Mind Your Body: A Revolutionary Program to Release Chronic Pain and Anxiety

After living with chronic lower back pain for almost 25 years and later developing other chronic conditions such as IBS and foot pain due to a diagnosis of neuromas I was feeling completely hopeless. When the back pain went to a new level in late 2024 I saw a new Orthopedic surgeon who took another MRI which determined I had advanced arthritis of my facet joints. I underwent two separate medial branch blocks sessions to determine my candidacy for a radiofrequency ablasion which I ended up having in December 2024. After weeks of hoping the procedure had worked I had no improvement at all. Then in late January I had what was the absolute worst episode of chronic back pain in my life. I thought the end of my life was near and that I had done some major damage this time. Recovery was very slow and then in February a brand new iteration of chronic pain occurred when the pain traveled from my lower back into my leg as sciatica and I couldn't walk. After an emergency visit to my Dr. for cortisone injections I was at my wits end and feeling very unhopeful about my future. Then miraculously a friend of mine recommended I listen to a podcast called The Good Life Project and Nicole Sachs was a guest speaker. I had hit rock bottom so I was ready to accept something brand new. After listening to Nicole I found myself traveling down the most beautiful, wonderful rabbit hole of mindbody science. I read Dr. Sarno's book Healing Back Pain and within days I was feeling better from what he termed the "Knowledge cure". Then I found Nicole's website and her podcast and I listen religiously. I accepted with open arms the 3 tenets of Nicole's amazing work...1) Believe 2) Do the work and 3) Patience and kindness for myself. I bought Mind Your Body and it so fabulously well written and easy to follow. I do my JournalSpeak daily for 20 minutes and then meditate for 10 minutes using a wonderful guided meditation podcast. I am only about 1 month in on my journey towards becoming pain-free but already my symptoms are over 80% GONE!!! The link between the mind and it's effect on the body was not difficult to get on board with. I have my BS in Psychology and my MS in Professional Counseling and although my life took a different turn and landed me in a different career, I fully embrace the mind body science. My next step will be to join Nicole's membership community as I believe that next step will take me 100% of the way towards becoming pain free. I am in awe every day when I wake up and just roll out of bed with no agonizing pain! When I feel a tinge of pain coming on I "wear it loosely" as Nicole always says. I invite it to hang out with me a little while and then I do the work to tell my brain I am safe and within a short period of time the tinge of pain is GONE! Thank you Nicole for everything you do. You have influenced my life in a deep way that I could never express fully in this review. I highly recommend this book to everyone living in chronic conditions.

I’ve recommended this book dozens of times since I read it! It is written in a very understandable, non-medical way and has practical actions and relatable stories.

I was already well on my way with learning and practicing pain reprocessing methods, when I found this book. It has changed the trajectory of my healing for the better! Today will be my 21st day of doing journal speak. Until I am fully healed this practice will be my sole unbreakable promise to myself each day. I say this because my body and symptoms are changing so fast now! The biggest scariest symptoms have already stopped, and now I seem to be in a phase of floating symptoms which they call the “symptom imperative”. The most wonderful thing is that symptoms and pains don’t scare me anymore. Although they are uncomfortable, I know what they are, and I feel free from them even as they try to get me to believe in them. I’ve spent 40 years with chronic fatigue, and neck and back pain that I believed was caused by a car accident I had 40 years ago. Most of my adult life I’ve had severe debilitating anxiety and depression, and have had to stay out of cars because they caused so much pain. I got so I couldn’t even walk, because the impact on my neck from each step could send me into pain so bad I couldn’t do anything but lay in bed and cry. All of this was so isolating and came with so much despair, even though I tried every self-help thing I could find. Doctors only had pills and surgery to offer me, and I never felt safe with those things. I never believed pills could do anything more than mask an illness, and surgery on my neck seemed way too risky, and held little promise.For the last two years, my intestines have stopped behaving as they should (IBS?) and I have excema chronically on the side of my head. But thanks to this book and the journal speak, I can feel all these things beginning to leave me! I can hike and drive in cars now, and the remaining reactions I get from this are fading more every day. It’s uncomfortable to break the rules of my extremely over protective nervous system, but it’s the only way out. And thank God, there finally IS a way out!!

I have been on a journey with healing from my chronic pain since 2010 when a friend first handed me Dr. John Sarno's book, "The Mindbody Prescription". I did notice relief back then, but over time I slacked off and developed more reasons why my back would hurt. In 2018 it was debilitating. I did pain reprocessing therapy and my low back pain was GONE IN 4 SESSIONS... but my brain is still primed for chronic pain and symptoms... so that's why this book is very handy. I also listen to podcasts and watch YouTube videos. Anything to stay connected to this work and hopefully help others to find their way out of chronic pain.

For the person interested in holistic medicine

Love loved this book. Very much needed in this society these days, very enlightening to what you may need if you have been searching for a diagnosis or trying to calm your nervous system and getting no where.

This book will change your life. I am a constant seeker and have tried SO MANY conventional and alternative things to try to heal various symptoms including a chronic cough, digestive issues, insomnia, fatigue, back pain, and anxiety. I have done so much therapy (I even became a therapist myself!) and read so many books to try to heal myself from childhood trauma and a chronically dysregulated nervous system. To be sure, some things have helped, but never as much as when I found Nicole's work. I started listening to her podcast in the fall of 2024 and ventured into journal speaking shortly afterwards. At the time I was recovering from the acute trauma of a cycling accident that left me needing surgery to repair my severely broken and displaced clavicle and a serious concussion. The journal speaking and education I was getting from the podcast were tremendously helpful, but when I bought Mind Your Body the day it dropped, I found a new level of understanding, guidance, tips, and a step by step map for doing this work and it has accelerated the process tremendously. I highly, highly recommend. Even if you do not struggle with chronic pain, injuries, or symptoms, this book will teach you how to understand yourself and help you to overcome frustrating patterns and places where you have always felt stuck. It will help you to know exactly when you are going into fight or flight and to nip it in the bud before it causes symptoms to flair or unwanted behaviors to manifest. It will teach you how to do the work, and if you do it, it will help you to finally feel safe, peaceful, and alive. It is so much more than a cure for chronic pain.

Revolutionary indeed! You've got to buy this book! And make sure you do what she says to do. Yesterday I played sand volleyball with my adult kids, something I thought I'd never try again. We played for over an hour, and I did pretty darn well, too! Last year, I had resigned myself to a life of shoulder pain - because extensive PT, injections, massages, etc. could not fix it. I had resigned myself to not being able to lift and carry heavy grandchildren, play sports, etc. But after reading and applying the principles in this book, I am happy to report that I have found the way to release chronic pain in my shoulders, back, and neck, and so many other areas of my body. AND I am the most emotionally healthy and resilient that I've been in my entire adult life! I also highly recommend listening Nicole's podcast and this podcast too: Thought by Thought Healing with Jennifer Johnson. Buying this book and following the instructions will likely be the best gift you give yourself this year!

The Mindbody work needs to get to you at the right time to make sense. But when it does…. thank God for Nicole’s life! With deep explanation and examples Nicole help guide us through all thats necessary to get better from chronic pain. It works! It takes time and effort and doing the work, but all the good things do too!

It's a wonderful books to learn so much about our nervoussystem and why journalspeak helps to regulate. Everyone should read!

I’m one of those people whose life has been changed by JournalSpeak and mindbody healing. It had a massive impact on my physical symptoms and my mental health. When I look back on where I was 5 years ago, it’s hard to believe that I’m the same person. Mind Your Body is SO GOOD! It’s all the wisdom from Nicole’s podcasts, plus really clear instructions about how to apply her approach distilled into one place. It’s an easy and engaging to read with Nicole’s unique voice, and her compassion and encouragement coming through on every page.The recovery stories that are included in each chapter are moving and inspirational. It had me tearing up a few times and laughing out loud as well.I honestly believe that if I’d read this book when I was in my twenties, I could have been spared 20+ years of chronic pain and anxiety. This book has the potential to shift the current medical paradigm and help millions of people who are impacted by chronic symptoms, chronic illness, anxiety, and depression. I hope that it finds its way into the hands of the folk who need it.If you’re one of those people, I encourage you to give this book and the approach within it a try. If it sounds too good to be true, bring your scepticism along for the ride. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

The first thing I thought was.... This is is repetitive and not getting to the point.Nicole intentionally wrote this book to appear repetitive, but the mind-body essence needs to be understood before doing the JournalSpeak.From my experience, from being heavily affected by Long Haul or over 3 years, no supplement or therapy worked.Until I started doing this protocol and steering away from "(Type-A) I need to solve this now!" mentality... I am actually recovering. It is grueling to fight with my resistance to read and do the exercises. But worth it.I recommend this book as a great start in anyone's journey from chronic pain.You're in good hands.

This book changed my life. I have suffered from chronic headaches and neck pain for over 8 years, sometimes disabling and severly limiting my daily life.I recognized some patterns on when the pain would occur and was open to the idea that it is mind-body related, so when I started working with this book and reading all these success stories I finally had hope again that I can leave this pain behind.A few weeks in and I experience multiple days without pain whatsoever, something I never thought possible a few months ago!!! (:I can highly recommend this to anyone in a similar situation.Good luck!