Review of exciting new book, ‘MIND YOUR BODY’,by Nicole J. Sachs, LCSW
- Claire Birnie
- Mar 28
- 5 min read
Updated: 1d
This month's blog comes from Living Proof volunteer, Claire. Her blog is both a book review and a telling of her remarkable recovery story from chronic pain, which features in Nicole Sachs's inspiring new book, 'Mind Your Body'.
I am a long-term listener to Nicole Sachs’s life-changing podcast, ‘The Cure for Chronic Pain’. I have waited with great anticipation for the launch of her new book, ‘Mind Your Body’, and it has far exceeded my expectations.
What’s the book all about?
This book is the culmination of three decades of Nicole’s experience as a sufferer of severe chronic pain, first as a patient when she discovered the work of Dr John Sarno, then working alongside him and now as a leading teacher of mind-body methods (the neuroplastic approach to recovery). Nicole’s work builds on the legacy of Dr Sarno and evolves his theories based on the latest brain science, which has become available through modern imaging and research.
What can you expect to find in the book?
‘Mind Your Body’ provides a fulsome description of the science of chronic pain - how your brain creates pain in response to its perception of your environment and the dangers it perceives externally and from our emotional world - and it has an actionable plan for you to resolve your own chronic pain and conditions.
The inspiring stories of recovery at the end of each chapter cover a myriad of conditions - migraine, long covid, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), back pain, pelvic pain, interstitial cystitis (IC) , POTS, chronic Lyme disease - to name just a few.
My own recovery story (featured in the book!)
Though I have never before shared my recovery story publicly, when Nicole called for submissions, I was moved to submit my own and was honoured to be included.
My story is that I had suffered with chronic pain for over two decades. I had an array of symptoms, mostly pelvic pain, and it was mystifying, upsetting and frustrating. I had been on what felt like an exhaustive and expensive search around the world for an explanation and a medical solution with absolutely no answers. I don’t dwell on that part in the book, but it was dispiriting and I became extremely depressed. I believe this is why, when a kind person suggested to me that I take a look at mind-body medicine through reading a book, I felt open and curious - this is what Nicole describes as “the gift of desperation”.
I read ‘Healing Back Pain’ by Dr John Sarno and understood what he was proposing: your emotions can express themselves as real physical symptoms in the body if they remain unfelt. I saw myself in the typical personality traits he had observed in patients - wanting to be good and liked, perfectionistic, sensitive and wanting to please. But what now? I still had some doubts as much of the literature of the time focused on back pain. And the neuroscience that supports Dr Sarno’s theories was not available then.
Nevertheless, I threw myself into reading everything I could about this phenomenon in my typical analytical way. I would not now recommend this approach to others! This kept me out of actually doing the work of feeling my emotions and understanding how they played out in my life, and stuck in researching.
Finding Nicole’s work
Fortunately, I came across Nicole’s work quite by accident, and I related very much to her calm confidence that this would be the solution for me. I listened to her podcast, ‘The Cure for Chronic Pain’, and the many success stories she shared there. But I compared myself rather negatively to those who were healing. I was a typical Scottish person who kept things close to my chest. However, I overcame my reluctance - and sought out help; I had to start at ground zero with emotions, developing my vocabulary for feelings and started to become aware they showed up somatically in my body.
I started to “JournalSpeak” - 20 minutes of free writing and allowing everything I felt to arise and “take its place on the kindergarten carpet” as Nicole says, meeting even the most uncomfortable feelings, such as shame and disgust, with compassion. I added the ten minutes of self-compassionate meditation after journalling, even though at first I hated to sit with myself in meditation. I did it all with resistance and imperfectly, but sticking with it even when I didn’t want to. I started to see all of my patterns - and to unwind those that did not serve me. I began to feel better and little by slowly, the pain dissipated.
It is not a straight line to healing - it can be up, down and around - and feel frustrating. But I started to see that being out of pain would indeed be “the biggest littlest part” of the journey. The big part was that my life changed for the better in many ways.
I engage with Journalspeak now as a life-long supportive practice - a tool in my toolbox to deal with any irritations that arise – and before any pain or symptom can become chronic.
Why sharing my story in Nicole’s book was important
Nicole describes life as a choice between “what hurts and what hurts worse”, one of my favourite ‘Nicoleisms’. Whilst it feels raw and vulnerable to have shared my story, in the world of “what hurts versus what hurts worse”, it “hurts worse” for me to remain silent and not talk openly about this life-changing approach, so that people who are suffering may at least know this is an option for them.
Why I whole-heartedly recommend this book
I love that you can do Nicole’s work and her signature method, JournalSpeak, completely for free using all of the resources that she so generously shares online. But, I recommend acquiring the book to have at your fingertips a comprehensive aggregation of all her experience of living her mind-body methods and teaching them to thousands. The book also collects together Nicole’s many inspiring quotations, or “Nicoleisms” as they have become fondly known amongst her followers.
The book is full of hope and provides a solution in terms of “what to do” after having understood the brain science, all explained in Nicole’s relatable and confident way. As she says: “more than another volume on theory and practice, this book intends to ignite a movement”. We can each play a part in this revolution to help others break free of the fear, confusion and hopelessness that currently exists around medically unexplained chronic pain and symptoms.
I recommend this book to sufferers, to practitioners and medical professionals who may be intrigued by the increasing number of studies supporting the neuroplastic approach - and by the stories of those recovering from conditions for which they have been told there is no cure. Please share the book with anyone who is curious and interested in learning more. I feel excited that I can now refer anyone who asks me about my recovery to this wonderful explanation of how they can recover too.
How can I get my hands on the book?
You can grab your copy of ‘Mind Your Body’ in all the usual places, including here. You can also explore Nicole's many free resources via her website and by listening to her podcast.
You might also want to check out this instagram live - a fascinating conversation between Nicole and Living Proof Medical Advisor, Dr David Clarke, about all things mind-body.
