Unpacking Pain And Stress With Mindfulness - by Karim Rushdy

COURSE

Unpacking Pain And Stress With Mindfulness

With Karim Rushdy

Is it possible that instead of grappling with pain and stress, depleting your energy even more, you can learn to work with these challenges and not against them? Over 10 short sessions we’ll unpack this thing called pain into less daunting, more manageable pieces. From breaking the cycle of reactivity to restoring the mind-body connection and cultivating attitudes that nurture mindfulness and self-compassion. By the end of the course, you’ll have a powerful framework for harnessing your inner resources and transforming your relationship with chronic pain and stress. I look forward to going on this journey with you!


Meet your Teacher

Mindfulness transformed Karim’s relationship with chronic pain and radically changed his perspective on life. Now he's passionate about helping others cultivate their inner resources to support growth, healing and wellbeing. Karim has run leadership programs in 15 countries. Today he works in disruptive digital learning, is pursuing a Masters in Teaching Mindfulness, and is a Trustee at Breathworks, a UK charity offering mindfulness and compassion based approaches to managing pain and illness.

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10 Days

7.6k students

4.9 stars

12 min / day

Pain

English


Lesson 1

Spiraling Back Up

In this lesson I share my decade-long journey with chronic pain. From spiraling downward into despair and depression whilst navigating the labyrinth of specialists and treatments, to discovering the transformative power of mindfulness and ultimately spiraling back up on the road to recovery and healing.

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Lesson 2

Mindfulness: The Master Key

In this lesson we look at the origins and benefits of mindfulness, and how it helps us recognise the conditions for happiness that are already present in our lives. Discover how this innate faculty can be trained, cultivated and applied to great effect in your journey with chronic pain. The lesson ends with a short guided practice called the three step breathing space that brings to life many of the concepts covered in class.

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Lesson 3

Stop. Don’t Shoot!

In this lesson we explore the second arrow of suffering, the one we shoot ourselves whenever faced with difficulty or discomfort, the arrow that compounds our primary suffering with fear, self-criticism, guilt and shame. Learn how mindfulness offers us a powerful alternative way of knowing and training the mind so we can stop before shooting the arrow of reactivity and make conscious choices about the best way to respond.

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Lesson 4

Restoring The Mind-Body Connection

Chronic pain disconnects us from our body, causing us to lose trust and confidence in its natural ability to heal and carry us through life. In this lesson we learn the importance of restoring the mind body connection, and how mindfulness helps us become embodied and whole once more.

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Lesson 5

Building Mental Strength And Resilience

In this lesson we explore the realization that mindfulness helps us build mental strength and resilience, both of which are integral to managing and living well with chronic pain and stress. We also look at modes of mind, and learn how cultivating awareness of “being” and “doing” modes, as well as the ability to traverse between them, has a profound impact on our health and wellbeing.

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Lesson 6

Breaking The Cycle I: The Automatic Stress Reaction

This is the first of two lessons on the realization that mindfulness helps us break the stress reaction cycle. Stress plays a fundamental role in life, and our awareness of how it shapes our health and wellbeing is vital if we are to take back control from our hardwired reactions and live better in the face of pain and all the other sources of stress in our lives.

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Lesson 7

Breaking the Cycle II: The Mindful Stress Response

In this second lesson on stress reactivity you’ll learn how mindfulness stops the cycle dead in its tracks. The mindful stress response still works with many of the same brain regions and systems in the body as the automatic stress reaction, but with profoundly different results. And it all hinges on bringing awareness to stress reactivity moment by moment. This lesson includes a short grounding meditation to practice initiating the mindful stress response.

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Lesson 8

Mind Your Attitude I: Restoring Trust

This lesson is the first on the realization that our attitudes toward pain, difficulty, well being, and life in general, matter more than we can imagine. We explore four of the nine “attitudinal foundations” that create fertile soil for the cultivation of mindfulness: Beginner's Mind; Non Judging; Trust and Patience.

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Lesson 9

Mind Your Attitude II: Active Recognition

In this lesson you’ll learn about the remaining five core attitudes for cultivating mindfulness: Non Striving; Acceptance; Letting Go; Gratitude and Generosity. The beauty of the nine attitudes is that you don't need to remember them all. They are so deeply interconnected that each is contained within the other, so by embodying one, you are able to harness the power of all nine..

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Lesson 10

Moving Forward: A Stable Base for Change

In this final lesson we recap on the realizations covered so far, and see how they all add up to create a stable base for change. The end of course is really just the end of the beginning. What matters now is where you go from here, how you carry forward and implement what you’ve learned on the path to greater wellbeing.

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4.9 (285)

Recent Reviews

Fleur

Fleur

December 23, 2025

Very much enjoyed this course and the new perspectives it presented to me, while recovering from a concussion for over a year now. For me, it would have been perfect if the information was alternated with mindfulnes exercises a bit more - but overall very insightful & interesting. Thanks a lot!!

Ana

October 28, 2025

The best course i have done so far ❤️🙏 Thanks so much, your are brilliant

Michelle

Michelle

October 1, 2025

Exceptional, I think it has saved me! From giving up the daily habits of drinking to knowing meditation every morning is right for me and the stretches are helping my body move with less pain...I have transformed over these sessions. Im sleeping better, stress less and get just as much done, but happier! I seem to have more time... I'm aiming to listen again in a month as there was so much valuable information and it was delivered quite quickly. Thanks so much for all your help.

Kevin

September 25, 2025

Great course, really resonated with me; thank you!

Sheryl

Sheryl

July 30, 2025

Wonderful course. Thank you 🙏

Alison

July 23, 2025

This was insightful and helpful. Thank you.

Joy

Joy

June 6, 2025

Life changing experience for me. He gave me actual tools to practice with my Mind. The Mind Gym is brilliant. I needed to realize that its another part of my body that needs training. I have chronic pain and several health challenges in my life today. He gave me The Montra for my mental well being that I use in meditation, breath work and setting an intention is: Pain is inevitable Suffering is optional Excellent Course

Jo

Jo

May 14, 2025

Thank you, Karim. Much of what you say on the course resonates with my experiences living with chronic pain and severe ME. I have incorporated many changes over the years, and it is reassuring to listen to someone who obviously understands the challenges and also offers practical advice. It is a welcome safety net for when I fall off my path or lose my way. Thank you again.

Mónica

Mónica

March 6, 2025

I’m super happy and grateful for this course. It’s been so helpful and I think this is one to keep coming to. The best for you.

Sara

Sara

February 28, 2025

Filled with knowledge, insight, and loving kindness, this course is integral to a holistic approach to living with chronic pain.

Eli

February 8, 2025

Really appreciated this course. I'm 31 and was suddenly struck with lumbar spinal issues and it has been hard to move from self blame and shame spiral to managing my pain with compassion and understanding. It's still hard for me to not want to fight my pain but hearing other people's journeys and ways they've navigated have helped me see there are other ways to keep moving forward.

Natasha

Natasha

January 17, 2025

Listened to this course twice so far, just to absorb all of the information offered. Stress has created pain in my body, so I am working on unraveling it in my life. Thank you for your support and guidance.🙏🏻

CARLOS

January 13, 2025

A+

Rosa

September 30, 2024

Amazing!

Mardelle

September 27, 2024

Thank you. 🙏🏼

Kelly

Kelly

September 20, 2024

My biggest take away is that pain or misfortune is a part of life that comes and goes but it’s our reaction to it that enhances the suffering or looks for a solution. Thank you for this enlightening course.

kris

kris

September 16, 2024

This course is taught with compassion and a belief in what he is saying. It’s not new ideas. But he has a way of saying the things that need to be said. I think it will be an every three months course for me. The reminders are given in a clear and kind way. I’m grateful to have found it.

Courtney

August 28, 2024

easy to understand

Jackie

August 23, 2024

Thank you!

Allison

August 16, 2024

This was very helpful. I’m going to start it again. Thank you

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