Many people living with chronic pelvic pain hold onto the hope that if they just wait long enough, their pain will eventually just go away. 

You rest. You avoid certain activities. You give it time.

But months pass. Sometimes years. And the pain is still there.

In this episode, Rachel explains why time alone doesn’t heal chronic pelvic pain, and what actually creates healing.

If you've been stuck in the frustrating cycle of waiting and hoping things will improve on their own, this conversation will help you understand what’s really happening in your body and why a different approach is needed.

Chronic pain isn’t simply a matter of tissues needing more time to recover. When chronic pelvic pain persists beyond normal healing timelines, it often means the nervous system has learned a protective pattern that continues to generate symptoms even when the body itself is safe.

True healing happens when the nervous system begins to receive new signals of safety.

In this episode, Rachel breaks down the three key areas where safety must be rebuilt in order to retrain the nervous system and move out of chronic pelvic pain.

If you’ve been waiting for time to heal you, this episode will help you understand why that hasn’t worked and what can.

And most importantly, it will remind you that healing is still possible.

In This Episode

• Why it’s completely normal to believe that time will heal chronic pelvic pain
• The difference between acute injury pain and chronic pain
• Why persistent symptoms often mean the nervous system has learned a protective pattern
• How waiting, resting, and avoiding can unintentionally reinforce pain pathways
• The three types of safety your nervous system needs in order to heal
• Why healing chronic pelvic pain requires active nervous system retraining, not just time

Mentioned in This Episode

Listen to the Understanding Pain Series (Episodes 2–6) for a deeper explanation of pain science and neuroplastic symptoms.

Ready to Go Deeper?

If you’re ready to stop waiting for your pain to go away and start actively retraining your nervous system, Rachel invites you to join her coaching program:

Beyond Chronic Pelvic Pain

This 4-month coaching container helps you:

• Understand what’s actually driving your symptoms
• Retrain your nervous system out of chronic pain
• Build safety in your body, yourself, and your life
• Return to living a full and empowered life while you heal

The program includes a structured curriculum plus weekly live coaching calls with Rachel for guidance and support as you apply this work to your own body and life.

You can learn more here.

Connect with Rachel

Follow me on Instagram:⁠ @thepelvicpaincoach⁠

Get Your Free Pain Flare Plan (download): ⁠https://thepelvicpaincoach/painflareplan⁠

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

This is a special episode. It's the first time I've had a guest on the podcast. 

I sat down with Jill Mueller, a pelvic health physiotherapist with over 20 years of experience, whose own journey with endometriosis, period pain, and fertility challenges led her to dedicate her career to this work. Jill brings together pain science, nervous system education, and deep clinical expertise in a way that I find genuinely rare in this space.

If you have endometriosis, suspect you might, or have had a procedure and are still in pain, this conversation is for you.

We talk about what endometriosis actually is, why diagnosis is so difficult to access, what surgery can and can't do, and what else beyond the tissue may be driving your pain. We also talk about lifestyle, nervous system regulation, the role of emotional health in healing, and Jill's incredible interdisciplinary program, Endometriosis360.

I hope this episode gives you clarity, and most of all, hope.

In This Episode We Cover:

What endometriosis actually is, and why it's so often misunderstood

The different types of endo and where it can be found in the body

Why diagnosis is so hard to access, and what to look for in a provider

Imaging vs. laparoscopy: what the updated guidelines now say

Ablation vs. excision surgery, and why it matters

Why pain can return after surgery, and what that actually means

The role of the nervous system in driving endo-related pain

Conditioned responses, sensory remapping, and how the brain maps the body

Why support groups can sometimes increase distress rather than reduce it

Lifestyle factors, nutrition, and nervous system resilience

The Endometriosis360 interdisciplinary program

Why hope is not naive. It's necessary.

Resources Mentioned:

Endometriosis Network of Canada: find a provider in Canada

I Care Better (US): find a provider in the US

David Butler's Pin Box demonstration on YouTube (sensory motor dysregulation)

Inside Out 2 (genuinely assigned homework from both of us)

About Jill Mueller:

Jill has been a physiotherapist since 2001, but her passion for pelvic health was born from personal experience. After years of struggling with period pain and fertility challenges due to endometriosis, she shifted her focus to understanding and addressing the complexities of this condition.

Through deep dives into pain science and endometriosis research, Jill recognized a significant gap in education and practical support for those living with endo. Whether working one-on-one, leading group programs, or speaking internationally, she is dedicated to empowering people with pelvic health conditions and equipping healthcare practitioners with the knowledge needed to provide better care.

Jill is also a founding member and lead physiotherapist of Endometriosis360, an innovative interdisciplinary virtual group program designed to help individuals with endometriosis.

Connect with Jill:

Instagram: @endotogether | @endometriosis360 | @oakvillephysio

Websites: www.endotogether.com | www.endometriosis360.ca | www.hbpw.ca

Jill's Endo Reset Email Series: 15 days of simple, practical tools delivered straight to your inbox. Comment the word RESET on any of Jill's Instagram posts to sign up, even outside of March.

Connect with Rachel:

Get Your FREE Pain Flare Plan Workbook

Learn more about the Beyond Chronic Pelvic Pain Healing Program

Hope can feel almost dangerous when you’ve been living with chronic pelvic pain for months, years, or even decades.

If you’ve been dismissed.If you’ve been misdiagnosed.If you’ve been told your condition is “chronic” (and framed as permanent).

Then…

Of course hope feels naive. Of course it feels embarrassing.Of course your brain wants to protect you from getting your hopes up again (and potentially being disappointed or devastated…again). 

That makes sense. 

And also, we need some hope in order to do the work of healing. 

So, in this episode of The Heal Your Chronic Pelvic Pain Podcast, I’m breaking down:

Why your resistance to hope makes sense

How hopelessness becomes a nervous system protection strategy

The real reason your brain avoids hope (hint: it’s not about symptoms)

What’s actually required to allow hope back in

Why hope isn’t magical thinking or forced positivity

How hope directs your brain toward safety and possibility

Because the truth is:

Hope isn’t being delusional. It’s being directional.

What part of you isn’t allowing you to take your next step?

What is that part afraid will happen? • What is it trying to protect you from?

What would it need to know in order to soften, even slightly?

Can you promise yourself self-compassion no matter how this goes?

Because here’s what I truly believe:

It is safer to allow hope and try, than to deny yourself hope and the possibility of change.

If you’re listening and thinking:

“This makes sense… but how do I actually live this?”

This is exactly why I created Beyond Chronic Pelvic Pain.

Inside the program, you’ll learn how to:

Understand your pain through a pain science lens

Partner with your nervous system

Build emotional capacity

Stop symptom spirals

Reclaim movement, pleasure, rest, and your LIFE. 

This isn’t about enduring pain. It’s about teaching your nervous system that you no longer need it. 

You don’t have to navigate this alone.

👉 Learn more here

Reflection Questions from This Episode Want Support Applying This?

Healing is possible for you. You’ve got this. And I’m rooting for you, always

What’s the best tool for healing chronic pelvic pain?

Is it journaling? Somatic tracking? Pelvic PT? Breathwork? Visualization?

If you’ve spent any time in the mind-body healing world, you’ve probably heard someone confidently say:

“This is what healed me.” “This is the thing.” “If it’s not working, you’re not doing it right.”

And it’s confusing.

In this episode, I’m breaking down the truth:

All tools can work. And none of them are magic. Because it’s not about the tool. It’s about the intention behind the tool and the level of safety you’re building in your nervous system.

When chronic pelvic pain is neuroplastic, it’s not about damaged tissue. It’s about a nervous system stuck in protection mode. The practices themselves don’t heal you. What heals is the shift in meaning, fear, and internal safety that those practices create.

In this episode, we explore:

Why the healing industry often markets one tool as the answer
The real reason tools “work” for some people and not others
The difference between urgency-driven practice and safety-driven practice

The 3 categories of safety required for lasting symptom resolution
How to do a “Threat Audit” to identify where your real work is

When I look at healing chronic pelvic pain through a mind-body lens, I see three core areas that must be addressed.

✨ Safety in your body Understanding pain science. Reappraising symptoms. Learning that pain does not automatically mean damage. Teaching your nervous system that you are physically safe and your body isn’t broken.

✨ Safety with yourself Building self-trust. Allowing emotions instead of suppressing them. Practicing uncertainty tolerance. No longer abandoning yourself when symptoms spike. Reducing perfectionism and internal pressure.

✨ Safety in your life Looking honestly at boundaries, stress, relationships, work, routines, and alignment. Making your life feel authentically safe to live.

You likely don’t need more tools. You likely need a framework that helps you systematically build safety in all three areas.

If you’re ready to stop piecing this together on your own, I’d love to support you inside my four month coaching container:

Beyond Chronic Pelvic Pain Healing Program

👉 Learn more here

Healing is possible for you. You’ve got this.

Rooting for you, always 💜 Rachel

This episode covers one of the most important and most resisted concepts in healing chronic pelvic pain: radical responsibility.

This is not about blame, fault, or doing everything on your own. It’s about what shifts when you stop waiting for someone or something outside of you to fix this, and take the lead in your own healing.

If you’ve been holding out hope for the next doctor, test, medication, procedure, or protocol to finally be the thing that saves you, this episode gently but honestly explores why outsourcing can keep you stuck, and what becomes possible when you claim radical responsibility for your healing. 

Please note: This episode may feel activating. If you’re not in the place to hear this message yet, that’s okay. You can come back to it when you’re ready.

In this episode, we cover:

What radical responsibility actually means (and what it does not)

Why outsourcing healing reinforces waiting and helplessness

How the Western medical model conditions us to look outside ourselves

The grief that comes with accepting no one else can do this work for you

Why healing must happen inside your own nervous system

Reflection questions to help you apply this shift to your own healing

Reflection Questions from the Episode

Where am I still waiting for someone or something to fix this for me?

What am I afraid will happen if I fully stop outsourcing my healing? 

What feels unfair about having to do this work?

What grief have I not yet allowed myself to acknowledge?

If I stopped waiting today, what would I do differently today, this  week or this month?

You Don’t Have to Do This Alone

Even though no one can do this work for you, you don’t have to do it alone.

If you want guidance, structure, and support applying this work to your specific symptoms and your life, Rachel offers a coaching program designed specifically for healing chronic pelvic pain.

✨ Beyond Chronic Pelvic Pain includes:

A self-paced curriculum grounded in modern pain neuroscience

Weekly live group coaching calls for support and clarity

A grounded, compassionate space to stop waiting and start healing

👉 Learn more about the program here

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

If you’ve been feeling powerless or stuck on your healing journey, this episode is for you.

In this episode of The Heal Your Chronic Pelvic Pain Podcast, Rachel talks about one of the most important shifts you can make when healing chronic pelvic pain: learning how to tell the difference between what is and isn’t in your control, especially in moments when symptoms are loud. 

When so much of your energy goes toward trying to change symptoms in the moment, it’s easy to feel exhausted, frustrated, and defeated. This episode helps you understand why that happens, and where your real agency and power actually live.

󠁯•󠁏󠁏 Why trying to control symptoms in the present moment often backfires

󠁯•󠁏󠁏 What is not in your control when symptoms flare (and why that matters)

󠁯•󠁏󠁏 What is in your control, and how focusing there supports healing

󠁯•󠁏󠁏 How redirecting your energy helps rewire your nervous system over time

󠁯•󠁏󠁏 Why this shift is hard, and why it gets easier with practice

This episode isn’t about giving up or accepting a life with pain. It’s about stopping the fight that keeps your nervous system stuck in threat and redirecting your energy toward what actually moves healing forward.

If this episode resonates and you want guidance and support learning how to consistently ground back into what’s actually in your control, so your energy is moving in the direction of healing, Rachel would love to support you inside her coaching program, Beyond Chronic Pelvic Pain.

Inside the program, you’ll get a self-paced curriculum grounded in modern pain neuroscience and specifically tailored for healing chronic pelvic pain, along with weekly live group coaching calls where you can ask questions, get clarity, and receive support applying this work to your real symptoms and your real life.

You don’t have to do this alone anymore. You deserve to live a life beyond chronic pelvic pain.

👉 Learn more about the program here:

https://thepelvicpaincoach.com/healing-program

Rooting for you, always 💜 Rachel

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treat

In this episode, I’m talking about uncertainty tolerance, why your brain hates it so much, and why learning to tolerate uncertainty is actually one of the most important skills required to heal chronic pelvic pain.

If you deal with anxiety, OCD tendencies, reassurance-seeking, flare fear, or constantly wondering “What if this doesn’t work?”, this episode is for you.

We’ll talk about:

Why anxiety and OCD are really attempts to create certainty

Why your brain keeps searching for guarantees (and why that never works)

How intolerance of uncertainty keeps your life smaller and more fear-driven

What uncertainty tolerance looks like in both the long-term and the day-to-day

Why allowing the possibility of a flare is part of how healing actually happens

What most people are missing when fear spikes and symptoms return

I’ll also share why so many people feel like they’re “starting over” again and again, and how having a clear framework for moments of fear and uncertainty changes everything.

Free Workshop Invitation

If healing has been feeling like two steps forward and one step back, and every flare makes you feel like you’re starting over, Rachel invites you to join her free live workshop:

How to Stop Starting Over 🗓 Monday, January 26th ⏰ 12 PM Eastern

In this workshop, Rachel will:

Help you understand what’s actually happening in your nervous system during flares

Show you how to respond differently in the moment of fear or symptom spikes

Introduce the Rewiring Recovery Roadmap, her framework for building and sustaining momentum even when symptoms fluctuate

Help you assess what’s been working, what hasn’t, and what to do next

You’ll leave with clarity, direction, and tangible next steps.

👉 Save Your Seat!

Healing is possible for you. You’re not alone. And you don’t have to keep starting over.

Learn More About My New Coaching Program:

https://thepelvicpaincoach.com/healing-program

Add Yourself To The Waitlist For My New Coaching Program: https://thepelvicpaincoach.myflodesk.com/m4wq35ssfl

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Accepting a neuroplastic or nervous system based explanation for chronic pelvic pain isn’t just intellectually challenging, it can be emotionally loaded, especially for women who have already experienced medical gaslighting, dismissal, or invalidation.

In this episode, Rachel explores why resistance to a mind-body approach makes so much sense, and why difficulty accepting a neuroplastic diagnosis is often not about disbelief, but about self-protection.

Rachel shares her own journey of initially feeling defeated and offended by the idea that her pain could be related to her nervous system, and unpacks how black-and-white thinking, medical trauma, and systemic failures in women’s healthcare can make neuroplastic explanations feel threatening rather than empowering.

This episode is for you if:

● You’ve ever bristled at the suggestion that your pain might be “your nervous system”

● You’ve felt angry, resistant, or shut down when mind-body work was mentioned

● You worry that accepting a neuroplastic explanation means your pain isn’t real

● You’ve been stuck cycling between medical testing, alternative treatments, and self-doubt

● You want validation and real answers, not dismissal

In this episode, we cover:

● Why mind-body explanations can feel emotionally unsafe after medical gaslighting

● How black-and-white thinking keeps people stuck between “it’s structural” vs “it’s all in my head”

● The very real impact of historical and societal dismissal of women’s pain

● What neuroplastic pain actually is (and what it is not)

● Why ignoring psychosocial context is not ethical care

● How validation and accurate pain science can and should coexist

● Why choosing a mind-body approach is not giving up, but moving forward

● The hidden fear many people carry that “if it’s neuroplastic, I have to heal alone”

Free Workshop Invitation

If healing has been feeling like two steps forward and one step back, and every flare makes you feel like you’re starting over, Rachel invites you to join her free live workshop:

How to Stop Starting Over

🗓 Monday, January 26th

⏰ 12 PM Eastern

In this workshop, Rachel will:

Help you understand what’s actually happening in your nervous system during flares

Show you how to respond differently in the moment of fear or symptom spikes

Introduce the Rewiring Recovery Roadmap, her framework for building and sustaining momentum even when symptoms fluctuate

Help you assess what’s been working, what hasn’t, and what to do next

You’ll leave with clarity, direction, and tangible next steps.

👉 Save Your Seat!

Healing is possible for you. You’re not alone. And you don’t have to keep starting over.

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

When you’re healing chronic pelvic pain, there are moments that feel terrifying, discouraging, and defeating, moments where it feels like you’re back at square one and nothing is working.

In this episode, I share one simple phrase that carried me through countless moments of panic and despair on my own healing journey:

“This is part of it.”

This phrase helped me stop interpreting flares, fear, and doubt as signs of failure, and instead see them as a predictable part of the healing process.

In this episode, I walk you through:

• How “this is part of it” interrupts the spiral into urgency and despair

• Why outsourcing reassurance never actually brings relief

• The powerful shift from asking “What if I can’t do this?” to “What do I need to support myself through this?”

• How to move from self-doubt into self-support during hard moments

If you’re in the messy middle of healing and questioning whether you’re still on track, this episode is for you.

Nothing has gone wrong.  You can get there from here.

👉 Sign up for the free workshop here: How To Stop Starting Over

Other Resources & Links:

Follow me on Instagram: @thepelvicpaincoach

Get Your Free Pain Flare Plan (download): https://thepelvicpaincoach.myflodesk.com/painflareplan

🎧 Recommended Listen: “This Is the Part Where” by Kara Lowentheil on the Unf*ck Your Brain* podcast

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

If New Year’s feels more devastating than hopeful, this episode is for you.

For many people living with chronic pelvic pain, January 1st doesn’t feel like a fresh start. It can feel like a painful marker of how long you’ve been in pain and how much you wish things were different.

In this episode, I talk about why arbitrary time points like New Year’s often work against your nervous system, and how to reflect on your healing journey without turning it into proof that you’re behind or failing.

We cover:

• Why healing has no deadline and doesn’t follow a linear timeline
• How to use reflection without judgment or pressure
• What to look for when assessing progress beyond symptoms
• Why healing can feel like starting and stopping, over and over again
• What actually helps you maintain momentum when symptoms fluctuate

If you’re tired of feeling like every flare means you’re back at square one, I want you to know you’re not doing this wrong. What’s usually missing isn’t effort, it’s clarity.

I also share details about my new FREE live workshop, How to Stop Starting Over, where I’ll teach you how to respond to symptom spikes without spiraling and how to create and sustain momentum  in your healing.

👉 Sign up for the free workshop here: https://thepelvicpaincoach.myflodesk.com/r3freayg1g

You deserve a life beyond chronic pelvic pain. I want to help you get there.

Rooting for you, always 💜

Other Resources & Links:

Follow me on Instagram: @thepelvicpaincoach

Get Your Free Pain Flare Plan (download): https://thepelvicpaincoach.myflodesk.com/painflareplan

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.