Feeling deeply embodied and establishing your body as a supportive foundation for yourself is really essential.
So that you can feel safe and steady as you begin to discover the energy of your pain and learn how to let it move through without it disturbing you.
Becoming truly present in the body also allows you to get in touch with what lies beneath that,
Your energy body.
The energy body is a deeper more subtle aspect of your being.
A layer of consciousness within your physical body where all the energy processes of life arise and transform.
This is where true healing and transformation actually happens.
You can usually start to get a sense of it as a feeling of an underlying vitality of being or a kind of life force or vibrancy within.
Although the energy body has many subtleties,
Nuances and layers to it that you can get to know over time.
Now you might be wondering how does this help me with pain?
Well true suffering is when we get caught in all sorts of reactivity to what's arising and moving through in the energy body.
The issue is not what's actually there moving through but rather our reaction to it.
When you push things down or fight with it,
They actually become more powerful.
So if you can notice the raw energy of pain arising and let it move through without getting entangled with it,
The energy of it is liberated and so it loses its power over you.
There's much less reaction and so you gradually feel more inner peace.
Your relationship with the pain begins to change.
In this meditation I'll guide you towards the experience of it.
Part of the journey is letting your awareness become more spacious within your body.
Combining a deep resonance with the subtle aspects of your felt process with an increasingly spacious opening allowing presence.
In meditation trying too hard leads to further tension in the body.
So best to just let go and enjoy as much as you can.
So find yourself somewhere comfortable to sit.
It's good to sit up tall and straight if you can,
So that you feel awake and alert.
But it's also important to feel supported and relaxed in your body.
You don't need to hold yourself rigid.
You can be relaxed and natural.
Gently close your eyes and spend a few moments allowing yourself to arrive.
During the meditation I'll give you some guidance and then leave a space of silence for you to really drop into your own experience and feel what is happening for you.
As you begin to settle,
Start to become aware of your breath within the body.
Notice the air coming in and out of your nostrils.
As you breathe,
Notice the feelings and sensations of your lungs,
Ribs and abdomen rising and falling with each in-breath and each out-breath.
Allow yourself to just be there in your body,
In your seat.
Being inquisitive of feelings and sensations within your body as you breathe.
Become aware of your out-breath.
And if you want to,
You can lengthen the out-breath out a little and really follow the whole length of each out-breath.
And as you do that,
Feel your body relax deeper and deeper each time.
If you become distracted,
There's no need to stop it or push it away or judge yourself.
And there's also no need to get entangled with it.
Just notice the distraction,
Let it be as it is,
Let it go and gently bring your awareness back to your breath and the feelings and sensations within your body.
If it helps,
You can do this as you breathe out,
Allowing you to settle back into the body.
And gently move your awareness down to your sense of ground.
Noticing the feelings and sensations of the ground pushing up from below you.
Notice how it really supports you as you relax and how it just lets you be you.
No judgments or expectations,
You can just be.
Notice the feeling of the weight of your legs on that ground.
And as you breathe,
Really let your whole body trust that sense of ground and deeply relax into it,
Breath by breath.
From the ground,
Move your awareness up into the trunk of your body and notice any feelings and sensations in your trunk.
It might be sensations in your muscles or joints or maybe emotions arising,
Giving everything space.
Allow your awareness to expand out to your arms,
Up to your neck and to your head and back down into your legs until you're aware of feelings and sensations within your whole body.
Noticing with a sense of bare awareness,
Letting everything just be as it is.
If you notice any tension in your body,
Let it soften and relax again.
And remember to hold your space with a sense of compassion and allow whatever is there to be there.
No judgments,
No getting entangled with it,
No pushing away.
Just give everything space to be there and how it needs to be.
And allow your awareness to expand out further than your body,
Connecting you with the space around you.
You could have the sense that your whole body is breathing,
Like your skin is permeable and let that breathing process soften the holding that you have to your form.
Let yourself open to a more spacious sense of awareness.
It will happen naturally by continuously,
Gently,
Letting go,
Relaxing and letting your awareness become more spacious and open.
So as you breathe,
Let your whole body breathe.
And let yourself gradually become more spacious and open.
Quiet,
Present,
Spacious awareness.
So it's like instead of noticing all the weather in the sky,
All the clouds,
Rain,
Wind,
Etc.
You can open up your awareness and become the actual sky itself.
The spacious,
Allowing,
Holding presence.
As you rest there in this space of awareness,
You might notice a sense of vitality,
Like a feeling of aliveness,
A life force or vibrancy within.
You might notice that this vitality has different tones,
Feelings and nuances to it.
Whatever you notice or don't notice,
Just allow it to be there and allow it to be as it is.
If you feel yourself trying too hard or you're distracted,
You'll probably notice tension in your body or like a feeling of lifting up out of the ground.
If you do,
Just gently allow that tension to soften and relax.
And gently bring your awareness back to your breath and back into your body.
Relaxing into the ground and gradually becoming more spacious and open again.
Noticing any underlying feelings or sensations of an inner vitality or energy.
If you notice any pain in your body,
See if you can notice just the raw sensations of it without entangling any stories to it.
And instead of contracting around it,
Soften around it,
Give it space and let it move out and dissolve away.
You can take a deep breath in and a long slow breath out as you do that to let your body relax and help allow spaciousness so that it can take its natural unfolding course and transform.
Keep breathing,
Keep relaxing your body and just allow the energy of life to move how it needs to move.
Quiet,
Open,
Spacious awareness.
As we bring this meditation to a close and you go out into your day,
You can spend some time reflecting on this as well as keep noticing throughout your day when your body contracts or holds.
Being kind to yourself and letting it gently soften and relax.
The connection to your energy body happens in different ways and at different times for everyone.
So please don't worry if you don't instantly get a vivid sense of it.
As you develop this type of practice and deepen your awareness,
You will get to know it more deeply.
Your energy body is always there actually.
You're never without it.
It's just that it's fogged over by our normal dualistic daily conceptions and you need to uncover it.
Once this awareness awakens,
It can become such a powerful resource for you in your life,
Helping you to transform your pain and peacefully navigate your way through life's tribulations.
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.
