Rewire your mind-body response to your persistent pain — using a diverse toolkit of mindfulness techniques, gentle movement exercises, and stress-reduction strategies.
Did you know that pain is NOT solely a physical phenomenon? Or that it’s not caused entirely by aging, misalignment, a slipped disc, or bad posture?
And, that your thoughts, memories, and beliefs have a huge influence on how you experience pain?
In other words, pain is in your brain.
Think about stories you've heard of people who have lost a limb but continue to feel pain in that missing extremity. Phantom limb pain occurs when the brain and nervous system misfire and send signals of pain to the missing limb.
Throughout his impressive career, pioneering craniosacral bodyworker and teacher Steve Haines has worked with thousands of clients to overcome their chronic pain. In this course, Steve will begin by explaining how pain is created and maintained by the nervous system — and equip you to significantly lessen your own pain by mastering effective strategies, tools, and techniques.
Pain is strange, says Steve — it’s even the title of his celebrated book — and it goes far beyond “issues in the tissues.” Managing or alleviating your chronic pain can feel difficult or impossible when few people understand how it really works.
The truth is, pain is a protective reflex. If your nervous system continues to perceive that you’re in danger, trauma gets lodged in the body and pain signals persist. Once your brain realizes you’re safe, as you implement a variety of mind-body practices into your life to soothe your nervous system, your pain goes down.
Join Steve for a 7-week course as he shares the latest in modern pain science, mindfulness techniques, somatic movement exercises, and stress-reduction practices to effectively address persistent pain.
When Steve was receiving his chiropractic training decades ago, he found that the purely structural models of pain he’d learned weren’t comprehensive enough. It put a cap on how much he was able to help his patients...
With a background in yoga, shiatsu, and biodynamic craniosacral therapy, Steve developed and refined his own trailblazing approach that’s already helped thousands around the world.
Dive into Steve’s rich scientific work as he guides you to disassemble, piece by piece, the way you’ve come to think about pain — and empowers you to rewire your mind-body response to it.
You’ll map your body so you can understand it more fully, and ultimately find your way out of pain as you come to understand why you experience it — so you can unlearn your mind’s old habits.
In this 7-week live video course, you’ll explore:
- Weekly movement and mindfulness practices for empowering you to address complex pain using Steve’s holistic approach
- How to unravel the interconnected web of physical, emotional, and psychological factors that influence your pain experience
- The latest scientific research to help you address even your most persistent pain
- Skills and practices for mindfully paying attention to your pain with a sense of curiosity so you can ultimately transform it
- Retelling the story of your past experiences and current perspectives to help you ease your pain and cultivate a pain-free mindset going forward
- Gentle movement and self-touch exercises for helping you feel more connected to yourself as you become more optimistic about movement — and less afraid of pain
- Tools for reducing your inflammation so that joyful movement comes naturally
- Easing back pain with techniques to adapt, move, and experience your emotions differently
- Movement practices to ease joint pain in your hips, knees, and shoulders
- Uncoupling stress from your feelings to reduce headaches
What You’ll Discover in These 7 Weeks
In this 7-week transformational course, Steve will guide you through the fundamental skills and competencies you’ll need to successfully recalibrate yourself away from pain using the latest scientific findings combined with weekly movement and mindfulness practices.
Join the Livestream — or Stream Later to Watch at Your Convenience
You’ll connect with Steve and experience his teachings through livestreaming video via any connected device. This connection is easy to use and will enhance the impact of Steve’s transmissions. Can’t make it live? After each class, you can stream the video and audio recordings to enjoy anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Weekly Sessions Thursdays at 9:00am Pacific
This course will feature LIVE teachings, interactive sessions, experiential practices, and Q&A with Steve. Each session will build harmoniously upon the previous ones, so you’ll develop a complete holistic understanding of the practices, tools, and principles you’ll need for pain prevention and management using self-regulation exercises and cultivating a pain-free mindset.
Module 1: Explore Intense Sensations in Your Body With Curiosity to Better Understand the Complexities of Your Pain (July 18)
As this journey begins, Steve will explain how the science of pain has changed significantly in the last two decades — uncovering lots of good news about how you have the power to change your pain experience.
Steve will guide you to explore big questions, including how to define pain and what’s really happening when something hurts.
As Steve will explain, pain is best understood as a protective feeling to the perception of danger. Understanding and embracing the complexity of pain can lead to effective strategies for overcoming it.
You’ll learn how the skill of mindfully paying attention to how you feel is a central tool in understanding your pain.
In this opening module, you’ll explore:
- A key insight: pain is a protective reflex, not an accurate measure of tissue damage
- The fundamentals of modern pain science
- Skills for investigating intense sensations with curiosity rather than fear
- How to become more optimistic about moving your body, using gentle movement and self-touch exercises for helping you feel more connected
- Self-brushing and self-squeezing as simple tools for connecting to the size, shape, and weight of your limbs
- How to develop a felt sense of resources and presence
Module 2: Reframing Your Pain Story to Cultivate a Pain-Free Mindset (July 25)
You now know that pain always involves emotion and meaning. There is always a backstory...
Learning to accept the difficult stories linked to your pain, and reframing why you think you hurt, will change your pain experience.
The science of mindset — the study of all the prior experiences and attitudes you hold inside — can make a big difference in understanding your pain.
You might be surprised at how your thoughts, memories, and beliefs are framing your experience of chronic pain. How you understand and describe your pain is deeply important.
You’ll learn how to harness the protective power of inflammation.
Steve will also guide you to look at how your nervous system can become sensitized to this new information you’re learning.
In this module, you’ll explore:
- How to tell your pain story to establish a feeling of being safe
- Finding safe metaphors that can help you heal
- How you can develop a pain-free mindset
- The mindfulness practice of open monitoring, or trying to become aware of awareness
- Movements for raising your heart rate and feeling your blood flow, learning how you respond to some mildly intense sensations
Module 3: Tools for Reducing Inflammation and Making Joy & Movement Your Default Responses (August 1)
Inflammation, a protective reflex of the immune system, is a major player in persistent pain.
As Steve will explain, the immune, hormone, digestive, and nervous systems all secrete informational chemicals that can change the environment in the body as well as every cell.
Dysfunction at the fluid-chemical-cellular level of these systems creates an environment in the body that leads to sensitization, inflammation, and pain.
Understanding how your cells grow and connect according to their environment is crucial to reducing pain and inflammation.
For example, if you practice pain, you’ll get better at pain — and if you practice joy and movement, they can become your default response and reduce inflammation within your body’s ecosystems.
Managing stress, sleep, diet, and breath are all tools for creating more harmony and balance in the body and managing or alleviating chronic pain.
In this module, you’ll explore:
- Insights into how feeling safe and settled will soothe your immune system
- How to use painkillers safely (when you need to)
- A special meditative awareness practice for breath and the power of slow, gentle breathing
- How muscles secrete anti-inflammatory chemicals while fat cells secrete pro-inflammatory chemicals
- How the right doses of movement will reduce inflammation
Module 4: Ways to Adapt, Move & Experience Emotions to Ease Your Back Pain (August 8)
The issue of low back pain cannot be ignored, as it is the leading cause of disability globally.
— World Health Organization
Back pain is incredibly common.
It’s often persistent, negatively impacting your ability to participate in family, social, and work activities. It can also worsen your mental health.
Unfortunately, there are also many myths around back pain. For instance, did you know you can’t only blame getting old, being misaligned, slipped discs, bad posture, or lifting with a bent back for your back pain?
Steve will explain ways to adapt, move, and feel in a way that makes you feel less afraid of intense sensations in your back.
You’ll explore how back pain, even the worst lingering pain, is more often about your protective systems working too hard.
In this module, you’ll explore:
- Myths and facts about back pain
- What science actually says about lifting objects — including that you should bend your back
- Why you don’t need to worry about how you sit or your posture, but you should worry about holding fixed positions and not moving
- New models to help you better understand your amazing, adaptable, and resilient spine
- Mindfulness techniques to connect to the whole spine
- Simple movements for promoting a strong back
Module 5: Techniques for Easing Joint Pain in Your Hips, Knees & Shoulders (August 15)
Arthritis can be scary. If it’s an issue for you, you may worry that your joints are wearing out.
Steve will share ways to keep your joints healthy, whether or not you’ve been told you’re arthritic. (Many of us have arthritic signs on imaging but we have no pain.)
Knee arthritis is the most common form of osteoarthritis (OA). Steve will present an amazing set of studies on knee and hip OA that reveal hopeful findings if you’re among those who’ve been told they need to replace their joints.
You’ll learn how arthritis is primarily an inflammatory condition — not a wear and tear, biomechanical issue. This condition responds well to exercise and to a deeper understanding of pain as a protective feeling.
In this module, you’ll explore:
- Accurate up-to-date information on joint health
- How you can embrace the metaphor “motion is lotion” and leave behind the notion that “bone on bone” is an issue
- Meditative awareness tools for tuning into the potency and power in joints
- Simple graded movements for building strong and resilient knees
- How to find joy and delight in challenging your shoulders to develop strength and flexibility
Module 6: Release Stuck Patterns in Your Muscles With Practices for Gaining Control of Pain in Your Head & Neck (August 22)
Steve will present the latest findings in pain science for a rich and detailed look at one of the most common health complaints: headaches.
By uncoupling stress and trauma defense responses from feelings in your head, it is possible to significantly reduce the incidence of headaches.
One cause of headaches is neck tension. Many people report feeling fragile when they think about their necks.
You’ll discover a powerful tool: slow head-turning to release defense patterns locked in the head and neck region. By understanding the orienting reflex, you’ll gain control of stuck patterns in the head and neck region.
In this module, you’ll:
- Learn to be less scared of intense sensations in the head and neck
- Understand how trauma can affect blood flow to the head and create chronic neck tension
- Engage in meditative awareness as you feel all the spaces and cavities in your head — there is more to feel than you probably think!
- Learn how your head works, developing a relationship to the spaces and connections in your head, neck, and jaw
- Practice movement exercises including slow head-turning and reprogramming protective reflexes
Module 7: Review & Reinforce the Core Principles of Modern Pain Science So You Can Implement Them in Your Daily Life (August 29)
As this course comes to a close, Steve will guide you to consider how you can apply the principles you’ve learned to any painful experience — including abdominal pain, period pain, chest pain, and more.
You’ll explore more tools for uncovering your hidden feelings and delving into hard questions and issues in your life to help you overcome what’s commonly misunderstood as physical pain.
You’ll review the big picture of the models of suffering and pain you’ve learned about throughout the course.
You’ll learn powerful tools to help you return to being playful and finding joy, safety, and connection to your body. These tools include movement, staying in touch with your feelings, and staying up-to-date on your pain management knowledge.
In this final module, you’ll:
- Strengthen your understanding of the bridge between pain and trauma
- Discover the power of finding the hidden parts of your body — and switching on the bits that are absent and quiet, rather than endlessly trying to switch off the noisy, painful parts
- Deepen your meditation skills and practice open monitoring of your sensations as they arise
- Reconnect to squatting, crawling, twisting, and jumping as you move like a playing child to find ease and confidence in your body
- Learn some closing movements and principles to help you feel strong and pain-free
The Transform Your Pain With Mindful Somatic Movement Bonus Offering
In addition to Steve’s transformative 7-week online course, you’ll receive this special bonus offering to complement the course and take your understanding and practice to an even deeper level.
Why Is Embodiment a Good Thing?
Video Teaching With Steve Haines
Sometimes it’s easy to disconnect and numb yourself to the anxiety and pain you feel in your body. Steve’s 30-minute video teaching will give you a deeper appreciation for the power of feeling every sensation in our bodies (yes, even the difficult ones!) along with simple, safe steps to become more skillful at regulating them. By embracing the complex, messy world of feeling, you can change your pain experience.
5 Ways to Overcome Pain
PDF Guide From Steve Haines
This 5-page article explores Steve’s insightful approach to overcoming pain and trauma. Explore the non-linear journey to recovery and the importance of balancing challenge with rest. Steve delves into practical strategies for building resilience and redefining your relationship with pain. Follow along with these five key strategies for overcoming pain, with simple tips, tools, and follow-up resources outlined in the article.
What Graduates of Steve’s Courses Are Saying...
“This is one of the most amazing courses I have ever taken.”
This is one of the most amazing courses I have ever taken. Not only did I learn a tremendous amount about the nervous system from Steve, but the stuff that he taught worked better than anything I have ever tried for coming out of dissociation and being in my body. I now have the skills to relax and be embodied in a way I have never been before in my life.
Jonathan, Chevy Chase, Maryland
“This is one of the VERY BEST classes I have ever taken, period.”
My body is starting to unthaw. Didn’t notice until I took this class how frozen and disconnected from my body I have been. This is one of the VERY BEST classes I have ever taken, period. I want all body workers, mental health therapists, healers and community leaders to have this information.
Brenda, Lake Oswego, Oregon
“The TRE technique is remarkably simple and accessible.”
TRE has helped me understand the physiology of tension and trauma. The TRE technique is remarkably simple and accessible. I appreciate the lifetime access to the videos. I plan to watch them again because so much valuable information was presented. Thank you for a great course.
Leah, Boston, Massachusetts
“Truly a gift!!”
I have experienced healing on a deeper level overall with improvements in flexibility, digestion, circulation and a sense of profound calming overall. As a woman of color, the session on appeasement was deeply gratifying; Steve handled this topic with much sensitivity and respect. I had a level of healing for long-time, deeply held feelings that were finally given space for exploration. Truly a gift!!
— Lescine, Canada
“Steve is a gifted instructor who makes a complex topic enjoyable...”
Steve is a gifted instructor who makes a complex topic enjoyable, easy to digest, and has the ability to hold incredible space that allows us to feel safe, seen, and understood.
Heather, Rincon, Georgia
Join the Global Community
Transform Your Pain With Mindful Somatic Movement offers some of the most transformational online teachings available, within a thriving global community of learning and practice.
Join fellow students and practitioners to support and inspire each other as you integrate the teachings and practices Steve Haines will share in this powerful program.
You’ll join an international community on the leading edge of manifesting a world grounded in the principles of cooperation, harmony, and reverence for all of life.
Here’s What You’ll Receive
Seven 90-Minute Class Sessions With Steve Haines
Experience a unique opportunity to be mentored by and learn from bodyworker (TRE®, Craniosacral, Chiropractic), teacher, and author Steve Haines — from the comfort of your own home. Each class session includes a livestreaming video option and will guide you to rewire your mind-body response to your persistent pain with a diverse toolkit of holistic strategies. Course sessions are on Thursdays at 9:00am Pacific.
Seven Video Recordings of Class Sessions
After each class, the video will be available for you to stream in a high-quality format. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can watch anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Seven Audio Recordings of Class Sessions
After each class, the audio will be available for you to stream. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can listen anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Seven Transcripts of Class Sessions
You’ll also receive the entire class transcription after each session is completed. You can then review, print, and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.
Seven 30-Minute Interactive Group Practice Sessions
With live class attendance, there will be a 30-minute optional interactive practice session directly following each class. You’ll be placed in an intimate group with several other participants on the Zoom call to interact, share, and do additional practices to help you further integrate the weekly lessons. Practice sessions are not recorded for playback; if you’re unable to attend the live sessions, the Facebook online community group allows you to connect with each other and find alternative times to interact.
Interactive Exercises and Questions for Each Lesson
Between class sessions, you’ll have the option of completing related exercises, practicing new tools, and answering questions to accelerate your learning and integrate each week’s lesson.
Online Community
Our exclusive Facebook online community is the perfect place to continue your discovery process after each class. Here, you can continue the discussion about your course materials and interact with your fellow students to take your exploration to an even deeper level.
The Transform Your Pain With Mindful Somatic Movement Bonus Offering
- Why Is Embodiment a Good Thing?
Video Teaching With Steve Haines - 5 Ways to Overcome Pain
PDF Guide From Steve Haines
An Unprecedented Opportunity to Join the Online Course, Transform Your Pain With Mindful Somatic Movement
We feel honored that Steve Haines has chosen to partner with The Shift Network to offer this exclusive LIVE online course. This is a unique opportunity to interact directly with a bodyworker (TRE®, Craniosacral, Chiropractic), teacher, and author whose powerful insights and pioneering work are helping us heal and awaken ourselves and our world.
If you’re serious about exploring mindfulness techniques, somatic movement exercises, and stress-reduction practices to effectively address persistent pain, then you owe it to yourself, your loved ones, and our world to take this one-of-a-kind program.
If you’re ready to take the next step in your own evolution, click the register button below to reserve your space now.
Your Satisfaction Is 100% Guaranteed!
Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed! If you don’t absolutely LOVE Transform Your Pain With Mindful Somatic Movement — or don’t feel that it meets your needs — please submit your refund request form on or before August 1, 2024 and we’ll happily issue qualifying customers a refund.
More Praise for Steve Haines...
“I really appreciated Steve’s skills, knowledge, grounding, and embodiment.”
Great teaching! I really appreciated Steve’s skills, knowledge, grounding, and embodiment.
— Emmanuelle Rosa, somatic experiencing practitioner, physiotherapist, and acupuncturist
“I found Steve to be a fantastic teacher.”
I understood in a different way what it means to be grounded. I found Steve to be a fantastic teacher. I liked his sense of humor and the way he made the group enjoyable.
Silvia Rosales Harrigan, teacher
“It was extremely pleasurable and I felt it was something that put me in touch with the essence of my nature.”
I noticed a build-up of my own natural energy as a result of losing nervous system energy. And also a great sense of bliss. It was extremely pleasurable and I felt it was something that put me in touch with the essence of my nature.
Hilary Austin, bioenergetics therapist
“... it just helps to free things up that for some crazy reason we have held on to.”
TRE comes in below the psychological, below our cultural level — it comes right in underneath the radar and it just helps to free things up that for some crazy reason we have held on to.
Tim Kirkpatrick, meditation teacher and craniosacral therapist
About Steve Haines
Steve Haines, a bodyworker for more than 20 years, is the author of the award-winning Anxiety Is Really Strange, part of a series of graphic books that include Pain Is Really Strange, Trauma Is Really Strange, and Touch Is Really Strange.
Understanding the science of pain and trauma transformed Steve’s approach to healing. He has studied Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE®), yoga, Shiatsu, and Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST), and teaches TRE and BCST all over the world. His treatments use education, embodied awareness, and light touch to help people move more freely and be more present.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What’s a virtual course?
A: It’s a great way to engage with live and pre-recorded teachings and each other from the comfort of your home! All you need is any connected device. We use Zoom video conferencing to make it just like an in-person event, where you can ask questions and deepen your exploration of the course themes.
Q: Can I still benefit from the course if I miss the live classes?
A: Absolutely! You can stream the recordings and download the transcripts of all course sessions, so you never need to worry about missing live calls. You can also engage with the full community and leaders in our private online community group.
Q: Can you tell me about the private online community group?
A: We’ll have a private online community group for all course participants on Facebook that will support you in making connections with others, sharing insights, engaging in discussions, and completing homework assignments that can supplement your transformational journey. You’ll have the ability to share your experiences, projects, and growth throughout the course.
Q: Are there scholarships available for this training?
A: Yes, we always make a certain percentage of spaces available for partial scholarships, for those who otherwise would not be able to enroll at the regular rate. If you’d like to apply for a scholarship, please review our guidelines, which include a link to our online application form.
Q: What’s your refund policy?
A: Your satisfaction with The Shift Network and this course is our highest priority! We offer a satisfaction guarantee so that you can sample the course risk-free. The deadline to receive a full refund is August 1, 2024. To request a refund, please click on this refund request form and submit your request. Qualifying refunds will be processed within five business days and an email confirming the refund will be sent. However, we’d love to have a chance to address and resolve your concerns first. If there’s something we can assist you with, please email us at support@theshiftnetwork.com and we’ll be happy to help! (No refund requests accepted after the above date or with scholarship awards.)
Q: How can I reach Customer Support?
A: Please visit our Customer Support Center, where you should be able to find the answer to your question or the solution to your problem. And if you can’t, you can submit an online request form and we’ll get right back to you.
