Pain & Chronic Illness

Chronic syndromes, success stories relating to specific diagnoses

Connecting the Dots from “Freeze” to Autoimmune Disease

2025-06-09T14:13:21-07:00Pain & Chronic Illness, Polyvagal Theory, Trauma & Survival Physiology|

The anatomy of trauma: it's time to connect the dots.  My YouTube channel turned 15 years old earlier this year 🤯 FUN FACT: The first video I posted was based on high performance sport and the Feldenkrais method. If you are interested, check it out. This is also [...]

Nervous System Dysregulation Can Trigger Autoimmune Disease

2025-05-29T08:29:29-07:00Nervous System Regulation, Pain & Chronic Illness|

The autoimmune disease trigger that your doctor might be missing. My team and I have pulled together another short educational video for you.  This one dives into something that most doctors miss when it comes to autoimmune disease (and other chronic ‘syndromes’). Have a watch >  [...]

The REAL Polyvagal Theory (how childhood stress can create chronic illness)

2025-05-08T06:42:02-07:00Healing Trauma, Nervous System Regulation, Pain & Chronic Illness, Polyvagal Theory|

What is the "Real" Polyvagal Theory? Good question! There is a virtual circus of misinformation in ‘somatic’ spaces these days. It’s become such a problem that I now try to avoid using the word ‘somatic.’ Sad, but true! However… There are certain things around trauma, somatic healing, and [...]

Why we can’t heal chronic illness by improving our food supply alone

2024-10-18T05:56:37-07:00Chemical Trauma & Detox, Healthy Nervous System Lifestyle, Nervous System Regulation, Pain & Chronic Illness|

There’s a growing movement to “Make America Healthy Again” by improving our food, air, water, and even medicine.  It's well-intentioned — and much needed.  But here’s the inconvenient truth: Even when we make all the “right” lifestyle choices, many of us still struggle with fatigue, anxiety, digestive issues, [...]

A jaw-dropping passage in Bessel van der Kolk’s book, “The Body Keeps The Score”

2024-09-06T10:57:26-07:00Irene's Musings, Pain & Chronic Illness|

If you're landing on this blog post, you have found some keynotes that Irene wanted to capture from the registration period of SmartBody SmartMind™ (SBSM) in September 2024. She highlighted an important passage from Bessel van der Kolk's book, The Body Keeps The Score, via two different social [...]

Defying all medical odds via nervous system healing (Darla’s story)

2024-08-19T11:17:54-07:00Healing Trauma, Mental Health & Neuroplasticity, Nervous System Health, Nervous System Resiliency, Pain & Chronic Illness, SmartBody SmartMind|

Today, we’ve got another classic, long-form interview to share with you…  Darla is a longstanding member of SmartBody SmartMind™ – she first went through this 12-week program in 2017 and has done it every round since, learning new things each time.  While her healing is ongoing, her story [...]

Is it possible to be in fight, flight, and freeze at the same time?

2024-07-31T10:09:46-07:00Healing Trauma, Nervous System Health, Pain & Chronic Illness, Trauma & Survival Physiology|

Welcome to your weekly dose of nervous system love! Today’s share is inspired by another great question from a member of my online community: "Is it possible to be in freeze and fight at the same time/switching back and forth between the two states? (I felt disconnected and [...]

How hidden trauma shows up as chronic illness (Mitch’s story)

2024-07-18T13:14:33-07:00Anger & Healthy Aggression, Healing Trauma, Nervous System Health, Pain & Chronic Illness, SmartBody SmartMind, Trauma & Survival Physiology|

Meet Mitch. Today’s share is all about his story (which echoes the story of so many people). After a nearly 20-year journey of trying to heal from chronic disease and multiple shock traumas, Mitch finally feels like he’s found the metaphorical “needle in a haystack” that he’s been [...]

Marathon Q&A with Irene Lyon

2024-06-16T00:43:40-07:00Healing Trauma, Mental Health & Neuroplasticity, Pain & Chronic Illness, Special Topic Lectures & Q&As, Trauma & Survival Physiology|

Today, I’ve got a Marathon Q&A for you. But it’s more than just another Q&A amongst the many (so many!) that I’ve done over the years. I’m sharing this particular Q&A at this particular time for a specific reason (more on that below)...  First, a couple quick notes [...]