In the last French Q&A podcast, I was asked a question which you might resonate with.

How to deal with persistent pain? Can yoga help with being more patient and accepting the pain? Or even lessen and relieve it?

This question is very dear to my heart, since I had to deal with wrist pain for over 2 years. And I've of course met many clients who had been in pain for several months, sometimes years.

Here's what I have found works well:

Understand how pain works

When I had persistent pain in the wrist, the most difficult part wasn't even the pain itself. It was all the stories I was telling myself, the catastrophization... the frustration because I tried EVERYTHING and nothing was working.

But pain is a signal created by the brain when it doesn't feel safe, and it's accentuated by stress.

(Side note: pain is NOT linked to how much damage there is to the tissue. Some people are completely healthy but in pain. Other people have severe damage to the spine and are pain-free.

If this is blowing your mind as well, check out this series of videos I did last year to dispel some of the myths around pain: Pain series – Part 1: It’s all in your head!)

Take home: one of the best ways to relieve pain is to make your body feel safe. There are many ways to do that: I like to work with breathing exercises, meditation, self-massage and restorative yoga.

Focus on what you can do

Fixating on the pain is a surefire way to make your stress spike.

There are still so many things you can do, even when you're in pain. Let's focus on that, and give you back some agency.

One of my clients had persistent shoulder pain. We worked on making her stronger and moving through fun flows. She wasn't thinking about her shoulder anymore, she was moving in a way that she enjoys. And she became more and more confident in her body as she grew stronger.

Trust your body

I know it's hard not to be frustrated, but your body is doing its best to heal. It needs you to be gentle with yourself and to give it time.

We often want to rush things because it's never fun to be in pain. But one thing that yoga teaches us is that the body cannot be forced.

To make the whole process easier, it helps to go back to the first two points: learn how to relax, and focus on what you can do.

Time passes anyway.

So instead of wasting it on fixating on the pain, do something useful and enjoyable.

And this is exactly what I do with my clients :)

If you'd like to discuss how I can help you, simply click this link and I will be in touch.

Om, peace 🧡

Clem