Short Intro To Somatic Tracking Persistent Pain

Hi there,

Dr Adele Stewart from Wannoona Medical Practice.

This is the introduction to somatic tracking.

So somatic tracking is a kind of mindfulness really.

It's learning how to be with and allow different feelings and sensations in the body through a lens of safety.

Because of course even though we're learning that all pain is produced by the brain,

It is felt in our bodies.

This is really important mind body work.

We're learning to reinterpret body sensations through the brain and mind.

So just suggest that when you first start that you practice with moderate pain,

Maybe up to about a 7 out of 10,

Before trying it on more severe 8,

9 or 10 out of 10 pain.

Like anything,

Practice makes perfect.

It's so fine to use your old coping strategies for severe pain at this stage,

Perhaps medication or hot packs or distraction,

Whatever works for you.

It's a really important starting point.

We have to have the intention that what's happening here is okay,

It's safe.

We're not under threat or in danger.

We need to be pretty convinced that the body tissues are not diseased or being damaged.

That this pain is pretty much coming from our brain and nervous system.

And of course this is almost always true of chronic pain.

And if we know it's safe,

Then we can just allow it to be.

And sometimes we can know intellectually that our body tissues are not in any danger and that the pain is not coming from the tissues or damaging the tissues,

But there's still a sense of resistance of fighting it.

The goal is to let whatever is happening in your body happen freely,

To allow,

To open to,

To soften or relax around the sensations,

To be at peace with what we are experiencing.

The second important part of this is we're giving our permission to our body to express itself fully,

To speak to us,

If you will.

When we're able to do this,

The sensations in the body tend to shift and change and move.

You might notice pain might be now in a different area or change character or intensity.

You might notice different emotions.

And the third important bit,

Huge one.

We are not trying to make this go away.

If you're trying to make it go away,

You're not really accepting it.

We need to freely let it be there,

Just do its thing.

Doing our best to not resist or struggle and letting what happens happen.

Your body,

Heart and mind knows how to deal with this.

If you can just get the brain to be a little less on high alert,

Get the thinking part of the brain to back off a bit.

Remember,

We've got so many body functions that do perfectly well without having to think through them.

Breathing,

Our heart beating,

Our blood flowing,

Our digestion.

So bringing this mindfulness,

This allowing,

Accepting attitude towards feelings in the body,

Or not feeling under threat,

Hopefully feeling safe,

Perhaps even relaxed.