Chronic Pain Relief Through Mind-Body Work
👉 Click here to email me to schedule an introductory session.
Are you struggling with chronic pain that persists even though doctors say there’s no clear cause?
Have you tried everything, but the pain just won’t go away?
You can most likely change that.
And the key lies in understanding one powerful concept: chronic pain is generated by the brain — by your own predictions based upon memories Its a prediction problem, not a pathology problem..
Chronic Pain Is Real — But Its Source May Surprise You
Modern neuroscience has shown that most chronic pain is neuroplastic. That means the pain is created by the brain based on learned patterns, predictions, and memories — not necessarily by current injury or physical pathology.
In fact, research shows that many chronic pain conditions — like back pain, neck pain, fibromyalgia, migraines, TMJ, and even phantom limb pain — continue long after the body has healed, simply because the brain has learned to expect pain.
The pain is real. The suffering is real. But the source is often psychological — not structural.
A Powerful Example: Phantom Limb Pain
Consider this:
People who’ve had limbs amputated sometimes continue to feel intense pain in the missing limb — years after surgery. There’s no leg, yet the pain persists.
Why?
Because the brain is predicting pain and continues to interpret signals from the surrounding area as dangerous.
Pain = the brain’s response to perceived threat.
When we change the brain’s prediction, the pain can disappear.
The Nail in the Boot: A Case Study
One famous story published in the British Medical Journal tells of a construction worker who jumped and landed on a large nail that pierced through his boot. He screamed in pain and was rushed to the hospital — but during surgery, doctors discovered the nail had passed cleanly between his toes. No tissue was damaged.
What caused the pain?
The mind’s interpretation of a dangerous situation. The brain perceived a massive threat — and responded with real, intense pain.
Pain as a Loop Between Anxiety and Sensation
Whether it’s chronic back pain, shoulder pain, knee pain, or fibromyalgia — the loop of fear, tension, and pain often continues for years because the brain keeps interpreting neutral signals as dangerous.
But here’s the good news:
With insight and training, these predictive patterns can be changed.
Over the past 28 years, I’ve worked with clients suffering from:
- Chronic back and neck pain
- TMJ and migraines
- Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue
- Shoulder, knee, and foot pain
- Carpal tunnel and nerve-related issues
And I’ve seen again and again that when the mind’s fear-based predictions are updated, the body’s pain response can soften — and vanish.
A Responsible, Mind-Body Approach
Let me be clear:
I only work with individuals who have first been evaluated by a qualified medical professional. We need to ensure there is no active medical issue requiring treatment.
This work is not a substitute for medical care. Instead, it’s an exploration of how your mind, body, and nervous system are interacting — and how your brain might be overprotecting you with pain.
Let’s Explore Together
If this information resonates with you, and you’ve ruled out (or fully understood) the medical factors behind your pain, I invite you to reach out.
Let’s schedule a short call to explore whether this work might be a good fit for you.
You don’t have to keep suffering.
Your brain can learn safety again.
Thanks for reading — and I look forward to connecting.
👉 Click here to email me to schedule an introductory session.
TESTIMONIALS
Frances, who lived with lupus, fibromyalgia, and arthritis.
Rita, who experienced remission from cancer and chronic migraines
My partner Peter and I went again for a long walk(3 hours) through the nearby rain forest yesterday. We walked up and down until we reached the creek where we enjoyed our fruit breakfast. I enjoyed every bit of it because I have no back pain anymore. I am utterly grateful for the work I did with Jørgen Rasmussen 3 years ago. It was the breakthrough after suffering from chronic back pain for 28 (!!!!!) years and trying so many things which gave me a max. of relief for 3 months. I couldn’t walk without pain even though I took pain killer but I can now. And not only walk but also run. I can do gardening, exercises, yoga, chiropractic…….It’s like a burden has fallen off my shoulders. Jørgen Rasmussen’s work is magic and life changing. I finally had also to post it here because I often sent and send silent THANK YOUs his way. I am incredible grateful and highly recommend him.
Susanna Strasser
My back has also bothered me for many years without anything wrong being found. I’ve had X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs. I’ve been to a physiotherapist, done self-training (swimming, cycling, hiking in the woods and mountains, skiing), but nothing has helped. My back hurt with every movement. In my legs, nerves in the outer nerve layer have become damaged (confirmed by a neurologist). This causes numbness from my feet up to my knees, and my balance is also poor.
I believe there is a connection between my anxiety, back pain, and leg pain, so I mentioned this to Jørgen, and we agreed to try doing something about it.
After the first session, I noticed changes in that I had much more mobility and significantly less pain. After about one month, I noticed the pain returning, but I still managed fine. Since then, I’ve been swimming five times a week and skiing once or twice a week, and the improvement is great. I’ve now had one session with Jørgen and am looking forward with excitement — I find this very interesting. I believe in this.
Lillian Landsverk, oct 2000
My story starts when my mom died. On December 1st, 2002, I lost her. The dearest and warmest person on earth, torn from me unjustly after getting cancer for the third time. What pain. The kind you inflict on yourself is the worst kind, and only you can feel it. But something inside me died with mom. It was like losing her was the same as losing myself. The migraines came almost immediately. I had hardly ever had them before, and suddenly they escalated into unbearable dimensions. Of course, I should have had migraines from real grief and pain, but these were different. Basilar migraines. Some really awful stuff that starts in the brainstem and spreads down the neck and back, causing dizziness and vomiting. That’s what I used to blame everything on.
My body was trapped in the pain’s world, where each human encounter triggered a migraine. I’d lie down for three days, crawl to the toilet, not sleep at night, snap at my husband and kids, and feel that life was truly hell and a nightmare.
The grief after mom was enormous—it consumed my whole life. But I let it wash over me because it was better than the migraines. I didn’t need to go to work, didn’t need to visit the in-laws, and didn’t need to do anything at home. Perfect for me… or so I thought… how wrong I was.
Something had to change, and I hit rock bottom. It ended with an ambulance, hospital, crying, and gnashing of teeth. I was on sick leave from work, and they said I had to get better. But no, I was “enjoying” the migraines… or so I…
I realized something had to be done and met the kinesiologist Kari Siljan in Stathelle. She really helped me move forward. Even though she couldn’t remove the migraines entirely, she at least helped me feel better. I saw her for about a year, and although the migraines didn’t disappear, every other burden was thrown overboard. So thank you, Kari!!!
Life had to go on, but when I cried often and tried to talk about mom, things got painfully difficult, the lump in my stomach grew larger, and the tears flowed.
Rita
I was, quite literally, at the end of myrope. For six years, I had been inextreme pain in my right foot, trying to find anything that would work toreduce the nerve pain that stemmed initially from a ruptured disk at L 4/5 –physical therapy, chiropractic, yoga, acupuncture, meditation, dry-needling,cupping, eastern massage, moxibustion therapy, hot stone treatment, westernmassage, more exercise, less exercise . . . You name it, if someone suggestedit and it sounded legitimate, I researched it, then I tried it. But nothing that I tried would help to easethe pain, other than temporarily. Aftertwo microdiscectomies and a spinal fusion at L 4/5, the spinal fusion surgerywas successful in that it finally fixed the structural issues, but the nervepain continued, primarily in the foot, and it was daily. My two surgeons – one for the microdiscectomieson Cape Cod, the other for the spinal fusion at a major Boston hospital – eachseparately told me that, if the pain caused by nerve damage didn’t stop 18months subsequent to the surgery, “it will likely never go away”. Basically, I’d just have to deal with it.
The most debilitating part of the cycle ofpain was that I could not stop thinking about my right foot. I’d wake upin the morning thinking about it, and go to bed thinking about it. When Iwoke up, my first thought was how much pain I am feeling in it. Will I beable to exercise today, or will I be in too much pain? At night, I wonderedif I’d be in pain before I go to sleep. I could not seem to stop thisbehavior as the center of my focus during the day – all day, every day. Thiscaused me added stress, possibly resulting in experiencing more pain from thatstress, but I couldn’t seem to stop it. It was almost reflexive. Ireally needed to figure out how to stop this disabling mental barrier. Duringthe day, I worried about whether gardening or weeding would cause me more pain. And will I be able to drive, becausethis also caused me a lot of pain? Butflying in an airplane, which I did several times a year, was the worst in termsof the pain I experienced. Would I haveto stop?
Saying “I can’t” was the most frustrating ofall because my husband and I were very active before the surgeries. Especiallywith respect to seeing our grandkids, or traveling, or exercising. I can’ttell you how many times I used that phrase in the past six years. And that KILLED ME.
But I hadn’t tried hypnosis.
I remembered that a good friend and former neighborin Boston started his own hypnosis business several years prior. I emailed him and told him my story. He said his specialty centered on treating addictions,but he had a friend that specialized in treating pain, and he lived in Norway. So,I got in touch with Joergen at Provocative Hypnosis via email, and we begantreatment sessions via Skype a few months ago. My goal was to reduce the pain I was experiencing by at least 70%, andhad no preconceived notions about solving my disabling mental barrier atall. Just please, help me with the pain.
Amazingly, by the end of my first sessionwith Joergen, I had almost no pain in my right foot! I was truly amazed,thankful, and blown away by his approach to healing pain. But truly the best partof all was that, through his first session and the subsequent sessions, hetaught me to heal myself. That, truly,was a breakthrough. I was able to purge“I can’t” from my vocabulary. And, bythe end of the fifth session with Joergen, I was able to disassociate my brainfrom my foot pain. Now, I no longer wakeup and go to bed thinking about my right foot. Which, for me, is transformational. When I was at the end of my rope, Joergen was able to teach me to pullmyself up from the abyss. I now have a new lease on life, and am living it the fullest! I can’t Joergen enough for teaching me howto overcome my chronic, debilitating, and long-standing pain issues. He istruly a life saver!
Marie Bigelow
“Owner of One2One Bodyscapes Personal Training
After suffering through painful plantar fasciitis for nearly 8 months, I finally had enough. An avid runner, I had been grounded and extremely frustrated. I had been to PT, chiropractic care, dry needling, podiatrists, and had two cortisone shots. In addition, X-rays showed nothing structurally wrong. Nothing seemed to work. Every morning the same thing…excruciating foot pain and certainly no running. I bought sleeves, calf stretchers, foam rollers, heel pads…no luck!
I knew my pain had no structural basis and couldn’t figure out what to do. Then a friend referred me to Joergen Rasmussen. Joergen is a hypnotist specializing in chronic pain. When I first called Joergen, I expected to see him for many visits, and he said “let’s just set up two. That should be all you need.”
He helped me focus my mind around the sensations in my foot. The pain center is in the brain, and under his guidance he was able to help me calm the fear of that pain in my brain. I struggled after the first visit, and the mental exercises were tough. However, I stuck with it, and the pain started to ease just before the 2nd visit. In fact, the change was remarkable. I didn’t even need the 3rd visit but did it anyway because Joergen was so helpful, and his ability to communicate the concepts and help me focus was so important.
I can’t hardly believe it! It took me just about 6 weeks to be pain free and am back to running about 20 miles a week, plus a lot of pickleball! Most importantly, I’m not in pain anymore!
If you have chronic pain, keep an open mind and give Joergen a call!
John Pinsky