Open Focus For Pain Relief

This meditation is an effective tool that offers guidance to open your focus and notice the distance between different parts of the body. Your work is simply to notice, sense, and follow along. In doing so you may experience relief from physical pain and potential release from suffering of the mind and unnecessary ruminations.

On a personal note, when I broke my nose in a weird accident assembling patio furniture I used my open focus practice on the way to the emergency room and it was incredibly effective at keeping the pain down and helping me stay calm in my body.

Transcript

So close your eyes and take a few breaths. Scan all parts of your body, Just noticing how you are in this moment. Just noticing where your thoughts are and how your body parts are doing. How your heart is. How your thoughts are. We'll begin to open our focus. So can you sense the distance between your left thumb and your right toe, Your left thumb and your right big toe? Just noticing, Sensing the distance, Sensing the connection between the two parts of your body. And then can you sense the distance from your left hip to your right hip from the inside of the body? And then directing your attention to the palms of your hands. Can you sense the energy there? Maybe a little bit of heat building or a lot of heat building for some of you. And then can you trace the line inside your skull from the tip top of your head down the back of your head to your chin from the inside? And can you notice the space between each rib on the left side of your body, Front and back? And can you notice the distance between each rib on the right side of your body from bottom to top? And as you swallow, Can you notice the distance between your throat from the very base of your spine? And can you feel the distance from your left armpit to your left earlobe where you'd put an earring? And can you sense the size of your right nostril? Can you feel the difference between your left ear and your right? Feeling the difference and then noticing the distance between the two. And can you feel the space between your diaphragm and the base of your collarbone on the left side? And can you notice the taste buds on your tongue? And can you sense the space between your anatomical heart and your stomach? And will you explore into the vastness of your small intestine? Find the very center of your brain and draw a line through the center of your body down out through the base of your spine into the ground. Can you feel the space between your fingernail and your fingertip? Can you feel the distance from the back of your left knee to the very bottom of your left foot? From the back of your right knee to the top of your right shoulder? Take a breath and allow yourself to relax. Allow your body to relax even further. Softening, Noticing that every space exists in an orderly manner inside of you. Can you notice your right kneecap and its relationship to your right shin? Can you sense the distance into your heart? Trace a line in your mind from your hairline over your forehead, Down your nose, Across your lips, Down your throat, Through the midline of your body, Ending at the tip of the spine. Without needing to know where it is, Can you sense your left kidney? And your bladder? And can you feel the distance from your left shoulder to your right? From the tip of your nose to your heart? From your left inner ear to your right? From the inside top of your brain to the very bottom of your left foot? And can you feel the distance from your left shoulder to your heart? Take a breath and with your exhale, Swallow. And very gently when you're ready, Grab your journal and take a couple notes on what you noticed.