Let it Be: Mindful Acceptance down-regulates pain & negative emotion

This is the title of a study put forth by Tor Wager, who was the lead researcher in the Boulder back pain study that showed how powerful pain re-processing therapy was in reducing chronic back pain. In this study from 2019, Wager and colleagues found that: ‘Emotion regulation using mindful acceptance was associated with reductions in reported pain and negative affect, reduced amygdala responses to negative images and reduced heat-evoked responses in medial and lateral pain systems.’

How we approach our sensations (symptoms) is very important and can have implications in them either getting better or getting worse or staying persistent. Having a systematic and consistent conscious approach is what I am teaching in my group sessions. If you are struggling, please join us. The group is growing and my job is to teach you how to handle your sensations when they pop up or you become aware of them. We will be hitting the ground running again in January with 4 weeks of weekly 1.5 hour classes you can join live or watch later if you can’t make it. I’m also sending out a daily somatic practice to participants during the week so they can deepen the practice of how to deal withe and heal chronic symptoms in the body. If you are interested in joining me and the rest of the group head over to my website for more information and to sign up.