EPISODE 416
Stop Treating Pain Like the Enemy With Leigh Brandon
Your relationship with pain probably goes one of the two ways…
Most people take the conventional route and try to obliterate it with drugs and extreme treatments they may not need (that can hurt them even more than the pain itself). In many cases, their relationship with pain defines who they are.
Paul and senior CHEK instructor Leigh Brandon, author of Beyond the Pain: A Whole-Person Approach to Understanding Pain and Participating in Recovery, explore a very different and holistic relationship with pain, one that doesn’t treat it like an enemy but a vital source of information about your body this week on Spirit Gym.
Learn more about Leigh and his work at his website. Find him on social media via Instagram, Twitter/X and TikTok. Check out Leigh’s podcast, Beyond the Pain, on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and wherever you listen to them. Read the first chapter of Beyond the Pain at this link.
For Spirit Gym listeners: Download Leigh’s paper, The Load Capacity Hierarchy Model of Chronic Pain: A Systems Based Framework for Understanding Pain and Guiding Clinical Practice, today!
SHOW NOTES
4:54 Why Leigh felt compelled to write a book about pain.
6:46 More UK adults suffer from chronic pain than Americans, depending on the studies you read.
14:43 The double-whammy of taking a painkiller and medication for depression.
16:44 One of Leigh’s worst experiences with pain that took him 22 months to diagnose, treat and heal.
27:13 Do you have a pain identity?
31:39 Miasms (trapped emotions).
36:39 Why people treat pain as their enemy.
44:12 Treating fear as different emotions.
50:21 Proprioception.
1:03:30 Pain is far more diverse and complex than most people realize.
1:10:30 The four predominant causes of persistent pain that interact with each other, based on Leigh’s experience (structural, metabolic, nervous system regulation and emotional load).
1:15:08 People are so addicted to mobile phones, they use them in saunas!
1:22:40 Leigh narrows down his knee inflammation to eating porridge every morning for breakfast.
1:31:30 Viscerosomatic reflexes.
1:41:02 When we can make meaning and understand our pain, it raises our threshold and we are better able to live our lives.
1:54:23 Leigh’s six principles of recovery.
2:02:27 Pain exists as a vital path of communication and a safety valve that doesn’t always guarantee painful problems.
RESOURCES & FURTHER READING
Anatomy of Sports Injuries for Fitness and Rehabilitation by Leigh Brandon
Anatomy for Strength and Fitness Training For Speed by Leigh Brandon
Anatomy For Yoga For Posture and Health by Leigh Brandon
Eliminating Adult Acne for Good by Leigh Brandon
The Tennis Biomechanics Manual by Leigh Brandon and Paul Chek
The CHEK Totem Pole
Wall & Melzak’s Textbook of Pain by Stephen B. McMahon, Martin Koltzenburg, Irene Tracey and Dennis Turk
Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in Winter
The work of Dr. John Sarno and Mariano Rocabado
Paul’s podcast conversations with Danny Way, Dr. Ibrahim Karim, Doreya Karim and Angie Chek
The Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life by Robert Becker and Gary Selden
How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy! 20th anniversary edition
Nonviolent Communication: The Basics As I Know and Use Them by Wayland Myers
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Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear Music
Become a Spirit Gym Member
Paul has identified 6 main groups of people who he had in mind when he designed the Spirit Gym Community membership containing his Purpose-Aligned Path program. If you can relate to ANY of these statements, then Paul Chek’s Spirit Gym Community membership is tailor-made for you.
- You’ve had, what I like to call, The Pull. What I mean by that is you know you’re meant for something more—you feel it, maybe you’ve felt it for years—but you’re stuck in work that doesn’t align, unclear about your exact purpose, and you don’t know how to bridge the gap between where you are and where you are being called to.
- You’re tired of feeling stuck and searching without finding answers. You’ve read the books, maybe taken courses, tried different things—but you still don’t have clear direction. You know you need to take action on what you’re meant to do, but you keep procrastinating… and time keeps passing without real progress.
- You want to live a life where you’re not trapped anymore. One where you wake up in the morning doing work that actually matters to you. Work that aligns with who you are. (Want to feel energized by what you do? You can!) And one where you finally have clarity, direction, and a path forward.
- You’re trapped between following your purpose and paying your bills. Right now, money is the thing holding you back. You want to leave the job that drains you, but you’re terrified: “What about my bills? My family? How do I actually make this work?” You need to know it’s possible to transition without going broke.
- You are ready to find your purpose and start living it now. Even if you aren’t quite sure what it is yet or how to go about doing it. (Don’t worry, that’s exactly what the 8-week system covers.)
- You want to learn from someone who actually knows what they’re talking about. I’ve spent 40+ years helping people find their path and live aligned with their purpose—in all sorts of situations and life stages (some challenges you may have never even heard of!). I know what it takes to go from stuck to living your purpose, and I’m going to show you exactly how.
Paul Chek’s “Purpose-Aligned Path” was designed specifically to help YOU find your purpose and actually live it, without staying stuck, procrastinating, or doing it alone! The 8-step process from stuck and procrastinating to living your purpose and the accountability to actually do it!
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