Pain Psychotherapy Canada Inc.

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Pain Psychotherapy Canada Inc.

Pain Psychotherapy Canada’s mission is to support clients in greatly reducing their chronic pain.

Website and Social Media Disclaimer: https://www.painpsychotherapy.ca/disclaimer

Disclaimer: The information provided by Pain Psychotherapy Canada Inc., and its director Tanner Murtagh, on this page is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice, psychotherapy, or counselling. Please Read
If you are in immediate danger, please call a local emergency telephone number or go immediately to the nearest emergency room.

03/06/2026

Your nervous system regulates naturally when you care for yourself and treat yourself with kindness. In this short video, I explain how simple, everyday acts of self-kindness can gently support without any complicated strategies.

You can choose one small act of kindness to practice each day. It might be eating your favourite breakfast in the morning, listening to your favourite song, making a cup of tea or coffee and truly savouring the sensations, or calling a close friend to share what’s going on in your life.

These small, intentional moments are medicine for your nervous system. They send subtle signals of safety and care to your body. There is no fancy technique involved. You are simply using kindness and self-care to help your nervous system settle and regulate naturally.

When you “pepper” these acts of kindness throughout your day, you build regulation in a sustainable and compassionate way. Healing does not always require big interventions. Sometimes, it begins with small, consistent moments of care.

03/05/2026

Healing chronic pain isn’t always simple—and if the “simple solutions” didn’t work for you, that doesn’t mean you failed. Often it just means your healing needs a broader approach. Real change usually happens when we work across multiple areas of the brain, body, and nervous system. Be patient with the process.

03/04/2026

The ADDS skill can help you overcome fearful or ; this skill ADDS a sense of safety to your thinking.

Step 1: Ask Why

Be curious, not judgmental - “Why am I having negative thinking?”

Possible answers include:
• My nervous system is dysregulated
• I’m feeling unpleasant emotions
• My pain or symptoms are bothering me
• I’m triggered by a situation, person, memory, or stimuli

Step 2: Drop In & Describe

Negative thinking is habitual; we can easily slip back in without noticing. When you catch negative thinking occurring, congratulate yourself for noticing. Then drop in, and describe the thoughts and feelings.

• Are you in a state of fight, flight, fawn, freeze, or shutdown?
• What type of thinking are you having? Worrying, fearful, obsessive, critical, or despairing thoughts?

Step 3: Shift to Safety Signals

Don’t buy in, instead shift to using a safety signal! You could use somatic, behavioural, or cognitive safety signals.

Somatic Safety Signals include:
• Feeling your nervous system sensations. This is the energy fueling the negative thoughts
• Practicing present moment sensing, breathwork, somatic movement, savouring pleasant sensations, or visualization

Behavioural Safety Signals include:
• Engaging in a practice or activity that evokes a blended state of play, purposeful action, stillness, or close connection

Cognitive Safety Signals include:
• Using Safe self-talk that are more Balanced thoughts about the symptom or situation. Examples:
“Remember, my current experience is unpleasant, but I’m safe”
“This sensation or situation is temporary; it will pass”
“There’s still lots I can do to create safety”

Use the ADDS skill when you notice negative thinking occurring. While it takes more work at first, with some practice, noticing and shifting will become natural. Consistency is the key to retraining the brain out of .

03/03/2026

You may not be able to go back to who you were before chronic pain, but maybe that’s the point.

What patterns, pressure, or nervous system survival strategies were running your life before symptoms began? Healing often means living differently, not just feeling better.

What’s one small shift you can make this week?

03/02/2026

When you limit your movement, activities, or positions, and fearfully avoid or fight against chronic pain or symptom sensations, you teach the brain your body must be damaged, which can actually increase pain and symptoms over time.

To correct this, you need to SHOW your brain the body is safe:

- Engage in exposure to movement, activities, and life

- Regulate your nervous system with particular actions

- Do somatic work with pain and symptom sensations

Now fearful, hopeless, or obsessive thoughts about symptoms can also make your chronic symptoms worse over time.

Instead, you need to TELL your brain the body is safe:

- Remember the signs that your symptoms are neuroplastic

- Notice and celebrate your healing wins

- Practice safe self-talk, such as: “This is just a sensation and it will pass.” “My body is safe, my brain is creating this sensation because it feels in danger.”

This week take the next step in healing your chronic pain and illness. SHOW and TELL your brain that your body is safe!

03/01/2026

Spring is coming 🌿 Our Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy bookings are now open near Calgary.

Step out of the office and into open space. Working alongside horses invites nervous system regulation, trauma-informed healing, boundary exploration, trust-building, and grounded presence.

No riding. No horse experience needed. Just space to slow down, breathe, and connect.

Offered by Pain Psychotherapy Canada through .

Limited spring spots available! Email: anne@painpsychotherapy.ca

If you’ve been waiting for the right season to begin, this might be it.

02/28/2026

Have you ever wondered why your pain or symptoms suddenly flare up while you’re healing? In this video, I explain why these spontaneous flare-ups happen and why they are a normal part of the recovery process.

When pain has been present for years and your responses have included fear, avoidance, or stress, those patterns get reinforced in your brain. Even as you make progress, random flare-ups can appear because your brain is adjusting and rewiring itself. These flares are not caused by emotions, stress, or being “outside” a healing window, they are simply part of the healing journey.

Over time, these flare-ups gradually decrease and eventually stop. Understanding this process can help reduce fear, frustration, and keep you confident as you continue on your path to recovery.

Reference: Alan Gordon

02/27/2026

My chronic pain almost took everything from me.

Three years in, I was bedbound. I couldn’t work. My nervous system was in shutdown. And as a therapist, I felt like I had failed myself.

This is the dark side of chronic pain that people don’t talk about.

One night, desperate for answers, I found a video about healing chronic pain by treating the brain and nervous system using the work of Dr. John Sarno.

Part of me was skeptical. Part of me was angry.
But deep down… something felt true.

That was my spark.

I started reading everything about the mind-body connection. I shifted my beliefs about my body. I practiced somatic work. I moved gently. I lived slowly.

And over time, my brain rewired.
My pain began to dissipate.

Healing didn’t start with certainty.
It started with one small, hopeful spark.

What was (or could be) your healing spark? A post? A book? A conversation? A quiet inner knowing?

Let it grow!
We’re here to help.

02/26/2026

When anxiety rises, the body naturally shifts into survival mode, often making movements faster and more restless.

In this video, I share a simple nervous system technique that focuses on slowing down your movement to signal safety to your brain.

Practicing slow, mindful pacing can help regulate your body, reduce anxiety, and bring you back to a calm and grounded state.

This is an easy and practical tool you can use anytime you feel overwhelmed or anxious.

02/25/2026

What if SAFETY isn’t about calming down… but about what you’re willing to approach?

Neuroplastic pain and symptoms persist when your nervous system is stuck in danger. Avoidance brings temporary calm, but true safety comes from gently turning toward what feels unsafe.

Start small. Approach. Desensitize. Rewire.

Ready for deeper support? Join our online course, MBody Community (link in bio).

02/24/2026

Stop trying to FIX your chronic pain.
Start changing your RESPONSE to it.

The more pressure and urgency you bring to healing, the more danger your nervous system feels and symptoms can increase.

When you shift to curiosity, compassion, slowness, and safety… your system can regulate.
And symptoms can naturally reduce.

I’ve lived this. I’ve seen it with hundreds of clients.

Comment HEAL NOW and I’ll send you a free embodiment practice.

02/23/2026

This is one of the most powerful brain retraining skills to heal chronic pain and illness.

I call it Go From T to S. The goal is simple:
- Reduce your T responses
- Increase your S responses

The T Responses to NOT DO

THINK about it constantly. Monitoring your symptoms, triggers, or what might happen next keeps pain pathways active.

TRY to fix it. Over-researching or constantly using strategies to reduce sensations actually increases pressure and nervous system dysregulation. Symptoms reduce when safety increases, not when we try to control them.

TEST it. Scanning your body, moving in certain ways to check pain, or measuring symptoms feeds threat and attention pathways.

TALK about it all the time. It’s okay to share, but constant symptom talk or reassurance-seeking tells the brain there’s danger.

The S Responses TO DO

STARVE the pain pathway. When you catch yourself focusing on symptoms, gently shift your attention elsewhere, without force or frustration.

SHIFT to safety signals. Use internal safety like slow breathing, somatic movement, soothing touch, or kind self-talk. Or external safety like a pet, nature, music, food, art, or a supportive person.

SHOW your body it’s healthy. Don’t just tell yourself you’re safe, take small actions toward things that matter to you. Action teaches the brain faster than thoughts.

SOMATIC focus. Use embodiment practices with pain and symptoms. Drop into the body, describe sensations, and use safety signals.

STICK to the game plan. Keep treating your symptoms as neuroplastic. Practice consistently. When you get dysregulated, return to safety instead of analysis.

When you consistently practice Go From T to S, something powerful happens. You stop feeding the symptom pathways. The brain starts to feel safe. And over time, symptoms lose their importance and fade.

Address

Suite 300, 160 Quarry Park Boulevard SE
Calgary, AB
T2C3G3

Telephone

+15874387082

Website

https://linktr.ee/painpsychotherapy

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