In this episode, Lyndsay Soprano and Dr. Andrea Moore, PT, DPT, OCS, NTP discuss her journey from chronic pain and post-concussive syndrome after a car accident to anxiety and ADHD sharing her journey to where she is today.

She lived in so much pain for her whole life, she thought that this was just normal!! It wasn’t debilitating but aggravating. As she went down a painful journey, she found out that living life in pain is actually NOT normal!! How sad that we feel that we must live with pain, and it has been normalized. We talk about living in fear and safety and how to desensitize our central nervous system.

By focusing on somatic part of the nervous system we can start to gain a wealth of knowledge about our bodies, minds, and souls.

Somatic = relating to the body Somatic work doesn’t have a universal definition as the above definition is a bit vague.

It is working on what your nervous system is holding onto like our traumas. Massive amounts of traumas that have added up over time.

If we are only looking at the mind then we neglect the body. And when we are only looking at the physical body, then we are neglecting the mind. And when we look at both of those but never look at our thoughts and our mindset and what is the nervous system is actually holding, then our pain continues.

We speak about one of the most important things in life—shifting your mindset. How different parts of your body and nervous system are holding onto past traumas.

Sometimes TOO much mindfulness work can actually FLARE the pain because we are getting a little too intense and deep with the work that we actually cause ourself more issues. It’s a delicate balance indeed.

Both Dr. Moore and Lyndsay have suffered concussions. Multiple concussions. And one of the most scary things about concussions is if you experience post-concussion syndrome you can lose a part of you for a short or long length of time that affects your ability to focus and manage simple tasks and obstacles with grace.

A good infographic on post-concussion syndrome is below:
https://images.app.goo.gl/FBQ3UUw8ZF81qVkX7

Once you have started to experience any or all of the above symptoms, this pain starts to affect your intelligence with this post-concussive response. And that is one of the most fearful part of post-concussion syndrome.

The feeling like you are losing your mind! What follows is more fear. When you live in pain you live in fear that you might never recover and “this is it!?” Is your daily mantra. And what follows sometimes is shame and guilt.

When you have been through significant traumas, you tend to blame yourself which then leads to that shame and guilt. Which leads to the narrative of “I am damaged and broken and need to be fixed.”We aren’t broken. We are just cracked a little bit! And for empaths, we also take on other people’s pain and emotions which further breaks our souls adding to this fear and turmoil.

It’s a vicious cycle and one that affects not only ourselves, but our loved ones as well. When Lyndsay asked her sweetie about chronic pain and how it affects him, he says, “my chronic pain is yours!” That makes her so incredibly sad. Chronic pain essentially dissociates ourselves from our bodies. We end up living in your thoughts, not in the body itself. And we are disconnected from our bodies which means we are disconnected from the soul of our body.

We need to listen to our true authentic self and listen to it in a different way. Authentic wisdom. Listen to it. It will sound different than your current narrative. And accessing our authentic wisdom is key. And accessing that wisdom can be interpreted as a threat to the brain and doesn’t want to connect. Fear. Safety. Trauma. The vicious cycle continues.

We carry all of this weight from ancestral trauma, both men and women. We touch on how this type of trauma is carried through our DNA and our past heritage and patriarchy and how this leads to more chronic pain. It’s a conversation that you must listen to.

You can find Dr. Andrea Moore online:

Instagram:
HTTPS://drandreamoore

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/drandreamoore

Website:
www.drandreamoore.com

Podcast:
Unweaving Chronic Pain (on all platforms) – links to spotify/itunes found at www.drandreamoore.com/podcast