As fitness professionals and coaches we watch for the latest information and do our best to curate and explain it to our clients and students. As consumers of that information it can be so confusing to try to understand what the latest science actually means for our day to day lives. For a topic as complex as chronic pain that becomes even more challenging. On the one hand it’s great to get new science, new understanding about the body and nervous system so we can make the best choices in care. On the other hand, what does that mean for what we knew before? Does it all go out the window? How do we integrate new understanding of pain care science in meaningful ways and share it when it comes to posture, alignment and movement therapy?

My friend Colleen Jorgensen reached out to me a few weeks ago with this question as a topic for the podcast. And I thought it was a really great idea. I love bringing clarity to topics like this and I always learn so much from Colleen.

She’s been on the podcast before. We have talked about chronic pain, the nervous system, pain care aware language and the importance of professional communication skills. She is an osteopath, yoga & pilates instructor and a teacher trainer with a specialty in Pain Care Aware language.

She’s the one I trust to help translate some of this new information. I’m so happy to have Colleen back on the podcast to talk more about this topic and I think in the course of the conversation you find new ways to evaluate other areas of health and wellness science.

Let’s start our work IN with Colleen Jorgensen

Last weekend I witnessed a summer camp for mostly grown ups with intense interest playing the guitar.

If it was yoga we would call it a week long intensive. Maybe a retreat. And we would weigh the cost/benefit of the continuing education and whether or not the credits are pre approved. Probably because that sounds better to adults. As adults why do we need to justify taking a week out of our real world to indulge ourselves in our passion?That thing we love to do that’s only for ourselves.

What if we could create our own summer camp to nourish and feed our soul? What if it lasted all summer? Or maybe all year? What would your summer camp look like?

Today is part 3 of our reclaim your health and resilience series …

You reap the benefits and consequences of everything you do. So that could be work, food, exercise, entertainment, relationships. That’s what this series is all about. Reclaiming your health and resilience is within your control. Everything we do can be a lever. Nutrition is a very powerful lever. Everything you consume becomes a part of you and that makes what you eat a very intimate relationship. But unlike relationships with other people you have complete control of this one.

Today is part 2 of our reclaim your health and resilience series …

Movement of all kinds is a powerful influencer on all aspects of our health including of course our mighty nervous system. The reason of course is because all movement is accepted by the nervous system as a kind of challenge. And practice rising to that challenge in relative safety like with purposeful movement or exercise builds resilience across all bio-psycho-social-spiritual connections.

Part of my mission here on the work IN is to help equip fitness professionals with a bigger awareness of the overlap between physical and mental health so they can take their wellness beyond what the eyes can see. Not just so they can serve their health conscious clients better and level up their coaching skills but also so they can take care of themselves better.

But at the core, what are we really dealing with and we're dealing with this idea that there's a prescription for the way that you should eat or a prescription for how you should take care of your skin, how you should move your body, that ultimately is going to provide whatever it is that you're looking for whether it's happiness, success in your career, a better relationship with your in your marriage or with your significant other, and it just keeps coming back to our bodies are on, well that the, that our body is our brand it's who we are. And it's equated with what we receive in the world. And I just wanted to put the kibosh on it, I wanted to kind of lift the veil.