Featured Article: What To Do About Pain
The short answer to this question is: It Depends.
There are a lot of unhelpful and cultural myths or ideas about pain. It doesn't act how we'd like it to. It doesn't go away when we want it to. It doesn't feel good, and it doesn't listen to us.
It doesn't hold still and submit to inspection very readily either. Constantly changing or shifting in unexpected ways.
When something is not well understood, it becomes confusing, and we don't know what to do or where to go with it.
How do we go about understanding pain?
I like to go up a level and talk about it from a perspective that looks at what the purpose of pain in general is or what its nature is.
Why do we experience pain in the first place?
Most people would answer this with a variation on "It's to keep us safe." Maybe, sometimes.
On a biological level, we only feel pain when the body is trying to rebuild. This can happen almost at the same instant as an injury.
Cellular breakdown never actually hurts. It's when the brain becomes aware of the damage that the pain mechanism kicks into gear. Sometimes in response to damage to limit further damage.
If you put your hand into a fire, it hurts pretty quickly in order to limit the damage, and so you stop putting your hand in the fire.
If you break an arm, it doesn't hurt until you go to move or when the muscles spasm to hold the bone ends in place so healing can happen.
Replacing torn muscle fibers involves pain so you hold still and limit movement while the new cells are growing.
Very often, clients will experience their habitually tight body start to open up and gain a new fluidity. More blood flow is now coming into the area, and so is more oxygen, which allows your body's natural repair mechanisms to kick in. This often involves pain. Again, it's the "hold still, I'm fixing stuff here" type of pain.
Another reason our body creates pain is to get our attention and stop overthinking. It's also in the category of "stop, hold still, I need to repair stuff". In this case, it's the overuse of analytical thought or perhaps worry that is hard on the body. At some point, something will hurt as the body aims to get us to slow down internally.
It's similar to if we hold a posture too long without moving, it starts to hurt in order to get us to shift position. We usually do that without thinking.
Pain in general is our stop, slow down and change what you are doing signal. The change is a bit dependent on why the pain in the first place. It also becomes more obvious as we slow down and listen inside.
What occurs to us to do?
Usually, this is very simple and basic. And obvious.
I have to do less. I need to rest. I'll drink more water. I'll try stretching. I'll ask someone.
We never go wrong with settling down internally and seeing what comes once any spinning thoughts have a minute to settle.
How long does it take for the pain to resolve? Depends on what the body is needing to rebuild. My son broke both his arms a number of years ago. It took a while, a couple weeks, for the bone pain from new bone cells growing to stop. I've had physical pain go away instantly when I shift position to take pressure off a joint or when I slow down mentally and enjoy the moment.
I see over and over with clients how one's misunderstanding and negative reaction to pain make it ten times worse.
Pain is neither good nor bad. It just is, and it always serves a purpose.
With love,
Sara Joy
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Immersion Retreat Day: Saturday, September 20, 2025, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
St. Brigid’s Villa, Ignatius Jesuit Centre, Guelph, ON
Nestled in the serene forest of St. Brigid’s Villa, just outside Guelph, Ontario, this one-day Immersion Retreat invites you to experience a profound shift in how you live and feel. Guided by Dr. Sara Joy O’Neill, you’ll dive into the transformative wisdom of the Three Principles and melt into the restorative power of relaxing healing bodywork. This is your chance to awaken to a life filled with ease, clarity, and deep fulfilment.
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