From Chronic Pain to Passion (Anna Holtzman)

Today I'm going to share 5 problems and solutions that were key to my recovery from chronic pain and to helping my clients recover. And since many of my clients are creative types like me, I'm gonna share some things that are specific to the creative person's recovery from chronic pain.

Problem #1: Thinking that pain is only about your body. I used to think that pain meant there was something wrong with my body. I thought that the stress of working in TV had ruined my posture and eating habits and strained my eyesight and that I needed to fix my body with the right diet or exercise in order to get rid of the pain.

But what I learned is that pain doesn't necessarily mean there's something WRONG with your body. Pain is actually your body's way of trying to protect you. Symptoms like pain are alarm signals. And they’re created by your nervous system to get your attention when your nervous system senses danger.

When pain is acute, meaning temporary, the danger is sometimes (but not always) something physical, like a broken arm. And after your arm gets the attention that it needs, your nervous system senses that the danger is over, and it turns off the pain signal. But when pain is chronic — meaning that it persists or comes back over and over again — the danger is far more often something emotional.

There are many different kinds of emotional stress that can set off our nervous system’s danger signal. Things like: Work stress, relationship and family stress, financial stress, past traumas, and stress from the pressure we put on ourselves to achieve success and make other people happy. Emotional stress can even come from the fear we have of our symptoms and our belief that our body is broken. This fear sets off more pain signals, which in turn triggers more fear — it becomes a self-perpetuating, vicious cycle.

Now, this doesn’t mean that chronic pain can’t have physical components to it as well. But if we want to turn down the chronic danger signal, we need to address emotional stress, we need to soothe the feelings of fear that are triggering the danger signal, and we need to establish a felt sense of emotional safety.

Problem #2: Rest alone with not heal chronic pain. A really common block to healing from chronic pain is thinking that rest alone will heal your symptoms, and that you need to quit your passion in order to rest.

The thing is, passion doesn’t trigger symptoms, fear does — however, chasing our passion can bring on a host of fears, like fear of failing, fear of being seen, fear of criticism... alll those fears.

The problem is, if we abandon our passion — the thing that lights us up in life — we actually get plunged into more stress. Because joy is crucial to reducing stress. So, instead of stifling our passion, we need to unpack the fears that are coming up around our passion. And at the same time, we need to stay engaged with the things that feel fun and joyful and replenishing. Including our passion projects!

It's not that rest shouldn't be part of our healing plan — we do NEED rest for our nervous system to heal. But we need to balance it with the things that light us up!

To read the rest, go to https://www.annaholtzman.com/GetTheGuide

Find me at: www.annaholtzman.com and IG @anna_holtzman

In this episode, I tell three raw, personal stories about how the body can react to fear with a wide range of surprising symptoms — and how we can help our body feel safe again so that symptoms can subside.

Story #1: How a gut renovation triggered a gut reaction.

Story #2: How a bus driver's kindness was all the medicine I needed.

Story #3: An allergic reaction to my own anger, and how I moved through it.

I hope these stories help you normalize the ways that your body responds to everyday stress, and soothe your body back into regulation.

With love,

Anna

You can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com

Welcome back, dear listeners. On this episode, I had the pleasure of meeting up with Harry Macansh, a speaker and wellness coach who recovered from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) after initially being told that this condition was incurable. He now helps others to recover as well. 

Over more than half a decade, Harry has spent upwards of a quarter of a million dollars in the US & Australia acquiring an arsenal of knowledge and modalities that he now affordably delivers to others, both from stage through 1-to-1 coaching.

When Harry reached out to me, I immediately jumped at the chance to connect and chat, because it just so happens that I was preparing to speak onstage about my own chronic pain recovery for the first time, and I’m fascinated by the connection between recovery and the pull to break through that nearly universal human fear of public speaking to share our stories out loud. Harry and I had a brain tingling conversation about this and I’m excited to share it with you. Here we go.

You can find Harry at:

https://www.instagram.com/harrymacansh/

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: anna@annaholtzman.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com⁠

Before we get into the episode, I wanted to let you know about an interview I did on the Optimize Yourself podcast, hosted by my friend Zack Arnold.  He’s actually doing a three part series on chronic pain specifically related to how it affects creative professionals — so I highly recommend that you check it out!  

The series will consist of three experts talking about chronic pain from different perspectives. Zack interviewed a bodyworker and Somatic Movement Instructor (Julie Fahrbach) who explains how to release emotions from the body and get your system out of fight or flight. He also spoke with a medical doctor and mindfulness meditation teacher (Christiane Wolf) who uses mindfulness-based practices to change our relationship to pain.

And in my interview with Zack, you’ll hear an extended conversation about my personal journey with chronic pain from my days as a reality tv editor to how I ended up where I am today as a chronic pain therapist.  You’ll hear parts of my story that you probably haven’t heard before and you’ll hear me coach Zack through some of his own pain story while also learning some of the tools and techniques that I use to unwind tension in stress from my body.

My episode of the Optimize Yourself podcast aired on Tuesday July 11 and you can find it by going to optimizeyourself.me/podcast or searching Optimize Yourself on your podcast app of choice!

•••

And now for today’s episode! A short while back, I received a message from someone whose work I was familiar with, but we’d never spoken before. And she shared a story with me that I thought was just perfect for this podcast. It’s a story about her journey from chronic pain to passion. And that person is Fleur Chambers.

Fleur is a multi-award-winning meditation teacher, Creator of The Happy Habit app, author of the book Ten Pathways and her second book Wholehearted Confidence and she’s also a philanthropist.  Using her experience of living with chronic pain, Fleur is helping others to see that happiness isn’t an imaginary place free of disappointment, regret, insecurity or any other uncomfortable emotion. In contrast, real happiness is the ability to live wholeheartedly alongside our challenges and to learn from them.

With proceeds from The Happy Habit funding charitable grassroots projects around the world, Fleur is using meditation as a tool for social change. She believes that we meditate not only to alleviate our own suffering, but also to improve the lives of others.

The personal story that Fleur shared with me is all about the fears that come up and create symptoms just as we’re about to share our creative gifts with the world. And I hope that hearing her talk about how she navigates those experiences will inspire you with the courage to share your creative gifts as well.

You can find Fleur at:

website: www.thehappyhabit.com.au

IG: @thehappyhabitwithfleurchambers App: The Happy Habit app

Book: The Ten Pathways

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠@anna_holtzman⁠

Website: ⁠www.annaholtzman.com

Welcome back, dear listeners. I’m so glad to bring you this conversation with my guest Amy Corfeli, about living with endometriosis and using mind-body tools to manage the symptoms of a physical, biological condition.

Amy, whose pronouns are she/her, is an endometriosis advocate who was diagnosed with endo at thirty-three, sixteen years after her symptoms began. She’s the host of the podcast In Sixteen Years of Endometriosis, which explores endometriosis with a multidisciplinary focus, including interviews with excision surgeons, discussions on mental health, and more.

Amy is also the author of Finding Peace with a Devastating Disease. It's a beautifully raw and honest collection of seventy-six reflections on acceptance, meaning, and self-compassion. Amy’s advocacy goals are to help empower patients to make informed decisions about their care, and to open discussions on how to improve our quality of life on both a physical and emotional level.

I think this conversation is important for so many reasons. There’s far too little understanding and knowledge about endometriosis, and I personally learned a ton about it from Amy. But beyond this specific condition, we spoke about the limitations of black-and-white, all-or-nothing thinking when it comes to distinctions and intersections between our physical and our emotional experiences, which is something that I think every listener will relate to in some way.

You can find Amy at:

Instagram: @in16yearsofendo 

En español: @endo.en.lo.profundo

Website: www.insixteenyears.com

Podcast: In Sixteen Years of Endometriosis 

Spotify podcast link: https://open.spotify.com/show/5t49D3WuwGZjON2secRNAK

Book: Finding Peace with a Devastating Disease (available on Amazon worldwide)

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: anna@annaholtzman.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com⁠

Dear Listener, welcome back to the podcast after a three-month hiatus. I took a pause, because, being a mind-body practitioner, I gotta practice what I preach. Sometimes our energy is in a season of abundant productivity, where creativity is pouring out of us. And sometimes we find ourselves in a season where we’re needing rest and recovery, and that is where I’ve been at these last few months. I’m gonna return to the podcast gently, and so you may find that upcoming episodes trickle in at a slower than weekly pace.

Today, I am truly grateful that I get to share with you a conversation that was recorded back in July of this year. I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Lilia Graue

Dr. Graue is a physician, psychotherapist, educator, coach, and consultant in Mexico City, where she's practiced, lectured, and mentored for over 20 years in both Spanish and English.

Her approach is collaborative, trauma sensitive, healing centered, and mindfulness and compassion based.

She brings together radical care approaches to foster healing, and mentors healthcare professionals in engaging critical and feminist perspectives to promote justice and equity in medicine and healthcare.

In addition to her work in the field of chronic pain and other nociplastic symptoms, Dr. Graue has extensive experience in eating disorders and medical family therapy.

She is part of the Medical Advisory Board for The Better Mind Center. And she lives with her partner and two cats. In addition to her work she enjoys spending time with family and friends, baking, swimming, reading, traveling, and Sundays at the Philharmonic.

In our conversation, we covered many subjects, and throughout, Lilia spoke beautifully about one of the universal aspects of the chronic pain recovery experience, and that is: Grappling with uncertainty. A truly fitting topic for this moment in time. I hope that you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

You can find Dr. Lilia Graue at:

website: ⁠https://liliagraue.com/ 

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com

Hello dear listener, welcome to today’s episode, in which I was interviewed by my colleague Catherine Courtice about the importance of self-compassion in healing from chronic symptoms.

Catherine is a writer, speaker, advocate and educator empowering those facing chronic pain and life-altering diagnoses. Her background in Kinesiology, Education, mobility, therapy, and coaching provides deep insight into the human experience. Having journeyed through chronic pain herself, she brings empathy, insight, and resilience to everything she does. Her 'wholistic' approach combines practical strategies, spiritual principles, and mindfulness techniques, guiding clients to find hope amidst life's challenges. Catherine's inspiring debut book, Embracing Life After Diagnosis:When Life Gives You Lemons, Choose the Lime, invites readers to embrace their unique healing journey and discover their limitless potential to live a fulfilling life after a life-altering diagnosis. Catherine lives and works in Wolfe Island, Ontario.

I was honored to be interviewed by Catherine as part of her Overcome Chronic Pain interview series, and I hope you’ll enjoy our conversation about the key role that self-compassion plays in healing.

You can find Catherine at:

Website: https://www.catherinecourtice.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/overcomechronicpain/

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com

Welcome back, dear listeners. In this episode, my heart was bursting with joy to have this sweet reunion with a former coaching client!

Courtney LaCaria is the farmer and fiber artist behind the company, Form and Function Creative. She lives with her family on an alpaca farm that focuses on regenerative practices and provides the fleece that she spins into yarn and weaves into fiber goodies. Finding inspiration in nature and stories, Courtney's work reflects her love for art as both product and practice, creating fiber art that embodies the elements of joy, connection, and gratitude. When she is not making art, she's in the kitchen baking or outside in the garden.

I met Courtney when she joined my journaling course, Writing to Release Chronic Pain, and we subsequently did some coaching together. She had already dipped her toes into mind-body medicine world, but she was still struggling with frequent and persistent migraine headaches at the time. It’s been such a heart-warming experience to see her journey unfold into greater ease, self-trust, and a blossoming creative practice and business. When I get to do this kind of work with clients and students, yes it’s about educating people on theories and practices of mind-body healing, but at the core, it’s really about developing relationship and care and connection — both between practitioner and client, and between the various parts of ourselves. And I think that’s really going to come through as you listen to this conversation.

You can find Courtney at:

Website: https://www.formandfunctioncreative.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/formandfunctioncreative

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: anna@annaholtzman.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com⁠

In this episode, I spoke with my dear friend and colleague Aoife. Aoife is a transformational health coach for highly sensitive women. She helps her clients recover from anxiety, depression, chronic pain and chronic illness. And it all started with her own recovery journey. Through mind-body education and techniques, Aoife recovered from a wide range of symptoms including IBS, fibromyalgia, food sensitivities, mood dis-regulation, bladder pain syndrome, skin conditions, re-occurring kidney and chest infections, fatigue, carpal tunnel syndrome, sleep issues and more... Today, she's thrilled that she can no longer remember all of the various symptoms she experienced, thanks to her recovery!

You can find Aoife at:

aoifemindbody.com

www.facebook.com/groups/getpainfreeforwomen

www.instagram.com/aoifemindbody

And you can find me at:

www.instagram.com/anna_holtzman

www.annaholtzman.com

And learn about working with me one-on-one at: www.annaholtzman.com/mentorship

In today’s episode, I got to chat with someone whose work I’ve admired and been influenced by since my very first training in mind-body medicine. That person is chronic pain expert Christie Uipi, and I knew it would be a pleasure speaking with her, but our conversation surpassed even my expectations, it was such a delight.

Christie is a psychotherapist specializing in the treatment of chronic pain, anxiety, and depression and she’s the founder of a clinic called The Better Mind Center.  Christie has been a key collaborator on the development and research of the Pain Reprocessing Therapy treatment modality.  She lectures nationally on psychotherapeutic interventions to treat chronic pain and she is committed to cross-disciplinary collaboration between mental health and physical medicine. Christie is also a recovered chronic pain patient herself. And she says that the healing process was so profoundly transformational for the quality of her life that she has dedicated her career to supporting others through their recoveries.

There’s a lot more to Christie’s work in this field that we’ll get into during the interview, and something that I so appreciate about her is that she’s an influential voice in this field — and we often look to influential voices to tell us the absolute truth about their topic of expertise. But what Christie shares is that staying curious and open is not just essential to healing, it’s an essential part of being a practitioner who supports others in healing as well.

You can find Christie at:

IG: ⁠@better.with.christie

website: bettermindcenter.com

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠@anna_holtzman⁠

Website: ⁠www.annaholtzman.com

If are someone who’s creative or passionate about your career, have you ever had an experience where, right as you were about to make a big career move or achieve some symbol of success, you were hit by a wave of symptoms like chronic pain or fatigue or burnout? If so, you’re not alone — and today we’re gonna explore why that is and how to navigate this with my guest Zack Arnold.

Zack is an award-winning Hollywood editor & producer whose credits include Cobra Kai, Empire, Burn Notice, and Glee.  He’s also a career coach, a two-time American Ninja Warrior, and the creator of the Optimize Yourself program & podcast.

Zack strongly believes that it’s possible for all creative professionals to love what they do for a living...but not at the expense of their health, their relationships, or their sanity. That’s why via his Optimize Yourself program he provides them with the strategies, resources, mindsets, and supportive community to help them confidently discover their own unique clear path towards the more balanced, productive, and fulfilling life that they deserve.

In a nutshell, Zack is Tim Ferriss meets Ted Lasso...minus the mustache.

Zack has spoken across the country at numerous events and conventions about optimizing creativity and work-life balance as well as the craft of editing. His work has been featured in publications such as National Public Radio, Forbes, The Huffington Post, Variety, The Telegraph, and I Will Teach You to Be Rich as well as numerous podcasts.

I became a fan of Zack’s way before I became a therapist, back when I was a video editor working in reality TV and a friend turned me onto his first podcast, Fitness in Post, which was about a topic that nobody else was really talking about then — a radical idea of maintaining your wellbeing while working in the brutal field of film and TV post-production.

I’m delighted to share our conversation about mind-body burnout and career rebirth.

•••

You can find Zack at:

website: https://optimizeyourself.me/

podcast: Optimize Yourself

Zack mentioned two of his blog posts in this episode:

7 Red Flags That You Might Be Burned Out (or You’re Headed There)

https://optimizeyourself.me/7-red-flags-that-you-might-be-burned-out/

So You’re Burned Out... Now What? [7 Ways to Climb Out of the Hole]

https://optimizeyourself.me/burned-out-7-ways-to-climb-out/

•••

And you can find me at:

Instagram: @anna_holtzman

Website: www.annaholtzman.com

Hey there, I’m Anna Holtzman and I’m so excited to welcome you to my podcast, From Chronic Pain to Passion. I’m a licensed psychotherapist and a mind-body coach who helps passionate creatives like you learn how to heal from chronic pain and other symptoms so you can reclaim your energy and live the creative life of your dreams! In my past life, I was a disillusioned video editor working in reality TV and struggling with chronic migraine for over 10 years. But after I discovered the mind-body methods that I’ll share with you on this podcast, I recovered from the chronic cycle — and got back my creative spark. And I want that for you too!

That’s the whole reason I’m hosting this podcast. When you join me for future episodes, you will hear...

My story of how recovering from chronic migraine actually changed my whole entire life and connected me in a much deeper way to myself and my creativity.

You’ll hear interviews with other folks from all walks of life who’ve transformed their lives through the power of mind-body healing.

You’ll hear me chatting with other mind-body healing practitioners, including my peers and colleagues as well as some of the folks that I consider mentors.

And you’ll hear me doing solo episodes where I talk about a whole variety of different topics related to mind-body healing. Things like developing self-compassion, using expressive writing as a tool of healing, finding your creativity through chronic pain recovery, how to handle symptom flare-ups and way, way more.

And just in case you’re still wondering if you’re in the right place or not, this podcast is lovingly created especially for YOU if identify with any of the following...

Are you a creative person who struggles with symptoms like headaches, backaches, stiff muscles, IBS, insomnia, nerve pain, pelvic pain, TMJ, tinnitus, anxiety, dizziness, autoimmune conditions, food/chemical sensitivities — or any other manifestations of a stressed-out nervous system?

Do you feel pressure to heal from chronic symptoms so you can get back to work, be present for loved ones and fulfill your creative potential — but as the pressure mounts, so do the symptoms?

Are you dying to complete your creative project and get it out into the world, but symptoms keep getting in the way and zapping all your energy?

Do you feel at a loss after trying all the medications, supplements, procedures and exercises, yet you're still struggling with chronic symptoms?

If you said yes to ANY of these, then this podcast was made —with love— for YOU.

So, I hope you’ll join me on this journey from chronic pain to passion. Can’t wait to have you back for the next episode! Until then, take good care!

Find me at:

www.annaholtzman.com

Instagram @anna_holtzman

Welcome back, dear listeners. I’m excited to share with you a raw and unfiltered conversation I had with my friend and colleague Deb Malkin, all about the beautifully messy reality of being a human being who is evolving and growing while also helping others to heal and grow.

Deb, whose pronouns are she/they, is a feminist, master certified mind-body pain recovery coach, specializing in using the tools of neuro + bioplasticity and consciously curious hypno-coaching to help people unlearn pain and emotional stress symptoms in order to feel better and pursue their amazing lives. Deb has helped clients recover from back pain, migraines, fibromyalgia, GI pain and more.

Deb and I are also part of a cohort of mind-body coaches who get together about twice a month and let it all hang out together, which has been so instrumental for my growth. And as we’ll talk about, it’s not always easy letting yourself be vulnerable, even in the most supportive of spaces. But what I find over and over again is that it’s so worth it, because the healing and growth that comes from allowing ourselves to connect with one another through our vulnerability and honesty is really the only gateway to joy in life, as far as I can tell.

So, here’s me and Deb getting real with each other — and with you — about what it’s like to be a beautifully messy human being who helps other beautifully messy human beings. And I hope this conversation serves as a permission slip to let your own beautiful messiness shine through.

You can find Deb at:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/curiositycure.coach/
Website - https://www.thecuriositycure.com

Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-curiosity-cure-mindbody-wellness/id1595415545

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: anna@annaholtzman.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com⁠

Welcome dear listeners to this solo episode! It's been a while since I did an episode without a guest, and I wanted to chat one on one with YOU today about a topic that's been coming up in a lot of my groups, including my recent Healing with Purpose program, which just wrapped (thank you for all who joined, it was a fantastic group!)

This topic is exposure therapy for chronic pain recovery. What I find is that many people on the chronic pain recovery path are familiar with the concept of exposure therapy, but might not realize that there are two very different styles of exposure therapy for chronic pain: Flooding and Graded Exposure.

It's important to understand the differences between these two approaches so that you can better assess which one might be a fit for you. And that's what I'll talk about in today's episode, so I hope you'll listen and let me know what you think and what questions come up for you!

You can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: anna@annaholtzman.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com

Before we start today’s episode, I wanna ask a quick favor! If you’ve been listening to the podcast and finding it helpful, would you be willing to hit pause for a moment and give the podcast a quick rating and review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening on? It would mean so much to me, because your ratings and reviews help other people who are struggling with chronic symptoms to find the podcast. So, thank you in advance for the rating and review!

And now, I’m excited to share today’s episode with you! I sat down to have a chat with someone I admire very much, Dr. Alicia Batson.

Dr. Batson is a double-boarded physician with training in both internal medicine and psychiatry. She has worked in varied medical settings including adult primary care, inpatient psychiatry, outpatient community mental health care and currently, as a staff psychiatrist with Talkiatry, an online behavioral health company.

After her medical training, Dr. Batson suffered through 10 years of debilitating chronic pain with over 20 different symptoms including repetitive strain injury, jaw pain, hyperacusis, neck, back and knee pain, anxiety and panic attacks.

She was able to fully recover after receiving mind-body therapy which conceptualized her symptoms as being caused by internal emotional stress and chronic activation of fear-based neural circuits. Since recovering, she is now treating patients with chronic pain and other neural circuit conditions.

She is the Chief Psychiatry Officer and Co-founder of OvidDx, an app-based educational platform teaching health care providers how to diagnosis and treat these conditions and developing office and home-based tools to facilitate care delivery for this patient population.

Dr. Batson also serves on the scientific advisory team for Curable, which is an online program and app designed to help people with persistent pain reduce their symptoms and calm their nervous system. I am fortunate to serve as one of the facilitators for Curable Groups, which is their live online group program, and in that role, I get to hear Dr. Batson answer group members’ questions during a live Q + A physician session that’s part of the program. I learn something new every time and I so appreciate Dr. Batson’s openness about her own recovery story and her emphasis on self-compassion and standing up for ourselves. I was honored to interview her, and I’m thrilled to share our conversation with you!

You can find Dr. Alicia Batson at:

Website: ⁠https://aliciabatsonmd.com/

Talkiatry: www.talkiatry.com/team-members/alicia-batson-md

OvidDx: https://oviddx.com/

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠@anna_holtzman⁠

Website: ⁠www.annaholtzman.com

Hello dear listener, welcome to today’s episode, in which I got to interview one of my all-time heroes in mind-body medicine.

My guest, Dr. Howard Schubiner, is an internist and pediatrician, who attained the rank of full Professor at Wayne State University School of Medicine in 1999 and is now a Clinical Professor at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. He is a fellow in the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Pediatrics. He has authored more than 100 publications in scientific journals and books, and he lectures regionally, nationally, and internationally. Dr. Schubiner is the author of Unlearn Your Pain, Unlearn Your Anxiety and Depression, and the co-author (with Dr. Allan Abbass) of Hidden From View. He maintains a virtual mind-body medicine practice at cormendihealth.com.

During our conversation, Dr. Schubiner told a powerful personal story that I’d never heard before, despite listening to many of his talks, and you definitely don’t want to miss it, because this story is a phenomenal demonstration of how this mind-body healing work actually works in real life.

You can find Dr. Howard Schubiner at...

Practicing at Cormendihealth.com

Website: unlearnyourpain.com

Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/reign-of-pain

PPDA: https://ppdassociation.org/

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com

Welcome back, dear listeners. In this episode, I got to go really deep with my friend and guest Leanne Rose, and we went to some places that you might not be expecting on this podcast. But I think you’ll discover pretty quickly why and how Leanne’s work relates the chronic pain recovery.

Leanne is a trained mental health professional and interpersonal therapist who has transitioned into the realm of energetics and source trance channeling. Leanne brings a unique perspective on how energy impacts our well-being, which is especially relevant to chronic pain recovery. She believes, as I do, that pain is a message, an energetic signal from our deepest place of knowing that there's an underlying misalignment in our lives that needs attention and care.

Leanne is also known for her work with high-level entrepreneurs, guiding them to achieve not just financial success but also a deeper connection to themselves and the world around them. More broadly, her insights into energy and its role in our lives can offer valuable lessons for all of us on the journey from chronic pain to passion.

I felt so deeply connected to Leanne during this conversation as she shared openly and vulnerably about her own journey and I’m honored to invite you into the conversation with us.

You can find Leanne at:

Website: https://www.thegalaylacollective.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamleannerose/

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: anna@annaholtzman.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com⁠

Thank you so much for joining me on this chronic pain to passion journey. One of the things I really like doing on this podcast is having conversations with people who don’t necessarily identify as someone who has experienced or worked with chronic pain, but they do have a story of transformation to tell that carries a lot of the same themes that show up in the chronic pain recovery journey.

One of those themes is questioning our belief systems. If you grew up in a society that is influenced by the western medical model, as I did, then you probably learned to view physical pain as totally separate from emotional pain. And it can be a real mind-bender and even an identity shift as we embark on the path of mind-body healing and start to see our pain journey through a very different lens. Along the way, a lot of us find that questioning the belief system that we’ve held for most of our life is complicated and it can be quite challenging.

Today, I got to speak with someone who knows a lot about questioning belief systems. And she comes at it from a totally different starting point than chronic pain.

My guest, Joy Vetterlein is a spiritual coach and writer who is engaged in reimagining life after faith. As a pastor’s kid, a good Christian girl, a Bible college grad and a former worship pastor, she now helps post-evangelicals to find freedom from oppressive religious programming and to discover their own unique spiritual path. Joy lives in Orange County, California, with her husband and two children.

I wanted to speak with Joy because I find that through having interdisciplinary conversations about topics like questioning our belief systems, we can zoom out and widen our understanding of a topic beyond what is accessible to us through just one type of lens. And as Joy shares her story of questioning beliefs with us, I'll relate it back to the symptom recovery journey for you!

You can find Joy at:

IG: ⁠@joyvetterlein

website: www.joyvetterlein.com

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠@anna_holtzman⁠

Website: ⁠www.annaholtzman.com

Welcome back, dear listener. Today’s episode is a little bit different from what I usually do on this podcast. Because earlier this year, I did something quite a bit outside my comfort zone, and now I want to share it with you. I’ll cut to the chase, the thing I did was I got on stage and told a very intimate and personal story about my own healing. It was an empowering experience, and I know that my story touched people and helped people, as I hope it will do for you too.

Now, you might be wondering, how on earth did I get up the courage to step on stage and tell this story out loud, with microphone, like, how did I get to this point?
And here’s what I’ll share with you. Now first off, I’m not suggesting that everyone needs to get up on stage and tell their story as part of your healing. I mean that might just not be your thing. But we all have something that we’re yearning to do, some way that we are wanting to take our place in the world, some way that we’re wanting to affirm being alive, and it’s probably something that both calls to us and scares us a little. And for me, that was the case with speaking on stage. It was calling to me — and it also scared the crap out of me. And to make a long story short, the way that I gradually moved through my fear to follow my calling was by taking small steps in safe spaces with support that I trusted. I worked with a wonderful speaking coach named Chantelle Adams, shout out to Chantelle. And I practiced in a small group of the most supportive, kind and inspiring peers who were part of a coaching cohort.

I am such a strong believer in group coaching, because it has helped me overcome so many different fears, and it has helped me to step forward into my passions in life in so many different ways.

And that’s also the reason why, this year, I have launched my own group coaching program to support people — perhaps like you — to heal from chronic pain so you can pursue your own passion. My group meets twice per month on Zoom and it is just the most wonderfully supportive, loving, kind, wise group of people. We come together, we talk about different topics in chronic pain recovery. We share struggles and triumphs. And we support each other. And if this sounds like something you’d like to experience, I would love to have you join us. And you can do that now, simply by enrolling in my signature journaling course, Writing to Release Chronic Pain, which you’ll find on my website, www.annaholtzman.com/writingtorelease .

And when you enroll in the course, you’ll be invited to join us for two months of group coaching to test it out, and see if you’d like to become an ongoing monthly member. I would love to see you there, and if you have questions about the program, you can email me at anna@annaholtzman.com And with that, I’m now gonna to share with you an intimate story about my healing, that I told on stage.

You can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: anna@annaholtzman.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com⁠

Welcome back, dear listeners. In this episode, I’m excited to share with you a conversation I had with my colleague Shaheen Jaffary.

Shaheen helps midlife women to be free from neuroplastic chronic pain or other stress-induced, persistent conditions in her capacity as a SIRPA Trained mind body coach and award-winning Holistic Therapist. She supports clients via her online coaching programs as well as through reflexology and other holistic treatments at her treatment center in the city of Leeds, in the UK. She pairs reflexology with mind body coaching for women suffering from an array of symptoms including anxiety, chronic pain, chronic insomnia, and perimenopause.

Like me, Shaheen came into this work through her own pain experience, and in our conversation, she shared the story of her recovery from persistent, long-term back pain. We also spoke about a topic that’s certainly on my mind at this stage of my life, which is menopause and perimenopause. This natural, biological life phase has been considered taboo for way too long, and I was eager to hear Shaheen’s take on how a mind-body approach can be applied to navigating these changes. Whether or not you have a uterus, I think this conversation will be relevant to anyone who feels frustrated by black-and-white thinking when it comes to acknowledging the biological aspects as well as the psychological and emotional aspects of physical symptoms. I hope you enjoy our chat as much as I did!

You can find Shaheen at:

Website for in-person treatment: www.leedsholistichealth.co.uk

Website for virtual coaching: www.painfreewithshaheen.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leedsholistichealth/

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: anna@annaholtzman.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com⁠

Hello dear listener, welcome to today’s episode, in which I had the pleasure of speaking with someone I greatly admire and consider a mentor.

Dr. John Stracks is an integrative physician who specializes in chronic health conditions that haven't been helped through conventional Western medicine. He’s particularly interested in helping people make the mind-body connection--the connection between what’s going on in their lives and what’s going on in their bodies--as a way to heal chronic pain.

He left his hospital practice in 2017 to co-found what is now Cormendi Health with his wife, Lisa; he works with clients all over the globe through individual sessions as well as an online membership to help them find healing.

I first met Dr. Stracks near the beginning of my own journey into healing from chronic migraine and becoming a mind-body practitioner. His expertise is widely known and respected in the field of mind-body medicine, but in my opinion, it’s his warmth, kindness and down-to-earth generosity of spirit that inspire so many of us.

  In our conversation, he spoke about his own healing journey as well as the challenges and rewards of doing this work, and I got to ask him a burning question on my mind about how to interact with the mainstream medical world once you’ve adopted a mind-body approach, which may not always mesh with the approaches of your medical care providers. I certainly got a lot out of our conversation and I hope that you will too. You can find Dr. John Stracks at:

website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://cormendihealth.com/

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com

Welcome back, dear listeners. In this episode, it was so fun to meet a kindred spirit who, like me, used to work in television and is now a mind-body practitioner. And also like me, this guest is a big proponent of self-compassion and self-trust.

Rebecca Tolin is a mind-body coach, educator and writer who comes to this field through a 13-year saga with chronic fatigue syndrome. After seeing 50 practitioners, Rebecca finally recovered through the mind-body model. This experience was so profound that she’s devoted her work to helping people with chronic fatigue, long COVID and other neuroplastic symptoms. Rebecca is the creator of the Be Your Own Medicine course, which blends mind-body education with somatic meditation, emotional awareness, exposure therapy and nervous system regulation. She spreads science and story through her blog and YouTube channel. And prior to this career, Rebecca worked as a broadcast journalist for ABC, NBC and PBS affiliates. 
Although this was the first time that Rebecca and I ever spoke, I felt like we had known each other for years, and I think you’ll enjoy the energy of that connection while you receive Rebecca’s messages of hope and recovery in this conversation.

You can find Rebecca at:

Website: https://www.rebeccatolin.com/

Free somatic meditation: https://www.rebeccatolin.com/newsletter

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: anna@annaholtzman.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com⁠

What is the mind-body connection and how does it relate to pain and other symptoms?

We all know intuitively that emotional stress can be expressed in physical sensations and symptoms.⁠⁠

⁠⁠

Some common examples are:⁠⁠

⁠⁠

You have a big deadline at work and you get a stomach ache in reaction to the stress.

Or you have a big fight with a loved one and you wind up getting a headache from the fight. ⁠⁠

Or you watch a scary movie and your shoulders get so tight from the fear that you have a stiff neck at the end of watching it. ⁠⁠

⁠⁠

These are all examples of physical reactions to mental and emotional stress. In each of these examples, the mind perceives something as stressful, and the body reacts.

That, in a nutshell, is the mind-body connection. And I haven’t told you anything that you don’t already know. Like I said, this stuff is intuitive. But in a culture where we’re encouraged to ignore our stress so that we can keep working and being productive, we don’t tend to talk or think about it a lot.

So how do we start paying attention to the mind-body connection? There are an unlimited number of different ways to do this. So, I’m just going to share one of my favorite tools, which is starting a verbal dialogue between your mind and your body through expressive writing.

And here are some conversation starters that you can try as journaling prompts: Here are the prompts:

👉 Dear symptom, what emotions are you feeling right now? (List them all out. If you need help with this, you could try scanning the Nonviolent Communication list of feelings .)

👉 Dear emotion, what do you need to feel honored?

👉 Dear emotion, is there a boundary that you need me to set?⁠

👉 Dear emotion, do you need me to assert myself through self-expression, following my heart, or speaking up?⁠

👉 Dear emotion, do you need support from allies  or peers? And if so, who should I reach out to?

👉 Dear emotion, do you need rest, nurturing or soothing?

If you try these out, I'd love to hear how it goes!

For more support with chronic symptoms, find me at:

www.annaholtzman.com

IG @anna_holtzman

Welcome back, dear listeners, before we get into today’s episode, I wanted to invite you to a live online workshop that I’m hosting called Journaling for Chronic Pain Relief. Journaling was a hugely important tool in my recovery, and I’m going to teach you how to release emotions, tension and pain from your body through writing in a way that’s gentle and safe and won’t overwhelm your nervous system. I hope that you’ll join me, I would love to see and meet you there. The workshop will take place online on Thursday May 2nd at 12pm Eastern (and yes, there will be a replay, but it’s only available to you if you register. And you can do that by going to: ⁠www.annaholtzman.com/WritingWorkshop

And now, I’m bringing you an epic episode today. I got to have a brain-tingling conversation with Michael Galinsky. Michael describes himself as an artist based in North Carolina who works as a father, dog walker, filmmaker, photographer, writer, musician and human.

He’s also a co-creator of the 2016 film All The Rage: Saved by Sarno, which documents the work of Doctor John Sarno, a pioneer of mind-body medicine working both within and against the tide of the mainstream western medical system. The film also documents Michael’s experience of recovering from chronic pain as Sarno’s patient.

In our conversation, Michael and I talked about everything from his personal recovery story to the process of making the film to the sociology of chronic pain and how it maps onto historical and political movements. We talked about intergenerational healing and activism. Basically, our conversation bubbled into so many different areas, because the mind-body experience is not at all limited to our physical sensations.

If you choose to enter the journey with us — which I hope you do — then buckle up and come along.

Hello dear listener, welcome to today’s episode, in which I had the pleasure of speaking with my friend and colleague Nisha Mody.

Nisha is a Relational Healing & Life Coach, Writer, and Speaker. Her mission is to give high-achieving helpers permission to not get everything “right”. Her work explores the intersection of anti-oppression, intergenerational healing, and relating. If you hear Nisha speak or coach with her, she will support you to work with your feelings, claim your agency, and relate to the world from an honest place.

In our conversation, I got to chat with Nisha about a subject that she’s done quite a bit of teaching and coaching on, which is boundaries and how they relate to power dynamics and to the mind-body experience. I feel like there’s always more growing to do in the area of developing healthy boundaries, so I got a lot out of this conversation, and I’m so happy to share it with you! By the way, we recorded this conversation back in July of last year, so any time-related references will be a bit dated, just an FYI.

You can find Nisha on Instagram @healinghypegirl, on her website at www.nishaland.com, and you can get the latest updates from her by signing up for her newsletter at https://bit.ly/notesfromnishaland.

And you can find me on Instagram @anna_holtzman or on my website at www.annaholtzman.com

Welcome back, dear listeners. On this episode, I sat down for a chat with Andrew. Andrew is someone I met through Instagram — it’s funny that how that happens. Once you start sharing your own story, it’s like you become a lighthouse and when other people who see the light you’re shining resonate with your story or with the work you’re doing, they will seek you out. And if you relate to their story too, you can wind up months later feeling like you know this person just from exchanging messages about a common experience that you share. And that was the case with Andrew. He first reached out to me when he was quite a bit earlier along in his journey, struggling with pelvic pain that was diagnosed as pudendal neuralgia, often known as cyclist syndrome, which was fitting in his case, because Andrew is an avid cyclist. So, you can imagine how much this type of pain interfered not only with his life in general, but also more specifically with cycling, an activity that he’s passionate about. So, when Andrew reached a stage in his process where he’s now sharing his recovery story with others to give them hope and direction, I really wanted to get him on this podcast to share his experience with you! And without further introduction, here is our conversation.

You can find Andrew at:

https://www.instagram.com/andrewmbcyclist/

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: anna@annaholtzman.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com

Welcome back, dear listeners. It was so fun to record this chat with someone who’s both a good friend and a colleague. May Flam is a leadership coach with nearly 10 years of experience helping busy professionals who are parents to curb their resentment and burnout at work and at home. She is based in Hoboken, New Jersey.

During our conversation, we talked about May’s chronic pain recovery story and how that journey relates to the work she does as a coach, specifically in helping people learn the principals of a method called Fair Play, which shows parents and couples how to co-create a more equitable distribution of household work, so that they can free up space in their brain to let go, un-scrunch their shoulders and cut their nervous systems some much needed slack. I have personally benefited from May’s wisdom in this area, and we talked about that too! So if you wanna pick up some truly useful tips and get a peek into both of our personal home lives, take a load off and join us!

You can find May at:

Website: mayflam.com

Free Domestic Strengths Quiz: https://mayflam.lpages.co/domestic-strengths-quiz/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mayflam/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayflam/

TikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@mayflamthecoach

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: anna@annaholtzman.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com⁠

Welcome back, dear listener. In today’s episode, I got to chat with a dear friend and colleague, Phil de la Haye.

Phil is an Internal Family Systems (IFS) practitioner and mind-body coach based near Bristol in the UK. He has his own history of chronic pain, so he has a personal interest in this work and a great passion for supporting other people who are in recovery from chronic symptoms. 

I personally find the IFS framework to be incredibly helpful with chronic symptom recovery and Phil did an amazing job of explaining that framework in our conversation, so I know you’ll get a lot out of this episode.

Phil and I met about three years ago through some Facebook group I think — probably a group for mind-body practitioners, but I was already familiar with Phil’s story after hearing him interviewed on a podcast called The Cure for Chronic Pain with Nicole Sachs. Anyway, somehow, we connected, and we’ve been meeting on Zoom together about once a month off and on.

In theory we meet to talk about client work and offer each other support with that. But quite often we wind up sharing our own personal experiences, how stress shows up in our bodies as we continue to be human beings, and just to generally connect. And I’m sharing this because developing friendships and connections with other people who “get it” has been such an important and enjoyable part of my own recovery from chronic pain — and my development as a person.

It's a big part of the reason that I created my monthly membership group, the Mind-Body Support Circle. We meet up twice a month on Zoom to talk about chronic symptom recovery, to journal together, and most importantly to share honestly and vulnerably with each other and give and receive support! It’s such a simple, beautiful thing. I remember one group member recently saying, “we are changing the world by doing this together.” And I totally agree with that.

If you would like to join us, you can do so by signing up for my signature journaling course, Writing to Release Chronic Pain. When you sign up, you’ll be invited to two months of complementary membership in the Support Circle so that you can experience it and see if it’s for you. I’d love to get to know you there. To learn more, visit my website, annaholtzman.com/writingtorelease

And now, without further ado, please enjoy this conversation with Phil de la Haye.

You can find Phil at:

Website: www.phildelahaye.com

IG: https://www.instagram.com/phildelahayeifs/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/phildelahayeifs

FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/901827657282916

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: anna@annaholtzman.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com⁠ Journaling Course: www.annaholtzman.com/writingtorelease

Hello dear listener, welcome to today’s episode, in which I had the pleasure of speaking with my colleague and fellow seeker Daniel Atkins.

Daniel holds the title of Doctor of Psychology but is currently practicing as a channeler and intuitive psychologist. He guides individuals and group workshops to understand the lineages and layers of emotion and belief-based trauma they carry from early life, ancestry, and beyond. He combines the foundation of his trauma-focused clinical training with intuitive, heart-based wisdom, energy medicine, and access to higher forms of consciousness.

Daniel was trained as a clinical psychologist and personally navigated a more-than year journey with a misunderstood medical diagnosis. His personal journey led him to seek beyond the traditional bounds of western medicine in order to heal himself and develop the tools to guide others.

His exploration led him to various forms of intuitive knowledge, the mind-body connection, and the energetic chakra system, all of which he now uses to meet the holistic needs of sufferers. He acts as a bridge between the world of western psychology and the spiritual realm and he teaches from the philosophy that trauma, in all its forms, invites us into a deeper understanding of our human experience and opens a path to our highest selves.

In addition to serving clients, Daniel hosts a podcast called "Be The Vessel" and channels higher guidance for all who are ready to receive it, and he is writing a book on a new paradigm of healing.

During our conversation, at about 26 minutes in, Daniel tells the story of his recovery and unwinding from a wide variety of symptoms that were inadequately labeled as depression and chronic fatigue.

Our conversation took place during the summer of last year, so as Daniel’s journey continues to evolve, you can check out what he’s up to by visiting him at...

Instagram: @DrDaniel_Atkins

Website: DrDanielAtkins.com

Patreon: @ patreon.com/BeTheVessel

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com

Before we start today’s episode, I'd like to tell you about the Chronic Pain to Passion Mentorship.
This is a one-on-one coaching program where you’ll get my individualized support with chronic symptom recovery so that you can get back into your creative work or passion project.
As someone who’s been through it myself, I have found that creative recovery and symptom recover actually go hand-in-hand. And I would love to support you with that.
To learn more, you can visit my website at www.annaholtzman.com/mentorship

 •••

And now, I’m excited to share today’s episode with you! I sat down to have a chat with Dr. Avi Sanders. Avi is a licensed clinical psychologist based in NY and NJ but he also works virtually with clients all over the US. One of his specialties is helping clients who struggle with anxiety. His approach is eclectic as he tries to tailor a unique treatment to meet each client’s individual needs and preferences. I really appreciate Avi’s warmth and down-to-earth approach. And that he shares his own struggles with anxiety as a learning tool for clients. We’re all in this human experience together, after all. And as Avi says, if you’re alive, you’re gonna experience anxiety at some point. So, I think it’s safe to say that there’s something for everyone in this conversation.

You can find Avi at:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/dr.avi.anxiety.recovery/

Website: https://dravisanders.com

And you can find me at:

Instagram: @anna_holtzman

Website: www.annaholtzman.com

Before we start today’s episode, I wanna ask a quick favor! If you’ve been listening to the podcast and finding it helpful, would you be willing to hit pause for a moment and give the podcast a quick rating and review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening on? It would mean so much to me, because your ratings and reviews help other people who are struggling with chronic symptoms to find the podcast. So, thank you in advance for the rating and review!

And now for today’s episode! I was delighted to have a chat with Gauri Yardi, someone I’ve been following through social media for a while now.

Gauri is a writer and multi-passionate creative, a naturopath and a creative wellbeing coach. Her mission is to help tired and burned out creatives regain the energy they need for their creative dreams using holistic nervous system care.⁠

⁠

Gauri's approach to burnout involves a model she calls "the four pillars of nervous system care" and it's a beautiful complement to the kinds of tools that I teach for chronic pain recovery — after all, as Gauri and I discussed during the interview, chronic pain and creative burnout are both symptoms of nervous system stress!⁠

Gauri's way of describing her work is so clear, simple and grounding that you might just consider listening to this interview as a part of your nervous system care.

You can find Gauri at:

Website: ⁠www.gauriyardi.com

Instagram: @gauri.yardi

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠@anna_holtzman⁠

Website: ⁠www.annaholtzman.com

Let’s talk about self-love and chronic pain. And I know the phrase self-love might feel uncomfortable to you, so please stay with me, because I promise you, this stuff is important.

Do you know who gets inside your head more than anyone else? The answer is: YOU.

Your relationship with yourself is the most impactful relationship that you will ever have — after all, the cumulative time that you spend with yourself outweighs any other relationship by a long shot.

And think of the way that your other relationships affect you: For example, how does it affect your wellbeing when you’re in a relationship with a person who treats you with kindness and love? How does it affect your physical and emotional health? And now ask yourself, how does it affect your physical and emotional health when you’re in a relationship with someone who routinely cuts your down, bullies you, belittles you and criticizes you?

Now that you have your answers to those questions about how your relationships with other people impact your health, multiply that impact by about a bajillion and you’ll have some sense of the degree to which your own self-talk has an impact on your physical and emotional wellbeing.

And I’m gonna repeat a question that I asked in last week’s episode:

Have you ever seen how a dog’s body cowers when somebody yells at them? Well, ask yourself, how many times a day are you yelling at yourself in your head, and what impact is it having on your body?

The way we talk to ourselves affects our stress levels. And stress makes the nervous system feel unsafe — which can trigger symptoms like pain. For a deeper dive into how this works, you can go back to episode 2 on the mind-body connection.

Unfortunately, negative self-talk is a widespread habit that gets ingrained in us by cultural patterns that are designed to train us into obeying authority rather than loving ourselves. BUT, just as those cultural patterns have trained our brains through authority and repetition, repetition, repetition… You can decide to become your own authority and retrain your brain into loving self-talk through the same pattern of consistent repetition.

And if the concept of self-love makes you cringe, consider that’s a socially conditioned response.⁠ We’re all born innately loving ourselves, but we are socially taught to view self-love in a negative light.⁠ And you might want to ask yourself:⁠ When and how did I learn to cringe at the idea of loving myself?⁠ And what type of social system is that attitude about self-love designed to uphold?⁠

⁠

Because the fact is that self-love is empowering. It protects us from being manipulated and controlled.⁠ When we are trained to view self-love negatively, that training makes us easier to manipulate and control, which is convenient to any system that’s built on a hierarchy of human worth, like, let’s say, capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy, etc.⁠

But getting back to where we started, cultivating self-love and compassionate self-talk are absolutely key to healing from chronic pain and other stress-related symptoms.

⁠

So, if you’re interested in learning how to cultivate self-love, here’s a two-part journaling exercise you could try out:⁠

Part 1️.  With pen and paper, write down these words: “I love and accept myself.” Then, after you’ve written them down, notice how you feel about those words. And whatever you feel, write about it. Honestly.⁠

Part 2️. Now, project yourself five years into the future. And from the mind of your future self, with a pen and paper, complete this sentence: “Ever since I embraced self-acceptance truly and deeply, this is what life’s been like …”⁠ ⁠

Complete that sentence and just see what flows onto the page!

If you try this out, I would LOVE to hear from you about what it was like! So leave me a comment and let me know.

Sending all the compassion and encouragement your way.

Find me at: www.annaholtzman.com and IG @anna_holtzman

If you've been on the path of mind-body healing for a while, you’ve undoubtedly heard over and over again that it’s important to process and release your emotions. But the question is, how? That’s what we’re going to talk about in today’s episode. And just a content warning, I will be using bathroom humor.

For a transcript, go here: https://medium.com/beingwell/the-4-stages-of-emotional-release-845a9fb5dbcb

Also, I wanna tell you about a pilot program that I’m running called the Chronic Pain to Passion Mentorship.
This is an opportunity to work with me 1:1 and get my support with your chronic symptom recovery while you are pursuing a creative project or other passion project.

Creatives often think that they need to stop pursuing their passion in order to rest and recover from chronic symptoms. But, as someone who’s been there myself, I have found that creative recovery and symptom recover actually go hand-in-hand. And I would love to support you with that.

You can find out more on my website at www.annaholtzman.com/mentorship

And if you'd like to try out the Curable app (which I mention in episode 1 as the entry point to my own healing journey), you can use my affiliate link to get a FREE 6-week trial — and during the month of May, get 60% off an annual subscription!

www.curable.com/annaholtzman

Before we start today’s episode, I wanna tell you about a FREE workshop that I’m hosting on Wednesday June 7 at 1pm Eastern Time!
This workshop is all about how to soothe your symptoms and unlock your creativity! We’re going to be doing some expressive writing exercises together, I’m gonna host a live Q&A, and I think it’ll be a really fun opportunity to get to know each other, so I hope you’ll join me!
To learn more, you can visit my website at www.annaholtzman.com/creativity-workshop-home

And you know what? before you listen to this episode, I invite you to hit pause, check out the workshop page and sign up! I would be so thrilled to see you there!

•••

In today’s episode, I sat down to chat with my friend and colleague Dr. Andrea Moore. Andrea is a mom, wife and recovering health perfectionist. Her career path has been based on trying to fix everything wrong with her: from chronic pain & post-concussive syndrome to anxiety & ADHD.

While she refused to accept this as her norm, trying to implement what she thought was necessary to alleviate her symptoms felt exhausting, restricting & impossible.

Along her 15+ year journey, she became a Doctor of Physical Therapy, an Orthopedic Certified Specialist, Functional Nutritional Therapist, Life Coach and patriarchy & perfectionism smasher!

Through years of education, self healing & working with 100s of people, she learned that it is always about coming back to yourself in order to live the life of your dreams. So, she now guides others who are suffering from chronic pain back to their bodies & living in a way that is aligned with the truest version of themselves.

You can find Andrea at:

Instagram: @drandreamoore

Website: www.drandreamoore.com

Podcast: Unweaving Chronic Pain

And you can find me at:

Instagram: @anna_holtzman

Website: www.annaholtzman.com

How do you release physical and emotional tension from your body through writing? That’s what we’re gonna talk about today!

For a text version of this episode, go to: https://medium.com/beingwell/whats-your-mind-body-relationship-status-b7f315267bbb

To learn more about mind-body journaling, check out my online course Writing to Release Chronic Pain at www.annaholtzman/writingtorelease

And say hi on Instagram at @anna_holtzman

With warmth,

Anna

Welcome to the 20th episode of From Chronic Pain to Passion. This is the last episode in season 1 and after this I’m going to take a 3 week hiatus, because rest is important!

But don’t worry, I’ll be back in September with more interviews that I’m excited to share with you, including conversations with chronic pain experts Dr. John Stracks and Dr. Lilia Graue as well as many more.

In today’s episode, I’m going to share with you a recording of a Facebook live in which I had the honor of chatting with chronic pain expert Georgie Oldfield, and this time I was the one being interviewed.

Georgie is a physiotherapist practicing in the UK and she’s the founder of an organization called SIRPA, which stands for Stress Illness Recovery Practitioners’ Association. SIRPA is a really important hub of information, education and patient and practitioner resources in the field of mind-body medicine.

You can find those resources on their website at sirpa.org and on Instagram @sirpa_uk In the conversation you’re about to hear, Georgie interviewed me about my experience of recovering from chronic migraine and I talked about some more recent developments in that journey, which continues to unfold.

You can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠@anna_holtzman⁠

Website: ⁠www.annaholtzman.com

There’s a lot of debate in the mind-body healing community about whether or not to take painkillers for a chronic pain flare-up. But at the end of the day, it’s a choice that we each have to determine for ourselves.

Today I’m going to share the approach that’s worked for me in my own recovery journey. And just a disclaimer, what I’m about to share is not meant to be taken as medical advice — it’s simply an honest account of my story and how developing self-trust has been key to my healing.

For a complete transcript, go here: https://medika.life/an-honest-account-of-my-relationship-with-painkillers/

Also, I want to tell you about pilot program that I’m running called the Chronic Pain to Passion Mentorship. It’s been quite a while since I’ve opened up my practice to new individual coaching clients, and this is an opportunity to work with me 1:1. I’m offering a small handful of these mentorship spots, and one of them could be for you if you are a creative person who struggles with stress-related symptoms. And if you have a passion project that you’re working and that you’re longing to devote more energy to, but symptoms keep getting in the way. If that’s you, I would love to chat and see if we’re a good fit to work together. You can find out more on my website at www.annaholtzman.com/mentorship

And if you'd like to try out the Curable app (which I mention in this episode), you can use my link to get a FREE 6-week trial!

www.curable.com/annaholtzman

Welcome back, dear listeners. In this episode I got to reconnect with a colleague I met in Canada in a program where we shared our stories and our work out loud on stage. Kristi McLeod totally blew me away when she did a demo of her work with an audience member. And I knew that I had to have her on this podcast — partly so that you could learn about the work she does, and selfishly, so that I could be her client for a demo, which you’ll hear in this episode.

Kristi is a multidisciplinary healer, mentor, and teacher who is here to help shift the paradigm of how wellness and mental health is viewed. Kristi is on a mission to guide practitioners, entrepreneurs, and organizations to becoming regulated AF so that they can be more at ease, effective and efficient in their business.

With a foundational focus on nervous system regulation, she guides you to a felt sense of safety while teaching you about your nervous systems responses. And to take it a step further, she helps reveal and resolve the root of what is causing dysregulation, which, as we know, is often the underlying root of so many different kinds of symptoms.

In our conversation, Kristi shared about how she came to this work through her own journey of recovery from depression and how she uses the very same processes to work with chronic pain as well.

I felt so safe and supported by Kristi during the demo she did, where I sat in as the client, and there was some raw emotion that came up for me. Just a content warning, the subject matter that I shared about as Kristi’s client has to do with a traumatic sexual experience in my teen years. We don’t go into much detail about it, we were working mainly with present-time emotion, but if that could be a triggering topic for you, please use your own discernment when choosing to listen. With that said, I so enjoyed recording this episode with Kristi. I think you’ll get a ton out of it, as I did, and I am honored to be sharing her work with you!

You can find Kristi at:

Website: https://www.somaskyewellness.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/somaskyewellness/

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: anna@annaholtzman.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com⁠

Before we start today’s episode, I wanna tell you about a FREE workshop that I’m hosting on Wednesday June 7 at 1pm Eastern Time!
This workshop is all about how to soothe your symptoms and unlock your creativity! We’re going to be doing some expressive writing exercises together, I’m gonna host a live Q&A, and I think it’ll be a really fun opportunity to get to know each other, so I hope you’ll join me!
To learn more, you can visit my website at www.annaholtzman.com/ creativity-workshop-home

And now for today’s episode. I sat down to chat with Rachel Gofman, whom I’ve been fan-girling on Instagram for quite some time.

Rachel is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and a Certified Integrative Life Coach. Her mission is to help women liberate themselves from a life consumed by chronic pelvic pain, and to help them create lives of great purpose, connection, and intention, as they heal through a mind-body approach.

Rachel came into this work through her own journey of recovering from chronic pelvic pain, and one of the many reasons that I’m a fan of Rachel’s is that she is speaking openly, relatably and compassionately about a topic that most of us were raised to be silent about. I personally find Rachel’s perspective on mind-body healing to be so empowering, and I’m honored to be sharing our conversation here with you.

You can find Rachel at:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepelvicpaincoach/

Website: https://www.thepelvicpaincoach.com/

And you can find me at:

Instagram: @anna_holtzman

Website: www.annaholtzman.com

Welcome back, dear listeners, before we get into today’s episode I wanted to invite you to a live online workshop that I’m hosting called Journaling for Chronic Pain Relief. Journaling was a hugely important tool in my recovery, and I’m going to teach you how to release emotions, tension and pain from your body through writing in a way that’s gentle and safe and won’t overwhelm your nervous system. I hope that you’ll join me, I would love to see and meet you there. The workshop will take place online on Thursday May 2nd at 12pm Eastern (and yes, there will be a replay, but it’s only available to you if you register. And you can do that by going to: www.annaholtzman.com/WritingWorkshop And now, I have a really special episode for you today and you’ll be interested to hear it if you have any teenagers in your life who struggle with chronic symptoms, or if you experienced chronic symptoms in the teenage years yourself.

My guest today is Dr. Jin Lee, PsyD, MSCP, BCB, a licensed pediatric psychologist with a deep specialization in chronic pain and functional neurological disorder in children and adolescents. With extensive training, including a Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) and Master’s degree (MA) in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University and a Postdoctoral Master of Science (MS) in Clinical Psychopharmacology from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Dr. Lee has honed her expertise to become a leading expert in the field. Her passion for pediatric psychology and dedication to improving the lives of young patients are evident through her clinical practice, teaching, and research endeavors.

As a founder of her private practice based in Colorado, Your Pediatric Psychologist, Dr. Lee delivers direct clinical care to pediatric patients and collaborates closely with medical teams, school personnel, and community providers to ensure comprehensive care coordination and treatment. Moreover, as the founder of Teen FND Academy, Dr. Lee provides an innovative online psycho-education program and coaching support to adolescents and their families, focusing on resolving chronic pain and functional neurological disorders. Through evidence-based intervention approaches and compassionate care, she empowers teens and their parents to overcome challenges related to chronic pain and FND and achieve better outcomes.

Dr. Lee’s impact in the field extends beyond her clinical practice through her work as an educator, clinical supervisor and policy advocate in her field.

I was so thrilled to have this conversation with Dr. Lee, so without any further intro, I’ll invite you to listen in.

You can find Dr. Lee at:

Website: https://www.yourpediatricpsychologist.com/

Group program: https://www.teenfndacademy.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TeenFND

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: anna@annaholtzman.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com⁠

Thank you for joining me today to listen to this episode of From Chronic Pain to Passion. It’s hard to believe it’s already been 4 months since I first launched the podcast. And I wanna ask if you’d be up for helping me spread the word so that more listeners can find the podcast. So, I thought I would do a little fun giveaway. Last month I held a workshop called Soothe Your Symptoms and Unlock Your Creativity. If you would like a free recording of that workshop, I invite you to do any one of these three things:

1. You can post about the podcast on Instagram and tag me.
2. You can post about it on any other medium, and screenshot the post and email it to me.
3. Or you can simply share the podcast with a friend and email to tell me about it.

My email is anna@annaholtzman.com

And in return, I will send you a recording of the Soothe Your Symptoms, Unlock Your Creativity workshop — and I’ll write you a little note of appreciation. So thank you in advance!

•••

And now for today’s episode! I so enjoyed this conversation with Renee Snijder. Renee is a certified ADHD coach who works from the perspective that nobody is broken; that ADHD is a set of symptoms, not a disorder; and that by working on nervous system regulation and self-compassion through a mind-body approach, it is possible to reduce the intensity of these symptoms while connecting with your authentic self.

You might wonder why we’re talking about ADHD on a podcast that’s called from Chronic Pain to Passion. And the reason I reached out to Renee is that I saw her talking about her approach on Instagram, and I thought, wow, we are talking about many of the same things. We’re talking about the effects of stress on the nervous system. We’re using our own lived experience to inform the way we support our clients. And I just love the clear and compassionate way Renee talks about her work! On top of all that, I find that a lot of the folks who come to work with me on chronic pain recovery also report that they experience ADHD symptoms. So, I’m really glad that I get to share our conversation with you.

You can find Renne at:

IG (in English): ⁠@rebirth_adhd⁠

website (in Dutch): www.stormvogelcoaching.nl

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠@anna_holtzman⁠

Website: ⁠www.annaholtzman.com

Find me at: www.annaholtzman.com and IG @anna_holtzman

Have you ever cried into your pillow out of desperation when yet another migraine snuck up on you and ruined your day? I have. If you have too, I can truly empathize.

As a psychotherapist and coach who helps people heal from chronic pain, I draw on teachings from books and courses by experts in the field. But my greatest teacher by far has been my own journey of healing from chronic migraines.

I hope that my story invites you to imagine what healing from chronic pain could look like for you.

Part 1: Pain Is a Message

I had migraines for 10+ years. They started as a once-in-a-while thing, but by ten years in they were happening 1–3 times per week. It became a major interference with work, life and frankly, my sanity.

When it first began, I was working a high-pressure job in TV and I could tell that my headaches were related to stress. By the time they reached their worst, I’d left TV and was in grad school to become a therapist. I was studying trauma and was well aware of the mind-body connection. But I couldn’t seem to make a dent in the migraines. I was almost running out of my prescription painkillers each month and I was at my wits’ end.

Then one day when I was feeling desperate, I came across an app called Curable. I wouldn’t normally have thought that an app could help me with migraines, but as I said, I was desperate. And I’m so grateful that I took a chance!

From Curable, I learned something that would start me on a healing path eventually leading to the end of my chronic migraines. It was this: Pain is a danger signal and it’s created in the brain when our nervous system feels unsafe. If we want to turn off the pain signal, we have to help our nervous system feel safe again.

Sometimes the danger is physical (like a broken arm) and sometimes it’s emotional (like a stressful relationship.) Sometimes it’s a learned association (similar to a trauma trigger.)

Sometimes establishing safety is an inside job (like reassuring myself that I’m okay) and sometimes it’s an outside job (like removing myself from an unhealthy social situation.) Often it’s a bit of both.

Once I made these connections, I was able to learn how to stop fighting or avoiding the pain and instead turn toward establishing safety.

Part 2: Express Yourself

As I put this knowledge into practice, I soon began to experience a reduction in the frequency, duration and intensity of migraines. I was psyched!

But healing is not a straight line, and over the course of a year, I had breakthroughs and setbacks, eventually leveling out into what felt like a plateau.

Then one day, a major setback whacked me over the head: I was on the subway in the middle of an hour-long trip when an intense migraine started closing in on me. Dizzy, nauseous and scared, I stumbled out of the train car, switched directions and headed back home feeling defeated, frustrated and hopeless.

Once I gained my bearings, I knew I needed a new tool in my healing toolkit. I’d heard about expressive journaling for chronic pain, but I’d avoided it for some reason. I figured: Why not give it a try.

To keep reading, go to: https://medium.com/p/cd7cc54c32f4

If you’re wondering, “Why the *bleep* am I still in pain?!” — take the FREE QUIZ that I designed to help you get some clarity.

And follow me on instagram for daily healing tips, inspiration and support.

Welcome back dear listeners. Today, I have no guest because I’m going to share another talk that I gave recently. Using my voice is something that I’ve discovered I love to do. And something I’m particularly passionate about is breaking down the concepts of chronic pain recovery into very simple language. There are lots of different ways to communicate these concepts, and there are many very eloquent practitioners and researchers out there who use neuroscience terminology, facts and figures from research studies, and other lofty sounding language to communicate these ideas. And that is fantastic! That kind of language really speaks to people in a particular way and it serves a specific purpose in our society. And, my contribution to this conversation about mind-body healing comes in a very different type of language from that. Because my personal mission is really about encouraging people, like you, the listener, to develop trust in your own inner wisdom and your own innate understanding of your own lived experience.

And to encourage that, I make it a point whenever I can to use everyday language. And instead of using a lot of scientific jargon — not that it doesn’t have its place — I prefer to use everyday metaphors to help you understand that, just by being alive, you already have all the tools you need to understand what’s going on in your mind and body. It’s really just about tuning in and paying attention, and leaning into what you already know about life based on other experiences that we can use as metaphors.
That’s what I do in all of my courses and programs, and it’s why so many students who have taken my course, Writing to Release Chronic Pain, have told me that they finally understand this work, because I’ve broken it down so simply. I think it’s also why members of my groups feel so empowered to speak their own truth, tell their own story and develop to their own unique path to healing that works for them!
If that’s something that’s important to you, I welcome you to join us for the biweekly meetings of my membership group, where we get together to share, support each other, and continue to develop that sense of self-trust and confidence in our journeys. You can join by going to my website annaholtzman.com/writingtorelease where you can enroll in that course, and included in your enrollment is a two-month pass to my group coaching membership and the option to stay on and become an ongoing member. Again, the URL to enroll is annaholtzman.com/writingtorelease

And now, I hope you’ll enjoy this talk in which I’ll break down the process of chronic pain recovery into three simple concepts. Fair warning, this talk does include some mild bathroom humor.

You can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: anna@annaholtzman.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com⁠

Hello dear listener, welcome to today’s episode, in which I got to have a conversation with someone I’ve been a big fan of for quite a while.

My guest, Dani Fagan, specializes in the care of the chronic condition/mind-body medicine community, having healed from years of chronic pain and anxiety using these tools herself. She is a coach and teaches yoga, meditation and breath work to the self-healing community. Her approach harnesses the power of the nervous system to help folks recover from chronic symptoms by training the body-mind into a place of safety and authenticity, and out of fight-flight-freeze-fawn survival mode.

Dani has a fantastic website called mytmsjourney.com, which is a go-to resource for mind-body healing, and I highly recommend it. I couldn’t get enough of our conversation, because Dani is so real and raw and truly herself, and that felt like a great big permission slip to be myself. It might just feel that way to you too, so take a listen.

You can find Dani at:

Website: https://mytmsjourney.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mytms_journey/

And you can find me at:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@anna_holtzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.annaholtzman.com

Before we start today’s episode, I'd like to tell you about the Chronic Pain to Passion Mentorship. This is a one-on-one coaching program where you’ll get my individualized support with chronic symptom recovery so that you can get back into your creative work or passion project. As someone who’s been through it myself, I have found that creative recovery and symptom recover actually go hand-in-hand. And I would love to support you with that.
To learn more, you can visit my website at www.annaholtzman.com/mentorship

 •••

In today’s episode, I sat down to chat with Liliana Doyon. Liliana is a Mexican-American, trauma-informed couples therapist who is Certified in Emotionally Focused Therapy.  She also holds an executive position for the New York Center of Emotionally Focused Therapy. She has spent most of her life learning about relational dynamics and how humans work through and with emotion, and she says that understanding emotions such as anger is crucial in unpacking and healing intergenerational trauma and upholding boundaries. Liliana uses examples in her own life to help normalize human experiences and to empower others to do the same. 

I first connected with Liliana through mutual therapy clients of ours, and as I began following the videos that she shares online, I was really struck by the way she talks about boundaries. Boundaries are a critical skill to develop as part of chronic symptom recovery, and we’ll get into why that is in this episode. What I didn’t know before I reached out is that Liliana has her own story of physical symptoms — specifically TMJ — that intersects with the healing wisdom she shares on boundaries. I think this is a really special, eye-opening conversation and I’m excited to share it with you.

You can find Liliana at:

Website: ⁠https://www.lilianadoyon.com/⁠

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilianadoyon/

In this episode, Liliana references taking inspiration from work being done by BIPOC therapists for the BIPOC community. These include:

Natalie Y. Gutierrez, LMFT @nataliegutierrezImft

Dr. Jennifer Mullan

@decolonizingtherapy

Monica Gavilanes, LMSW @rootsandalchemy

•••

And you can find me at:

Instagram: @anna_holtzman

Website: www.annaholtzman.com