All the Resources
That’s right. ALL the resources.
On this page, I have listed all of the resources I found helpful, along with some that other people have found helpful. Some of the resources are duplicates of those found on other pages on this site, and some are only on this page. Some resources are more scientific, others have a spiritual component, and some may be controversial, but unless otherwise noted, I found every resource on here helpful for my recovery. I will continue to add to and build up this page as I come across more helpful books, courses, podcasts, videos, websites, programs, and anything else that I think might help someone recover their health. If you know of a resource that should be added here, please contact me using the form at the bottom of this page.
Comprehensive Websites (with lots of free and paid resources)
Howard Schubiner: Unlearn Your Pain and Freedom from Chronic Pain. Dr. Schubiner is one of the leading doctors and researchers in this space, and so he has books and programs, along with lots of links to scientific resources.
Nicole Sachs and the Cure for Chronic Pain: I started with Nicole’s four-part video introduction (1, 2, 3, 4), and then I binged her podcast. My favorite podcast episodes are the ones where she interviews guests, and those were the motivation I needed to believe this work would cure me. Her website also has a lot of resources and programs, most of which I didn’t use, but a lot of people have found her work helpful, so I recommend looking through it and giving some of it a try if it seems like the right fit for you.
Dani Fagan and My TMS Journey: Dani’s resources on her My TMS Journey site are amazing. She clearly lays out everything you need to have a solid JournalSpeak practice and she explains what makes JournalSpeak different from normal journaling. Dani has also put together some excellent resources and expert lists for healing from chronic conditions.
Alan Gordon and brain retraining: Alan’s brain retraining guidance was critical to my recovery. I had the emotional stuff down and was journaling religiously, but I needed the brain retraining component to help address my fear of the symptoms.
He has this program on the TMS Wiki page that I used to learn about brain retraining, and then I also found this one of his that looks useful. I also really loved his podcast, which is a short series that walks you through how to retrain your brain. He also has a book, The Way Out.
TMS Wiki: The TMS Wiki site has a ton of information and resources that provide information about mindbody issues.
Books
Dr. John Sarno is the original mind-body doctor, though is work focused primarily on back pain and chronic pain. His work inspired the work of many others listed on this page. His books are helpful for understanding that this stuff works , and supposedly there are people who recovered just from reading about his theories (I was not one of those people, and I’m skeptical that they really exist). I found the books helpful, but they don’t tell you how to do the work.
Back in Control: A Surgeon’s Roadmap out of Chronic Pain, a book by Dr. David Hanscom that I found helpful.
Living Like You Mean It: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want: by Ronald J. Fredrick: this book was a turning point for me in understand how and why to feel my emotions. (not sure why it’s listed in the Christian section. I don’t remember anything religious in it and the author is a clinical psychologist.)
Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind: by Judson Brewer. Although this is about anxiety, the techniques apply to all the work described on this site.
Between Us: How Cultures Create Emotions: by Batja Mesquita. Not necessarily helpful for recovery, but an interesting way to think about feelings, the people around us, and our societal influences.
Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions: by Johann Hari. A powerful book about depression and our interaction with others.
Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma: The Innate Capacity to Transform Overwhelming Experiences: by Peter Levine. A classic on how the body holds onto and releases trauma.
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma: by Bessel Van Der Kolk. Another classic on the health impact of trauma that gets trapped in the body.
When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection: by Gabor Maté. Yet another classic on the health impacts of unprocessed stress and trauma.
The Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) books: by Elaine Aron. I read a couple of these and they helped, although, because I also have the high-sensation-seeking trait, it’s harder for me to relate to the traditional HSP.
Thrill: The High Sensation Seeking Highly Sensitive Person by Tracy Cooper
Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself: by Kristin Neff. This was one of those life-changing books for me that helped trigger a big shift in my recovery.
Unconditional Self-Acceptance and There Is Nothing Wrong With You: Going Beyond Self-Hate by Cheri Huber: Huber’s work was really helpful for me in understanding self-acceptance, self-compassion, and inner child.
Daring to Rest by Karen Brody: Her yoga nidra programs were helpful and I use them a ton, but they’re designed for women.
Feeding Your Demons by Tsultrim Allione: This was a really interesting take on how to talk to and release issues that are manifesting in the body as chronic pain and illness. I didn’t follow the guidance exactly, but rather I used my JournalSpeak sessions to have these “conversations with my demons.”
Shamanic Meditations by Sandra Ingerman (I listened to the full audiobook , which included descriptions and explanations through the library, and then I purchased just the meditations.)
The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton
Your Body Is Your Subconscious Mind, Psychosomatic Wellness, To Feel Go(o)d, and Molecules of Emotion: Why You Feel the Way You Feel: all by Candace Pert who was a groundbreaking scientist who, among other things, discovered the brain’s opiate receptor.
Eastern Body, Western Mind: Psychology and the Chakra System as a Path to the Self: by Anodea Judith. I found many of Judith’s books and chakra meditations to be helpful for learning to be in touch with my body.
Awakening Kundalini by Lawrence Edwards: This is closely connected to my experience with chakra meditations, and Edwards has a very calming voice that was soothing to listen to.
Dying to Be Me: My Journey from Cancer, to Near Death, to True Healing: by Anita Moorjani: a story of a near-death experience and a suggestion about how powerful and harmful fear is in the body.
Reginald Ray, Buddhist Teacher:
After I had my intense experience warding of a headache with hours of deep breathing, I wanted to learn more and didn’t know where to turn or even what to look up. Ray’s book on Tantra Buddhism was available on my library app. The content of the book was interesting to lay in bed and listen to, but I really loved the full-length somatic meditations that are included in the book. I’d never done somatic meditation before, and I consistently felt better after every meditation. This is what got me started on my somatic journey, long before I learned about the emotional work. His website also provides some excellent, free somatic meditations that I listened to almost daily for quite a while. Then I discovered his audio book, Somatic Descent , also through my library app, and that was life changing. The meditations in that book proved especially relevant when I started learning to “talk” to my symptoms to better tap into whatever repressed thoughts and emotions were triggering the symptoms.
Last I checked, he has a collection of meditations on Insight Timer. But I have now purchased the full book of Somatic Descent, as well as an audio version of just the meditations from the Tantra Buddhism book, called Meditating with the Body . They’re amazing, and I still use the meditations regularly. He has a lot of other resources, and I’ve liked many of them, but for me, the ones linked here were game changers. (All of my links here are to SoundsTrue, which is more expensive than other platforms, but I like their app and how they format the audiobooks so that I can easily pull out the meditations.)
Videos
Therapy in a Nutshell : My favorite video is the one she does about shaking and releasing trauma.
Qigong videos by Mimi Kuo Deemer: These days, I’m a sucker for videos I get to buy and own rather than always paying a subscription, and she has great qigong sessions for sale for both classic Qigong practices as well as her own creations that are designed for healing. She also has other resources on her website that are helpful, but I liked the Qigong videos best.
Yoqi: This is an excellent collection of videos that are a mix of qigong and yoga, and I found them to be fairly accessible when I was starting to try to move again. I paid for a subscription for a while, but her free yin yoga videos were some of my favorites.
Apps
Curable app: This is a paid app, but it’s not very expensive, and a lot of people swear by the app. I haven’t used it because I didn’t like the interface, and by the time I discovered it, I was healed enough that I didn’t need it. Based on the feedback of others, if I’d still been sick when I came across the app, I would have paid for it and dealt with my dislike of the interface.
Meditative Mind is an app that I use to this day. It features calming music for sleep, sound healing and meditation. I absolutely love it for the deep relaxations I do lying down. I would often have one device playing music from Meditative Mind, while another device played a meditation or a soothing audiobook. As with Insight Timer, some sounds help me enter a deep relaxation and others are terrible for me, so there’s a little bit of time finding the right sounds, but I found it to be worth the effort. This is also one that I do pay a subscription fee for, but I think the free version of the app is fine and a lot of the music is available for free on YouTube.
Insight Timer is a meditation app that has so many meditative resources. I relied on it heavily while I was sick and learning how to meditate. The biggest issue I ran into is that there are so many meditations and music and informational sessions that it can be a little overwhelming to find the right one. But when I found the helpful meditations and teachers, I could just keep going back to them as often as I wanted. The free version was really great while I used it, but I also paid for a subscription for a year–mostly because I wanted to support the app. I don’t do guided meditations very often anymore, and when I do, I use a few meditations I’ve purchased, so it’s been a couple of years since I’ve used this.
Qigong app by Jeffery Chand: He has a ton of Qigong sessions geared mostly toward people who are recovering from illness, and he does a great job explaining the movement and what the movements are helping with. There is a subscription fee, but I thought it was worth it.
Helpful Web Pages
Are you a highly sensitive person (HSP)? The quiz by Elaine Aron is part of a website that also has other useful information about HSPs.
Somatic Experiencing: I haven’t tried the programs, but I think the site has some useful information about how we store and can release trauma.
Attachment Styles quiz by Diane Poole Heller
Paid Programs
I can’t vouch for any of these programs, but others seem to have had success with them. Some of these sites/people have also put together their own free resources that many people have found helpful during their recovery processes, so I recommend checking those out.
Dan Buglio: Some of his other free resources. Last I checked, he focuses more on fear of emotions and doesn’t do as much with emotional work.
Rebecca Tolin: Some of her other free resources.
Lightening Process: This is more about symptoms and doesn’t include emotional work.
Trauma Healing Accelerated with Dr. Aimie Apigian
Is something missing from this list? Let me know here:
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