Managing & Alleviating Chronic Pain with…Creativity? | with Anna Holtzman

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Anna Holtzman is a former television editor who, after healing from chronic migraines, shifted gears to become a licensed therapist and coach specializing in chronic pain recovery. Anna both helps people better manage their chronic pain, as well as understand the emotional cause behind it in an effort to release the pain from its source.

In our conversation, Anna shares that chronic pain is linked with our stress response and is nothing more than a protective reflex trying to alert us that something deeper is going on. We discuss the power of communicating with the body in order to better receive that message, as well as understand how we can go about addressing it. Anna shares many unlikely, yet powerful tools - including journaling - that you can start using to feel better today.

As you’ll learn from this conversation, there are many ways to work with chronic pain that don’t involve more prescriptions, more doctor visits, and more ‘coping’. Whether chronic pain is new for you, or you’ve been dealing with it for a long time, this conversation is a must listen.

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Here's What You'll Learn:

• How Anna’s migraines she suffered while editing led to her career in chronic pain
• The true source of (most) chronic pain
• How you can learn to view pain as an alarm that something deeper might be going on…
• Clues your body might give you if your nervous system is too high
• The 3 specific questions you can ask your body to decode what you need to relax
• The surprising benefit journaling has on your chronic pain
• Why “giving up” from time to time might be the best thing for you
• Why stepping into a career you’re passionate about can trigger the most chronic pain
• Are you experiencing the same problems over and over? That’s ok and here’s why…
• The importance of building an inner dialogue when it comes to managing emotional turbulence
• The four key phases of working with chronic pain
• The steps you can take to start working with your chronic pain TODAY

Useful Resources Mentioned:

Curable app

How Your Gut Health is the Key to Unlocking a Healthier & Happier You | with Dr. Edison de Mello

Dunning Kruger effect newsletter

The Passionate Creative’s Guide to Chronic Pain Recovery

Anna Holtzman’s website

Mind-Body Burnout and Career Rebirth with Zack Arnold (From Chronic Pain to Passion podcast)

From Chronic Pain to Passion podcast

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The Beginner’s Guide to Alleviating Chronic Pain In 5 Min a Day…Right at Your Desk [VIDEOS]

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Guest Bio:

Anna Holtzman

Anna Holtzman is a former TV editor and lifelong writer who, after healing from chronic migraines, became a licensed therapist and coach who specializes in chronic pain recovery. While working in TV for over a decade, she edited shows like MTV’s MADE, Teen Mom, 16 and Pregnant and many more. As the Co-Director of Education and Advocacy for the New York Editors Collective, a group of more than 1000 professional TV editors, she ran education and advocacy seminars on labor rights and social justice issues in the industry.

Now a licensed therapist and chronic pain recovery coach, Anna offers an online course called Writing to Release Chronic Pain and is launching a new group coaching program, From Chronic Pain to Passion, for passionate creatives who want to heal from chronic symptoms and reclaim their energy. She also facilitates groups for Curable, a world leader in chronic pain education and recovery. Anna’s weekly blog is syndicated by The Good Men Project and Medika Life, and she’s been interviewed on some of the top podcasts on the chronic pain recovery.

Show Credits:

This episode was edited by Curtis Fritsch, and the show notes were prepared by Debby Germino and published by Glen McNiel.

The original music in the opening and closing of the show is courtesy of Joe Trapanese (who is quite possibly one of the most talented composers on the face of the planet).