In this digital course, you will follow 4 people who are struggling with chronic pain as they are coached in a group setting over four weeks. Dr. Amy Johnson and Change Coach Kjersti Ostvik support the group as they come to see themselves and their experience of pain in a radically new way.
Amy and Kjersti will also debrief each group coaching session without the participants present, pulling out key themes and things to take note of from each session.
If you are struggling with chronic pain, watching other people being coached through their experience is an incredible way to see things in a brand new way.
You get over 10 hours of content in this course.
In the Thriving With Chronic Pain
Course, You’ll See More About:
The way pain can look either structural/physical or “all in your head”, and how that distinction isn’t particularly helpful. Pain is always a real experience.
How chronic pain is a “love letter”, relaying helpful information and pointing you back toward your nature.
How our experience of anything in life, including chronic pain, is far more fluid and subjective than it may appear.
Specific issues that often come up for people dealing with chronic pain such as the exhausting search for answers, self-blame, coping strategies, and resistance.
The simple misunderstandings that underlie all suffering, and the truth beyond those misunderstandings.
And much, much more
Thriving With Chronic Pain Is
Perfect for You If:
You’re struggling with chronic pain and you’d love to see things in a new way.
You’re ready to take a break from talking about pain! You’re ready to be a fly-on-the-wall while others share, knowing that you can learn so much from their experience.
You’ve tried several things to shift your own experience of pain and nothing has helped.
You are, or would like to be, a coach who supports others through issues like chronic pain and coping habits, and you want to see more about how Dr. Amy and Kjersti work with people from the no-willpower approach.
What’s Inside the
Thriving With Chronic Pain Course?
Video 1 – Introduction
Dr. Amy and Kjersti share information about how the four participants were chosen, their philosophy around helping people find freedom with chronic pain, and their expectations for the four weeks with the group. Amy and Kjersti will leave you with some things to notice and listen for as you watch the coaching sessions unfold.
Video 2 – Session #1
In our first session, the women have questions about whether their pain is psychological (“all in their head”) versus structural, versus some combination of the two. Most of them view pain in a very personal way, as if it’s their fault and as if having the right insight or mindset would make them pain-free. The women largely identify with each other as “worriers”, having a history of negative self-talk, and not feeling safe in the world. We leave the first session considering: What if there is nothing wrong or broken? What if pain is simply the way their mind/body is working and it is not problematic?
Video 3 – Session #1 Discussion
Amy and Kjersti share their observations and comments on the first group session.
Video 4 – Session #2
Many of the women report experiencing some change in their pain since Session #1. They are noticing the sensations their mind calls pain in a new way. The main theme of this session is looking at what feelings and thoughts actually are, and truly feeling what’s there. So much pain comes from resisting the thoughts and sensations that arise. We discuss how pain is not solid–it is always in motion, not a static “thing” that it appears to be. Some of the women talk about seeing how their pain is a way their mind is protecting them from other things that look like threats. We discuss how the head protects the heart.
Video 5 – Session #2 Discussion
Amy and Kjersti share their observations and comments on the second group session.
Video 6 – Session #3
n our third session, the participants still want to mentally see their way through how to manage their pain, discussing what’s okay and not okay to do. Amy and Kjersti try to zoom the participants out to see things in a bigger way. Kjersti talked about how an ulcer she was told she’d deal with for life has resolved. She discussed how even “pain loops” in the brain are not as solid as they appear. We also discuss using food and other habits as comfort.
Video 7 – Session #3 Discussion
Amy and Kjersti share their observations and comments on the third group session.
Video 8 – Session #4
By our fourth session, all four of the women are reporting feeling some increased space between themselves and their thoughts and feelings. They are noticing how their mind narrates the sensations they feel and how that creates their experience of pain. We revisit the idea of pain being a love letter from life, and what that means to each of them. We discuss how it’s possible to have pain without suffering. All four women are now able to deeply see that that’s possible at this point in their journey.
Video 9 – Session #4 Discussion
Amy and Kjersti share their observations and comments on the fourth group session.
Video 10 – Four-Week Follow-up
Four weeks after our last group coaching session, we meet again for a 90-minute follow-up. The participants give updates on how the past month has gone for them since the course ended.
Video 11 – Follow-up Discussion
Amy and Kjersti share their observations and comments on the four-week follow-up session, as well as some closing remarks and how you can get more support.
“Growing up, I came to believe I was an anxious, sensitive person. As my life progressed, so did the anxiety and then many physical symptoms including pain.
THEN – I enrolled in The Little School of Big Change and came across an understanding of how life really works that changed everything for me! I realized my body, mind, and spirit were not broken; nothing needed to be fixed. The more I looked in the direction of this understanding, the more the pain and other body sensations began to fall away. I began living life again with a new sense of freedom, peace, and joy.”
– Anne Wilin
Investment
This course is now exclusively available as part of Student Access Plus. Membership in Student Access Plus includes:
Access to a collection of my best-selling digital courses (12+ courses and counting)Monthly group coaching calls for members only (recordings of all calls available while your membership is active)Significant discounts on flagship courses, including The Little School of Big ChangeA large selection of webinars, resource guides, and my book, Being HumanNew digital products and other resources added regularly
About Amy
Amy Johnson, PhD is a psychologist, coach, author, and speaker who shares a groundbreaking new approach that helps people find true, lasting freedom from unwanted habits via insight rather than willpower.
She is author of Being Human (2013), The Little Book of Big Change: The No-Willpower Approach to Breaking Any Habit (2016), and Just a Thought: A No-Willpower Approach to End Self-Doubt and Make Peace with your Mind (2021). In 2017 she opened The Little School of Big Change, an online school that has helped hundreds of people find freedom from anxiety and habits and live a more peaceful life.
Johnson has been a regularly featured expert on The Steve Harvey Show and Oprah.com, as well as in The Wall Street Journal and Self magazine.
FAQ
Will this course be helpful even if my Chronic Pain shows up differently for me than it does for the people who are coached in the course?
Yes, absolutely. The coaching that happens in this course goes far beyond specific issues, chronic pain or otherwise. It points to what is behind all human experience, so it will be relevant no matter how your chronic pain looks.
If you are experiencing pain, unwanted thoughts, anxiety, worry, or overthinking in any way, this course will be extremely relatable and helpful to you.
How long will I have access to these recordings? Will I get to keep these recordings so that I can revisit them?
If you’ve purchased this course, you’ll have access to these recordings for as long as you want. You can login to the site at any time and find them on the menu.
If you join Student Access +, you’ll have access to these recordings for as long as you are a member.
If I need more support with chronic pain after going through this course, what should I do next?
I highly recommend going through The Little School of Big Change. It’s an amazing course that has helped thousands of people find freedom from a wide variety of conditions, habits, and addictions.
You can go through the self-study version of The Little School of Big Change at any time, and then upgrade to also be part of the guided course where you’ll be part of an interactive group and be able to get personal support from Amy. Learn more here.
If you’d like private coaching for more support, Kjersti works with clients one on one. People get so much from working privately with her. You can see more here: https://www.ostvikcoaching.com/
