What you believe matters to your body, your brain, and your pain.

What if the way you think about your body could literally change how it functions?
Not in a magical, manifest-it-and-it-will-come kind of way, but in a biological, measurable, science-backed kind of way.

According to researchers like Alia Crum and Ellen Langer, that’s exactly what happens.

🧠 The Science of Mindset: More Than Positive Thinking

In one of her most famous studies, psychologist Alia Crum looked at hotel housekeepers. Half the group was told that their daily work (vacuuming, scrubbing, walking) counted as exercise. The other half received no messaging.

Four weeks later, the group who believed they were exercising:

• Lost more weight

• Had lower blood pressure

• Showed changes in body composition

And here’s the kicker: they didn’t change their behavior, just their mindset.

Crum’s research, and others like it, show that the body’s physiological response is shaped by belief. What you expect influences what you experience.

🧠 Ellen Langer: Mindfulness and the Power of Awareness

Mindfulness pioneer Ellen Langer found similar effects in her studies on aging and health. In one famous experiment, she took a group of elderly men and immersed them in an environment recreated to look like it was 20 years earlier.

After a week of “living younger,” the men:

• Stood taller

• Had improved joint flexibility

• Showed improved vision, hearing, and memory

Not because they were told they were better, but because their minds believed it was possible.

Langer’s decades of research underscore a key point:

Change begins when we notice the mindsets we’re living inside of.

🧘‍♀️ So Where Does Mindfulness Fit In?

Mindfulness isn’t about forcing yourself to think positive thoughts.
It’s about getting curious.
It’s about becoming aware of the beliefs that shape your internal landscape, so you can choose which ones you want to keep and which ones you’re ready to rewrite.

Because how often do we operate from these kinds of hidden mindsets?

“Pain means I’m broken.”
“My body can’t be trusted.”
“I’ll never feel normal again.”

If we’re not paying attention, these stories become our operating system.
But mindfulness slows the process down. It creates space between the thought and the reaction. Between the belief and the body.

And in that space, change becomes possible, not just in the mind, but in the nervous system, the tissues, the pain.

You don’t have to force a new mindset today.
But you can start noticing the one you’re already in.

That’s where the shift begins.

With you,

If you're like me and like to live at the intersection of the science and the woo woo, let's chat! Book a free call with me to explore whether Pain in Panorama can help you live better in your body. 

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