On Learning and Unlearning Pain: Mindfulness Tools and Practices for Chronic Pain (CW1D26)

Registration closes at 9:00am (Pacific Time) on January 25, 2026. A waiting list will be created if the program fills early. A recording* will be available following the program. Continuing Education credits? (see details below).

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Description:
Our brain is an amazing organ that is focused on keeping us safe, avoiding pain, and maximizing pleasure. So how is it that so many of us end up with chronic physical pain? It turns out that in trying to avoid pain, the brain unintentionally reinforces it. On this day of practice, learn more about how this happens and how you can use the tools of mindfulness to help your brain and nervous system counterbalance their autopilot modes around pain.

Together, we will explore and discuss the latest science in pain research, combining this knowledge with longstanding contemplative and compassion-based practices. The day will contain brief lectures, practical exercises, guided meditations, small and large group sharing, and Q&A.

This daylong is suitable for people living with chronic pain as well as health care providers working with people suffering from chronic pain.

Online Only: We are offering this program online via Zoom.

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Sliding Scale: Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Please consider paying at the highest rate that you can afford: your generosity supports the teachers as well as Spirit Rock and your fellow practitioners who need to pay less.

Benefactor – $175
Sustainer – $95
Basic – $75
Scholarship Rate (BIPOC, M/K) – $45

All are welcome! No one will be turned away for lack of funds as space allows. For more information, please email Registration@spiritrock.org no later than 12:00pm (NOON) PT on the day prior to the program date.

*Recording Note: Registration includes unlimited access to this program’s recording. You must register by the deadline above. The recording will be available in ~10 days after the program.

Important Note for CE participants: If you are interested in receiving continuing education credits (CEs), you must register and pay for CEs prior to the start of the program (no retroactive CEs will be given) and you must attend the entire program. Please review the CE information below.

Cancellation Policy – Online: Drop-ins, Daylongs, Multiday Programs (1-3 days), Family Programs/Series, CE fees:

• NO REFUNDS
• Open Credit, or Donation to Spirit Rock = if cancel by midnight, the day prior to program start (Pacific Time)
• No Open Credit = if cancel day of the program, or beyond

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Continuing Education (CE) credit available:
This program offers 5.5 Continuing Education (CE) credits/contact hours for $55, applicable for psychologists and California-licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors, and may be applicable for other licenses. Please review our Continuing Education information page for provider details, and to determine if your association or board will accept credits offered by Spirit Rock.

Teachings are appropriate for health care professionals as well as the general public. 
This program supports healthcare professionals in applying mindfulness and compassion-based strategies to chronic pain—approaches with growing empirical support in behavioral medicine and neuroscience. Participants learn practices that can reduce emotional reactivity to pain, strengthen cognitive and attentional regulation, and support their own well-being in high-demand clinical environments. These skills can be applied directly for clinician resilience and indirectly to enhance therapeutic communication, pain education, and self-management strategies with patients and clients.

Learning Objectives for participating health care professionals-
At the end of the program, you will be better able to:

• Identify and apply two self-compassion practices that can help soothe the emotional and sensory components of physical pain.
• Describe the neural mechanisms through which mindfulness and related practices can support pain reduction in the brain.
• Contrast how the brain and nervous system respond to pain during mindfulness practice compared to automatic, non-mindful reactions
• Describe a method for breaking down the experience of pain into distinct, more manageable sensory and emotional aspects
• Define somatic tracking and explain its role in contemporary pain science and nervous system retraining.

Continuing Education content level: Introductory

Attendance policy for CE participants:

• Full, live attendance is required. Incomplete attendance nullifies CE eligibility as board regulations prohibit partial credit for partial attendance.
• Certificates are issued only to those who fulfill the complete attendance requirements—without exception—to maintain compliance with our provider licenses and ensure the continuation of future CE programs.
• To ensure your attendance is recorded:
  • Sign in to Zoom with the same email used for registration, before joining the program, to ensure attendance tracking. Zoom can keep you signed into a different account from a previous meeting. Check how you are logged into Zoom before the program begins.
  • Join on time using the Zoom app or a web browser (phone dial-ins are not tracked).
  • Stay logged in and engaged for the duration of the program.
  • Maintain a stable internet connection; participants are responsible for their own connectivity.
• After the program, participants who meet the attendance requirements will be emailed a form to submit their professional information.  You will have 1 week to complete and submit this form in order to receive your Certificate of Attendance.

Please note:

• For full Provider information, and additional CE information, including attendance requirements, cancellation, and grievance policies, please visit our Continuing Education information page.
• For those with a different license than listed above, or with a license from a different board or association than listed on our CE info page, please contact your licensing board or association directly to request pre-approval/acceptance of CE credits offered at Spirit Rock. Spirit Rock does not confirm the applicability of credit for those with licenses other than those listed.
• Credit is awarded for instructional time only and does not include extended silent meditation, if offered.
• Continuing Education is sponsored by Mindful CECs.
• Mindful CECs is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Mindful CECs maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
• Mindful CECs is a provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP17985 for 5.5 contact hours.
• Potential Conflict of Interest Statement: This instructor may have authored publications relevant to the subjects covered in this course. The instructor might reference these publications during the course, and they may receive financial compensation if these publications are purchased.

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