The Mind / Body Method for Living with Chronic Pain
Work One-on-One with Catharine Cunningham, Resilience Coach and Rapid Transformational Therapist
The E.M.P.O.W.E.R. Method for Living with Chronic Pain
Work One-on-One with Catharine Cunningham, Resilience Coach and Rapid Transformational Therapist
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Is chronic pain ruining your life?
Non-Pharmaceutical Alternatives to Pain Management Are Available
Chronic pain is not for the faint of heart. If you live with chronic pain, it gets in the way of living your best life and turns you into someone you’d rather not be. Pain warriors. like yourself, often feel like they are existing, but not really living.
Unless someone has experienced persistent pain themselves, it is hard them to comprehend what it’s like for you to spend most of the day in considerable pain and exhaustion—or to realize that one of the hardest and most frustrating things is that you never know what each day will bring. (Even on good days, there is always some level of pain.)
Although you feel miserable every day, you don’t want to complain. You do want people to understand that, just because you felt good yesterday, doesn’t mean you will feel good today. Or to know that, if you have to cancel a commitment at the last minute, it is nothing personal. You wish that people who can physically do all of the things they want to do, when they want to do them, would realize how lucky they are.
The distress you feel is not only due to the physical pain you experience but, also, the emotional component that sometimes goes hand-in-hand with persistent pain. Everyone’s sensory experience is different. One person might have a great deal of chronic pain with little suffering, while another might have minimal pain with great suffering. It varies from person to person; no two people are alike when it comes to their pain tolerance levels.
Either way, chronic pain wreaks havoc on the body and the mind.
There IS a Way Out
No doubt about it, physical pain is unavoidable. However, consider this: our minds have phenomenal power to change the way we think about pain, thereby easing the mental suffering that often accompanies it. There really is truth to the famous adage: “Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.”
Yes, pain is exhausting and exasperating…but, it doesn’t have to be. There is hope. With a Mind/Body Method of pain management, healing occurs via a variety of techniques that help alleviate discomfort related to chronic pain and anxiety.
It is, often times, less about the pain itself than it is about how we react to it. Via a combination of mindfulness and root cause analysis of persistent pain, you can learn to observe your mental reactions to it and avoid being so caught up in it. Suffering really can be optional when you are able to control pain, rather than letting it control you.
Release the Pain and Worry Once and For All
Dealing with chronic pain is a way of life for you. You get up every day, go to work, raise your family…all while coping with unimaginable pain and discomfort. Friends and family can’t begin to understand. It’s frustrating, overwhelming and isolating.
You are not alone. I am here for you.
I know what persistent pain does to the body and mind and will listen–without judgement–and help guide you in the right direction. Together, we will come up with pain management strategies to move you from a “victim” worrier to a “mind master” living with a condition that YOU control and manage.
Working with me, you will get the support you need to create mew habits, make daily changes and put your plan into action. I will motivate you to overcome challenges and hold you accountable for achieving your goals.
You are not alone. You have the power within you to feel better and reignite your passion, purpose and motivation. And you have me as your coach to help you strengthen your resilience and determination.
Imagine how it will feel to be in the best shape of your life. What would that do for you physically, mentally and emotionally?
Change the Way Your Brain Processes Pain
The brain plays a powerful role in pain perception. Something as simple as the way you think about pain can make a difference in your overall pain experience.
Counteract Negative Effects of Stress
Feel better, worry less and enjoy life more. “Accept” the pain and use mindfulness skills to adjust, adapt and live the best life possible.
Maintain Regular Sleep Habits and Re-Engage in life
Most chronic pain sufferers have trouble sleeping, so it is critical to find ways to get a good night’s rest.
From Chronic Pain Sufferer to Pain Management Coach
After a fall in 2018, everything changed in my world. Up until that point, I had been able to tolerate the lower back pain with NSAIDs, frequent position changes and stretching exercises. Was it uncomfortable? Heck, yes! But I had good days and bad days and, honestly, had become so used to the periodic flareups that it was, for me, typically “business as usual.” Because I put on my “game face” and kept on keeping on, only my close friends and family knew when it was really bad.
However, after an accident two years ago where I fell forward, bracing my fall with both arms, I began to experience tremendous pain in my hands and wrists. Suddenly, I had pain that was 10x worse than the back pain I had gotten used to over the years. My hands hurt so bad every day! Unlike the back pain, though, there really wasn’t much I could do to accommodate the pain in my hands and wrists because my job as a project manager required me to use them 90% of my workday. The official diagnosis was severe osteoarthritis in both hands that had been exacerbated by the fall.
The hand pain became intolerable. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t drag myself out of bed in the morning, and even squeezing a shampoo bottle and washing my hair was torture. To add insult to injury, the back pain now decided it wanted to compete with the hand pain and began showing up more frequently. Some days, it could take up to 2.5 hours to get ready and out the door for work.
Something had to change because nothing I used to do for the back pain was working for my hands. I was miserable. On good days, I could get my work done if I took OTC pain pills throughout the workday but, on the bad days, I could not concentrate, it was difficult to stay focused on task and my brain felt like it was in a constant fog. My mood was not always as upbeat as I’d like it to be.
Prior to my fall, I had trained as a certified professional coach. My specialty was helping clients bounce back from adversity and turn obstacles into steppingstones towards their goals. So, I decided to become my own client and look for ways to turn “lemons” into lemonade.
My research led me to the benefits that hypnotherapy and mindfulness mediation had on chronic pain and, when I began to experience relief, I was ecstatic! The results were transformational and, when I was able to get my own pain under control, I realized that these techniques would also benefit other chronic pain sufferers.
I became certified as a hypnotherapist and mindfulness meditation teacher so that I could help others learn and implement the pain-management strategies I found so helpful. Empowering others to better manage their pain has become my passion and, coincidentally, is now one of my own best pain-reducing strategies. The gratitude I feel when I see former pain sufferers actively engaged in managing their chronic pain and moving forward towards achieving their goals fills me with hope and joy–two key components of self-healing!
In conjunction with your doctors, I work with you to give you something they just do not have the time to do during your appointments. I provide the ongoing support and motivation you need to make the changes that will reduce pain and improve your emotional well-being.
You do not have to give up and give in to a life filled with pain, low productivity and isolation! Through the use of proven science-based mind-body practices, including positive psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy, and neurolinguistic programming, you will learn how to manage what you can control, eliminate negative patterns of thinking that increase the pain and add positive lifestyle habits that reduce the pain.
The tools, support and accountability you get via pain management coaching turns you from a victim who is merely surviving a mediocre existence into a warrior who is conquering pain, thriving and living a joy-filled life!
Ready to Get Started?
Few things are as important as your health and well-being. When you have your health, you have everything. When you are in physical or emotional pain, life is not as joyful. To me, living a pain-free life–without the side effects of medication–is the #1 priority. If you agree, and you’re ready to stop struggling alone and start getting expert help, complete the application below. I’ll personally review your submission and reply within 24 hours with your next steps. If we work together, I’ll help you create a strategy to feel better, relieve the constant stress and tension and restore your hope for a pain-free life.
