. After reading Sarno’s book he got completely rid of his back pain.

After that, not only did he invite Sarno on his show back in 1999. He was also featured in Sarno’s film “All the Rage”. And he even dedicated his autobiography to Sarno. He fully credited TMS treatment for the relief of his excruciating back and shoulder pain. But also, his obsessive-compulsive disorder. Howard Stern on Dr. Sarno after his death: “He was an amazing man. I got a note from his wife. I wrote her back. I said, ‘I can’t tell you how sad I am that my hero is gone.” “I suffered horribly from back pain for many years … and he really saved my life,”

Larry David Larry David is best known for being the creator of Seinfeld. After trying many other methods to get of his chronic pain, he finally succeeded by using Sarno’s methods. Like Howard Stern, he was also featured in Sarno’s film “All the Rage.” In the film, he says after talking to Sarno—and learning about TMS—he could feel his pain disappear. He said it’s the closest he ever came to having a religious experience. Terry Zwigoff Terry Zwigoff is a well-known filmmaker whose work often focusses on misfits, antiheroes and themes of alienation. He says John E Sarno’s methods prevented him from almost committing suicide. According to Zwigoff, his back pain was so intense that he spent three years with a loaded gun next to his bed, trying to get up the nerve to kill himself.

In an interview with Vice, he says the following: I had developed this back pain and it just got worse and worse. I'd been going to doctors and getting x-rays and they'd say, "It's a disc problem, it's only going to get worse, you need surgery…" I wound up taking to my bed for years, just trying to drag myself to the hospital for physical therapy. It got to the point where I figured that my life was so worthless that I was just going to get a gun and try to get the nerve to kill myself.

But then, eventually, I was listening to Howard Stern and I heard him raving about this guy John Sarno who had cured Stern's back pain. So, I looked him up, and the guy saved my life. In fact, I just saved the life of a woman who I heard about who was suffering from the same thing. She literally had a gun and was going to kill herself. She said, "I've told my boyfriend, my family, and every friend I have that you saved my life." I said, "All I did was tell you to read this book! Don't thank me. Thank this guy, Sarno”

Janette Barber Janette Barber was the supervising producer and head writer for the Rosie O'Donnell Show. And the Executive Producer of Rosie Radio on Sirius XM. But she’s also known for something else: making a dramatic improvement from chronic back-and ankle pain.

Her pain was so severe that she couldn’t even walk and had to start using a wheelchair. At least, until she learned about TMS through one of her viewers. After TMS-treatment she could quickly walk

again and no longer needed the wheelchair. Both 20/20 and Larry King Live gave attention to her story.

Part 4: The first 4 essential steps to switching off pain Mind body techniques can help you switch off the pain immediately. But before you start using them? You must first take these 4 steps. They’ll reframe your mind by making you look at your pain in a different light. And they’ll put you back in control of your life.

1. Accept a physical condition is not the cause of your pain

2. Learn and understand the concept of TMS and the mind-body connection

3. Understand the need to identify your repressed emotions and stress-inducing personality traits and behaviors

4. Resume all your physical activities

Ch 16: Accept a physical condition is not the cause of your pain Step 1 is accepting a physical condition is not the cause of your pain. See, learning about the mind-body connection and TMS is a huge revelation. You can use the information to gain control over your pain.

But many—when they first learn about it—don’t fully accept it. Maybe they’re open to the idea. But they still have doubts in their mind. Chances are you’re in a similar situation. Maybe you still see your pain as something physical. Or maybe you grasp and believe in the concept. But you still have doubts creeping in the back of your head.

This is only logical. Understanding and accepting the concept of TMS and the mind-body connection takes time. Your conscious mind can quickly accept the concept. But your unconscious mind? Not so much. It will take your unconscious mind longer to accept. And it takes continuous effort to shift your focus from your pain to your mind.

That’s why you need to get rid of your doubts. You need to get to a point where you subconsciously accept the role emotions play on your pain. So, you have two options:

1. Keep doubting whether your pain is physical and is something you have no control over

2. Start fully accepting the role emotions play on your pain and start gaining control over your emotions, pain and life.

If you choose the first option? Unresolved issues from your childhood will continue to induce pain. You’ll keep suppressing more emotions than needed. And breaking free from the emotion pain cycle will become extremely hard.

So, instead, start fully accepting your pain has an emotional cause. Not a physical one. Start thinking psychological instead of physical. Shift your focus from your pain to what’s causing your pain: repressed emotions. Keep telling yourself these repressed emotions equal pain. And see the pain for what it is: a defense mechanism of your subconscious mind. You’ll stop being intimidated by your pain. And you’ll develop an attitude of disdain towards it. It’s extremely self-empowering. You will no longer feel like a victim. Or at the mercy of your pain. You’ll realize your thoughts, emotions and a positive mindset all have the power to switch off pain. It motivates you to take full control of your emotions, pain and happiness. And you’ll feel certain you can overcome any adversity that lies ahead of you.

Learning more about the mind-body connection and TMS will help your unconscious mind accept the concept.

Ch 17: Learning and understanding the concept of TMS and mind-body approaches Step 2 is learning more about TMS and the mind-body connection. You might wonder why this is important. This book already gives you an excellent understanding of the mind-body connection. Of

TMS. And it contains highly practical advice on how to switch off pain using mind-body techniques. Basically, it equips you with all the tools you need to switch off pain.

But you shouldn’t stop there. You should learn as much about TMS and the mind-body connection as you can. Why? Awareness is key to improving your condition. Knowledge is penicillin. Every book you read about the mind-body connection will give you more knowledge and understanding. Every research you read will strengthen your belief in the powers of the mind.

Knowledge helps you connect the dots. You’ll understand the mind-body connection on a deeper level. You’ll start fully recognizing your mind and body are not separate. And you’ll start accepting the theory on a subconscious level.

A perfect example of the power of knowledge? Those that found relief from their pain by reading John. E Sarno’s book. By reading his book they learned about TMS and the mind-body connection. They opened up their minds to the concept. And they started accepting the concept on a subconscious level. Many went on to live a pain-free life by doing just that.

So, the more knowledge you have? The more you’ll believe in the mind-body connection. When you have a strong belief and accept it on a subconscious level? It will become easier to switch of the pain. Here are some books and other resources you should consider reading:

Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection by John Sarno.

Love, Medicine and Miracle: Lessons Learned about Self-Healing from a Surgeon’s Experience with Exceptional Patients by Bernie Siegel

The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles by Bruce Lipton”

Unlearn Your Pain by Howard Schubiner, M.D.

http://www.painisnotprison.com

And the website www.tmswiki.org

Ch 18: Understand the need to identify your repressed emotions and stress-inducing personality type, traits and behaviors Step 3 is understanding the need to identify your repressed emotions. And your stress-inducing personality type, traits and behaviors. Because once you start identifying them? You can start making changes to repress less emotions. Identifying your repressed emotions You need to identify two types of repressed emotions.

Repressed emotions from your past and childhood

Repressed emotions from current events

Repressed emotions from your childhood are the most important. But often, the more overlooked. Because you might feel everyone had difficulties in their childhood. It’s a normal part of life. Besides, the past is the past: you can’t do anything to change the past. While you can’t change your past, you shouldn’t overlook how it can affect you now.

Negative things that happened in your childhood can cause problems in your adult life. Because your childhood years plays a key role in shaping your personality. And behaviors. In most cases, you develop coping mechanisms. These coping mechanisms work in favor for you back then. But work against you now: they cause you to repress emotions.

See, no one grew up in the perfect circumstances. Most of the times, negative things do happen. Things that are out of your control. A death of a relative or a serious illness is an example. And maybe your parents tried their best to raise you. But everyone makes mistakes. Maybe you felt one of your siblings was your parents favorite. Or maybe they put you under pressure by culture, a strict religion or extreme high expectations. So, start thinking back to your childhood. The goal of identifying repressed emotions from your childhood? Understanding how they’re contributing to your pain now. But also, so you can start accepting your past. And—if needed—change the way you look at your past. Current events that cause you to repress emotions: Current events that cause repressed emotions are important as well. Life in current day society is more demanding than ever. It’s extremely fast pace. To cope with all this pressure, you repress your emotions. And sometimes you can get overwhelmed by everything live throws at you. As a result, your mind starts to reach boiling point. Here are some examples of events that could contribute to that:

Work

Finances

Personal relationships

Divorce

Family

Trauma

A loss of someone close to you

Obviously, you can’t fully control these events. But you can change the way you think about these negative events. And minimize the stress caused by them.

Identify and acknowledge your stress-inducing personality type and traits Chapter 12 showed the personality types and traits that put you at most risk for TMS. You need to identify which personality type and which of these personality traits you have. With this knowledge? You can start thinking of ways to minimize the stress caused by your personality.

Identify and acknowledge your stress-inducing behaviors Your behaviors wcause unwanted stress as well. Behaviors will be the result of experiences from your childhood. Your personality type and behaviors. But behaviors can also be, things you consciously choose to do. Start thinking about your life. What behaviors are causing you unwanted stress?

For example, maybe you choose to be a in a toxic relationship. Or you have a hard time saying no to people. And—as a result—you do certain things you would rather not do. When you identify your stress-inducing behaviors? You can start making structural changes to these behaviors. The goal of identifying your repressed emotions The goal of identifying your repressed emotions is not to cut them out of your life completely. Or to completely change your personality type and traits. It’s not possible. Your personality is already shaped. You can’t change your past. And you can’t fully control external events or your behaviors.

Instead, the goal is to acknowledge these repressed emotions. Understand how they’re causing your pain now. And to find ways to minimize them. Journaling—mind-body technique #1— will play a key role in identifying your repressed emotions and your stress-inducing personality type, traits and behaviors. It will help you come to term with your past. You can use the other mind-body techniques to minimize the amount of emotions you suppress.

Ch 19: Resuming all physical activities Step 4—resuming all physical activities—might be the most difficult of the 4 steps. Because when you still see your chronic pain as a physical disability? It causes you to have ‘physicophobia’: a fear of doing any type of physical activity. You have this fear because you think exercise might make your pain worse. Or make your condition worse. It can cause you to avoid physical activity entirely.

Oftentimes, this fear is fueled by diagnosis made by doctors. Not long ago, many doctors recommended lots of rest and inactivity for chronic pain. You’re advised to always be cautious of anything that can strain your body. And words like herniation, deterioration, and disintegration are used to explain your condition. It makes you look at your body as this fragile construction. And it instills a fear in your mind: even the slightest bit of exercise can make the pain worse.

The truth is your body is not as vulnerable, fragile and prone to injury as you think. It’s much stronger then you’re giving it credit for. And your fear of exercise is making your pain worse. That’s why unlearning the fear of physical activity is extremely important.

You need to stop restricting your physical activity. And slowly try to do whatever it is you were doing before the pain. Whether that’s running, jogging or playing basketball or tennis: it doesn’t matter. You need to lose your fear and start regaining your physical strength and health. Resume physical activity when you’re in the least pain.

Not only will resuming physical activity give you back your health. It will play a key role in reinforcing your subconscious mind your condition doesn’t have a physical cause. You’ll start shifting your focus from your body to your mind. And you’ll have an easier time making other lifestyle improvements.

Part 5: Make lifestyle improvements to help switch off the pain An unhealthy lifestyle is not your fault. Because when you have chronic pain? It’s extremely hard to

resist urges, exercise or sleep. But make no mistake. An unhealthy lifestyle makes your pain worse.

Pain specialists now recognize making lifestyle improvements is more effective than painkillers to

manage pain. Here are four lifestyle improvements you should strive to make:

1. Exercise to your full capacity

2. Improve your sleep

3. Improve your diet

4. Improve your social life and relationships

Ch 20: Exercise to your full capacity

It’s now proven restricting physical activity is bad advice55. And it’s widely accepted exercise helps

fight chronic pain. It does this by releasing endorphins, which block pain signals. Exercise is also a low

risk-way to:

Decrease anxiety and stress by lowering stress hormones56.

Prevent obesity and depression 57

Improve your physical functioning and your body’s natural healing process58

Improve your overall health and the quality of your life

Trying to do whatever you were doing before the pain is a great first step. But there are a couple of

exercises you can benefit from specifically. You should try to do them every day:

1. Stretching exercises: Stretching exercises will help to increase your flexibility, loosen up your

muscles and improve your range of motion.

2. Strength training: Strength training exercises like squats, bicep curls and bench-presses will

help you build stronger muscles.

3. Cardiovascular exercises: Walking running, swimming or riding a bike are great

cardiovascular exercises. They help provide your muscles with more oxygen and boost your

energy levels.

4. Yoga: Research has shown yoga is a safe way to decrease the psychological symptoms of

chronic pain in women with fibromyalgia59.

55 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5461882/ 56 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3894304/ 57 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4508090/ 58 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4100192/ 59 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3616139/

You need to pay close attention to your pain while doing these exercises. If you feel your pain level

increase by 2 points? You should take it easy. Don’t try to do more than you can handle. Take your

time to build up your flexibility, strength and stamina. Overcoming the fear of physical activity takes

time. So—while exercising—keep telling your mind exercise is medicine.

Another huge benefit of exercise? It makes one of the hardest parts of chronic pain easier: sleep.

Ch 21: Improve your sleep Sleeping with chronic pain is hard. Pain is actually one of the most common causes of insomnia. Around 50 to 80% of people with chronic pain have ongoing sleep difficulties. Pain affects your sleep in three ways:

It makes it more difficult to fall asleep

It makes you wake up earlier than you want

It makes it difficult to stay asleep and achieve deep sleep

When you can’t fall asleep—or keep waking up in the middle of the night—it causes frustration. This

frustration makes you focus on the pain—making it worse than it actually is. It also drains you from

energy. But what’s perhaps even more harmful? It makes it harder to achieve deep sleep. Why? You

can divide sleep into four stages:

1. Stage 1 sleep which is a very light transitional type of sleep

2. Stage 2 sleep is the stage of sleep which feels most comfortable

3. The REM stage of sleep is the stage in which you dream

4. Stage 3—deep sleep— is the deepest stage of sleep

Ideally, you should be spending half of your night in stage 2. A quarter in REM sleep. And about 15 to 20 percent in deep sleep. But when you can’t achieve deep sleep? You miss out on a couple of important health benefits:

Your muscles receive more blood supply

Your blood pressure drops

Your body tissues are repaired and new tissue growth occurs at the cellular level

Your energy levels are recharged

And your pituitary gland releases human growth hormone (HGH)

How to improve your sleep Improving your sleep is going to be very hard. It’s a tough cycle to break. It will require you to attack the problem from multiple angles. But there are things you can do to improve your sleep right away. Rewiring your mind by using proper sleep hygiene is one of them. Sleep hygiene are requirements for a normal, quality nighttime sleep. Here are some ways you can improve sleep hygiene:

Make sure your room is cooled down to around 60 – 75 degrees and make sure it’s dark and

quiet

Only go to bed when you’re feeling sleepy.

Don’t try to make yourself fall asleep. If you don’t fall asleep within 30 minutes of getting in

bed

Make sure you go to bed and wake up the same time each day

Use your bed only for sleep and sex. Don’t use it for reading, watching TV or any other type

of behavior.

Don’t take any naps during the day.

Don’t drink too much caffeine or alcohol

Take a hot shower or bath just before you go to sleep. This can relax your muscles and ease

tension.

Make sure you have the right mattress. Talk to an expert what the right mattress is best for

you.

Make sure you have the right pillow. Make sure you’re using the right pillow height based on

your sleeping position

Avoid taking any midnight snacks or do workouts 3 hours before bedtime

Make sure you regularly clean your bedsheets and your room

Consider getting earplugs if you’re living in a noisy area

Don’t sleep with your pet

Drink herbal tea to help you relax

Ch 22: Improving your diet You may not realize it, but your diet could be contributing to your pain. Not only does a bad diet

make your pain worse. But it can also worsen your condition. Despite overwhelming evidence

showing how a bad diet negatively influences emotions, it isn’t given enough attention by chronic

pain management.

Why improving your diet is important

What you put in your stomach influences your emotional-state and wellbeing. Your gut talks to your

brain— directly influencing your emotions, behaviors and health60. That’s why the gut is being

called “the second brain”.

The second brain plays a key role in regulating inflammation. When you eat a lot of unhealthy

food—like foods high on the glycemic index—it causes inflammation. And depression has been

shown to go hand in hand with inflammation61. Multiple animal studies showed the gut can produce

behaviors related to anxiety and depression62.

It’s especially important to improve your diet if you’re obese. A common condition among chronic

pain sufferers6364. It’s not surprising because having good impulse control is hard when you have

chronic pain. The thing is obesity has an effect on the chronicity of your pain. And the extent of your

disability65 66. A Typical American Diet (TAD) leads to:

hypersensitivity to pain

systemic inflammation

exaggerated pain responses.

Diet recommendations

You should eat foods low on the glycemic index. Eating an anti-inflammatory diet will help you

relieve pain. And you’ll also avoid the negative health effects of sugar. Examples of food low on the

glycemic index include cherries, soy, oranges, peaches, asparagus, cranberries, cauliflower, avocados,

dark leafy greens, wild, salmon and kiwi.

Also, make sure you always drink enough water. You need to drink at least 2 liters a day to keep your

mind functioning at its full capacity. If you don’t stay hydrated your energy levels and brain function

60 http://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1038/nrmicro2876 61 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3285451/ 62 (Maes, Kubera, Leunis, Berk, J. Affective Disorders, 2012 and Berk, Williams, Jacka, BMC Med, 2013). 63 . Bruehl S, Chung OY, Jirjis JN, Biridepalli S. Prevalence of clinical hypertension in patients with chronic pain compared to nonpain general

medical patients. Clin J Pain 2005;21:147-153. 64 Ray L, Lipton RB, Zimmerman ME, Katz MJ, Derby CA. Mechanisms of association between obesity and chronic pain in the elderly. Pain

2011;152:53-59. 65 . Ray L, Lipton RB, Zimmerman ME, Katz MJ, Derby CA. Mechanisms of association between obesity and chronic pain in the elderly. Pain

2011;152:53-59. 66 Marcus DA. Obesity and the impact of chronic pain. Clin J Pain 2004; 20:186-191

decrease676869. Your ability to exercise will suffer70. And it will temporarily boost your metabolism

and reduces your appetite7172.

There are a couple of supplements you should consider taking:

Vitamin D

Magnesium

Turmeric

Getting enough vitamin D can help you keep chronic pain in check73. Vitamin D decrease levels of

inflammation. And—in many cases—a lack of vitamin D goes hand in hand with chronic pain7475.

Chronic pain sufferers with a lack of vitamin D stay on opioids twice as long. But also take twice as

many drugs as patients with enough vitamin D.

Magnesium can help because it relaxes your muscles. If you have diabetes you can improve your

condition when you have your magnesium level restored. Magnesium also improves inflammation,

fibromyalgia and myofascial pain. Lastly, turmeric is an absolute superfood. Its positive effects on

osteoarthritis and perioperative are well-documented76.

Foods to avoid

Foods you should avoid—as much as possible—are foods high on the glycemic index. Examples are

processed foods, refined sugars, milk/dairy, white flour, artificial preservatives, artificial flavors and

flavor boosters, artificial colors, fried foods, alcohol, crackers and pastries.

67 https://www.nature.com/articles/1601898 68 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3355239 69 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167876001001428 70 https://www.nature.com/articles/1601897 71 https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/18-ways-reduce-hunger-appetite 72 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14671205 73 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3347929/ 74 Plotnikoff GA, Quigley JM. Prevalence of severe hypovitaminosis D in patients with persistent, nonspecific musculoskeletal pain. Mayo

Clin Proc. 2003 Dec;78(12):1463–70. PubMed #14661675. PainSci #55011. 75 Straube S, Andrew Moore R, Derry S, McQuay HJ. Vitamin D and chronic pain. Pain. 2009;141:10–13. [PubMed] 76 Tick H. Nutrition for chronic pain. Presented at: Pain Week 2016. Las Vegas, NV; September 6-10, 2016.

Ch 23: Improving your social life

In many cases, chronic pain affects your social life. In many cases, it makes you want to avoid people.

You want to spend more time by yourself. And—in extreme cases—it makes you withdraw from

society almost completely.

But what’s important to realize? Maintaining a healthy social life is crucial to your emotional well-

being. It doesn’t matter if you’re an introvert or extrovert. Humans are social animals. Strong

personal relationships help ease the pain in different ways. It makes you happier. It makes you

healthier. And you’ll live a more fulfilling life.

Now, obviously personal relationships are never easy. Oftentimes, relationships have a complex

nature. And chronic pain makes it even more difficult to maintain them. But when you start looking

for ways to improve your relationships? You’ll feel great for doing so.

What will play an important part in improving your relationships? Getting your loved ones—and

surroundings—to get a better understanding of your condition. They need to have an understanding

of the struggles you face. What you’re going through. And how your condition is limiting your life.

You should never suffer in silence. Because it causes you to bottle emotions. And put a tremendous

amount of psychological stress on your mind.

It might be hard to get others to understand your condition. And they’re never going to completely

understand your struggles. But you can get them closer to understanding. But what needs to happen

to get them closer? You need to be willing to communicate your struggles in the best way possible.

Once you feel understood it will do you a world of good.

There are, however, people out there that will fully understand your struggles: other chronic pain

suffers. That’s why you should consider joining a chronic pain support group. It’s extremely

reassuring talking to people going through the same things. They’ll understand your condition. Know

what you’re going through. And for some things they can give you better support than even your

loved ones can.

A lot of times chronic pain frees up a lot of your time. What better way to spend some of that time

with your loved ones? It will have you feeling more optimistic and positive. And it will give you boost

a of energy and motivation.

Making these lifestyle improvements will decrease the pain. And make it easier to implement the

mind-body connection techniques in the next chapter.

Part 6: 9 mind-body connection techniques that make your mind switch

off pain These mind-body connection techniques are extremely self-empowering. Many found immediate

relief from their pain by using them. But they’ll also improve your overall well-being and happiness.

So, start using them to take back control over your pain and life:

1. Journaling

2. Thought reframing

3. Mindfulness meditation

4. Tapping

5. Positive affirmations

6. Using movement to break negative thought patterns

7. A self-care hour

8. Showing gratitude

9. Visualization

Ch 24: Journaling “Give words to your pain: pain that doesn’t speak cries out in the heart until it breaks.”-William

Shakespeare

Journaling may be the most important mind-body technique. It allows you to identify your repressed

emotions. Accept the event that led to your repressed emotions. And move on from them.

Why journaling works

So, why is journaling so powerful? By writing down your problems you remove mental blocks. It

allows suppressed emotions to come to your conscious mind. Usually, when these emotions surface

you resist them. You push them back instead of acknowledging them. And this makes your pain

intensify. By writing them down you start acknowledging them.

And the more you write? The more unconscious emotions will come to the surface. You’ll start

remembering things you seemed to have forgotten. And you’ll start acknowledging bottled up

emotions—like anger and anxiety—you probably didn’t even know you had. Eventually, you’ll:

Come to terms with things that happened in your past and disagreements with others

Better understand yourself, others and the world around you.

Increase your determination, enthusiasm energy and attention

Strengthen your immune cells called T-lymphocytes

Reduce stress and pain77

How to start journaling

Journaling can be used for many different purposes. But—in this case—the goal is to identify and

acknowledge any repressed emotions from your childhood. And your current situation. Then

acknowledge these repressed emotions. And move on from them. You can do this in two steps:

1. Free write all the negative events that cause you to repress emotions

2. Gain perspective on these events and start accepting them

1. Free write all negative events that cause you to repress emotions

You can identify your suppressed emotions by freewriting. Freewriting is a technique writer’s use for

inspiration. It’s a simple technique. Basically, you—immediately—write down anything that comes to

mind—without overthinking or worrying about grammar. Just let your mind go to wherever it wants

to go. When you get into the right flow? Your brain will keep making new connections. And lost

memories and hidden emotions will come to the surface.

First, start thinking about the negative event. What happened and what emotions were you

experiencing? Allow yourself to really feel those thoughts and emotions. Write down any negative

emotion– like anger, anxiety, embarrassment or shame. But also describe the event as detailed as

possible.

If you’re having a hard time feeling the emotions? It can help to distance yourself from the situation.

Imagine the negative event happening to someone else. Then think about what’s going through that

person’s mind.

Your negative event might be related to a specific person. Allow yourself to write down your most

negative feeling towards that person. No matter how extreme. Don’t feel guilty for having those

feelings. See them as a natural reaction to the event. You’ll find that expressing your deepest

thoughts and emotion will be a huge relief.

2. Gain perspective on these negative events and start accepting them

Now, you need to take things one step further. You do that by gaining perspective on the event. And

accepting the event and the emotions you were experiencing. See—in many cases—negative or

traumatic events are hard to accept. Maybe you’re having a hard time forgiving a person. Or letting

go of a feeling of injustice. This causes you to hold on to negative emotions.

But holding on to these feelings is hurting you. No matter how negative the event. It defined you as a

person. And the way you look at the event now also defines you. Will you keep holding on to those

negative feelings? Or grow as a person by accepting them and moving on from them. Here are a

couple of things you should recognize to move on:

77 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19377395

Recognize that your emotional reaction was normal in those circumstances

Recognize that whatever happened to you: it wasn’t your fault.

Recognize that you had to overcome many adversities. Many people wouldn’t have coped

as well as you did.

Recognize that these adversities made you an emotionally strong person

Recognize that negative experiences shape you as a person. Oftentimes, you develop

positive character traits from negative experiences.

Recognize that if the negative event was related to a specific person. There’s a reason why

that person acted that way. Everyone is shaped by their own life experiences.

Maybe after journaling, you’re still having a hard time accepting and moving on. If this is the case,

use mind-body connection technique #2: thought reframing. It will help you change the way you

think about a negative event.

Ch 25: Thought reframing Thought reframing is a mind-body technique that’s used in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). You

can use it to change negative beliefs. And gain control over your negative thoughts and emotions. It

helps you break the emotion pain cycle.

Why thought reframing helps

Here’s why thought reframing is so powerful. Everyone experiences negative events in their lifetime.

In many cases, they happen out of your control. Take your chronic pain for example. When you

initially developed chronic pain, you had no control over your emotional reaction. Feelings of

hopelessness and despair can’t be avoided.

But how you look at your situation after this initial reaction? It’s different. In many cases, you make

things worse in your head than they actually are. You start worrying. You start thinking negatively

about your circumstances. And you completely lose sight of reality. As a result, you get stuck in a

negative state of mind. And this causes you to repress a lot of negative emotions. Negative emotions

that can be avoided.

Why? Because while you’re not in control of what happens to you. You’re in control of how you look

at your circumstances. Only 10% of your stress is caused by your circumstances. And 90% is caused

by how you choose to perceive those circumstances. No matter how extreme they may be.

So, start reframing your negative beliefs. You’ll drastically reduce psychological stress. Journaling will

have uncovered your negative beliefs. Here’s how you start reframing them.

How to reframe your negative thoughts and beliefs

You can use Albert Ellis’—one of the fathers of cognitive therapy—ABC model to reframe your

negative thoughts and beliefs. It consists of 5 steps you need to write down.

1. Accurate description of the event: This is the event or circumstance that triggers your

negative, irritational thoughts. It’s called an activating event. It could be developing your

chronic pain. Something negative that happened in your childhood. Or certain worries you

have about the future. It’s important you write down the event as accurately and detailed as

possible.

2. Belief: Now, you need to accurately describe how you think about the event or circumstance

now. Think about what negative beliefs you have. What caused the situation to happen?

What does the event say about you?

3. Consequence: The consequence is the negative thoughts, emotions and behaviors that come

as a result from your negative beliefs. Your beliefs cause you to think, feel and act a certain

way. Identify any negative emotions you have. How you feel about the event. And what

behaviors you have that are not helping your situation.

Now, you’ll have a clear view of the event and your negative beliefs, emotions and behaviors. The

letters D and an E are now added to the model. These letters reframe your thoughts: ABC-DE.

1. Dispute: The goal of disputing is to challenge your negative thoughts and beliefs. Disputing

stops you from thinking unrealistically. And it causes your beliefs to be more based on the

reality of the situation. You should come up with questions that challenge your negative

beliefs. Here are some examples of questions:

1. What counterarguments can you come up with to challenge your negative beliefs?

2. Ask yourself what’s the worst that can possibly happen? ‘

3. Ask yourself if you really have no control over your situation?

4. If a loved one was in your situation how would you interpret the event?

5. What more positive interpretation of the event can you come up with?

2. Effect: Finally, you need to write down the effect of these disputed beliefs. It should give an

accurate view of your more realistic beliefs, emotions and thoughts about the event. And

how it helps your current situation.

After you’ve completed the model? You’ll continue to fall back in your old way of thinking. It’s like a

nagging child that doesn’t go away. It takes time to reframe your thoughts, emotions and beliefs. So,

when you start slipping back into your old way of thinking? Remind yourself of your name frame.

Keep doing this until your mind starts adopting it. Consistency is key.

Ch 26: Mindfulness meditation

Mindfulness meditation has been practiced by Buddhists for thousands of years. But it’s no longer

just done for religious reasons. Over the last decades, countless researches started validating its

powerful benefits. Now, millions of people worldwide meditate for a wide variety of reasons.

Large corporations use it to increase productivity. The US Marine Corps use it to reduce suicide and

PTSD. And countless athletes—like Lebron James and Kobe Bryant—meditate to achieve peak

performance. But it’s also a powerful tool to switch off the pain.

How meditation helps.

Meditation helps you switch off pain in several ways. Most importantly, it helps you live in the

moment. By meditating you focus on the now, rather than obsessing over painful memories. Or

worrying about what might happen in the future. You’ll start shifting your attention away from your

pain and to your mind.

Eventually—with enough practice—you’ll get closer to achieving a state of awareness and inner-

peace. You’ll be more aware of your (negative) thoughts and emotions. It’s like observing them from

a distance. Instead of blocking these emotions you allow them to come to the surface. And process

them in a more positive way. Here are the proven benefits of meditation:

It helps you live in the moment

It decreases negative thoughts and helps depression

It improves your cognition78

It helps your brain reduce distractions79

It reduces stress, anxiety and pain80

How to meditate

Meditation doesn’t have to be complicated. You can get amazing results from meditating just 10 - 15

minutes a day. Here’s how to start meditating.

First, find a quiet, soothing place in your home or garden. Then set a timer—like the one on your

phone—on 15 minutes. 15 minutes is enough when you’re starting out. You can gradually increase

the time when you’re more experienced. And can concentrate for longer periods of time.

Now, it’s time to sit in the right posture. You can use anything from a chair to a meditation cushion to

sit on. As long as it allows you to sit in a stable position. To sit in the right posture, cross your legs in

front of you. Try to straighten your upper body so your spine is in its natural curve. Don’t straighten it

all the way until where it feels stiff. Your shoulders, neck and head should all feel relaxed.

78https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/39616081/Mindfulness_meditation_improves_cognitio20151102-1793-

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Then, let your hands rest on the upper part of your legs. Make sure they’re in a position that feels

comfortable. It shouldn’t feel too tight. Instead, you should barely notice your hands. It’s okay if you

want to close your eyes. But it’s not a requirement. Do what feels most natural to you.

Now that you’re in the right position it’s time to start breathing. It’s crucial to pay close attention to

your breathing patterns. You have to focus all your attention towards slowly breathing in. And slowly

breathing out. Slowly breathing in. And slowly breathing out. Keep doing this for the full 15 minutes.

While you’re breathing start taking notice of everything that’s happening around you. The air that

breaths through your nose. Your chest and belly that keep pushing up and down. And your

surroundings.

Don’t worry if your mind starts wandering off. Maybe you start thinking about your pain. Or maybe

about something that’s been causing you stress. This is to be expected. Don’t try to block these

thoughts. Instead, let them pass through your mind. See them as something natural. And try to put

them in perspective. You can concentrate on your breathing pattern again when you feel more at

ease.

Those are the basics of meditation. Some people say meditation is easy. But this is not entirely true.

While the basics are easy to learn it takes time to master. Practice is key. So, make meditation a daily

habit. Consider making it part of your morning routine. Here are some tips that will help your efforts:

Gradually develop your concentration: Concentration is essential to mindfulness meditation.

But there are going to be times when concentrating is hard. Maybe because of the pain. Or

something that’s been causing you stress. You just have to push through it. With practice, it

will become easier to ignore the pain and stress.

Don’t stress out if your minds get distracted during meditation: It’s only natural that you’re

mind starts wandering off. Especially when you’re just starting out. Allow yourself to be

distracted and don’t get frustrated.

Always have patience with yourself. Using meditation to its full potential takes time. Don’t

be hard on yourself if you don’t feel present right away. Give yourself time to master this

skill.

Ch 27: Tapping Tapping—also known as emotional freedom technique (EFT)—helps reduce negative emotions and

pain immediately. It first started being used in Eastern medicine over 5000 years ago. But it was

recently reintroduced to the western world. Leading figures like Kris Carr, Deepak Chopra and Joe

Vitale all recommend EFT. Now, thousands use it to relieve their pain. But it can also be used to

reduce food cravings, addiction problems and more.

Why tapping works

Tapping works because it relieves anxiety and stress by switching off the amygdala81. The amygdala is

the part of your brain that’s responsible for processing emotions. It plays a part in the fight or flight

response. When you worry—or are in a stressful situation—the amygdala sends a distress signal to

the hypothalamus. As a result, stress hormones like adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol are

released. Tapping stops these stress hormones from being released. This has many benefits:

It reduces short-term and long-term stress, fear and anxiety 82

It reduces a feeling of tiredness and boosts energy levels

It improves the quality of sleep

It reduces muscular tension and joint pain

It helps you cope with emotional problems like low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety

It helps you form positive habits and discourage bad habits

How tapping works

You can learn how to tap in a matter of minutes. It’s not time-consuming. And you can use the

technique whenever—and for whatever—you want. Here’s how it works.

1. Identify an issue and start mentally focusing on it

2. Rate the severity of the issue ranging from 1 to 10

3. Come up with a setup statement

4. Start the first tapping sequence

5. Re-evaluate how severe the issue is from 1 to 10 after the tapping sequence

6. Repeat the sequence until the negative emotion is (almost gone)

7. Complete the tapping sequence with a

81 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22986277 82 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26894319

First, shift your mental focus to a negative emotion, a fear, worry or bad memory. Take some time to

evaluate how you feel about it. Then, rate how severe the problem is with a rating between 1 – to

10.

Now, it’s time to come up with a “setup statement”. This first part of your setup statement

acknowledges the problem. The second part makes an unconditional affirmation of yourself. Your

setup statement will be repeated 3x during each part of the tapping sequence. Here are some

examples of setup statements:

Even though I’m fearful of the future, I deeply and completely accept myself

Even though I feel stressed and anxious, I deeply and completely accept myself

Even though the chronic pain can be overwhelming, I deeply and completely accept myself

Even though I feel hopeless at times, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Think of your own setup statement based on your specific situation. After you come up with it begin

tapping. Start tapping 5 – 7 times with your middle and index finger on the first meridian point: The

karate chop (KC). While tapping the KC, repeat your setup statement three times. After you finish

tapping on the KC take a deep breath. Then repeat this sequence for the remaining 8 meridian

points:

1. Karate chop (KC): The outer edge of your hand on the opposite side of your thumb.

2. Eyebrow Point (EB): Where the eyebrows begin, closest to the bridge of the nose.

3. Side of Eye (SE): On the bone directly along the outside of either eye.

4. Under Eye (UE): On the bone directly under either eye.

5. Under Nose (UN): The area directly beneath the nose and above the upper lip.

6. Chin Point (CP): This is the area just below your bottom lip and above the chin, right in the

crease.

7. Collarbone Point (CB): Starting from where your collarbones meet in the center, go down an

inch and out an inch on either side.

8. Under Arm (UA): On your side, about four inches beneath the armpit.

9. Top of Head (TH): Directly on the crown of your head

You should tap while you’re fully concentrating on the negative emotion. You’ll engage your brain’s

limbic system and your body’s energy system. It will start encouraging a sense of safety— nstead of

inducing fear. You’ll rewire your brain to give a more positive emotional response to the situation.

After you complete the last meridian point evaluate how you feel. How is the severity of the problem

now? Do you still feel a lot of anxiety or stress? If so, repeat the sequence until the negative emotion

is (almost) gone.

When it’s gone it’s time to replace the negative emotions with a positive thought. It’s important that

this positive thought is based on reality. Don’t lie to yourself. Here are some examples:

Mind-body techniques help decrease my pain

Mind-body techniques help me become a more emotionally balanced person

I’m looking forward to making positive changes in my life

I’m an emotionally strong person

Use these positive thoughts in the same sequence as the negative emotions. After completing the

last meridian point you’re done. You should feel a lot more positive about your problem. The more

often you tap the more you’ll rewire your brain. Here are some tips to guide your efforts:

Tap with the tips of your fingers, not your fingernails

Apply gentle pressure when you’re tapping

Don’t start positive tapping too quickly. Why? Because you need to get rid of the negative

feelings first. It will rebalance your body’s energy flow. Leave the positive tapping for the last

round.

Some people are skeptic of tapping. Don’t let this influence your own belief in the technique.

Think about the thousands of people the technique has helped.

Don’t give up on tapping too quickly. It’s easy to think the technique doesn’t work if you

don’t feel immediate results. While the technique sometimes works instantly, this is not

always the case. If you stick with it long enough it will start working for you.

Ch 28: Developing positive affirmations A positive affirmation is a statement you repeat with the goal of changing a belief. By repeating the

affirmation—over a long period of time—you rewire your mind. You’ll promote thoughts and beliefs

that help you recover. And get rid of—or replace—thoughts and beliefs that cause pain.

Using positive affirmations might feel a bit silly at first. Maybe you feel it’s awkward to say

something out loud. Or it’s too simplistic to be effective. But it’s a proven technique thousands of

people use to reprogram their mind. And live a happier life with less pain.

Why positive affirmations work

Here’s why positive affirmations work. Positive affirmation activates reward centers in your brain83.

The same reward centers that respond to other pleasurable experiences like exercise. This not only

makes you feel good. But it also decreases pain.

Also, your mind can’t make a distinction between what’s real and what’s not. Every thought you

have is an affirmation by itself. Because your brain processes a thousand things at the same time it

takes affirmations very literally. And it can’t communicate in the future or past-tense.

Everything that happens in your brain happens in the present moment. So, if you have a lot of

negative thoughts about your past? Your mind experiences those feelings as if they are happening in

the present moment.

Lastly, your brain has a Reticular Activating System (RAS). This system filters in the information you

need. And filters out the information you don’t need. When you keep repeating your positive

affirmation? Your RAS will give it more importance. This helps you find more ways to accomplish

your positive affirmation.

Positive affirmations effects on the brain has many benefits:

Reprogram your mind by replacing negative beliefs with positive beliefs

Overcome doubts and improve confidence

Stop self-sabotaging yourself by blowing your problems out of proportion

Come to terms with your past and think more positively about your present and future

Be more focused towards your goals

Have more control over your emotions and pain

How to use positive affirmations

It’s important to make positive affirmations on a daily basis. Rewiring conditioned responses that

developed over years take time. You need to say them daily for at least a month. Else it won’t be

effective. Set a time in your day to do them for a couple of minutes.

83 https://www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/news/study-reveals-neural-mechanics-self-affirmation

For positive affirmations to be effective, you need to be able to start believing them. So, you need to

make your statement believable. Then say the statement with full confidence and envision it’s

already a reality. What’s also important? Taking the time to think about everything that supports

your affirmation. This helps you believe the statement is true. Or can become a reality.

Many make the mistake of using positive affirmation that are too unbelievable. Or they don’t take

the time to support their affirmation. This can backfire and have the opposite effect.

Make sure you write down positive affirmations that are hyper-relevant to your situation. Here are 4

types of positive affirmations you can start using today.

1. Positive affirmations about your ability to switch off your pain

2. Positive affirmations about your past

3. Positive affirmations about your current situation

4. Positive affirmations about your future

Positive affirmations about your ability to switch off your pain

At this moment, you might have doubts about your ability to switch off pain by controlling your

emotions. If this is the case, use positive affirmation to strengthen your belief in your power to

switch off the pain. Here are some examples:

• Physical activity is not dangerous and will help me reduce my pain

• I’m in control of my pain. My pain is not in control of me.

• I have the power to heal my pain

• I will shift my attention from my pain to my emotional issues

• I will think psychological at all times, not physical.

Repressed emotions are causing my pain

I’m in control of my mind and emotions and can, therefore, switch off the pain

I’m able to switch off pain by using mind-body techniques

I’m able to control my pain by controlling my emotions

Positive affirmations about your past

Journaling and thought reframing helps you come to term with your past. But you might find you’re

still obsessing over it. Letting go of the past is one of the hardest things you can do. While it’s

impossible to change what happened, it’s possible to change the way you think about your past by

using positive affirmations. Here are some examples:

I’m not defined by my past

Everything that happened in my past made me stronger as a person

What happened in my past was not my fault

My past helped me grow as a person

My past helped me become an emotionally strong person

By coming to terms with my past I’ll have more control over my emotions and pain

I’m at peace with my past

Positive affirmations about your current situation

Sometimes the hardest part of the chronic pain is accepting your changed circumstances. It can make

you feel resentment, bitterness, anger and look at life in a negative light. If this is the case, start

breaking this pattern by using positive affirmations. Here are some examples:

My pain is allowing me to grow emotionally and spiritually.

I’m relaxed and at ease

I’m not concerned or intimidated by the pain

I accept my life the way it’s now

Despite my limitations, I still live a complete life

Positive affirmations about your future

You might have bad expectations for the future. Maybe you worry the pain won’t get any better.

Maybe you have a fear your condition might worsen. Or maybe you even feel at times life is not

worth living. Negative expectations like these change your emotional state. And it makes you feel

you’re not in control. Changing your negative beliefs about the future with positive affirmations is

crucial. Here are some examples:

I’m making progress in fighting the pain every day and will continue to do so in the future

My pain is only going to get better in the future

I’m only going to deal with my pain better and better

I know I can achieve my goals and I’m getting better every day

I can do anything I set my mind to. I absolutely believe I can lead a normal, healthy life again.

I have set my goals and I am moving towards them

Ch 29: Use movement to break negative thought loops Using movement to break negative thought loops is the easiest mind-body technique. It requires

almost zero effort. Yet, it’s an effective way to break the emotion pain cycle. You simply have to

identify when you’re in a negative thought loop. Then use movement to break it.

Oftentimes, your negative thought loops will have a trigger. Most of the time, they’ll be caused by

one of the negative events you uncovered through journaling. You can’t always prevent these

negative emotions from being triggered. But you can prevent yourself from dwelling on them.

So, start being more mindful over your thoughts. Pay attention to them. When you’re at home

watching tv–or reading a book—and recognize you’re dwelling on your problems? Get up and start

moving. You can start walking. Or use a different type of movement that distracts your mind. You’ll

give negative self-talk and over worrying less power. Keep the positive energy flowing through your

body at all time.

Now, there’s one thing that must be noted. Distracting your mind is not the same as repressing your

emotions. Repressing your emotions causes psychological stress. Distracting your mind on the other

hand? It prevents you from over worrying, which causes unneeded psychological stress.

Don’t worry if movement doesn’t completely shut off your negative thoughts straight away. It takes

time. Focus on making it a habit. The more often you break the pattern? The more control you’ll gain

over your negative thoughts. You’ll start experiencing less negative thought loops. And you’ll make

breaking the emotion pain cycle easier.

Ch 30: Setting a self-care hour A self-care hour is an hour you set aside to take care of your mind, body and soul. It’s very important

for the mind-body connection. Why? Because of several reasons.

Why a self-care hour is important

You’re influenced by a very demanding society. In society, hard-work is often worshipped above

everything else. Sometimes this makes you feel all progress is made through hard work. While hard

work is important, this mindset can become counterproductive. It causes you to ignore signals that

your mind needs a rest. You’ll tire yourself out to the point of exhaustion. And—obviously—this

hinders your progression.

With chronic pain, self-care is especially easy to overlook. You have many problems you need to

solve. Situations you need to address. And changes you need to make. Most likely, you’ll feel very

motivated to improve your condition.

Implementing mind-body techniques—and making lifestyle improvements—requires a lot of energy.

Your mind needs time to adapt to these changes. Psychological stress comes as a natural result from

these changes. But when you overlook when your mind needs a rest? And don’t take the time to

unwind? It will have a bad effect on your mental state.

Self-care is similar to the importance of sleep. When you don’t get enough of it? It drains you from

mental energy. Self-care refuels your mental energy in a similar way. You need to relax and unwind

by doing things you enjoy. It plays a key part in living a balanced live. Here are the benefits of self-

care.

Prevent yourself from burning out by pushing yourself too hard

Decrease your stress levels and reduce the negative effects of stress

Take the time to address persistent, negative emotions think them through and process

them the right way

Refocus and replenish your energy for the next day

How to set a self-care hour

Setting a self-care hour is easy. Just pick a time in your day and reserve it to do something fun. Don’t

do it only when you have enough time. Do it every day. See it as a key part of your recovery. It will do

wonders for your well-being. Here are a couple of suggestions for activities:

Take a hot bath

Spend time on a hobby or think about and do research on a new hobby

Go shopping and buy a new piece of clothing

Buy a book you’ve been thinking about reading

Do some yoga

Listen to your favorite podcast or start listening to a new podcast about your hobby or

favorite subject

Spend time developing a morning routine that will help you make the most out of each day.

Start learning a new language

Watch one of your favorite movies or series

Write a letter or email to someone who you haven’t spoken to in a long time

Plan an outdoor activity

Ch 31: Practicing gratitude “Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that

every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current

situation” – Brian Tracy

Developing chronic pain was something you didn’t expect. Suddenly, you had to figure out how to

cope with the pain. And how to live life with these drastically changed circumstances. Chances are

it’s still a struggle each day.

Sometimes these hardships make you look at life in a negative light. You start feeling like everyone

—and everything—is against you. And you’ve lost control over your life. Falling into the habit of

focusing on the negative happens easily. While developing chronic pain was out of your control. How

you choose to look at life now? It isn’t. Even in the most extreme circumstances.

The benefits of practicing gratitude

Practicing gratitude changes the way you look at life. You’ll focus less on the negative and more on

the positive. You’ll be more appreciative of the smaller things in live: the things you tend to overlook

and don’t fully appreciate. Here are the proven physical, psychological and social benefits of

practicing gratitude:

1. It will improve your relationships 84

2. It will improve empathy and feelings of anger

3. It improves your blood pressure

4. It will make you more social85

5. It will improve your physical health86

6. It will improve your psychological health87

7. It will help you fall asleep and improve the quality of your sleep88

8. It will improve your self-esteem

9. It will reduce stress and fear

10. It will improve your mental strength

11. It will improve your overall well-being89

84 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797610364003 85 http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2010-09990-007 86 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3489271/ 87 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019188690800425X 88 https://www.jpsychores.com/article/S0022-3999(08)00422-4/abstract 89 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272735810000450

How to practice gratitude

Practicing gratitude requires little effort. You can start by making a gratitude journal. Take time to

write down what you’re grateful for having in your life each day. Do it when you’re feeling optimistic.

Don’t force yourself to do it when you’re feeling pessimistic. It doesn’t work because it doesn’t feel

genuine.

Write down big things like having close, supportive friends. But also, the smaller things like enjoying a

beautiful sunrise on the beach. It can be anything. But the key is to be as specific as possible.

So—for example—don’t just say: “I’m grateful for my mom”. Instead, say: “I’m grateful for the deep-

relationship I have with my mom. I can discuss anything with her. Like today, where I talked to her

about some of the struggles of my chronic pain. She was extremely understanding.”

When you’re grateful for having certain people in your life? Besides writing it down also express it to

them. Expressing gratitude feels good, makes your loved ones feel appreciated and it improves your

relationships.

Learning how to give and receive compliments also teaches you how to be more grateful. Maybe

you’re normally easy to brush off a compliment. And feel the compliment is insignificant. If this is the

case, you need to change your mindset. Instead of dismissing it, start looking for the truth in the

compliment. It will make you feel good. And you’ll be more appreciative of the person giving the

compliment. Make sure you compliment other people as well. Of course, as long as it’s genuine.

By repeatedly doing these things you’ll start developing an attitude of gratitude. An attitude of

gratitude helps you come to terms with your circumstances. You’ll be happier with the life you have

now. And it opens up your mind to better things that are still to come.

Ch 32. Visualization

Visualization—also called guided imagery or creative visualization—is a technique that elite athletes

use to achieve peak performance. But that’s not visualizations only use. Over 3.000 hospital in the US

uses a form of visualization. It’s used to treat patients with a wide variety of conditions. You can use

it to improve your mindset and decrease pain immediately. Here are some of the proven benefits of

visualization90:

It helps you improve your sleep

It improves your mindset and motivation

It helps you be more relaxed

It decreases stress and pain91

Gain more control over your emotions and pain

Why visualization works

Here’s why visualization works. Neurons in your brain see what you visualize as if it’s really

happening. Basically, your mind makes no distinction between what you imagine. And what’s

happening in the physical world. When you visualize a goal? Your neurons will create new neural

pathways. These neural pathways make you act in a way as if what you visualize is a reality.

But it also builds up your confidence. It makes you familiar with the feeling of achieving the goal you

imagined. What this helps you do? Your minds start finding ways—that you otherwise wouldn’t have

thought of—to make your imagined goal a reality.

How to use visualization

Visualization requires lots of practice above everything else. But before you use visualization? There

are three things you must realize for it to be effective:

1) Understand your thoughts and beliefs shape the physical world

2) You must have a strong desire to create what you have decided to visualize

3) You must have a strong belief in what you want to attain through visualization. You must

be extremely confident you will attain it.

With these things in mind, you can use visualization in two different way

Using imagery to decrease your pain immediately

Visualize a better future to improve your mindset and motivation

90 AJN The American Journal of Nursing: December 1998 - Volume 98 - Issue 12 - ppg 44-47

:

Here’s how you use imagery to decrease your pain immediately. Think of a symbol that represents

your pain. This symbol can be an annoying person that doesn’t stop talking. Or a loud, unpleasant

sound that doesn’t go away. Now, imagine having a knob you can use to control the volume of the

noise. Twist the knob to gradually decrease the volume of the noise. And your pain.

You can also visualize yourself being in a more comforting place. What is one place you’ve always

wanted to go to? Picture yourself being there. Paint a vivid picture of that place. And try to fully

experience it with all your senses:

Sigh

Hearing

Smell

Taste

Touch.

Imagining a better future is another great way to use visualization. It’s especially important if you

have a lot of negative expectations. Here’s how you do it. Set aside a couple of minutes in your day.

Use this time to imagine yourself living a life with less pain. Paint a vivid picture of what your live

would be like. Think about all the things you used to do before the pain. But can’t do anymore.

Doing this daily will dramatically improve your mindset and motivation. You’ll be hyper-focused

towards accomplishing your goal. You’ll start acting with extreme confidence. And you’ll make the

necessary steps to accomplish your goals.

See it like this. Visualization is what plant the seed. But action—like implementing lifestyle

improvements and mind-body techniques—is what waters the seed. And makes the plant grow.

Tips to achieve maximum results

Creating new neural pathways takes time. That’s why you should visualize every day. Or at

least 5 times a week. Consistency is key.

Don’t make your sessions too long. If you do, it will cause you to lose concentration. Visualize

just a couple of minutes a day.

Only visualize your goal. Not how you’re going to accomplish your goal. The goal of

visualization is to focus on the what. Not the how.

Lastly, don’t visualize the same things every day. It will make you get bored with the process

quickly. Instead, switch things up. Try to visualize different outcomes each day. For example,

imagine all the things you would do with less pain.

Part 7: The 3 keys to long-term success Mind-body connection techniques can help you find immediate relief from pain. But if you feel like

you’re not progressing fast enough? Don’t let it discourage you. Not everyone progresses at the

same rate. And setbacks can always happen. Persistence plays an important part in your recovery.

Here are 3 keys to long-term success:

1. Realize the difficulty of changing your habits

2. Develop willpower

3. Record & celebrate all your achievements and progress

Ch 33: Realize the difficulty of changing your habits “The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.” – Warren Buffett

This quote by Warren Buffet illustrates how difficult it is to change habits. It’s difficult enough for a

regular person. But when you have chronic pain? You have less energy, self-control and motivation. It

makes things ten times harder. How many times have you tried to quit a bad habit—or adopt a new

habit—but failed? Probably plenty of times. But this isn’t your fault.

Why it’s difficult to change your habits

Your brain is an efficient processing machine. Habits are formed as a way for your brain to save

energy. When a certain behavior leads to a satisfying outcome? It will be favored when a similar

situation arises. Many habits are also deeply ingrained in your psyche. They’re the result of

experiences in your childhood. Or repeatedly doing something for many, many years. No wonder,

changing habits is so hard.

Exactly how hard depends on how complex the habit is. But it can take you anywhere from 18 to

over 200 days92. Look at it as something positive. Once you form healthier habits that decrease your

pain? They’ll be hard to break too. And they’ll continue to positively influence you for the rest of your

life.

The importance of changing your habits

Your habits—for a large part—define your life. Around 45 percent of your actions are not conscious

decisions but habits93. What this means is out of every hour 27 minutes of your time is spent on

habits. So, if you have a lot of bad habits? They’ll obstruct your recovery. The flipside is you’ll have

lots of room to adopt new, healthier habits that will decrease your pain.

How to efficiently change your habits

Oftentimes, people make a big mistake when they try to change their habits: they try to tackle

multiple, difficult to break habits at once. Don’t fall in this trap. Trying to make too many changes—at

the same time—will overwhelm you. Instead, tackle just ONE difficult habit at a time.

92 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejsp.674 93 https://dornsife.usc.edu/assets/sites/208/docs/Neal.Wood.Quinn.2006.pdf

So—for example—don’t try to quit smoking, change your diet and implement mind-body techniques

all at the same time. Instead, adopt ONE new habit. And adopt it gradually.

It’s easier to replace an old habit than form a new one. Try replacing an old habit with a new habit

that gives you the same benefit. So, when you get the cue that would usually start your behavior?

Deliver the old reward with a new behavior.

Here’s an example: say—for example—you want to eat healthier. Maybe you eat bad food because it

gives you a temporary stress-relief. When you start craving something unhealthy? Start

implementing a habit that gives you the same stress-relief. Try tapping for example. Sure, you can try

to quit eating unhealthy cold-turkey. But— in most cases—it will be too hard. Using replacements

will make it a lot easier.

You should try to change a keystone habit first. A keystone habit is a habit that has a big impact on a

lot of your other habits. When you change a keystone habit? It causes a domino effect: your other

habits will be easier to change as well. So, if—for example—you start exercising. Chances are you’ll

sleep better and start eating healthier as well.

Taking these advices will make changing your habits easier. But don’t think it will become a walk in

the park. It’s a sure way to set yourself up for failure. Realize how much effort it’s going to take.

Never underestimate the process. Instead, anticipate and embrace failures. Don’t judge yourself

when you’re having a hard time changing your habits. And try not to get frustrated. Remember,

you’re not designed to make any worthwhile changes overnight.

Ch 34: Develop willpower “Nothing can withstand the power of the human will if it is willing to stake its very existence to the

extent of its purpose." - Benjamin Disraeli

Willpower plays a key role in your life. You had to use willpower to adapt to new circumstances after

you developed chronic pain. You continuously use willpower to fight the pain now. And you need it

to form new habits like mind-body techniques. Developing willpower—and using it effectively—helps

your recovery.

Willpower: a limited resource?

Willpower—to a degree—is a limited resource. You can only use a certain amount of willpower a day.

That’s why using your willpower effectively is important. But your willpower is never actually

completely exhausted. How much extra willpower you can tap into is in your control. See it as a

muscle you can train.

Imagine your willpower as being in an internal conflict with yourself. Your ability to overcome the

discomfort will depend on how much you train your mind. With the right motivation? You can

overcome a deflation of your willpower.

How to develop your willpower

Implementation intention is a technique that helps you develop willpower. Here’s how it works. If—

for example—you’re cutting back on unhealthy food, make an “if-then statement”. Say to yourself:

“If I start craving something unhealthy, then I’ll start eating a healthy salad instead.” By following

through with your if-then statement? You exert self-control. And this trains your “willpower muscle.”

What’s even more important to develop willpower? Your mindset. How much willpower you believe

you have is crucial94. The more willpower you believe you have the more you’ll be able to use. So,

learn how to push beyond your mental limits.

See yourself as a person with an unbreakable will. Think of your pain as a test of your willpower.

Start thinking the amount of progress you make will be paramount to the amount of willpower you

use. Tell yourself that nothing that’s worth having comes easy. Reframe your mind to think of

obligations as opportunities. And accept all the challenges that lie ahead of you.

How to conserve your willpower

Everyone has bad habits that use up willpower. In many cases, toxic relationships drain the most

willpower. If—for example—you have a lot of negative people in your life? You’ll be more easily

depleted. You’ll also be more easily depleted when you’re always trying to please other people.

Bad eating habits is another example. Your glucose level is tied to your self-control and willpower95.

When you use willpower? Large amounts of glucose are depleted. So, you’ll more likely fail when

your glucose level is low. Keeping your glucose at a normal level will improve your self-control. You’ll

94 https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/willpower-limited-resource.pdf 95 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1088868307303030

have an easier time to control your attention, regulate emotions, cope with stress and resist

impulses.

Cutting out these bad habits will help you conserve your willpower. You can use this willpower

towards your recovery. ]

Ch 35: Record and celebrate all your achievements and progress: Recording

and celebrating ALL your achievements is the last key to long-term success. It doesn’t matter how

small the achievement. You should record it. And then celebrate it. You might feel certain things are

not worth celebrating. But there are several reasons why you should reconsider.

Why you should record and celebrate all your achievements

Only focusing on big achievements—like living a pain free life—is a recipe for disaster. It will make

you feel you’re never progressing fast enough. You’ll keep dwelling on failures. And goals you haven’t

accomplished yet. Any progress you make will be overlooked. Disappointment, frustration and other

negative thoughts are almost a certainty.

By recording and celebrating all your achievements instead? You’re rewarding your brain. You’ll

release dopamine when you see you achieved something. Not only does this make you feel good.

But you’re conditioning your brain to reward progress and success. It will encourage you to repeat

pain reducing behavior. You’ll find that changing your habits will become easier. And you’ll start

cultivating a positive, success-oriented mindset.

It also fuels your motivation. When you look back at what you’ve already accomplished? It boosts

your morale. You’ll feel motivated for the next day. And to make changes that will reduce your pain.

But what might be the most important benefit? You’re rewiring your brain by focusing on the now.

You’ll have an easier time living in the moment. And you’ll start looking for—and appreciating—the

smaller things in life. Here are the benefits of recording and celebrating all your achievements:

It helps you avoid a possible disappointment of not progressing fast enough

It makes you feel good

It makes changing your habits—like implementing mind-body techniques—easier

It rewires your brain by cultivating a positive, success-oriented mindset

It fuels your willpower and motivation

It helps you to live in the moment and stop dwelling on the past or fearing the future

How to record and celebrate your achievements

Recording and celebrating your achievements doesn’t have to be complicated. Or take much time at

all. Simply write down small goals in your journal. And when you make progress or accomplish this

goal? Reward yourself by celebrating.

Use different types of rewards for different milestones. Use smaller rewards for smaller milestones.

And bigger rewards for bigger milestones. Here are some examples:

Cook your favorite meal (small achievement)

Take a long bath (small achievement)

A nice, fancy dinner with friends, family or a loved-one (Big achievement)

By writing everything down? You’ll also learn what works for you and what doesn’t. You can draw

inspiration from your victories. And replicate this success in other goals.

With these 3 keys to long-term success, you’re equipped to deal with any adversities that lie ahead

of you.

Last words

Well, there you have it. Your blueprint to force your brain to switch off pain. Hopefully, it has

inspired you to make some big changes in your life. Because if you—progressively—start

implementing the lifestyle improvements, mind-body connection techniques and the 3-keys to long-

term success? You’ll gain control over your emotions, reduce pain and start breaking free from the

emotion pain cycle.

Because the mind-body connection—the influence your thoughts, emotions and mental-state have

on your physical health—is powerful. But if you’re still having doubts about the power of your mind?

Start by focusing on the first 4 steps to switch off the pain:

1. Accept a physical condition is not the cause of your pain

2. Learn and understand the concept of TMS and the mind-body connection

3. Understand the need to identify your repressed emotions and stress-inducing personality traits and behaviors

4. Resume all your physical activities

Once you change your set of beliefs, you can use the 11 mind-body connection techniques to their

full effect. Make sure you start journaling first. Being aware of your (repressed) emotions is key to

achieving the mind-body connection.

Also making the necessary lifestyle improvements will do a world of good. Lifestyle improvements

will make you a healthier, more emotionally balanced person. Not only does this decrease the pain.

But it also makes it easier to implement the mind-body connection techniques.

You might find that some mind-body techniques work better for you than others. That’s okay.

Obviously, do what works best for you. You don’t have to use all 11 mind-body connection

techniques. But it’s recommended you use as many as possible. As long as you don’t try to

implement too many at the same time. Instead, progressively add them to your daily routine. It will

prevent your mind from getting overwhelmed.

But do push your mental limits WITHOUT pushing yourself to the point of exhaustion. Learn to

recognize when your mind needs a rest. Eventually, you’ll develop willpower and your mind will be

able to handle more and more. Recording & celebrating your achievements will help by fueling your

willpower. And by keeping you motivated.

By following the blueprint to force your mind to switch off pain? You’ll be on your way to live a more

fulfilling life with less pain. Because you’re using any means possible to gain control over your

thoughts, emotions and pain. Instead of hoping for ONE magical cure? You’re attacking the problem

from every possible angle. And you’re doing everything in your power to decrease pain.

Having the goal of being in control of your emotions is empowering. While you can’t change your

past, your future is still in your power. So, start making changes in your life today. Do it without

delay. Because your best days are still ahead of you.

Other Recommended Pain Relief Resources:

1. Release Your Hip Flexors for Less Pain and More Energy. You have a “hidden survival muscle” that keeps you in unnecessary pain and frustrated with belly fat. >Here’s what you can do about it.

2. 2000 Year Old Nepalese Secret for Eliminating Sciatica in 7 Days or Less. >Click here to learn more.

3. How to End Chronic Peripheral Neuropathy and Diabetic Nerve Pain WITHOUT Drugs, Surgery, or Guesswork. >Click here to learn more.

4. Major Back Pain Relief in the Next 16 Minutes from the Comfort of Your own Home. Results after just ONE Session. >Click here to learn more. 5. Cure Insomnia Permanently and Fall Asleep in Less than 15 Minutes EVERY Night…Regardless of Pain. Get a full, restful night’s sleep every night. >Click here to learn more.

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