How to Become Indifferent about Your Pain or Symptoms

I relate to you so much. I've been in chronic pain for 5 years now and initially started when I was doing high intensity workouts. Also mainly in my back. I'm also a hairstylist by trade so every doctor I saw just assumed it was caused by my profession and poor posture/over working muscles. I've done every scan imaginable, I've seen Chiropractors, Physiotherapist, sports therapist, Osteopaths..you name it i tried it. And nothing has showed up on a scan and no treatment has worked. I've been off of work for 5 months now and feel as though my life has been stripped from me. I came across your videos and find them very helpful. I always knew there was a mental component to my pain. But that anxiety at the back of your mind is always like "but, is it something bad?" Makes me go back and forth between its nothing or maybe its something they've missed. I had a lot of success with my anxiety with acceptance therapy. So I'm hoping these techniques will carry over and help with my pain. Thank you for all that you do in this community!

At one time indifference was not available to me. It seemed really hard to wrap my head around. It hurt so much. Lately it’s becoming more doable. I tell myself “I just don’t care” and try getting on with my day.

I've reached that point of being indifferent and I really feel better. Thanks, good video.

This is so helpful, thank you Tanner. I named my pain/symptoms "chili dogs" lol - it's from an old inside joke between me and my husband. It cracks me up so I think it's perfect. Who can take chili dogs seriously? LOL

Great tips Tanner. I recently told my family and friends not to ask me about my back. I explained to them why by simply saying that it doesn't help me. I could see they still wanted to ask but they soon stopped. It helps alot. It means I don't talk about it either. I found that chronic pain is very lonely and invisible so I think I talked about it to remind everyone I was having a hard time. However, for the bit of satisfaction that gave me it wasn't worth being the guy with the bad back. I don't want that to be my identity. Thanks again Tanner your videos are very practical and spot on. 👍

This is awesome..needed this tonight!

'cultivate the attitude of indifference' -- that was simply brilliant. This kid is as subtle and nuanced as they come.

I hear you on every point … I’m just trying to figure out HOW I go about getting back into life when it hurts sooo much … walking ..I loved to walk but now if I can do 10 mins I’m lucky and I pay for it later with more pain .

Helped put it in perspective

Great tips, thank you Tanner! Love #3 keep living life ❤

Great video. Thank you!

This information is SO helpful. Thank you again

Great video 😊

Such great pointers. These tips really work❤❤❤Thanks, Tanner😊

This is an incredibly important video!!!!🎉

I am getting it Tanner!

Thank you very much for another good video. I have just begun to work with a mind-body medicine practitioner online with somatic tracking. I've had one really good online session with her, Lily O. One of the things you seem to allude to in this video is the question of whether the body is really damaged. I definitely feel in my case that it has been truly damaged, with the most likely scenario that a M. Booster I had one year ago triggered nerve damage in my trigeminal nerves causing a 24/7 extremely painful condition called burning mouth syndrome that not only comes with burning and stinging of my lips, gums, tongue, aching and painful teeth but also severe dry mouth and intense dysgeusia, or wildly disconcerting tastes in my mouth all day long (which are related to what I eat). How do mind-body medicine and somatic practitioners such as yourself address real damage to things like nerves within the context of somatic tracking at the same time that you/we encourage actual mind-body healing. It is hard for me to wrap my head around my condition healing without some physiological healing in addition to psychological reframing and "reboot" that I am trying.

How can you be sure your pain is neoplastic, or largely? I've always believed injuries heal, and recovered fully from 7 car accident injuries (though the whiplash pain lasted for a while). Car accident 8, however, never fully healed. I was able to heal from fibromyalgia pain almost fully myself, but after a long period of inescapable stress it has come back; ditto with an SI joint injury. I continued living a pretty happy life despite the pain, exercising ,dancing, even running, then got a runner's injury - which seems to have brought it all back. A small injury I expected to heal quickly has waterfalled into tendonopathy and neuropathy all over my body. I fully believe that a large part of it is an old trauma retriggered badly these past two year, causing hypervigilance. I've been doing a lot of meditation, somatic release and other work - but the pain is still brutal. It ebbs and flows, but is easily made worse. I still walk a lot, do yoga and Chi Gong, but my beloved dancing I can only do a tiny bit of or it makes the pain massively worse. I'll try to get the book "The Way Out" by Alan Gordon you recommended, but do you have any other suggestions? These videos are very helpful, thanks.

Thanks very much for this. I am finding your videos very helpful to deal with my 'Fred' and fatigue ;-). One question: Could you elaborate a bit more about focusing on one's emotional state? Do we try to observe our emotional state with indifference, or do we focus on shifting our emotional state to one of safety and contentment? Or something else? Thanks!

Hi Tanner, enjoying your videos alot, thanks! A few weeks into this program, I fell down and broke my wrist. I am wondering how to apply these techniques with primary pain? When do we consider this "not damaged '? Any resources you can point me to?