Let's start this meditation with a deep breath together,
Grounding yourself into this moment and breathing in gratitude for this time you're giving yourself.
You can gently close your eyes when you're ready or keep a soft gaze in front of you,
Either sitting or lying down,
Feeling the supportive foundation beneath you.
Continuing to breathe deeply,
Let's take a moment to check in.
How are you feeling right now?
What thoughts are coming up?
What emotions are bubbling to the surface?
How is your heart?
Taking a moment to acknowledge these thoughts and feelings without any judgment or analyzation and turning your attention now toward your body.
How does your body feel today?
Are there any areas that are tight?
Any parts that feel really good?
Any areas that might be painful?
Again,
Taking a moment to acknowledge any sensations in the body without any judgment or analyzation.
Today,
We're going to transform any areas emotionally or physically that may feel painful to reduce the pain and shift our relationship to it.
So,
Settling in,
Place your hands on whatever area of your body is feeling the pain.
Breathing deeply,
Again without any judgment toward the pain.
Whether physical or emotional,
Pain can be incredibly difficult to handle and often scary and frustrating.
There are often two layers to pain,
The actual painful experience,
And our reaction and relationship to it.
First,
Today,
We're going to focus on shifting that second layer to transform our reaction and relationship with pain.
Then,
We will reshape the pain itself.
We have to be ready to approach our pain.
So,
At any point,
If this meditation becomes too much,
Simply turn it off and find another meditation better suited to your needs today.
You may also repeat the affirmations throughout this meditation,
I am safe,
I am in control,
I have all the power within myself.
So,
When you're ready,
You can place your hands on your heart or your lap,
Coming back to the breath,
Inhaling deeply,
Exhaling,
Continuing with this breath as we move through the meditation.
We're now going to begin to turn toward our reaction and relationship with pain.
So,
Right now,
Choose one physical or emotional pain you're having and turn all your focus there.
What would it feel like to remove your resistance to this pain?
What would it look like to have acceptance for the present moment of pain with full faith that it will disappear in the future?
Take a few moments to see this layer of resistance,
Frustration,
Or sadness over the pain.
Visualize it as ropes that are tying you more tightly to the pain you are experiencing.
See that rope pulled taut as frustration or anger or sadness pulsates around the rope.
Noticing how often these ropes of resistance tie us in ways to pain we don't need.
Breathing deeply and noticing if your body is showing signs of this resistance.
In clenched fists,
A pinched forehead,
Maybe high shoulders or a tight jaw as the ropes of resistance pull against you.
As you visualize these ropes,
You notice scissors appear in your hand.
These scissors are large and golden and extremely powerful.
With these scissors,
You can begin to cut each rope of resistance,
Of emotion,
Of fear away from the pain,
Watching it release.
Go ahead now and cut each rope you can see.
Watching them fall away.
Cutting away our anger with the pain.
Noticing how it unclenches our jaw.
Cutting away the sadness,
The fear.
Noticing how our forehead releases.
Every single rope these powerful scissors cut away releases our emotions related to the pain.
Actively relaxing and releasing this resistance.
Continue now to cut away each rope until you feel free.
We don't have the power to avoid the pain.
We do have the power to shift our relationship to it.
You may now place the scissors down.
And having released some of our resistance,
Feeling a bit more free,
We're going to dive a layer deeper into the pain itself.
Before we do that,
A gentle reminder to check in with your heart.
Notice if this has been enough for today,
Or if you'd like to move a layer deeper.
And if you'd like to move forward,
Returning to the power of your breath in a beautiful rhythm.
Let's move forward.
I want you to take a moment to relocate the pain in your mind or your body.
Visualize this pain as if it's its own being that exists outside of you.
Begin to see your pain take shape,
Knowing that in this visualization,
You are safe.
You are completely in control.
And this meditation is meant to reduce any pain you are feeling.
Now,
Looking closely,
What color is your pain?
Does the shape change as it moves?
What is its temperature?
Is it warm and fiery or icy and cool?
What is the texture of your pain?
Are the edges bumpy and jagged or smooth and refined?
What is the smell,
The feeling as you look at it?
Reminding yourself to take a deep breath here,
As you look at your pain and watch it take shape.
Once you have a visualization of the pain,
We're going to place it up on a large white screen that appears before you.
This is a magical screen that lets you edit your pain as much as you need.
And the pain will transform as soon as you make any change.
So let's start by changing the pain's color,
Maybe shifting hot reds to cooling,
Calming blues or pale greens to bright purples.
Focus on changing the color until it reflects what you need.
Now focus on the size.
Feel free to change the size as you need to.
Maybe reducing it till it is very,
Very small.
Shape the edges and texture in a way that lessens the pain's power.
Maybe paint on funny clothes or a silly smile to make the pain less intense.
Maybe paint on a book to make the pain less intimidating.
Feel free to continue editing for as long as you need.
Feeling your power to change this pain.
Editing every detail till the pain's power over you grows smaller and smaller and smaller.
Look at how much you've changed the pain.
How much smaller you've made it.
Less intimidating.
Less painful.
Up on the screen in its changed state,
I want you to ask the pain if it has anything to say to you,
Any message to share.
What is it that it's trying to tell you?
And how can you respond to it with loving kindness,
With understanding?
Are there any conversations you need to have with this pain?
Anything you need to say or shout or scream?
Have these conversations.
Speak what you need to the pain right now.
You can choose from a few options as we begin to step away.
Always knowing you can return here to edit again this pain or any other that may pop up.
You can erase the pain,
Visualizing as you wipe it off the screen,
It completely clears from your body.
If you're not quite ready to do that or it feels too hard,
You can place the pain back in its changed form,
Feeling the shift and feeling the reduced pain in your body or your mind.
Or you can continue here to edit even after this meditation ends until you are satisfied with your changes.
No matter what you choose,
We will begin to close out of this session by doing something slightly uncomfortable,
Thanking the pain.
Pain is a messenger and though it might not be going about it the way we want,
It is trying to send us a message.
So we thank it for trying and make our choice now for how we want to end this meditation today.
Closing this meditation by sealing in all the incredible work you've done with a big breath in,
Filling your lungs and your belly,
Expanding beautifully into the space around you and exhaling,
Letting it all go.
Gently opening your eyes and returning to the room you're in,
Putting your hands on your heart,
Sending so much gratitude to yourself for everything you did today.
This is not easy work and you've shown immense bravery and strength to face your pain head on and work to transcend it.
If there's anything that came up today that you need more support on,
Please seek the support of a therapist or a close friend or family member.
You are never alone.
You are so powerful and incredible and limitless.
Thank you for taking this time with me today.
Namaste.