The Mind-Body Couple

The rules many women are handed... be agreeable, don’t be too much, handle everything... aren’t just exhausting. They reshape the nervous system’s sense of safety and can wire the body for neuroplastic pain and symptoms. We connect the dots between culture, trauma, medical minimization, and neuroplastic pain/symptoms, and consider how small steps can lead women to recover voice and rebuild fair systems at home and work. Neuroplastic pain and symptoms are 100% real, but rather than being a re...

Tanner hosts a solo episode, sharing a free somatic tracking practice from the MBody Community digital course. Tanner first explains how chronic pain and symptoms can be neuroplastic (caused by the brain, not the body). He then breaks down the sensitization cycle - the feedback loop that makes symptoms sustain and worsen. Tanner provides practical instructions on the how to use somatic tracking to retrain your brain and desensitize pain/symptoms. The episode includes a free somatic tracking g...

We answer a listener’s question about the freeze response, teaching a straightforward method to move from freeze to safety. We normalize triggers and provide practical ideas you can use to respond when your nervous system drops in to danger mode. • Learn the ADDS skill: ask why, drop in, describe, shift to safety • Hear Tanner's personal story of rejection and freeze, and how he got out For more free content, check out the links for our YouTube channel, Instagram, and Facebook accounts in th...

Ambition doesn’t have to cost your health. We start with the core problem: living neck up. Our culture rewards cognition—thinking, fixing, producing—while the body’s signals get ignored until they become symptoms. We dig into how to build a meaningful career without reigniting chronic pain/symptoms or overwhelming your nervous system. Tanner shares his personal experience, running two small businesses and staying healthy. We share a simple, fast tool called drop-in and describe: a 30–60 secon...

Send your questions to be answered live on the podcast to: info@painpsychotherapy.ca Ready to make 2026 the year you unlearn chronic pain or symptoms? We’re laying out 4 clear steps to heal. We start by reframing chronic symptoms through a neuroplastic lens: when assessments are clear and physical fixes stall, it often means the body is capable but the brain’s danger system is overprotective. From there, we dig into full commitment—trading treatment inconsistentcy for dedicated daily practic...

What if the most powerful lever for chronic pain isn’t in your muscles or joints, but in your brain’s pain system? We sit down with Jim Prussack a physiotherapist who left a strictly structural model behind after diving deep into pain science, mentorship with John Sarno and Howard Schubiner, and years on the front lines of complex cases. The takeaway is both hopeful and concrete. We walk through how to tell if symptoms are neuroplastic—looking at timelines, flares tied to stress, inconsisten...

We unpack polyvagal theory, starting with neuroception, the body’s below-conscious radar that constantly scans for danger or safety. When that radar gets oversensitive after stress, adversity, or trauma, it misreads harmless cues as threats. The result is chronic dysregulation that fuels neuroplastic pain, fatigue, gut issues, and anxiety—even when your logical mind says, “I’m fine.” We walk through the four core states—ventral vagal (safe and social), sympathetic (fight or flight), fawn (pe...

What if the aches, tension, and fatigue you’ve been fighting are your emotions asking to be felt? We unpack the research on emotional suppression and show how a nervous system stuck in “danger” can translate stress into very real pain/illness—without structural damage. Drawing on studies of suppression and stress reactivity and clinical insights from neuroplastic pain work, we make the science practical, humane, and doable in everyday life. We walk through four patterns that keep feelings tr...

Your brain can learn safety, and that changes everything about chronic pain and illness. We’re pulling back the curtain on brain retraining—what it is, what it isn’t, and how to use it day to day without turning healing into a pressure-filled project. If you’ve ever tried a practice, felt your pain/symptom drop once, and then chased that result like a pain pill, this conversation will reset your approach in the most helpful way. We start by defining brain retraining in clear terms and ground...

Fear quietly writes rules that shrink a life: no hard chairs, no long walks, no lifting, no plans. In this episode, we share a practical roadmap to go from bedbound and fearful to confident and moving, grounded in the science of neuroplastic pain/symptoms and the lived experience of rebuilding capacity step by step. We start with the real pivot points—those “open window” moments when symptoms ease or stamina returns and the brain shows its hand. From there, we layer in safe self-talk that ac...

Could your morning routine be secretly sabotaging your chronic pain and illness recovery? In this illuminating episode, we explore how those critical first moments after waking profoundly impact your nervous system's regulation and pain processing throughout the entire day. When you first open your eyes, your brain is in a uniquely vulnerable state—actively scanning your environment and asking: "Am I safe today, or am I in danger?" The signals you send during this transition period can eithe...

Have you ever felt stuck in anxiety, shutdown, or constant stress despite your best efforts to feel better? Your nervous system may need manual intervention—and waiting for automatic regulation might not be enough. In this deeply insightful episode, Tanner and Anne tackle the crucial concept of manually regulating your nervous system when it's not naturally returning to states of safety and connection. They begin by contrasting the ideal—a flexible nervous system that moves easily between hi...

Ever find yourself trapped in a cycle of obsessing over every twinge, googling symptoms endlessly, or talking about your pain nonstop? That mental fixation isn't just a reaction to your chronic pain and illness—it might actually be the force keeping it alive. In this transformative episode, we unveil our powerful "Go From T to S" brain retraining technique for breaking free from chronic pain and illness patterns. This simple yet profound approach helps you identify when you're feeding sympto...