Michael Coutts
Peer Supporter
For 6 years now, I, Michael, have been able to overcome a wide variety of horrible pain and other symptoms that used to plague my everyday existence: chronic migraines, digestive problems, food intolerances, tailbone pain, knee pain, elbow pain, neck stiffness and more.
When I was at the worst of my pain I discovered the incredible books by John Sarno, MD: Healing Back Pain, The Mindbody Prescription, and The Divided Mind.
Sarno's books have healed many thousands of people all over the world.
We lend them out at our wellness library here at Monkey in the Garden Farm, on Hwy 8- just 8.5 kms outside of Spences Bridge, BC, Canada.
They are also available online or at your local library.
John Sarno was an MD who lived until the eve of his 94th birthday, dying in 2017.
He discovered that we all have, in our subconscious, a giant 'Reservoir of Rage'.
It is there, and we don't know that it exists.
Over our whole lives, beginning when we are young, we bury rage.
When we are abused physically, emotionally, or sexually, we bury rage.
We continue burying rage, unconsciously, for a whole wide range of other reasons: when we are stood up, annoyed, blackmailed, belittled, betrayed, and more.
We even bury rage for silly things, like somebody leaving us dirty dishes in the sink to wash, or interrupting our favourite show, having different political views, or eating the last slice of pizza.
The reason, in the first place, that we begin burying rage, is to prevent us from being further punished.
As in, if we are being smacked or yelled at, we bury our rage instead of yelling or hitting back- lest we get further punished and abused.
We continue throughout our lives to bury rage- if not to avoid punishment, then to avoid hurting people's feelings, causing embarrassment, you name it.
Again, we do this 'rage burying' unknowingly- it is something that we learn to without even thinking about it.
Eventually, this 'reservoir of rage' gets so filled to bursting, that our big brains give us horrible, genuine agonizing pain and symptoms as a 'distraction' from our buried rage.
Our back hurts agonizingly and we can't think why- we think its because of our mattress or posture, or heavy lifting or an old injury.
We stop lifting, stop walking, have pain sitting, try back braces.
We continually obsess and seek help for our pain- therefor we remain thoroughly distracted from the pile of rage that is threatening to burst forth into our consciousness.
Same with our digestion.
One day your stomache hurts and it goes on and on. You think what is it that I am eating that's causing this?
You learn about food combining, or that bread is 'bad', or that chemicals in your food are affecting your 'delicate' digestive system.
Again, you go down the rabbit hole of suffering and seeking answers and are therefor once again thoroughly distracted from digging deep into what you are so enraged about.
John Sarno discovered, that when people could accept the idea that 'sure, why couldn't my big brain be causing horrible symptoms as a distraction from all of the rage that I have been burying my entire life, and continue to bury' then they could overcome their pain and suffering.
This is accomplished by reading his books over and over (I initially read his books 16 times, at the expense of all other reading)- you really need to get a strong understanding of why our brain is doing this hijacking to us.
You need to further get back to doing what you had stopped doing- be that lifting heavy things, returning to your favourite sports, eating foods that you were avoiding and more.
Throughout our suffering we all condition ourselves towards all sorts of things that we believe are the real reason for our pain and suffering: heavy lifting, the wrong shoes, the wrong food, etc.....
We need to unlearn all of these false ideas that we have planted into our subconscious.
Third, you need to 'talk to your brain'. Tell your brain that you won't take it any more. Tell your brain that you understand that you are suffering because of all of your buried rage and you will stand it no longer.
Sarno suggests digging deep into every memory and instance when you have buried rage- starting when you are young, and working through your whole life to the present, and continuing on to things that are coming up.
Many people do this with extensive journaling, I found it easiest to do it all in my head.
For 6 years now, using the methods that Sarno has laid out in his books, very clearly, I have overcome so much pain and suffering that had led me to believe I could no longer farm.
That pain and suffering is old news.
I just recently read an interesting book called: The Powerful Placebo by Shapiro.
A placebo is a false healing- usually a pill that, when you take it, is going to heal what ails you.
Placebos are very successful, albeit temporarily.
Drug companies do 'double blind' tests- using a sugar pill vs. their drugs, on test subjects, to test whether their drugs actually do anything.
Very often, the patients taking the placebos (sugar pills) experience relief from their symptoms.
Placebos are also used in surgery (highly controversial 'sham' surgeries), certain types of psychotherapy, medicines, 'alternative' healing, diets and more.
What does the universally accepted reality of the placebo teach us?
That the real healing to what ails us humans can be done with our minds.
The author of The Powerful Placebo with all of his evidence claims that in history there is only about 4 actual herbs that are actually proven to do anything.
Likewise with many alternative treatments.
It would be fascinating to read (easy to do with an AI search) all of the ailments and sufferings and diseases that have been successfully treated (even if temporarily) with placebos.
This would be proof enough that, with each of these ailments, the power to heal would lie somewhere within mindpower!
Clearly all of the resources at humanity's fingertips aren't being totally grasped.
For all of the searching for 'miracle cures' somewhere out there hiding in some ancient forest, the searching really needs to be going on within.
John Sarno was a rehabilitation doctor (often working with sports teams). He helped people to overcome chronic pain, though also had success treating people for many other symptoms.
He unfortunately didn't work with cancer patients, or patients suffering many other diseases.
Nevertheless, he was completely convinced that buried rage was implicated in all sufferings of humankind.
A well known local doctor stopped by our market stand last year to purchase some fruits and veggies.
I told him all about my success with overcoming pain and symptoms by dealing with my buried rage and he shared this interesting thing with me:
He told me that science has just discovered that when we are full of rage and bitterness that there is a chemical that our body's don't produce.
This chemical keeps us free from pain!
It is written in the Bible that we need to rid ourselves from rage and bitterness. Clearly this is some incredible healing teachings!
There is another book that we have on loan at the Wellness Library (only 1 copy and nobody has borrowed it!)
After the Heavy Rain by Sokreaksa S. Himm is a powerful and heartbreaking true story by a man who survived the killing fields in Cambodia.
His whole family was murdered and tossed into a pit, with him smashed over the head (believed to be dead) and tossed into the hole (with his murdered family).
He was 12 years old.
He survived, crawled out of the pit, and continued on a long life- initially set towards revenge.
He eventually took Jesus Christ as his Saviour, and ended his seeking revenge.
He instead reached out to forgive his family's murderers- literally by tracking them down individually and actually forgiving them.
As he says in his book- he didn't forgive them for their sake, but for his own.
He acknowledges all of the incredible rage that he was suffering from (few people could actually imagine this)- and that all of this buried rage was giving him pain- including migraines and more!
He says that when he got to the point of forgiving them, his pain and suffering vanished!
How incredible is this?
Is this perhaps the missing link?
I have been in contact with a few people recently who have been using John Sarno's techniques unfortunately without as much success as they would like.
They have read his books many times, they know that they have mountains of rage buried- and exactly from what, and yet they still struggle.
In all honesty, 2 of these people (they reached out to me online) use the F- word for every third word that they are typing.
Their rage is absolutely overflowing!
I wonder if for these poor suffering people, that forgiveness could be the missing link?
I know that well before learning of John Sarno I reached out in forgiveness to somebody who had caused me much suffering in the past.
I remember the great relief that I experienced at that time, and for a good while afterwards.
Then, some years later, that same person flipped everything on its head through denial and lies, and I suspect that this was when I started on the road to chronic migraines and a wide variety of pain throughout my body.
As Jesus says, you need to forgive 7 times, then 700 times, and then you need to just keep on forgiving.
So perhaps this has been part of my success with using Sarno's methods, is my naturally inclination towards forgiveness- which I practice much more today than at times in the past.
There are things that we need to deal with both consciously and unconsciously.
I believe that we need to consciously forgive those who have done us wrong, and we need to let our subconscious know that, indeed, we know that we are enraged, but not to give us horrible pain and symptoms as a distraction from this buried rage.
On a final note:
Just today I opened up our sign out book at our Wellness Library- where people can write down the books that they've borrowed (almost nobody writes into this book- or even returns the books- almost 100 books loaned out over the years and only a few returned!)
Anyways, somebody named Craig wrote that he had read John Sarno's book The Divided Mind many times since September of 2025 and that he had experienced great changes in his life.
He said that he never would have learned about John Sarno if it wasn't for our Wellness Library.
So that's why I share this and why we lend out his books.
The biggest holdup for people in using Sarno's methods is actually learning of the existence of his books.
Please seek them out- they might just help you recover from your suffering
When I was at the worst of my pain I discovered the incredible books by John Sarno, MD: Healing Back Pain, The Mindbody Prescription, and The Divided Mind.
Sarno's books have healed many thousands of people all over the world.
We lend them out at our wellness library here at Monkey in the Garden Farm, on Hwy 8- just 8.5 kms outside of Spences Bridge, BC, Canada.
They are also available online or at your local library.
John Sarno was an MD who lived until the eve of his 94th birthday, dying in 2017.
He discovered that we all have, in our subconscious, a giant 'Reservoir of Rage'.
It is there, and we don't know that it exists.
Over our whole lives, beginning when we are young, we bury rage.
When we are abused physically, emotionally, or sexually, we bury rage.
We continue burying rage, unconsciously, for a whole wide range of other reasons: when we are stood up, annoyed, blackmailed, belittled, betrayed, and more.
We even bury rage for silly things, like somebody leaving us dirty dishes in the sink to wash, or interrupting our favourite show, having different political views, or eating the last slice of pizza.
The reason, in the first place, that we begin burying rage, is to prevent us from being further punished.
As in, if we are being smacked or yelled at, we bury our rage instead of yelling or hitting back- lest we get further punished and abused.
We continue throughout our lives to bury rage- if not to avoid punishment, then to avoid hurting people's feelings, causing embarrassment, you name it.
Again, we do this 'rage burying' unknowingly- it is something that we learn to without even thinking about it.
Eventually, this 'reservoir of rage' gets so filled to bursting, that our big brains give us horrible, genuine agonizing pain and symptoms as a 'distraction' from our buried rage.
Our back hurts agonizingly and we can't think why- we think its because of our mattress or posture, or heavy lifting or an old injury.
We stop lifting, stop walking, have pain sitting, try back braces.
We continually obsess and seek help for our pain- therefor we remain thoroughly distracted from the pile of rage that is threatening to burst forth into our consciousness.
Same with our digestion.
One day your stomache hurts and it goes on and on. You think what is it that I am eating that's causing this?
You learn about food combining, or that bread is 'bad', or that chemicals in your food are affecting your 'delicate' digestive system.
Again, you go down the rabbit hole of suffering and seeking answers and are therefor once again thoroughly distracted from digging deep into what you are so enraged about.
John Sarno discovered, that when people could accept the idea that 'sure, why couldn't my big brain be causing horrible symptoms as a distraction from all of the rage that I have been burying my entire life, and continue to bury' then they could overcome their pain and suffering.
This is accomplished by reading his books over and over (I initially read his books 16 times, at the expense of all other reading)- you really need to get a strong understanding of why our brain is doing this hijacking to us.
You need to further get back to doing what you had stopped doing- be that lifting heavy things, returning to your favourite sports, eating foods that you were avoiding and more.
Throughout our suffering we all condition ourselves towards all sorts of things that we believe are the real reason for our pain and suffering: heavy lifting, the wrong shoes, the wrong food, etc.....
We need to unlearn all of these false ideas that we have planted into our subconscious.
Third, you need to 'talk to your brain'. Tell your brain that you won't take it any more. Tell your brain that you understand that you are suffering because of all of your buried rage and you will stand it no longer.
Sarno suggests digging deep into every memory and instance when you have buried rage- starting when you are young, and working through your whole life to the present, and continuing on to things that are coming up.
Many people do this with extensive journaling, I found it easiest to do it all in my head.
For 6 years now, using the methods that Sarno has laid out in his books, very clearly, I have overcome so much pain and suffering that had led me to believe I could no longer farm.
That pain and suffering is old news.
I just recently read an interesting book called: The Powerful Placebo by Shapiro.
A placebo is a false healing- usually a pill that, when you take it, is going to heal what ails you.
Placebos are very successful, albeit temporarily.
Drug companies do 'double blind' tests- using a sugar pill vs. their drugs, on test subjects, to test whether their drugs actually do anything.
Very often, the patients taking the placebos (sugar pills) experience relief from their symptoms.
Placebos are also used in surgery (highly controversial 'sham' surgeries), certain types of psychotherapy, medicines, 'alternative' healing, diets and more.
What does the universally accepted reality of the placebo teach us?
That the real healing to what ails us humans can be done with our minds.
The author of The Powerful Placebo with all of his evidence claims that in history there is only about 4 actual herbs that are actually proven to do anything.
Likewise with many alternative treatments.
It would be fascinating to read (easy to do with an AI search) all of the ailments and sufferings and diseases that have been successfully treated (even if temporarily) with placebos.
This would be proof enough that, with each of these ailments, the power to heal would lie somewhere within mindpower!
Clearly all of the resources at humanity's fingertips aren't being totally grasped.
For all of the searching for 'miracle cures' somewhere out there hiding in some ancient forest, the searching really needs to be going on within.
John Sarno was a rehabilitation doctor (often working with sports teams). He helped people to overcome chronic pain, though also had success treating people for many other symptoms.
He unfortunately didn't work with cancer patients, or patients suffering many other diseases.
Nevertheless, he was completely convinced that buried rage was implicated in all sufferings of humankind.
A well known local doctor stopped by our market stand last year to purchase some fruits and veggies.
I told him all about my success with overcoming pain and symptoms by dealing with my buried rage and he shared this interesting thing with me:
He told me that science has just discovered that when we are full of rage and bitterness that there is a chemical that our body's don't produce.
This chemical keeps us free from pain!
It is written in the Bible that we need to rid ourselves from rage and bitterness. Clearly this is some incredible healing teachings!
There is another book that we have on loan at the Wellness Library (only 1 copy and nobody has borrowed it!)
After the Heavy Rain by Sokreaksa S. Himm is a powerful and heartbreaking true story by a man who survived the killing fields in Cambodia.
His whole family was murdered and tossed into a pit, with him smashed over the head (believed to be dead) and tossed into the hole (with his murdered family).
He was 12 years old.
He survived, crawled out of the pit, and continued on a long life- initially set towards revenge.
He eventually took Jesus Christ as his Saviour, and ended his seeking revenge.
He instead reached out to forgive his family's murderers- literally by tracking them down individually and actually forgiving them.
As he says in his book- he didn't forgive them for their sake, but for his own.
He acknowledges all of the incredible rage that he was suffering from (few people could actually imagine this)- and that all of this buried rage was giving him pain- including migraines and more!
He says that when he got to the point of forgiving them, his pain and suffering vanished!
How incredible is this?
Is this perhaps the missing link?
I have been in contact with a few people recently who have been using John Sarno's techniques unfortunately without as much success as they would like.
They have read his books many times, they know that they have mountains of rage buried- and exactly from what, and yet they still struggle.
In all honesty, 2 of these people (they reached out to me online) use the F- word for every third word that they are typing.
Their rage is absolutely overflowing!
I wonder if for these poor suffering people, that forgiveness could be the missing link?
I know that well before learning of John Sarno I reached out in forgiveness to somebody who had caused me much suffering in the past.
I remember the great relief that I experienced at that time, and for a good while afterwards.
Then, some years later, that same person flipped everything on its head through denial and lies, and I suspect that this was when I started on the road to chronic migraines and a wide variety of pain throughout my body.
As Jesus says, you need to forgive 7 times, then 700 times, and then you need to just keep on forgiving.
So perhaps this has been part of my success with using Sarno's methods, is my naturally inclination towards forgiveness- which I practice much more today than at times in the past.
There are things that we need to deal with both consciously and unconsciously.
I believe that we need to consciously forgive those who have done us wrong, and we need to let our subconscious know that, indeed, we know that we are enraged, but not to give us horrible pain and symptoms as a distraction from this buried rage.
On a final note:
Just today I opened up our sign out book at our Wellness Library- where people can write down the books that they've borrowed (almost nobody writes into this book- or even returns the books- almost 100 books loaned out over the years and only a few returned!)
Anyways, somebody named Craig wrote that he had read John Sarno's book The Divided Mind many times since September of 2025 and that he had experienced great changes in his life.
He said that he never would have learned about John Sarno if it wasn't for our Wellness Library.
So that's why I share this and why we lend out his books.
The biggest holdup for people in using Sarno's methods is actually learning of the existence of his books.
Please seek them out- they might just help you recover from your suffering