My Ultimate Stress Relief Cheat Sheets, published last July, kicked off with a timeline of answers to the question:
Why didn’t I know that anxiety was behind my pain?
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2015: I don’t care why I didn’t know. I want to know why the therapists I saw didn’t know.
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2017: Seems like, in the field of mental health, you need to know what’s wrong with you for people to be able to help you. At least I have Lexapro now.
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2019: I guess I hid it so well that I unintentionally hid it from myself? I still have physical symptoms. I continue to be grateful for Lexapro, which helps me turn down the thermostat on my internal environment, especially on anxious mornings.
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2021: I am still really sick—nausea, muscle aches, migraines, lightheadedness. Is anxiety connected to the physical pain I am in? I still don’t get it. COVID hasn’t helped.
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2023: After a year spent in bed, something finally helped: I had a hysterectomy. I’m grateful to see a decrease in my physical symptoms, but I am still in pain. I don’t know what to do next. I suspect my nervous system plays a role here.
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2024: I finally get it —I have spent a lifetime in a state of nervous system dysregulation. I believe I can improve my physical and mental health by regulating my nervous system. My pain is diminishing. It’s a daily practice, but I am healing.
In this article, I’ll be digging into the mechanism that, in the last two years, has helped me change my relationship with both pain and anxiety to the point where I’m no longer even asking that question about anxiety (because I no longer care). Here’s what my new timeline of thinking sounds like:
How do my thoughts, beliefs, and emotions affect my life?
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2015: (scrunching forehead) Well, I just learned that an anxiety disorder appears to be at the root of my issue, so I guess in my case they are negatively affecting my life.
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2017: I’ve been writing about the perils of overthinking for two years and have learned that without conscious effort to change, my thoughts, beliefs, and emotions will negatively impact my life.
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2019: Some of us need medication, meditation, and communication to successfully navigate our thoughts, beliefs, and emotions.
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2021: (forefinger raised) I am reading a lot of books and learning a lot about emotions. Want me to tell you some stuff? Let’s go.
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Early 2023: I finally believe I can heal my mind and body. I have no idea how I will do it.
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Late 2023: Wait, what’s the role of the nervous system here?
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Early 2024: (highligher in hand) Out of sheer desperation I’ve discovered Sarah Warren’s Pain Relief Secret and begun her online clinical somatics program. My mind is being blown by what I’m experiencing.
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Mid 2024: (Headphones on) I’m completely bought in that the nervous system is the answer to the question listed above. I’m listening to Sarno acolyte Nicole Sach’s podcast, learning about pain reprocessing (described here as the third leg of my tripod of healing).
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Late 2024: Every day I am seeing how thoughts, beliefs, and emotions show up in my body, which, in turn, affects every part of my life. I’m learning to regulate my nervous system in order to be able to show up for people I love (and myself).
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Early 2025: I’m so lucky to live in a time where I can live the answer thanks to the work of early mindbody science pioneers.1
“All of this is fine and good, Meredith,” you might be saying to yourself, “But I still don’t understand exactly what mindbody science is. It barely comes up when I google it. Why is that?”2
What is Mindbody Science?
Great question, skeptical reader, and one that quickly leads us down a deep philosophical wormhole.3 When it comes to this question, it’s easy to get real big, real fast. That’s my theory for why it barely comes up when you google it. No one — including me!—wants to wade into open-ended questions on the nature of consciousness online. We all know that once you’ve opened that can of worms, wormholes will follow.
So I’ll just share that in 1641, in a turning point for Western philosophy, Rene Descartes introduced the concept of Mind-Body Dualism. This foundational understanding of the mind and physical body as separate entities shaped much of the thinking that followed it4 including, sadly, modern medical practice.5
From Biomedical to Biopsychosocial
Biomedical science is that confident guy who strides forward to shake your hand, clear about who he is and what he’s doing.
