Chronic pain can feel exhausting and overwhelming. What may have started as a small ache or tension has become part of your everyday life. No matter what you try – stretching, medication, massage – the relief doesn’t last. You may even start to wonder if this is simply how life has to be.


How Chronic Pain Shows Up

Chronic pain is not only about physical discomfort – it affects every part of life. You might notice:

  • Tension that never fully releases

  • Pain that moves from one area of the body to another

  • Exhaustion from always managing discomfort

  • Anxiety, frustration, or hopelessness about your body

  • Avoiding activities you once enjoyed for fear of pain

Living with chronic pain can feel isolating, as though your body is working against you.


Why Conventional Approaches Often Miss the Mark

Medicine often addresses symptoms – not the source.

Doctors prescribe medications or suggest surgery. Physical therapists and massage therapists offer relief through stretching or deep pressure. But maybe relief lasts only a day – or not at all. It can feel like no one truly understands what’s happening to you.

You’ve tried opioids, injections, exercises, and surgery – but the pain just returns. Temporary relief isn’t enough.

Medications, physical therapy, or massage may help manage pain – but don’t address the underlying cause. Chronic pain often runs deeper. Even past injuries or surgeries can manifest as ongoing pain in unexpected places.


A Different Approach

Through somatic therapy and nervous system regulation, we explore how pain is held in the body and gently release the patterns that keep it in place. Sometimes pain is the body’s response to past traumatic experiences where a natural defensive response was interrupted or left incomplete. When this happens, the body can hold that “thwarted” survival energy in the musculoskeletal system, which over time shows up as tension or pain. Instead of only working on the site of pain, we pay attention to the whole body and the underlying nervous system states that drive tension.

This work allows you to:

  • Bring awareness to where pain and tension are stored

  • Learn tools to regulate the nervous system and reduce pain signals

  • Rebuild trust in your body

  • Restore a sense of safety and ease

Moving Toward Relief

While there may not be a quick fix,
it is possible to shift your relationship with pain.

As the nervous system finds balance, the body can soften, release, and move with greater freedom.

Many people find not only reduced pain, but also increased resilience, energy, and a renewed connection with themselves.

Take the next step

You don’t have to live with constant tension or pain. Support is available – and healing is possible.

Let’s start with a free 20-minute consultation and go from there.


The Results are Real

Susan has great knowledge of the body and has gradually helped me release the tension that is caused by my pain. Insomnia is part of Fibromyalgia because waking in the night with pain makes it difficult to return to sleep. Since working with Susan I am able to sleep much better and she has made that possible. I cannot recommend Susan more. She listens and helps me be so much more comfortable and happy. I really look forward to my sessions with her.
— Susan D., Washington, DC