You’re Not Broken
If you’re living with symptoms that no test can explain; pain, fatigue, muscle tension, pots, fibromyalgia, digestion issues, anxiety, insomnia or other symptoms – it can be hard to trust your body. You may feel like something must be missing… or worse, that something in you is beyond repair.
But what if your body isn’t failing… what if it’s communicating? What if your symptoms are signals that are part of a call to heal in a new way?
This is the invitation at the heart of Dr. John Sarno’s work. His approach has helped tens of thousands of people (possibly hundreds of thousands) recover from chronic symptoms by showing them something that changes everything:
Your symptoms may be intense, but they’re not caused by structural damage. And this means that recovery is possible using Mindbody techniques.
The Cause of Symptoms according to Sarno
Sarno’s work began with people in a chronic pain clinic, but his discoveries now resonate with many navigating chronic fatigue syndrome, IBS, nerve symptoms, and more. His patients had often tried everything, from physiotherapy to surgery, and yet the symptoms remained… or symptoms went away and then “came back.” And through this new approach something shifted: not in their body at first, but in their understanding.
Sarno introduced the idea in the 1980s that chronic symptoms can come from buried stressors and hidden emotional tensions rather than physical or structural problems. The theory is that these buried and hidden stressors are there because they have had no safe outlet in the past. He called this theory TMS (originally for Tension Myositis Syndrome, now known as The Mindbody Syndrome).
Your attention is Important for Rewiring
Many of us have spent years focusing on symptoms: tracking them, fearing them, trying to fix them. And one of the first steps in working with The Mindbody Syndrome (TMS) is to begin to try to make a shift in where we place our attention.
Reframing where we place our attention needs support. It is extremely difficult to stop focussing on something that feels incredibly painful, or very uncomfortable, and sometimes very scarey. So Sarno created “Daily Reminders” and I have used his reminders to inspire some affirmations for you.
Key Sarno Daily Reminders
Dr. John Sarno created Daily Reminders to support the process of mind-body recovery – helping people remember, every day, that symptoms are not a sign of structural damage. Here below are two key daily reminders that many find foundational on their recovery journey:
The pain is due to TMS, not to a structural abnormality.
Dr Sarno suggests that if your pain or symptoms persist, you might consider that what you’re experiencing is not coming from a broken body. These chronic symptoms are not imagined. They are deeply felt and real. But they are a sign of internal pressure that needs rewiring, rather than physical injury.
I will shift my attention from the symptoms (pain) to the emotional issues.
Once you begin to believe that your body isn’t the problem, the next step is learning where to place your attention. This daily reminder from Sarno means getting curious about what is beneath the symptoms; the hidden stressors and buried patterns that may be driving the condition.
Affirmations to Anchor You
Inspired by the daily reminders, I have created affirmations that you can use to help this become part of your rewiring. Choose one or two to begin putting these daily reminders in place and create new neural pathways in your brain.
See if you can write one down, and put it where you will see it. Say it out loud every day:
- My symptoms are not dangerous; they’re messages.
- I am learning that this is temporary.
- I don’t need to rush anymore; I’m starting to rewire.
Use these words regularly – holding the vision of possibility and hope, to help you when you forget.
Final Thoughts
Symptoms can feel like they’ve taken over your life; I know this from personal experience. But these symptoms do not define you. They are not your destiny. They are a chapter, not the whole story. And this moment; right here, right now, could be the beginning of a new chapter.
If this resonates, there is a lot of support here for you on this mindbody healing path:
👉 Explore the Resources Section of this website for somatic tools, meditations to rebalance your nervous system, and articles to help you rewire.
👉 Book a Mind-Body-Spirit Coaching Session if you’re ready to make changes with expert guidance.
You don’t have to do this alone.
You don’t have to do it perfectly.
You just have to begin.
With care and warmth,
Amari 💗
