Today, I'm joined by someone whose work I've admired deeply—Ananda Mahony. Ananda is a Naturopath, Nutritionist, Pain Educator, and Lecturer at Torrens University, helping groups and individuals resolve chronic pain and complex health issues. She's studied human nutrition at a post-grad level, completed a Master's in the Science of Pain Management at the University of Sydney, and is a proud member of the Australian Pain Society.

Now, if you're a health practitioner like me, you've probably felt this too—that heartbreaking moment when a patient tells you they can no longer garden, walk, or travel because pain rules their life. They've tried medications, seen multiple specialists, and they're still suffering. You feel powerless. You question what else can be done.

We know the evidence for pain medications is limited. The side effects—depression, fatigue, opioid-induced hyperalgesia—often do more harm than good. And chronic pain isn't just physical. It lives in the nervous system, in trauma, in beliefs, in relationships, in the gut. That's why it's one of the hardest conditions to tackle alone.

So how do we support people who are stuck in this pain loop?

Enter the brave and brilliant Ananda Mahony—who brings clinical experience, academic insight, and deep compassion to the space of pain healing. In this episode, we go beyond the pills and protocols to explore the foundations of real relief—nervous system regulation, nutrition, sleep, attachment patterns, and the biopsychosocial lens of pain.

You'll walk away with a new understanding of how pain develops, how it becomes wired in, and what we as practitioners—and humans—can do to gently unwind it.

Let's dive in.

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