Hello Reader!
Have you ever felt like your own body was a machine that just won't stop glitching? Like you’re doing everything “right”, the stretches, the rest, the appointments, the middle-of-the night exercises, but the pain or the tension just won't budge? Worse... it moves!!
It’s exhausting to feel like you’re at war with the very skin you’re in. If you’ve been bracing yourself against your sensations lately, just know that you aren't alone... but there's a reason the "fight" isn't working.
Musings
When we live with chronic pain, we naturally treat it like an enemy. We want to fix it, squash it, or ignore it until it goes away.
I recently worked with a client who had been struggling with recurring shoulder pain and extreme tension following an accident. The shoulder felt like a locked fortress. Even to the touch, you could feel the hardness of tissue that hadn't budged in years. So instead of "attacking" the shoulder directly, we slowed everything down. We explored tiny, minute movements of the wrist, fingers, and forearm, then the ribs, noticing how those ripples impacted the shoulder and neck.
As we moved, we did the "inner work": describing the sensations like a scientist, analyzing the breath, and reframing what the brain was trying to protect. The result? like magic. By shifting from force to awareness and directed conscious movement, they are now able to identify exactly when their brain shifts into "defensive mode"—and they have the tools to undo the pain before it takes over. Even better, the shoulder let go of some of the tension, and painless movement became possible!
This is why regulation is such a game-changer. We mistake resilience for "pushing through," but true resilience is elasticity. It’s moving from "Oh no, not again!" to a state of neutral curiosity. When you learn to witness sensations without the immediate panic response, you send safety signals back to your nervous system. Remember: your brain doesn't respond to force; it responds to safety.
🎁 NeuroSomatic Practice of the Week
Be the Scientist - Somatic Tracking
The next time you feel that familiar ache or tension, don't stretch it away so quickly. Before you do that , spend 30 seconds just describing it. Is it warm/cold? Does it have a shape? Does it move? Is it heavy? Is it a pinching, burning, twisting, throbbing? How intense it is, and is it 100% always like that?
This is the first step in reclaiming your power over pain.
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🧠 NeuroMinute...
As I do this with more and more clients, I've come up with a more detailed approach, which I call Somatic Tracking for you this week. Let's dive into why your brain amplifies chronic pain signals when it feels threatened, and how you can use curiosity as a "neurological hack" to break the loop. If you want to understand the "why" behind the lock-up, I invite you to read the full article here.
Take the 1st step...
This is a small taste of what’s possible when you explore your body and brain with curiosity. Regulation is a skill you build, one sensation at a time. You can learn to turn down the volume of your own alarm system. Book a session or dive deep into these practices with The 4-Step NeuroSomatic Reset Course.
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PS: What's your brain trying to protect you from?
Warmly,
Joana
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