The Pain Coach

The Pain Coach Helping you understand and overcome your chronic pain to live your fullest life Clinics at 132 Harley Street and 2 Lower Sloane Street. Online sessions.

Persistent pain doesn’t just affect your body.It can change your whole state.Your mood.Your energy.Your patience.Your se...
07/06/2026

Persistent pain doesn’t just affect your body.

It can change your whole state.

Your mood.
Your energy.
Your patience.
Your sense of safety.
Your belief in what is possible.

This is not weakness.

It is your system trying to protect you.

The skill is learning to notice:

How am I?
What do I need?
What is one kind, useful response?

Pain may be present.

But it does not have to become the whole of you.

New post in the **Pain to Peace Series** now on Substack.

See my bio link.

With care,
Richmond 🕊️🌿

Sunday afternoon,hike,nature,green fields,gusting wind,country cafe,coffee,reading,light jazz,in the background. The art...
07/06/2026

Sunday afternoon,

hike,
nature,
green fields,
gusting wind,

country cafe,
coffee,
reading,
light jazz,
in the background.

The art of listening,
starts by being present,
and listening
to the wind.

RS🕊️🌿

Stress is not *the* cause of chronic pain.It can turn the volume up.But pain is never that simple.One day you may manage...
06/06/2026

Stress is not *the* cause of chronic pain.

It can turn the volume up.

But pain is never that simple.

One day you may manage the shopping, a walk, a conversation, or a family meal.

Another day, something much smaller feels impossible.

You may wonder:

Why today?
Why now?
What did I do wrong?

Often, you did not do anything wrong.

Your system is responding to a whole set of conditions, many of which are not visible to you.

This is why understanding pain matters.

Not so you can blame yourself.

But so you can begin to meet yourself with more care, clarity, and compassion.

Pain is not an enemy to defeat.

It is a need state — a call for attention, care, and change.

I have written more about this in my latest Pain Talking article:

**Stress Is Not the Cause of Chronic Pain**

It is for anyone living with persistent pain who wants to understand their experience differently and begin moving towards more freedom, confidence, and life.

You can read it on Substack.
See my bio link.

And if it speaks to you, you are warmly invited to subscribe.

With care,
Richmond 🕊️🌿

A tea making ritual. Slowing down. Contemplation. Joy.Gratitude. With care,Richmond 🕊️
05/06/2026

A tea making ritual.

Slowing down.

Contemplation.

Joy.

Gratitude.

With care,
Richmond 🕊️

Pain is not asking:- to be fixed-to be gotten rid of- to be reprocessed- to be unlearnedPain is asking to be understood....
04/06/2026

Pain is not asking:

- to be fixed
-to be gotten rid of
- to be reprocessed
- to be unlearned

Pain is asking to be understood.

Pain is asking for needs to be met.

For healing.

For self care and compassion.

Pain is a need state, like hunger or thirst.

Pat Wall, founder of modern pain science and medicine was talking about this in the 70s.

When pain is understood, and it is unique to the person and their body systems,
the way forward becomes apparent.

That way is also unique to the person.

That is why there is no “treatment for pain”.

Instead we must meet the person where they are and travel forward from there.

With care,
Richmond 🕊️🌿

A single high dose of psilocybin appears to do more than create a temporary altered state.In this small exploratory stud...
02/06/2026

A single high dose of psilocybin appears to do more than create a temporary altered state.

In this small exploratory study, 28 psychedelic-naive participants showed changes in brain function and structure from one hour to one month after 25 mg psilocybin.

At one month, there were increases in cognitive flexibility, psychological insight, and wellbeing.

The interesting part is this:

- increased brain signal complexity during the acute experience predicted improved wellbeing one month later. And next-day psychological insight helped explain that relationship.

So perhaps the lasting value is not simply the drug effect.

It is the window it may open:

• to see differently
• feel differently
• make new meaning

and integrate that into life.

For persistent pain, this matters.

Suffering often involves stuck patterns of protection, prediction, emotion, attention, and identity.

Change begins when the system has new evidence that something else is possible.

Psychedelics may be one way this can happen.

But they are not the only way.

We also update through:

• safe relationships
• skilful movement
• new understanding
• meaningful activity
• compassionate attention
• breathing and regulation practices
• repeated experiences of doing what once felt impossible.

These are not small things.

They are how new patterns are formed.

They are how habits change.

They are how the brain-body system learns:

“I am safe enough.”
“I can move.”
“I can cope.”
“I can live again.”

Small study. Early findings.

But an important reminder:

we are not fixed.

The brain-body system can learn, update, and reorganise.

With care,
Richmond 🕊️🌿

I encourage a shift from persistent pain self-management, to self-leadership and self-coaching.Why? Leadership and coach...
02/06/2026

I encourage a shift from persistent pain
self-management,
to self-leadership and self-coaching.

Why?

Leadership and coaching focus on where you are now and the next step to take in the direction you want to go.

To me management implies standing still.

A kind of “this is it” viewpoint.

When it most certainly isn’t it.
There is no “this is it”.

There is only this passing moment.
This passing experience.

Then there is the wandering mind.

The kind of mind that is caught in the past,
or the imagined future.
Neither are reality.

But they can feel like it.

Life is just this moment.

When you know what is actually happening,
you can relate and respond with skill.

With compassion and care.

One way to practice is the check in.

It’s a skill I teach patients.
One of the first.

Because it helps you establish and clarify “what is”,

Rather than “what if”.

Now you are present to take care of yourself.

To see clearly and make your next best choice.

To meet your needs in that moment,
the only moment.

The Practice:

- Sit up a little straighter
- Close your eyes
- Take a couple of deeper breaths
- Bring your attention to your body
- Ask yourself, how am I?
- Then, what are my needs right now?
- And, how can I best meet them?

Let me know how you get on.

With care,
Richmond 🕊️🌿

Touch can soothe persistent pain.Relief matters.But lasting change comes from something deeper.In this new Pain Talking ...
31/05/2026

Touch can soothe persistent pain.

Relief matters.

But lasting change comes from something deeper.

In this new Pain Talking article, I explore:

* why touch can calm pain systems
* how self-touch and self-soothing help
* why state matters before movement
* and how hands-on treatment fits into a bigger journey of healing and transformation

Free and paid subscriptions available.

Paid subscribers receive the weekly Pain to Peace series — deeper practical reflections and skills for understanding and transforming persistent pain.

Read on Substack — link in bio.

Richmond 🕊️🌿

Same picture, different perspective. As with any life situation. It’s not the situation that matters as much as this per...
31/05/2026

Same picture, different perspective.

As with any life situation.

It’s not the situation that matters as much as this perspective you take.

The situation is the situation.

The perspective you take, one of infinite perspectives, makes it what it is.

Essentially, each person has their own perspective, generated by their own unique body systems.

You don’t see the world as it is, you see it as you are.

This insight is the truth for all experiences, including persistent pain.

With care,
Richmond 🕊️🌿

🎨

“I kept saying to my doctor, it’s not just depression, something else is doing this to me.”Doctors thought it might be b...
31/05/2026

“I kept saying to my doctor, it’s not just depression, something else is doing this to me.”

Doctors thought it might be bipolar.

“I was Jekyll and Hyde.”

Then Wendy Barker discovered PMDD.

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
Added to the DSM in 2013.
Recognised by WHO in 2019.

Symptoms:
• severe mood swings
• irritability
• depression
• anxiety
• overwhelmed

Many including doctors have not heard of PMDD.

Yet another condition and situation women endure that is poorly recognised and understood.

Now there is a charity:

“It’s not just medical help people need; they also need psychological support.”

This statement is so important.

Whatever the situation, people need to be seen and supported as whole—
the whole person approach.

The person is the expert in their experiences and life.

Medical treatment may help, but there is much more to it.

How the person lives their life moment to moment—ie/ lifestyle.

Looking at this is not optional for positive change.

Life and lifestyle, past experiences and beliefs, expectations and environment—
all elements are the soil from which life arises.

Within these are many controllables, which are skill-based.

Creating new habits and patterns with clarity on the person’s needs and goals.

Ultimately, we are talking about living yourself better.

Self-care and compassion at the heart.

Guided and supported, together with medical treatment as indicated.

With care,
Richmond 🕊️🌿

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132 Harley Street
London
W1G7JX

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