Breaking the Pain Cycle: (Re)Learning Wellbeing and Ease
“The tree which fills the arms grew from the tiniest sprout;
the tower of nine storeys rose from a small heap of earth;
the journey of a thousand li commenced with a single step.”
-Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
Because pain and other symptoms arise from a complex system that includes biological, psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions, healing also needs to address all of these.
There is no single solution that works for everyone. Instead, you’re invited to get curious about your own recipe for healing (h/t Rachel Zoffness). The most helpful approach will be one that truly responds to your story, and honors your lived experience, values, needs, strengths, and resources.
No Quick Fixes, But Real Hope
It’s true: there are usually no quick fixes, and no one-size-fits-all approach (though sometimes people do experience dramatic shifts even just from learning about the neuroscience of pain!).
For most of us, meaningful change happens through mind-body practice over time.
Bodymind (re)learning for wellbeing and ease means building new skills, strategies, and, importantly, a new way of being with our experience, including discomfort.
We practice patience, persistence, lovingkindness, compassion, and courage. We begin from a place of acceptance, respect, and appreciation for our bodymind’s current way of trying to look after us.
Rewiring/Reweaving for Ease and Wellbeing
Learning about positive bioplasticity and neuroplasticity, about how we can literally repattern our neural pathways, is a powerful part of this work.
Equally important is reclaiming “real-estate” in our bodymind for joy, play, gratitude, lovingkindness, and compassion.
We also work to create a greater sense of safety. Absolute safety isn’t possible in this world, but we can become more resourced and resilient, giving our bodymind more flexibility to shift toward states of greater ease and wellbeing.
A Whole-Person Approach
A mind-body approach can touch many areas of your experience, including:
Decision making
Pleasure
Planning and problem solving
Emotional awareness and expression
Self-soothing
Mindfulness and self-compassion
Sleep and nourishment
Movement and exercise
Connection and engagement
Empathy and physical activity
Experiences of embodiment
Boundaries
For many of us, this work also includes healing the imprint of adversity and trauma in our bodymind.
Growing New Pathways Over Time
By repeatedly practicing new ways of thinking, feeling, acting, and being, we help grow new, healing neural pathways. Over time, these cycles of learning and practice can bring lasting change.
Ready to Explore Together?
If you’re interested in finding out whether—and how—a mind-body approach can help you (re)learn bodymind wellbeing and ease, and find freedom from persistent pain and other symptoms, let’s work together. I’d love to be your partner in this healing journey.
About the author:
Dr. Lilia Graue is a physician, psychotherapist, and mindbody healing mentor.
After living with chronic pain for more than a decade, she found freedom through an integrative mindbody approach grounded in neuroscience, mindfulness, and compassion.
She is passionate about helping people who are living with chronic pain, fatigue, long COVID, and other persistent symptoms to find freedom and reconnect with joy, vitality, purpose, and agency. She also loves mentoring fellow practitioners—therapists, coaches, and clinicians— to support them in creating trauma-integrative, relational, and sustainable healing spaces, while keeping their sanity and their passion and thriving personally.
With over 25 years of experience in medicine and psychotherapy, Lilia’s work prioritizes consent, curiosity, and co-creation, honoring individual context, systemic influences, and the power of genuine relationship in supporting long-term change and healing. She works with people globally in both English and Spanish.
Originally from Mexico City, she currently lives in London with her husband and the two rescue cats who own them, Ziggy and Lupito. In addition to her work, she loves spending time in nature, baking, reading, traveling, and enjoying live music.
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