For sure, sometimes there is a body problem that's causing pain. People should always get checked out medically and make sure that they have all the angles considered! Any decent therapist doesn't do this work with a client unless they've ruled out a serious medical cause.

You Can Unlearn Your Pain What neuroscience is teaching us about chronic pain — and the treatment that’s changing lives. Many years ago, I went through a two-year period with chronic tendinitis in my wrists. During those years there were countless days when I couldn’t type, garden, cook, or even open doors or jars without excruciating pain. I saw my doctor and went to physical therapy for over a year. I stretched, I rested, I iced, I splinted. Nothing really shifted. I overcame my wrist symptoms after reading a book called Healing Back Pain by Dr.

What if chronic pain isn't a body problem?

Most chronic pain or symptoms are generated by the brain as a danger signal, rather than due to damage in the body. And that's actually good news!

#painreprocessingtherapy #mindbodyhealing #chronicpainrecovery #neurplasticsymptoms

The Problem With Problem-Solving On anxiety, self-compassion, and why your brain keeps looking for problems to solve The mind, when it’s anxious, will find a problem to solve. It doesn’t matter if the problem is real or imagined, or already over. It just needs something to work on. I was reminded of this the other night, lying awake and anxious after working on my last post too close to bedtime. There were thoughts about whether I was sharing too much of my personal story in my posts, whether they were overlapping too much in terms of the themes I discussed, and also how people might respond to what I shared about how my first marriage ended.

On anxiety, self-compassion, and why your brain keeps looking for problems to solve.

The mind, when it’s anxious, will find a problem to solve. It doesn’t matter if the problem is real or imagined, or already over. It just needs something to work on.

#mindbodyhealing #painreprocessingtherapy

The Need Nobody Talks About in Chronic Pain Recovery If you've struggled with chronic pain or symptoms, there may be a deeper need beneath the surface—one that, when finally met, may be the missing piece in your recovery I have been working with a client recently who recovered remarkably quickly from disabling pain and other symptoms. She hadn’t been able to work or care for herself for quite a while. She had moved home with a parent and needed help with even small tasks, such as taking a shower, pouring herself a glass of water, or opening doors. She was unable to use her phone because of debilitating pain in her hands.

The Need Nobody Talks About in Chronic Pain Recovery

If you've struggled with chronic pain or symptoms, there may be a deeper need beneath the surface—one that, when finally met, may be the missing piece in your recovery I have been working with a client recently who recovered remarkably quickly…

Tied in Knots: Why We Abandon Ourselves (and How to Stop) “It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough...” That Barbie monologue spoke to me, as it did to so many women. America Ferrera was speaking for millions of women who’ve tied themselves in knots trying to be everything to everyone—and ended up losing themselves in the process. I know because I was one of them. Read more...

We arrive at motherhood already primed to abandon ourselves.

Our childhoods, our culture, and biology train us to anticipate others' needs. This wiring can be unlearned.

bodywiseparent.substack.com/p/tied-in-knots-why-we-a... #mindbodyhealing #chronicpain #parenting

The Drama of the Upside-Down Plate: What I Learned About Emotions as a Child For many years, I thought I was just “too emotional.” I hadn’t learned to allow and to express my feelings. They felt too big because they were stuck inside, and because of what I had been taught was normal. My feelings often felt too intense, too easily triggered. Everyone else seemed to have it together while I was a mess inside. It never occurred to me that other people might be having the same feelings—they just weren’t showing them. I was comparing my insides to other people’s outsides. It also didn’t occur to me that burying my emotions might make me sick. Keep reading...

I was six years old, furious at my sister. My way of expressing anger? I placed her dinner plate upside down on the table.

That's what I learned about feelings as a child: just find silent, indirect ways to hint at them.

bodywiseparent.substack.com/p/the-drama-of-the-upsid...

How I Learned Not To Abandon Myself (and What a Mispronounced Name Taught Me) My body had been speaking what I refused to acknowledge: I was abandoning myself to take care of everyone else, and my nervous system wasn’t having it anymore. Read more...

I was literally feeling physical pain for someone who didn't even notice her name was mispronounced.

That's when I realized: I'd spent my life anticipating needs that didn't exist while abandoning my own. And it was making me sick. #mindbodyhealing

Handouts for Recovery from Anxiety, Pain or Symptoms I'm sharing some handouts that I created for my Substack newsletter, Body Wise Parent. I hope you find them helpful! Safety Reappraisal for Chronic Pain/Symptoms For people overcoming chronic pain or symptoms by establishing a greater sense of safety in the body. Safety_Reappraisal_HandoutDownload Inner Child/Inner Parent Dialogue Exercise For people who are learning to improve emotional self-care and overcoming the impact of childhood emotional neglect. Inner Child Dialog ExerciseDownload Overcoming Compulsive Caretaking Handout For people who feel over-responsible for others and are learning not to abandon themselves. Compulsive Caretaking Handout…

I'm sharing some handouts that I created for my Substack newsletter, Body Wise Parent. I hope you find them helpful! #chronicpain #mindbodyhealing #emotionalawareness #painpsychology

I'm sharing what I learned about how stress becomes pain and symptoms, and how understanding this changes everything.

When My Body Expressed What I Couldn't Say How stress manifested as severe physical symptoms

The brain can't distinguish between physical and psychological danger—so it creates symptoms to protect us from both. After recovering from #neuroplasticsymptoms myself... bodywiseparent.substack.com/p/when-my-bo... #mindbodyhealing #painreprocessingtherapy

The People-Pleaser’s Guide to Chronic Pain How I Learned About the Mind-Body Connection Read more...

The People-Pleaser's Guide to Chronic Pain: How I Learned About the Mind-Body Connection. #chronicpain #mindbodyhealing #neuroplasticsymptoms bodywiseparent.substack.com/p/the-people-pleasers-gu...

Check out my new Substack Newsletter! I just launched my own Substack, called Body Wise Parent: Mind-body Wisdom for Parents. In it, I'll be posting roughly biweekly about neuroplasticity, mind-body healing, and my own experience overcoming symptoms while raising four kids. My hope is to support parents struggling with chronic pain, unexplained medical symptoms, anxiety and depression, while sharing knowledge about how to balance the needs of our families with our own need for self-care and nourishment. My first newsletter shares a bit about my own path through chronic symptoms and what I hope to share in upcoming newsletters. Check it out at

I just launched my own Substack, called Body Wise Parent: Mind-body Wisdom for Parents. In it, I'll be posting roughly biweekly about neuroplasticity, mind-body healing, and my own experience overcoming anxiety, depression, and chronic pain and symptoms while raising four kids.

The Science Behind the Symptoms: Epstein–Barr, Chronic Fatigue/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis YouTube video by Symptomatic

If you've been told that your #chronicsymptoms are due to #EpsteinBarrVirus, if you suffer from CFS, or you think you can't recover from mind/body symptoms, this podcast episode is for you! youtu.be/ji9ysWpWS0Y?...

#mindbodyconnection #neuroplasticsymptoms #chronicpainrecovery #chronicfatigue

It’s not “in your head.”

It’s your nervous system trying to protect you — and you can retrain it with compassion, support, and evidence-based tools.

You deserve healing that sees the whole you.

A new article on my website explores why women are more vulnerable to #neuroplasticsymptoms, why skepticism about #mindbodyhealing makes sense, and how understanding the brain–body connection can validate your experience rather than minimize it.

buff.ly/5qoKlyD #chronicpainrecovery #womenshealth

Real Nervous System Regulation To regulate your nervous system, you need to know why you're dysregulated and address the root causes, including perfectionism and people-pleasing.

Your nervous system isn’t malfunctioning—it’s communicating. Sometimes the path to calm starts with listening to what it’s been trying to tell you. Read the full article at merilevy.com/real-nervous...

Real Nervous System Regulation To regulate your nervous system, you need to know why you're dysregulated and address the root causes, including perfectionism and people-pleasing.

Calming techniques can help, but real regulation often comes from the deeper work: advocating for yourself, setting limits, feeling your feelings, honoring your needs, and creating emotional safety in your life.

Real Nervous System Regulation To regulate your nervous system, you need to know why you're dysregulated and address the root causes, including perfectionism and people-pleasing.

#Nervoussystemregulation isn’t just about deep breaths and calming tools. Often, our bodies stay in fight-or-flight because of what’s happening underneath—old patterns like #peoplepleasing, #perfectionism, unprocessed emotions, lack of #boundaries or #trauma.
#chronicpain #mindbody #neuroplasticity

Parents Nurture the Child Within The importance of self-care and self-compassion for parents who struggle with emotional and somatic symptoms

Tending to this vulnerable part of ourselves can be transformative for chronic symptoms. When we finally offer the love and attention we’ve long needed, healing becomes possible.

If you try this, let me know what you discover. Inner child work can be very powerful. merilevy.com/why-parents-...

Start simply: “What do you need right now?” “I’m here. I’m listening. I’m not going anywhere.”

If this nurturing voice feels unfamiliar, that’s normal—it grows with practice. Your inner child may be angry or distrustful at first, but checking in regularly builds safety.

I often picture these symptoms as my inner child throwing a tantrum, because it hasn’t been listened to. One powerful exercise is writing a dialogue between your inner child (non-dominant hand) and a loving inner parent (dominant hand).

Many of us learned early on to put others first and ignore our own feelings. Over time, that self-abandonment can show up as chronic pain or unexplained symptoms—our body’s way of saying, “I’m not OK. I need care.” #mindbodyconnection #chronicpain #painreprocessingtherapy #neuroplasticity

Don’t Abandon Yourself this Holiday Season

For those of us who are susceptible to chronic pain or other physical symptoms, or who tend toward anxiety or depression (all of which can be neuroplastic, by the way), the holiday season can be a time when we need to be especially mindful. It’s all too…

Doctors should run the necessary tests and mind-body practitioners can address the neuroplastic piece whenever it’s indicated. If mind-body work helps, that tells us something important: the symptoms were neuroplastic all along.

...labs, neurology, MRI. All normal. The medical search only delayed the support I actually needed—mind-body treatment.

The truth is, you don’t have to choose between medical evaluation and mind-body treatment.

Just as I would when treating anxiety, depression or insomnia, I always make sure clients have had recent medical care and labs. I rule out the medical, then treat what’s left.

When I went through severe neuroplastic dizziness, nausea, and insomnia, my doctors ran every test...

they move around, show up after (but not during) exercise, start in both hands or shoulders at once, or flare only under certain conditions. These patterns don’t fit neatly into medical diagnoses, and doctors often shrug because nothing adds up structurally.

By the time they arrive in therapy, they’ve usually tried the medical route, run the tests, and been told there’s nothing more to do, or they're exhausted from trying alternative treatments.
Many neuroplastic symptoms also don’t behave like medical conditions...

The truth is, most people seeking mind-body treatment have already seen multiple doctors—often every specialist they can get referred to, plus a handful of alternative practitioners. And what's more...

#neuroplasticsymptoms #painreprocessingtherapy #mindbodyhealing #chronicpainrecovery #chronicpain

in general, these findings are the same as seeing no structural damage at all.

These MRI findings do not mean that you can’t heal using a mind-body approach. Most chronic pain is neuroplastic (generated by the brain), and you can unlearn it with mind-body psychotherapy.