Neural Circuit Testing: Your Brain's Power To Create Pain

This is a series of five brief exploratory exercises based on Dr. Howard Schubiner's work to help you build evidence that your brain is playing a role in generating your pain or symptoms. The object of this exercise is not to get rid of symptoms but to demonstrate that your brain can create symptoms based on a conditioned response - by just imagining a trigger. If you unlearn this conditioned response, you unlearn your pain. (Part of 'From Pain Management to Pain Free' Insight Timer Course - Lesson 3)

Note: This track is for educational purposes and is not a diagnostic assessment for brain-generated/TMS chronic pain.

Transcript

Welcome to this neural circuit testing exercise.

Now,

You might be wondering,

What the heck is this?

Well,

It's a series of brief exploratory exercises designed to help you definitively determine that your brain is generating symptoms.

It's based on techniques from Dr.

Howard Schubner,

Who is one of the world's leading mind-body physicians.

And while it does not rule out a structural issue,

It can confirm that there is,

At the very least,

A brain-generated component to your pain,

Which means it's reversible.

The object of this exercise is not to get rid of pain,

But actually to see if we can get it to arise without a physical stimulus.

The point is to give you another piece of evidence that you can use to make the case that your symptoms are mind-body in origin.

And keep in mind that these exercises won't work for everybody.

And if you're one of those people,

And these exercises don't spur on any symptoms,

It does not necessarily mean that your pain is not brain-generated.

Once again,

If these exercises don't generate any symptoms,

It does not necessarily mean that your pain is not brain-generated.

And I encourage you to do this exercise only when you're in a curious place,

Not a desperate state to prove to yourself that these symptoms are mind-body.

So how this will work is I'll guide you through five brief exercises.

And for each one,

We'll see if any symptoms arise.

And I know that sounds strange.

Often we can spend so much time wishing symptoms didn't arise.

But if they do,

You'll observe activating neural circuits in real time.

And we're not looking for all of these five tests to generate pain or symptoms.

Any one of them doing so will rule in non-structural or neuroplastic pain.

So let's get started.

The first exercise we'll do together is called a movement exercise.

I'd like you to imagine a movement or activity that causes pain or symptoms for you.

Just think of what that might be.

It could be bending in a certain way or sitting in a certain posture.

Something that really does bring on symptoms.

Maybe you're a little afraid of it or very afraid of it,

And that's okay.

And in a very curious way,

And to the extent that you feel comfortable,

Gently do that activity.

And notice if you have any pain or symptoms that arise.

If so,

What is it on a scale of zero to ten?

Take note of what it feels like.

Is it sharp or dull?

When exactly it comes on?

Is it a certain part of the movement?

And you can stop doing that activity now.

And just close your eyes.

And just take note of what that part of your body that experiences those symptoms feels like right now.

Just take note of it.

And now I'd like you to imagine,

Just imagine,

Doing that same activity that you were just doing.

Really sink into that experience,

Doing that triggering activity or movement.

And what do you notice happening in that area of pain or discomfort?

You might experience a painful sensation there.

Or maybe an anxious sensation,

Like a fluttering in the chest or a pit in the stomach.

Or you might experience an emotion,

Fear or sadness or anger.

If you experienced any of these,

Just by imagining this movement,

We've just shown that your brain is creating pain.

It's not the actual activity that is triggering the pain.

It is the fear of the activity in your brain that is triggering the pain.

It's very real pain,

But it's just being generated by your brain.

This is actually very good news,

And it's diagnostic of neural circuit pain.

And if you didn't experience any of those,

That's perfectly okay.

We'll move to the next exercise.

This second exercise is called a light touch exercise.

Notice if you have any spots that are tender to light touch.

Might be in the place where you were experiencing symptoms in the last activity.

And just touch what you find to be the most tender spot,

And just press very lightly on it.

Baby pressure.

And notice if you feel any pain or any symptoms arise.

And if so,

That is your brain.

If there's no disease in the skin,

If you're only touching the spot lightly,

It's only touching the skin.

You're not touching the muscles or the nerves.

Just having pain with light touch is good evidence of neural circuit pain.

Very straightforward.

Very straightforward.

Now,

This third exercise is similar to the light touch exercise.

It's called firm touch.

Now,

I'd like you to find a spot on your body that has discomfort.

Could be the ones we've previously worked with.

It could be a new spot.

And just notice if you have any discomfort there right now.

And what I'd like you to do is to just press firmly on it.

Not too hard so you're overpowering yourself,

But really press firmly.

And notice what arises.

Are there any pain or symptoms that arise?

If so,

What level on a scale of 0 to 10?

Good.

Now,

What I'd like you to do is just close your eyes,

Take a cleansing deep breath in,

And let it go.

Cleansing deep breath in,

And let it go.

And find the spot again,

But instead of pressing onto it,

With the eyes closed,

Just hold your finger above this spot.

Right near the spot.

And just imagine pressing firmly on it.

As you just did.

As you imagine pressing firmly on this spot,

What do you feel?

What do you notice?

You might experience a painful sensation.

And maybe it isn't as painful as when you were actually pressing on the spot,

But you can tell if there's something there.

Or you might experience an anxious sensation.

Or an emotion like fear.

If you experienced any of these just by imagining pressing firmly on this spot,

We've just shown that your brain is creating pain.

It's not the actual touch that is triggering the pain,

It's the fear of the touch that is triggering the pain.

The pain is very real,

And it's just being generated by your brain.

This is great news.

This is diagnostic of neural circuit or neuroplastic pain.

And that means it's also reversible with the right approach.

And once again,

If you didn't experience any symptoms,

Emotions,

Or anxiety,

That's perfectly okay.

We'll move on to the next and last two exercises together.

This fourth exercise is called the pain focus exercise.

Now,

Just take a few cleansing breaths in through the nose,

Letting it go with a sigh.

Good.

Doing that a couple more times at your own pace.

And using the same part of the body that we've been working with in the previous exercises,

I'd like you to just close your eyes and really bring to focus this part of your body.

This part of your body.

Noticing any sensations that are present there.

And see if you notice any pain or symptoms.

And if so,

I'd like you to imagine turning up this pain.

Imagine that you have a volume button and you're just turning it up,

Turning it up,

Making this sensation more uncomfortable or painful.

And just notice what you experience.

If you experience an anxious sensation,

Or an emotion,

Or pain,

This is great news.

Your brain is able to increase your level of pain just by imagining it.

It's not that any physical issue has gotten worse just being here,

Sitting in this place,

And imagining this.

But simply the way that you focused on your pain is bringing on more pain.

It's very real pain,

And it's being generated by your brain.

That's it.

Which means it is reversible.

So you can open your eyes now.

And if you need to move that part of the body a little bit,

That's perfectly okay,

You can do so.

And we'll move on to the final exercise together.

This fifth and final exercise is called the stimuli exercise.

It's great if you have certain triggers that bring on your pain or symptoms.

Now,

A trigger could be a food,

A smell,

A weather pattern,

A stressful situation,

A person.

Whatever situation or trigger seems to bring on your symptoms,

Notice what comes to mind for you.

And if you're in a situation where you feel like you need to move your body a little bit more,

This could be a trigger for you.

And I'd like you to close your eyes and really imagine this trigger.

If it's a food,

Imagine eating this food.

If it's a person,

Imagine this person.

Really imagine it.

Take your time and bring it to life.

And just notice what happens in your body.

Do you have any fear,

Anxiety,

Pain,

Or symptoms?

If you have any of those,

You're proving that there is a brain-related component to your symptoms.

Because just imagining these triggers and feeling symptoms come on is evidence of a conditioned response.

It's evidence of neural circuit pain or symptoms.

And if it's conditioned,

It can be deconditioned.

This is actually really good news.

And if you're still imagining that trigger,

Just let it go.

And once again,

Just take a few breaths,

Cleansing the body,

Tuning back into the space around you,

Feeling your body on the chair beneath you,

The clothes on your skin,

And if your eyes are closed,

You can gently open them.

So,

To recap here,

We just did five exercises that are designed to help you rule in pain or symptoms that are brain-generated or neuroplastic.

If you experienced any of these five exercises,

If you experienced pain,

Anxiety,

Or emotions that arose with any of these,

It confirms that neural circuits are involved in your symptoms.

It means that this pain,

At least in part or perhaps in full,

Is reversible.

And that stories that you've created about your pain or your body or what it's capable of might not actually be true.

And once again,

Some people respond really well to this exercise.

For other people,

It doesn't land.

Not having any symptoms or emotions arise here does not necessarily mean that the brain is not involved in your pain.

Later on in this course,

We're going to provide you ways tools and tips to decondition these neural circuits in real time.

Take care.

We'll see you soon.

Reviews

Very helpful, Alec. I’m currently taking your course and appreciate having these exercises. I have John Sarno’s book from decades ago and I’ll be checking out Howard Schubiner’s work now, too. I love being able to go much deeper into my healing now-it is so helpful to me to have these exercises in your voice. Looking forward to a way of thinking and experiencing that I know can help guide me to painfree living. 🤩 Thank you🙏🏻🍃🩵🍃