Periodic and Chronic Pain
Soothing the body's pain signals.
Central sensitisation and pain
Pain is, at a very fundamental level, all about your brain’s assessment of safety: unsafe things hurt. If your brain thinks you’re safe, pain goes down.
Paul Ingraham, Sensitization in Chronic Pain
I have always felt we do not have enough words for the experience of feeling pain. In my work as a birth doula it is fundamental knowledge that the pain of childbirth can become overwhelming through feeling unsafe. Pain can be seen as a message the body is giving that something is not right, and that we should change what we are doing. However if our fight or flight mechanisms are engaged, the experience of pain becomes heightened, that can scare us even more and a spiral initiates.
Sometimes pain actually sensitises the nervous system so that a person will feel more pain with less stimulas. Sometimes a person's nervous system is already highly sensitised and so pain will be experienced as more intense.
I work from the perspective of the nervous system first using gentle touch to ease your body's danger signals down a notch. I also support you to look at how you describe your pain and address the story around your pain as well as help you feel safe in your body.
If you are interested in exploring how somatic therapies might work for you, you're very welcome to email me or book an appointment.