General Resources

Nicole Sachs & the Cure for Chronic Pain

I started with Nicole’s four-part video introduction ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ), and then I binged her podcast . My favorite podcast episodes are the ones where she interviews guests, and those were the motivation I needed to believe this work would cure me. Her website also has a lot of resources, most of which I didn’t use, but a lot of people have found her work helpful, so I recommend looking through it and giving some of it a try if it seems like the right fit for you.

Dani Fagan & My TMS Journey

As important as Nicole’s work was for my recovery, I found her explanations of how to do the work to be lacking. But Dani’s resources on her My TMS Journey site are amazing. She clearly lays out everything you need to have a solid JournalSpeak practice and she explains what makes JournalSpeak different from normal journaling. Dani has also put together some excellent resources and expert lists for healing from chronic conditions.

Alan Gordon, brain retraining

Alan’s brain retraining guidance was critical to my recovery. I had the emotional stuff down and was journaling religiously, but I needed the brain retraining component to help address my fear of the symptoms.

He has this program on the TMS Wiki page that I used to learn about brain retraining, and then I also found this one of his that looks useful. I also really loved his podcast, which is a short series that walks you through how to retrain your brain. He also has a book, The Way Out .

TMS Wiki

The TMS Wiki site has a ton of information and resources that provide information about mindbody issues.

More Resources

The following list is still a work in process.

FROM THE DOCTORS

Dr. John Sarno is the original mind-body doctor, though is work focused primarily on back pain and chronic pain. His work inspired the work of many others listed on this page. His books are helpful for understanding that this stuff works , and supposedly there are people who recovered just from reading about his theories (I was not one of those people, and I’m suspicious that they really exist). I found the books helpful, but they don’t tell you how to do the work.

Dr. Howard Schubiner has created Freedom from Chronic Pain and Unlearn Your Pain , which are both helpful. He has a lot of resources on his sites, and you can also pay for some of his programs, although I didn’t, so I can’t vouch for them.

Back in Control: A Surgeon’s Roadmap out of Chronic Pain , a book by Dr. David Hanscom that I found helpful.


UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONS

Living Like You Mean It by Ronald J. Fredrick (not sure why it’s listed in the Christian section. I don’t remember anything religious in it and the author is a clinical psychologist.)

Between Us by Batja Mesquita (Not necessarily helpful for recovery, but an interesting way to think about feelings, the people around us, and our societal influences.)

Lost Connections by Johann Hari (a powerful book about depression and our interaction with others)

Therapy in a Nutshell : My favorite video is the one she does about shaking and releasing trauma.


UNDERSTANDING TRAUMA

Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine (and other stuff by him?)

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress Disease Connection by Gabor Mate


SENSORY PROCESSING SENSITIVITY

As someone who did not suffer major trauma, learning about this trait was critical for me to understand how I still ended up with so many physical symptoms akin to trauma. It was equally important for me to learn about the subset of people with this trait who are high-sensation seekers, which I am, and which makes me more prone to illness and over-stimulation.

Elaine Aron is the scientist who discovered the trait, and she has a lot of information on her website :, and she’s written many books on the subject.

Thrill: The High Sensation Seeking Highly Sensitive Person by Tracy Cooper

The “highly sensitive person” concept is worth googling to read more about other people’s experiences with this trait, as it can show up a little differently for different people.


SELF-COMPASSION

Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff

Unconditional Self-Acceptance by Cheri Huber

There Is Nothing Wrong With You: Going Beyond Self-Hate by Cheri Huber

Cheri Huber’s work was really helpful for me in understanding the inner child work as well.


PROGRAMS

I can’t vouch for any of these programs, but others seem to have had success with them. Buglio and Tolin have also put together their own free resources that can be helpful during this process.

Dan Buglio : Some of his other resources .

Rebecca Tolin: Some of her other resources .

Lightening Process

Curable app