Pain Coaching: How to Learn to Understand Your Body

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SPIEGEL WISSEN has developed an eight-week coaching program for people with chronic pain that will help them to better understand and better manage their pain. This is the second part. The other parts can be found here in the following weeks.

In the hit "Day at the sea" of the Fantastic Four it says at one point: "This body is your house - and in this you know you." But even if you sing along these lines mindlessly, the question remains: is our body really a house in which we know each other?

Many people have a relationship with their body, care for it, try to do sports, give it enough sleep and healthy food or simply regularly question how they are physically. But sometimes the relationship between man and body becomes incomplete and fragile. That should be a reason to act. Especially for people with chronic pain, it is important to be in close contact with their own body.

Even if the statement may sound somewhat strange to people who are practical, a kind of inner dialogue can strengthen the connection between people and their bodies and make them more sustainable. Here are two simple and effective exercises to help you improve communication with your body. Choose the exercise that suits you better. If you feel like it, you can try both.

For beginners: body check. Take five minutes. Sit on a chair, close your eyes and breathe calmly in the stomach. Send your attention to a part of the body for a few breaths each and then change. For example, concentrate on your feet and toes, then on the lower legs, thighs, buttocks, back, stomach, arms, and so on, until you have gone through the entire body.

It is important that you do not change anything, but just perceive how you are doing at the point in question, such as "Here I am probably tense" or "Here is my pain" or "My arms feel good".

Once you've gone through the body, breathe a little longer, feel how you feel now, then open your eyes. This exercise is called Body Scan in mindfulness meditation and is often practiced there for 20 minutes or more. This is too difficult for the beginning - stay calm at five minutes.

That's more time than many people pay attention to over a whole day. If you repeat this exercise three days a week, you will learn to listen to your body a little better - and to recognize its signals.

For advanced learners: Have a conversation. The exchange with the body and its needs is an important aspect to deal with pain that has become chronic. Therefore, practice this week to ask your body more often specifically, how he is doing and what he needs right now. Often a body, for example, asks questions such that he wants to rest. Or that he wants to move.

Try to be responsive to your body's needs over and over again, at least three days a week. That does not mean that you should immediately take a nap or jump up in the office and get out in the fresh air. But take the needs of your body seriously, give it a conscientious answer, such as "Now I'm still working, but afterwards we're going for a walk."

These short conversations are an important connection to the body, they can bring insights - and answers to the questions of what makes a sore body good.

At the end of the week, reflect on how the exercises worked for you and your body: Did your body feel change? With the pain? Did you notice when pain starts? Could you better understand what the body wants? Do you like the suggestions that come from the body - or rather not?

Important: Try to continue your body dialogue or body check in the next few weeks. Also, and maybe just when you find that silly and strange, it may be good to have the ability to expand a bit.

For each issue, SPIEGEL WISSEN offers a practical, easy-to-use everyday online coaching suitable for their particular issue.

Each coaching lasts eight weeks. During this time, you will always receive a tutorial by e-mail on Fridays that can help you to make your life better. Order the newsletter here:

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