Pain

The Mind–Body Connection

Having started my career in bodywork, I’ve always been fascinated by how closely our physical and emotional wellbeing are connected. Over the years, I’ve seen how often persistent pain is linked not just to posture or strain, but to the weight of thoughts, emotions, and stress carried in the body.

Tight shoulders, aching necks, and sore lower backs are incredibly common — and not always the result of injury. In fact, research shows that up to 80% of chronic pain has a psychological or stress-related component. When the body stays in a state of alert for too long — worrying, rushing, overthinking, or masking anxiety — the muscles respond by tightening and holding tension. This becomes a protective pattern, often happening without our awareness, as the body’s way of saying “I’m under pressure.”

Our sympathetic nervous system (the fight–flight–freeze response) activates when we feel emotionally unsafe or overwhelmed, releasing stress hormones that prepare the body to react. But when this system stays switched on for too long, those stress chemicals start to take a toll — leading to fatigue, inflammation, headaches, digestive issues, and pain that feels “stuck.”

For those who are neurodivergent, this connection can be even stronger. A sensitive nervous system, sensory overload, or social fatigue can keep the body in a near-constant state of readiness. Over time, this can show up as tension, shallow breathing, poor sleep, or physical exhaustion — even when nothing appears medically “wrong.”

Through Solution Focused Therapy, combined with elements of CBT, NLP, hypnotherapy, and personalised mind–body tools, I help clients calm this internal alarm system and restore a sense of balance. As the mind settles, the body follows — pain softens, sleep improves, and energy returns.

You don’t have to “think” your way out of tension; you simply need the right conditions for your mind and body to reconnect.

Because healing doesn’t always start in the muscles — it often begins in the mind.

“Clare has always told me I hold all of my stress in my back. She’s my massage therapist too. I was a little sceptical but decided to keep an open mind and try a few hypnotherapy sessions with her to help release it. I did all the things Clare asked me to do alongside the sessions which were actually enjoyable and found myself making progress with each session. Clare pointed out a lot of things throughout the sessions that I had not thought of and things really began to make much more sense for me and my understanding increased tremendously. I am happy to say that I have been helped so much by Clare, I’ve had 8 sessions and feel in such a good place that I do not need any more sessions currently. I would not hesitate to return for more sessions in the future. Thank you Clare for persuading me to give it a try. I will always be so grateful to you. You have made a huge difference to my life. TB“

TB no longer suffers the way she did. She is able to disassociate the stresses of work with the tension in her back. She now has firm boundaries in place and works well within them.

“Firstly, in terms of pain relief, I went in open minded, but really unsure as to how a zoom session could aid the chronic pain I have been suffering with for a long time. Having had no experience with hypnotherapy, I was amazed at how instantly at ease Clare made me feel. I was really quite overwhelmed by the way she was able to almost immediately access and get to the heart of resolving these issues. It was a hugely positive experience.

After our session I immediately felt relief in my hip pain, which had reduced to none in my left hip (the one which has recently been most problematic) and now the next day, my hips feel nearly normal. Even better than they did immediately after treatment if that’s possible! The improvement is staggering.

Secondly in terms of Clare’s holistic connection, she absolutely nailed the broader picture and made me see that the chronic and (until recently) multiplying issues I had are very much interlinked. And more importantly that they can be controlled, improved, and possibly even cured.

As someone who days ago scooted round on her bottom picking toys up because my hips hurt so much, today I have been literally bounding up and down the stairs! It’s honestly nothing short of miraculous!” SH

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