A Practical, Gentle, and Empathetic Approach to Pain Where do you turn when medication and medical treatments do not relieve persistent, debilitating pain? What can you do when pain interferes with work, family, and social life and you no longer feel like the person you used to be? Relying on firsthand experience with severe nerve pain, author Sarah Anne Shockley accompanies you on your journey through pain and offers compassionate, practical advice to ease difficult emotions and address lifestyle challenges. Her approach helps reduce the toll that living in pain takes on relationships, self-image, and well-being while cultivating greater ease and resilience on a daily basis. Dozens of accessible, uplifting practices guide you every step of the way from a life overcome by pain to a life of greater comfort and peace. The Pain Companion also offers profound insights for medical practitioners and invaluable guidance for anyone who loves or cares for others in pain.

Introduction PART 1: PAIN MOVES IN Chapter 1 Life Taken Over by Pain Chapter 2 The Submersion of the Self Chapter 3 When Pain Won't Leave Chapter 4 Feeling Bad About Feeling Bad PART 2: THE EMOTIONAL LIFE OF CHRONIC PAIN Chapter 5 Pain's Emotional Traps Chapter 6 Guilt and Shame Chapter 7 Anger and Blame Chapter 8 Victimization and Powerlessness Chapter 9 Fear, Anxiety, and Stress Chapter 10 Isolation and Loneliness Chapter 11 Invisibility and Silence Chapter 12 Physical and Emotional Exhaustion Chapter 13 Sadness and Loss PART 3: MEDITATIVE APPROACHES TO PHYSICAL PAIN Chapter 14 Discovering Pain's Purpose Chapter 15 The Body Made Wrong Chapter 16 Finding a New Approach Chapter 17 Communicating with Pain Chapter 18 Soothing the Wild Animal Chapter 19 Introduction to Meditative Exercises Chapter 20 Releasing Breath Chapter 21 Unlocking Contraction Chapter 22 Paying Attention to Pain Chapter 23 Shifting Your Relationship to Pain Chapter 24 Loving the Places that Hurt Chapter 25 Imaging Pain's Form Chapter 26 Giving Pain What It Wants Chapter 27 Writing Pain a Letter of Complaint Chapter 28 Pain As Messenger Chapter 29 Telling Pain Your Story Chapter 30 Listening to Pain PART 4: WHEN PAIN IS THE TEACHER Chapter 31 Resistance Is Futile Chapter 32 Having Compassion for Yourself Chapter 33 What I Learned From Pain Chapter 34 The Nature of True Healing Chapter 35 Enlisting Pain as an Ally Chapter 36 You Are Not Your Pain Chapter 37 Some Concluding Thoughts