Your Main Goal: Pain Relief and Health

(And hey, why not create a whole new relationship with your body, stop criticizing yourself, and feel better emotionally, too?)

Are you struggling with a physical syndrome such as vulvodynia, interstitial cystitis, pelvic floor dysfunction, vulvar vestibulitis, random joint pain, back pain, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, or adrenal fatigue? 

  • Do you wish you could heal yourself from this chronic syndrome, but aren’t sure where to start?
  • Are you tired of worrying, panicking, and thinking about your pain?
  • Have you looked into resources like Dr. John Sarno’s work or other mind-body theories, but aren’t sure how to apply the ideas to your particular syndrome?
  • Do you feel like stress, perfectionism, self-pressure, and tension all play a role in causing pain, but aren’t sure how to untangle that mess?
  • Do you feel like you could be healthy and pain free by using mind-body techniques, but need some guidance?

If any of that sounds like you, here’s what you can do on this page!

  • Learn how to get started with your self-healing journey, asap! You’ll find clear guidance below.
  • Get resources to help you on your self-healing journey, including audio and written products and even 1:1 mind-body coaching.
  • Read about Abigail’s pain relief story to get inspired!
  • Peruse the prolific text available to learn more background basics about mind-body healing (yes, there’s lots of text, but you’ll find many of your questions answered here!) Links to this at the very bottom of the page.
  • Check out recommended books and other resources.

How to Get Started, NOW!

Step One: Start with the Basics

For immediate help with pain relief, download the Free ebook series, Hear your Soul, Heal Yourself.  (See the sign-up box in the right sidebar.) You’ll learn the basic mind-body skills right away! These skills are the core essentials that pack the most punch to help you heal now. One of the most frequently asked questions in my inbox is: “Where do I start?” This ebook series is the answer!

If you’d like, you can add on some extra support to your basic mind-body skills practice with the guided audio companion. To learn more and purchase, click the image below:

Step Two: Go Deeper, Learn More Tools

The other most frequently asked questions in my inbox are: “How did you heal yourself? How can I do the same?” The Hear your Soul, Heal Yourself ebook series will definitely get you started. However, if you want the whole in-depth method I originally used to find pain relief, you can purchase the Mind-Body Toolbox for Pain Relief. This is focused very specifically on physical pain relief and is very thorough. It’s been around for a while (I created it in 2009 under its old title, The Healthy Mind Toolbox Audio Course), but I consider it a classic at this point. You’ll get tons of great information to help your healing process. To learn more and purchase, click the image below:

(Formerly the Healthy-Mind Toolbox Audio Course.)

I’m also churning out new materials, which are less specifically focused on pain relief, but still incredibly valuable for that purpose. When they are available, you can find them on the Stress Relief page.

If you feel like you need more background info about pelvic pain syndromes and mind-body syndromes (and in fact, how pelvic pain syndromes like vulvodynia and interstitial cystitis are mind-body syndromes), hop down the page to Step Five where you can read lots of free resources here on the site before you decide to purchase anything. I always want to provide as much background info as possible to help you on your healing journey.

Step Three: Get Support

If you’d like help with your mind-body healing process, you can hire a coach. I recommend that you start with the Mind-Body Toolbox Audio Course, which will give you lots of information and save you time and money in coaching sessions. All of my Endorsed Coaches have studied the toolbox in depth, and you’ll find that the shared understanding will move you along very quickly in your coaching sessions. Coaching is available through the Endorsed Coaches , many of whom have been through pain syndromes themselves and used my mind-body healing process to create pain relief and health. They are a fantastic group of coaches!

If you would like to coach with me, keep an eye on the email newsletter and the coaching page for what’s currently available. I can’t coach one-one with everyone who wants a session, which is exactly why I am now training coaches! However, sometimes I offer coaching sessions when my waiting list opens up. Peruse the website, too, for class offerings or workshops, as those are also great ways to connect and coach with me.

Step Four: Get Inspired

Abigail’s Pain Relief Story

By now, you might be curious about my own experience, and what my story is! I hope you find it inspiring, because I know there is plenty of doom and gloom information out there about vulvodynia, interstitial cystitis, chronic back pain, etc. I want to share my story to bring you a positive, hopeful outlook (which is where the healing starts!).

My introduction into the world of mind-body healing came as a result of dealing with a variety of pain syndromes myself. Early in my life, I struggled with weight issues, irritable bowel syndrome, joint pain, and lower back pain. Then, in my teens and early twenties, I was struck with interstitial cystitis, vulvodynia, vulvar vestibulities, vulvar dysesthesia, and pelvic floor dysfunction, along with a whopping case of adrenal fatigue. I tried every possible medical and alternative approach to healing, but didn’t have any luck. Medications and diets and supplements weren’t doing the trick. Frustrated, I started researching. I felt there had to be some way to heal myself, somehow! 

My intuition led me to Kathleen Barratt of Barratt Breathworks, where I first learned about my breathing patterns and how I was holding emotional energy in my body. Suddenly, I started to see how I was impacting my own health, unknowingly! Fascinated and eager to learn more, I studied every angle of the mind-body connection. I read books like the ones below. (This list is updated to include recently published books you might find interesting.)

The sum total of my research showed me that I was dealing with my own life in ways that created undue stress on my body. I was constantly putting pressure on myself to be better, achieve more, and do things perfectly. I felt responsible for other people’s happiness. I was putting all kinds of weight on my shoulders, day in and day out. I was a worrier, run ragged by my own mind. I was stuffing emotions down and sucking it up every single day. Nothing I did was ever good enough for me, my own worst critic. I didn’t know how to be kind and loving to myself.

Of course I wasn’t doing all of this on purpose, and I wanted to make changes that would help my body release stress and heal. I wanted to be pain free. So, I took what I had learned from the various different resources and started to create a system for myself. I had learned a lot from those resources, but I felt there was a need for a very practical, organized “how-to” plan. I saw that it was a matter of learning new skills for dealing with my life, every single day. I call these mind-body skills.

My “how-to” combination of mind-body skills worked well. I was able to heal from all of the syndromes listed at the top of this page – many of which are considered chronic. I felt like this was a huge breakthrough!

At the time, there wasn’t a lot of information out there talking about pain syndromes like vulvodynia and interstitial cystitis in this way. I got inspired to share my story with others and learn how to help others. For me, the healing journey went beyond my body. I felt connected in a totally new way with my soul and my spirituality. I felt like I’d been woken up to a new awareness of myself as a spiritual being. This felt joyful and incredibly peaceful. And I could hear my inner wisdom, loud and clear.

I decided to train as a Martha Beck coach, which would give me the knowledge I needed to be of service to others in a useful way. Then, I applied my mind-body skills to coaching sessions with clients who also wanted to be pain free. At first, I only worked with clients who were struggling with pelvic pain syndromes, as that made things simple. Of all my pain syndromes, I struggled the most with the pelvic pain, so I felt passionate about helping men and women with those syndromes.

In my own life, however, I was now using the mind-body skills for everything! I applied them to building my coaching practice, improving my creativity, my relationships, and more, all with great success.

So, a funny thing started happening. Clients appeared for new reasons – they wanted help growing their businesses, gaining confidence as coaches, weight loss, dealing with mental stress, and relief from other pain syndromes. Some clients wanted help with all of the above. It made sense. After all, I used the mind-body skills for much more than pain relief. And, physical pain, low self-confidence, business struggles, weight issues, mental stress, and more can all be linked.

My coaching business expanded, and I no longer focused solely on pelvic pain relief. Now, as you can see, my practice is actually based on the mind-body skills, applied to different issues. I now train coaches in this mind-body coaching method.

Since you are here on the pain relief page, I’d like to help you relieve pain! I’m sure you’re interested in learning how to use the mind-body skills for self-healing, which you’ve already seen above under the Get Started Now heading. But you probably want some info about these pain syndromes and how they can be healed using mind-body skills.

Step Five: Get Background Knowledge

To read more about pain syndromes and the mind-body approach, check out the links below. I know there is a lot to read, but I also know you’re curious and probably want this info. Below that, you’ll find FAQ’s and a compilation of free resources I’ve created over the years, as well as links to other sites/resources out there on the world wide web.