I hadn't realized that this book was so largely a memoir when I requested it. I have family members who live with chronic pain, as well as many friends and also many readers and followers of my pages and websites. I was hoping to get some good information for them. I found that the author was really not very relatable for me and probably my readers, as he was a wealthy white man who did not seem to recognize his immense privilege, and his journey will not be accessible for many. That said, it was certainly an interesting read and parts of it can be helpful for anyone.

I wasn't too enthralled by this book personally. I do understand the connection between pain and the brain, and I empathize with the author's struggle, but the solution wasn't relatable to me.

This book covers four years of the authors life - from extreme pain to healing. Pain becomes more of an issue as we age and so much of the time we just want to take a pill. Michael wants to find the cause of his pain and make it go away. So there are lots of doctors appointments that can be confusing and discouraging.
What makes this story special is that there is a healing journey discovered that anyone can try to follow. There is work involved but the end result was pain in control. Everyone is in pain or knows of friends and/or loved ones in pain. This might just be a book that can you or those you love could you as a path out of pain.

This was a nice memoir by Michael J. Murray about his issues with pain and how he found solutions to help. As someone who experiences chronic pain I felt inspired and that there is hope. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC.

Many books have been written about the mind body connection when it comes to pain, and how our bodies can hold onto trauma or even generational trauma. What I loved about this book is that it is written by a man who experienced this first hand. He tells his story from the beginning, what he learned during the process of many years, and how he finally dealt, and still deals, with his pain and his mind body connection. Highly recommended for anyone needing to understand how holding on to emotions or experiencing them in negative ways can play havoc on the body. And how sometimes medicine isn’t the best way to deal. The author had no formal training in medical science, only profound experience in his body, which taught him many things, and which he now shares in a very personal memoir. Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for allowing me to read and review. Highly recommend.

While aspects of this memoir were touching, I found the writing clumsy and very repetitive. I may attempt to read it again. Sometimes I find a book can hit me differently, based on timing when I read it.

Disclaimer: I was given a free digital version of this book by Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is a book about an important topic, and I am deeply invested in it. However I was not as drawn in by the writing as I had initially hoped. Though I plan to reread the book again and see if I have a different opinion,

Definitely a book to help for anyone with chronic pain looking for ways to help alleviate without traditional medicine. The connection of the mind and our bodies is much stronger that we realize and very important tool for treating chronic issues.

There are parts of this book that are beautiful and eye-opening. Other parts of it are less relatable. The beautiful and eye-opening parts include the over-arching idea that most doctors treat a specialized part of the body, without integrating that part into the whole, and seeing how it relates to the rest of the body. This is an ‘ah-ha’ moment, because our entire body is interconnected, and treating each part as if it stands alone, harms the patient; also, it may cause the patient lose trust in a doctor who can’t see an illness as part of a bigger picture.

This author retired in his late 40’s after selling a multi-million dollar business. This affords him access to doctor appointments across the country, which most people will never be able to do. In that sense, these sections of the book are less relatable to the bulk of the reading audience. He shares tales of heading out to Wyoming and Alaska and other places for back-country ski adventures lasting several weeks long. Again, most readers will be unable to relate to flitting around from adventure to adventure and never going to work. Aside from this, the nuggets of good information are worth suffering through the hard-to-relate-to parts.

Here are a couple of worthwhile nuggets to give readers an idea of what is contained within:

“Technology is great if it gives the doctor an advantage when treating the patient. However, this has resulted in an overdependence on technology and an underutilization of many other tools that help establish an understanding of the patient as a whole, such as the role emotions play in illness, injury, and disease.”

And: “So, when the whole human system is sensitive from anxiety or stress, for example, inputs (or thought viruses) can be interpreted by the brain as dangerous and create pain. In these instances, chances are you won’t realize that your brain has interpreted this impulse as dangerous; you just know that it hurts.”

These two quotes from the book can give readers a hint of the insights that Murray discovers after a long battle with chronic pain and visits with multiple doctors all over the country. He finally finds a doctor who actually listens; once this happens, his healing begins.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3 because while the execution is rough the concept is interesting
Michael J. Murray suffered severe pain. In hopes of finding healing, he underwent several surgeries. But the pain lingered. He desperately reached for a book on back pain which led him to explore the connection between the physical body and the mind and emotions.
In this book, the author describes his pain and treatments. He also outlines his therapy sessions and the lessons he learned from spiritual teachers about mindfulness and emotional awareness.
The story is long-winded and describes numerous ski and hiking adventures. The author also talks quite a bit about his early retirement and wealth, which brought about pain but also gave him the resources to seek treatment.
While reading this story, I did take time to examine my pain-body experience. There's definitely value in seeking the emotional root and body connection to pain and other physical sensations. But not all pain has a body or emotion root.
The resource section at the end is also helpful for readers who want to explore and learn more.

Interesting to read another's perspective of their pain and journey. However, I had high hopes for some tips or advice and was disappointed

I had high hopes for this book, but it didn’t really give me any information I didn’t know . I felt like his experiences weren’t useful for me. I don’t have the luxury of seeing multiple specialists, to get the answers you want to hear. Or to spend hours doing yoga, or meditation

My Pain-Body Solution by Michael J. Murray
Murray's journey through his pain to finding the helps he needed, depicted the frustration many experience with non-scan-able afflictions. The endless doctor appointments he endured to come away with nothing more than further questions, conflicting diagnoses, more surgeries and yet, the pain continued. He was lucky to have family support through this troubled time in his life. So glad for the experiences he shared after arriving at his turning point!

I appreciated the opportunity to read and review this work, provided by the author, his publisher and Netgalley.

In Michael J. Murray’s “My Pain-Body Solution”, I found many helpful insights as he shares his journey of pain and healing. There are some resources that I’ve already looked into and may pursue as well as some ideas that had already been flitting around my head being further confirmed by his experiences. I’m glad I took the time to read his book.

I will give a word or two of caution, Murray’s language is edgy and I found it a little too casual in parts of the book when vulgar language just seemed to pop in amidst the helpful story and education. I thought it was distracting and at times I literally skimmed pages because of the language. There is also a fairly decent emphasis on Buddhist thinking and practices towards the middle-end of the book. As a Christian, I can see where Buddhism takes some of the truths of who we were created by God to be and twists them to put the emphasis more on man than God. I was able to take the Truth and strain out the rest, but I did want to give that as a caution.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions are all mine.

I enjoyed this book and am fortunate, in one sense, to have a familiarity already with some of the concepts for self-healing he shares. Overall, an excellent story about his journey and the pitfalls he faced along the way.

This was not what I expected. I have pain from an unknown source as well. I believe that your mind can cause such problems. I was really looking for some kind of map to help me find my way out.

Michael Murray's 'My Pain-Body Solution' is an excellent book in all aspects. I had no idea what the book would be about and the term 'Pain-Body' was also new to me. I am grateful to the publishers for sending this my way as I got personally helped while reading the book.

I have had pain in the body that I could not pin point to any actual cause or source and the pain keeps moving all over the body. This book helped me identify with my symptoms (both physical and emotional) to get a complete picture of the pain.

The book is divided into 3 sections and the first talks about the physical pain that the author had to go through and the multiple doctor visits and diagnoses which all proved useless.
The second section talks about TMS and the various mind-body techniques that helped the author in realizing that the pain may not be due to a physical abnormality, but something mental.
The third section talks about the healing that the author achieved by bringing in awareness and purpose in his life.
The really good thing about this book is that it shows how the author was able to identify simple (and even silly) emotional issues that were actually triggering the physical pain. This insight was very helpful in my self diagnosis as well.

I also learnt the possibility of being too hard on oneself not just physically, but emotionally as well which can cause bodily pain. A nice revelation.

For anyone dealing with chronic pain or with an interest in the mind-body connection, this book is a must read. Michael Murray, an avid outdoorsman, takes us on his journey of seeking answers to years of living with chronic pain. This is a book about healing a pain syndrome called Tension Myositis Syndrome or TMS. Murray discovered that unresolved emotional experiences were the source of his pain. Throughout the book he covers all the insights, tools and knowledge he gained from the many books and people he consulted. The back of the book contains this extensive list of resources.
Read this book with an open mind. I believe his story will play a role in changing how we view the mind-body connection and this syndrome.
Thank you to NetGalley, Greenleaf Book Group and the author for the ARC.

One privileged man’s experience learning to live with physical and emotional pain
This is the story of one privileged man’s experience learning to live with physical and emotional pain. I found most of this memoir frustrating to read. The author eventually becomes much more self-aware and aware of how his actions affect others, but he made the stylistic choice to tell his story as he experienced it. This means that for much of the book, he tells his story with a seeming lack of awareness and self-indulgence.

I think the author’s storytelling style may make this book more relatable for those with backgrounds similar to his who might have difficulty understanding how childhood experiences and emotional difficulties could be causing their pain. Those of us who have experienced more severe challenges with fewer privileges and resources may find the author’s repeated whining about things like not being able to go skiing triggering. While unpleasant, it was actually an interesting experience for me to watch myself being triggered by the author’s narrative. After all, pain is pain, and trauma is a personal experience. It’s impossible to judge another person’s suffering, and I do believe the author suffered.

Fortunately, in the latter part of the book, Murray makes considerable progress in his healing journey, and that was interesting to read about. If you don’t have much experience with mind-body medicine, trauma therapies, mindfulness, yoga, and Buddhism, then you may learn something of value here. I particularly liked the author’s description of his experience with yin yoga. Also, I recommend many of the same books and resources that the author recommends.

If the book had included less of the early part of Murray’s journey and more content like the last couple of chapters, I would have rated it higher.

The book includes some swearing but is otherwise appropriate for a wide audience.

I was provided an ARC through NetGalley that I volunteered to review.

I’m doing a lot of research into the mind body connection after being diagnosed with fibromyalgia years ago and medication not working effectively. I’m learning more how psychological problems can manifest as physical pain also. This honest, eye-opening memoir is an excellent guide for anyone who wants to truly feel better and enjoy a heightened sense of well-being . . . beginning right now.