# 260. The Neuroscience of Chronic Pain: Why Your Body May Not Be Broken with Irena O'Brien | Jane Hogan

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/wellness-by-design-4066410/260-the-neuroscience-of-chronic-pain-why-your-body-may-not-be-broken-with-irena-o-brien-jane-hogan
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/wellness-by-design-4066410/260-the-neuroscience-of-chronic-pain-why-your-body-may-not-be-broken-with-irena-o-brien-jane-hogan.md
Podcast: [Wellness By Design](https://stenobird.com/podcast/wellness-by-design-4066410)
Published: 2026-06-10T10:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://wellnessbydesign.libsyn.com/260-the-neuroscience-of-chronic-pain-why-your-body-may-not-be-broken-with-irena-obrien-jane-hogan
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/wellnessbydesign/260_-_Irena_OBrien-audio.mp3?dest-id=2514545
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/wellness-by-design-4066410/episodes/260-the-neuroscience-of-chronic-pain-why-your-body-may-not-be-broken-with-irena-o-brien-jane-hogan
Duration seconds: 3332

## Resource

Chronic stress, anxiety, and chronic pain can keep your brain stuck in protection mode. Learn how to calm your nervous system, retrain your brain, and create more safety for healing and resilience. Why does your brain keep repeating the same stress patterns, anxious thoughts, or pain responses… even when you want to change? Join me and my guest, Dr. Irena O'Brien, neuroscientist and founder of The Neuroscience School, to learn more about how the brain predicts, protects, and shapes our behaviors, emotions, and even chronic pain experiences. 👉 Download my free guide to understand why pain persists: https://www.thewellnessengineer.com/whypainpersists Struggling with sleep? Wear blue-light-blocking glasses in the evening to help prepare your nervous system for better sleep. Save 10% at Vivarays with this link: https://vivarays.com/bydesign In this episode, you'll learn: ⏰ 00:00 - Introduction ⏰ 02:45 - The Brain's Role in Safety and Energy Management ⏰ 12:47 - Understanding Pain as Protection ⏰ 21:42 - Stress and Its Impact on Energy ⏰ 34:25 - Finding Personal Practices for Calmness ⏰ 42:23 - The ONE thing you can do to activate self-healing Check out Irena O'Brien's Bio: Dr. Irena O'Brien is a cognitive neuroscientist, educator, and founder of The Neuroscience School. She is known for making complex brain science practical and accessible, helping coaches, leaders, and helping professionals better understand behavior, stress, resilience, and change through the lens of neuroscience. After beginning her career in accounting, Dr. O'Brien returned to university and discovered a passion for neurobiology that changed the direction of her life. She earned her PhD in Psychology from the Université du Québec à Montréal and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at McGill University.…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/wellness-by-design-4066410/episodes/260-the-neuroscience-of-chronic-pain-why-your-body-may-not-be-broken-with-irena-o-brien-jane-hogan/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/wellness-by-design-4066410/260-the-neuroscience-of-chronic-pain-why-your-body-may-not-be-broken-with-irena-o-brien-jane-hogan.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.