Meditation For Aches & Pains — Awareness & Compassion

In this short meditation, you are invited to notice how sensations appear within awareness, and to rest here directly. Oliver gently guides you to explore bodily sensations, aches, and pain as they are, using a non-dual perspective to help you connect with the sensations as neutrally as possible. Drawn from his own lived experience of chronic pain, you are invited to explore where awareness and bodily sensation "meet" — without trying to change or resolve anything.

Transcript

Settle into your comfortable meditation position, Which is usually sitting upright in a chair. You can be lying down too. If you choose to lie down, Make sure that you're still awake and focused and alert. Let's begin. Slow down the breath. Keep the breath, If possible, Through the nose rather than the mouth. Let your body be as it is. If there's discomfort in the body, Perhaps lingering tension or pain, Let it be exactly as it is. Feel that discomfort now. Most of us have niggles or pains, And most of us don't want it to be there, Myself included. Go to that discomfort now. Feel that discomfort now. Just notice that there is a presence, There is an awareness, There is a field of consciousness registering that sensation. And this awareness is inseparable from the sensation. And if you don't have any discomfort, Just notice the sensation of the chair or the bed underneath your body. Leave your body exactly as it is and breathe into discomfort. Breathe into sensation and soften into it. Ask yourself, If this sensation had a colour, What would it be? If this sensation had a number on a scale from 1 to 10, What would it be? And now ask yourself, What is this sensation made of? Don't try to answer with logic or thought. Try and answer by noticing with experience. What is this bodily sensation made of? The awareness will always be there. It doesn't matter if you're stressed, Frustrated, Unhappy. If there's discomfort in the body, Awareness is the lowest common denominator of all life. Have a fantastic day.