How to Move safely, soulfully, and scientifically, when the body has persistent pain

For therapists, bodyworkers, movement teachers, and anyone who wants to know about using movement to help people with pain Persistent pain is pain that lasts for more than three months. Globally, it is a significant problem. Despite ever-increasing options for medication and countless types of therapy, we now experience more pain than ever before. Pain science tells us that pain is generated in the brain. This statement is often mistaken to mean that science is suggesting that a person's problem is all in their mind and therefore not real. To be clear, science is not saying that! It tells us pain is always real, and it hurts. What can be challenging to come to terms with is that persistent pain is not well correlated to tissue damage but rather by the brain's interpretation of what is going on for the person at that point in time. This can be confounding as some people may have x-rays showing bone-on-bone arthritis, yet have little or no pain, while someone else may have almost imperceptible degenerative change yet be unable to walk. Nowadays, we know pain is influenced by more than just biological factors. A person's psychological, spiritual and social life are also significant components in the pain process. Scientific research is catching up with what every embodiment practitioner knows: that movement is good to help those in pain. I am going to share some principles that will be useful across all therapeutic disciplines that use movement to help people in pain. I like the idea that 'motion is lotion' and if it is true (and I think it is), then the ingredients that go into that 'motion lotion' are essential. I believe some essential ingredients that make movements safe are: self-awareness, self-love, and self-leadership. We will explore these. Taking the idea of the "motion lotion' one step further, we will look at how it is applied? This is important, and I will talk about how to apply movement using restorative rhythms, kinesthetic kindness, and functional flow.