The Frying Pan Of Pain People can struggle with the idea that many things contribute to pain, especially when most of us grow up with — and have that belief reinforced — the idea that pain means something is broken and needs to be fixed. While the biopsychosocial and emotional model of pain is accurate,…
When pain lingers or keeps coming back, it’s easy to think something must be wrong with the body, with your approach, or even with you. If you’re a movement professional, you might start to wonder if you’ve missed something, if you have failed or not met your brief. If you’re the one in pain, it…
Blind Spots, Blame, Bad Logic & Bias One of the most common thinking traps in health is believing that if someone becomes ill, there must be a reason they brought it on themselves. We see it everywhere. Someone develops an autoimmune condition. “There you go. They should have lived differently.” Someone gets cancer despite exercising,…
Scans, Imaging & Pain: Helpful Information But Not the Whole Story When you’re in pain it’s completely natural to want a scan. Many people feel reassured by seeing something ‘concrete’ like an X-ray, MRI, or report that appears to explain what’s going on. For some imaging feels absolutely essential for understanding pain, reducing anxiety and…
January injuries aren’t proof you chose the “wrong” hobby. They’re usually a load + novelty issue, not damage. So we are sore, what’s the next steps? Pause. Calm it all down. Then build capacity back up. Movement helps you heal, it’s not the enemy. Trying something new and feeling sore dosn’t mean that movement…
A lot of us grew up thinking exercise had one job: shrink us. So of course it feels like a chore. Of course it’s easy to skip. If the only measure of success is a number on a scale or seeing visible change then any day without these “results” feels pointless and any discomfort feels…
WHY PAIN REMAINS AND RETURNS AND WHAT THAT REALLY MEANS When pain lingers or keeps coming back, it’s easy to think something must be wrong with the body, with your approach, or even with you. If you’re a movement professional, you might start to wonder if you’ve missed something, if you have failed or not…
We get into shaky territory in yoga and especially yin yoga when we start suggesting it can fix pain. Pain is personal, complex and multifactorial. It doesn’t neatly dissolve after a class or a stretch and even speaking anecdotally about an individuals persons experience of their pain improving through yoga can be irresponsibly misleading. It…
Stronger Bones From Your Bottom Step If you’re around my age you will remember that if you were lucky your home had a telephone and it was situated usually in your hallway on a special table or piece of furniture dedicated just to that device. Long chats were conducted sitting on the staircase, bottom step…
Less is More: Why Simplicity Sticks in Movement Teaching As movement teachers, many of us, especially in yoga, feel the pull to create ever more elaborate sequences. To keep clients entertained, to keep things fresh. Clever transitions, intricate links and choreography that impresses our peers can become the standard we hold ourselves to. Yet there’s…