Mind-Body Connection To Help With Pain

In this talk & meditation we touch on why pain, as well as other factors, can lead you to become disembodied. To begin reconnecting with your body, we spend some time working slowly down through the body in a body sweeping motion

Transcript

In the busy modern world that we live in,

Most of us have lost a deep connection from being in the body and this can happen for a number of reasons.

It could be because some type of wounding or trauma or it could be because of all the busyness and stress in our lives,

Living very much in our heads.

Pain in the body also leads us to become disembodied as the body is no longer a place of safety.

We get into conflict with the pain,

Trying to stop it or make it go away.

It's a natural reaction to pain,

Wanting to push it away or not wanting it in your life or wanting to pull away from the pain in your body.

But we lose a deep connection to being in the body because it's not safe anymore.

Being fully embodied means we feel much more present and grounded as we go through life and it means that we can really be relaxed in a body that can hold the experience of pain moving through.

The journey of mind-body connection is different for everyone and for many of us we need time to start to untangle ourselves from lifelong habitual patterns and begin to trust our bodies again as a place of safety and comfort.

A really good way to help open up this connection is through a body sweep so that's what we'll do in this practice.

I'll guide you gently through your entire body seeing what you notice in your body.

As we go through remember to have a sense of compassion for yourself and an open heart.

It doesn't need to be perfect,

It's just a good opportunity to slowly get to know your body.

It's important to remember to relax as you work through each part of your body,

Really feeling deep into your body,

Into the muscles,

The joints,

The bones,

The vitality in that area as much as you can anyway.

Before we start find yourself a comfortable quiet place to be.

Maybe you want to sit on a chair or even lie down if you want to,

That will work okay for this practice.

Whatever you need so that you can feel steady and supported but really relaxed and then gently close your eyes.

Allow yourself a few moments to really arrive into the meditation.

With your eyes still closed notice the room that you're in,

Arriving in the seat below you,

Arriving in your body in the present moment,

Letting everything else go.

Start to notice the feelings and sensations of the breath within your body,

The air coming in and out of your nostrils and throat,

The feelings and sensations of your lungs,

Ribs and abdomen rising and falling as you breathe,

Gradually letting yourself rest and settle into the meditation.

Gently bring your awareness to the very top of your head,

The crown of your head,

And see if you notice any sensations there.

You don't need to try and find anything specific,

Just be curious and notice what's there.

Right now from the crown of your head bring your awareness down to your forehead,

Relaxing the muscles in the forehead and opening to sensation and feeling there.

Can you feel sensations in your eyes or the muscles behind your eyes?

And then roll your awareness down through your cheeks,

Your nose and lips to your chin.

Can you feel your face as a whole,

Letting all the muscles in your face deeply relax?

Sometimes it's helpful to tense the face muscles and then release,

Helping you to feel deeper into the muscles.

So you can do that now if you want to try.

Tense your whole face together for about five seconds and then relax and notice what you feel.

Moving your awareness through your head to the back of the head and notice anything there.

Gently moving your awareness down to the back of your neck and through your neck to the front,

Allowing all to relax and take your awareness down into the shoulders,

Deep into the shoulders,

Into the muscles and the joints and feel them relax down towards the ground.

You can lift your shoulders up towards your ears,

Tensing hard for five seconds and then drop them back down.

Let them deeply relax and notice what you feel there.

From your left shoulder,

Take your awareness slowly down through your left arm,

Feeling deep into the arm,

Gradually feeling all the way down to your hand and your fingers.

Letting the arm deeply relax and noticing any sensations,

Feelings or vitality within.

From your right shoulder,

Do the same down your right arm,

All the way down to your hand and your fingers,

Letting it deeply relax and noticing anything there.

No need to judge it or change it or get entangled in reflections on it,

Just notice and let it be.

Now from the shoulders again,

Move your awareness down through the back of your body,

Feeling your shoulder blades relax down,

Moving down the length of your spine,

The feelings of your back muscles,

Your lower back and your pelvis,

The feeling of your bottom or your back against the ground.

Allow all the muscles and joints and ligaments to deeply relax as you move through.

Then from the shoulders again,

Take your awareness slowly down through the front of your body,

Notice any sensations and feelings in your chest and lungs,

Down to your stomach and all the way down to your genitals and the root of your body.

Maybe the sensations of the seat pushing up from below you.

Again with the quality of the out-breath,

Allow your whole torso to relax into the ground supporting you.

If you get distracted,

Don't worry,

Just gently bring your awareness back to the breath and then back into the body.

Feel your body relax and melt down into the ground again.

Moving your awareness into your left leg,

Working slowly down through your leg from your bottom all the way to your feet.

And toes.

Taking the time to be really curious about what you notice in each part of your leg.

If you want to,

You can tense your leg as hard as you can without getting cramp of course and then let it deeply relax and notice what's there.

From your right leg,

Work your way down in the same way from your bottom all the way down to your feet and toes.

Giving yourself the time to feel deep into the muscles,

Joints and bones.

If you notice yourself trying too hard,

Breathe out,

Lay your awareness down to your chest.

Let your body relax,

Let go of the need to try and be perfect and gently come back to what you're noticing in the body in the present moment.

Now you're going to take your awareness up through the body again into the body as a whole.

As my mental Rob says,

Bring your awareness up through your body kind of like a sponge slowly soaking in water.

And see if you can be aware of your feet in both legs.

And slowly move up through your legs to your bottom.

See if you can have a sensation of both your legs as a whole and maybe the weight of them resting on the ground.

Bring your awareness up into the trunk of your body,

Becoming aware of any sensations and feelings within your trunk,

Relaxing as you do that.

Maybe you notice sensations in your belly or chest or maybe you notice an emotion coming up.

Letting whatever's there be there with a sense of open-heartedness and allowing.

Gradually feeling into the rest of your body,

Spanning out to your arms,

Up to your neck,

Right up to the crown of your head.

And as you relax,

See if you can allow your awareness to open out into your whole body.

Remember,

It doesn't need to be perfect.

Just be curious and relax.

If you can't feel your body as a whole,

You can keep feeling around your body,

Kind of like you're in a cave,

Shining a torchlight around the cave.

To see what's there with a sense of bare awareness,

Just noticing.

If you feel any pain in your body,

Try not to push it away.

Soften around it and notice if you can let it be there.

Allow its space to move through and dissolve away.

Come back to your breath,

Back into feelings and sensations in your body,

Relaxing deeply into the ground.

Quiet,

Present,

Spacious awareness of your body as a whole.

As we finish off,

I'd like to remind you that truly getting in touch with your body can sometimes take a little while.

Everyone is different.

It's essential to keep holding your space with a sense of compassion,

Not worrying about it being perfect and just letting go into the space of awareness.

Gradually,

The connection to your body will deepen and also you'll begin to gradually trust it as a place of safety and solace.

Your body begins to ground you and support you with growing feelings of steadiness and openness as pain might arise in your body.

If you're someone who lives with pain and you found this talk and meditation helpful,

You can have a look at my course,

Finding Peace While Living in Pain,

Where I guide you gradually through the journey that has helped me to live peacefully amongst my pain.

Hopefully,

It can give you a new perspective and understanding and somehow make a difference for you too.