A few weeks ago, I spoke at an Irish Law Society Skillnet Event in Kilkenny, with 166 delegates. When the training organiser invited me several months ago I had initially been surprised, until I made the connection that several lawyers related to the case studies in my chapter on movement and resolving chronic pain in the PPDA textbook. To my delight, one of those lawyers greeted me as I arrived in Kilkenny after a fraught drive from Dublin.

Stress and its consequences are a topical concern for professionals under pressure. Like GPs, many solicitors have evolved to run their own practices, which adds pressure to understand how to run a business, alongside keeping up to date with professional developments. Both practices involve interaction with people and complex communication issues, which are potential areas of generating stress. It’s important to recognise there is good stress which can energise us if we lean into it, however, I wanted to give each of the delegates the opportunity to recognise the stress they may be experiencing and a practical tool to address it.

After a general introduction to the methodology of Resolving Chronic Pain and the principles espoused in the Psychophysiologic Disorders (PPD) textbook, I introduced some tools to address stress illness, in terms of anxiety, headaches, overwhelm and shortness of breath.

The rest of the conference was cerebral, so the chance to get up and move was appealing to many of the attendees. We began with a nod to Amy Cuddy and a confident posture, then moved on to ribcage breathing understanding the relationship between deep breathing and the rest and repair attributes of the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system. Then we got into pairs and explored the internal strength associated with some exercises. We concluded with a roll down, reminding ourselves of the robust nature of our spines.

I want to thank both the organisers and the delegates, all of whom made me feel so welcome and participated with such enthusiasm, and gave lovely feedback afterwards.