Okay,
Welcome to this mindful relaxation practice for chronic pain.
You can begin by finding a comfortable position.
Maybe that's lying down or sitting in a chair.
Whatever it is for you,
Finding a comfortable position so as to not inflame any discomfort or pain that you might be having.
Once you find this position,
Let's begin by arriving all at once arriving in our body.
Arriving in the present moment.
And arriving in the inhalation and exhalation of the breath.
You might begin by noticing the inhalation and exhalation.
The rising and the falling of the chest.
And any sensations that come with bringing your attention to the rising and the falling of the chest.
You might notice.
As you bring your attention to the rising and falling of your chest.
That the breath will come and go just as it wants.
You don't have to control the breath.
You don't have to force it.
It comes and goes and rises and falls at its own pace.
Now,
Using the breath and the rising and falling of the chest,
As a sort of anchor.
To your body.
To the present moment.
You might also notice.
.
.
The breath at the tip of your nostrils.
Or in the rising and falling of your belly as well.
All of the ways.
.
.
That the breath shows up for us as a sort of anchor to the body.
Arriving in the room.
Arriving in the moment.
And arriving in the body.
Noticing how the mind wants to wander off into thought.
When the mind wanders off into thought,
Just noticing that too.
And then returning to the breath.
Mind wanders off.
Maybe there is some images or bits of language.
And watching the thoughts.
That try to pull you away,
Watching them almost as images on a movie screen.
Seeing them at a distance and then coming back to the breath.
Transitioning now to bringing our attention to various parts of the body.
You might notice the sensation in both of your feet.
Continuing the breath,
The coming and going of the breath while also noticing the sensations in both feet.
Could be bare feet.
You might have socks or shoes on and noticing what that feels like.
Bringing your conscious attention to the sort of fuzzy or tingling sensation that goes with the feet.
And bringing some.
Openness and some curiosity to the feet.
And now to the ankles and the feet.
And now expanding that attention to the feet,
The ankles,
And both legs.
Again,
Sort of anchored to the breath while also noticing the sensations in both legs now.
Noticing the outlines of both legs or both legs resting on the bed or the chair.
Sensations of pressure,
Of tingling.
Being curious about the sensations in your legs.
Now bringing.
.
.
That attention to both of your hips.
Noticing.
Whatever you in fact notice in both of your hips.
Is it tingling,
Fuzziness?
Is it tightness?
Is it.
.
.
Comfort,
Is it?
What is it?
In both of your hips.
And as you notice yourself drifting off into thought,
Being curious about that too.
Where's the thought?
Was it images?
Was it language?
Was it a memory?
On the screen of your mind,
Noticing the thought.
In the same way that you are noticing those other parts of the body.
Witnessing them.
Coming back to the breath and back to the body once you've witnessed the thought.
There's no need to be frustrated or irritated whenever you drift off into thought.
Just notice that thought and come back to the breath,
Back to your hips or your legs or your feet,
Back to the body now.
Now expanding that attention to the rising and the falling of your belly.
Your belly and your chest.
Letting the breath come and go however it wants.
Inhaling until you're comfortably full.
And exhaling until you're comfortably empty.
You might,
As you continue to breathe,
Notice the sensation at the tip of your nostrils.
Tip of your nose.
Anywhere where you feel the breath.
Now doing a temperature check.
In the sort of weather of your own mind and heart and spirit.
Any heaviness or sadness.
Frustration or anger that you have.
Felt in the previous weeks and months that has to do with pain.
Or health concerns.
Taking a temperature check of.
.
.
How those frustrations or sadness can kind of build up over time.
And just honoring that and noticing.
Those frustrations that you've had with your health or pain.
And allowing ourselves to exhale and breathe with ease.
The recognition of our own suffering.
Here.
In a position of safety and neutrality.
Just honoring.
That's suffering.
Not pushing it away.
Not reifying it,
Just noticing it and honoring it.
Having a sense of compassion.
For that suffering.
For your suffering.
Bringing a sense of.
.
.
Sweetness and compassion to yourself here.
Now.
.
.
In the final three or four minutes here you might bring your attention to wherever there's discomfort in the body.
It could be your back,
Your neck,
Or a headache,
Or your arms,
Or your legs,
Or anything.
Neutrally and calmly bringing your attention to the locus of the discomfort in the body.
But bringing the attention to the locus of discomfort.
In a spirit of neutral openness and curiosity.
Where is it?
Where is the center of it?
And you might.
.
.
Notice the sensation of discomfort.
While also continuing the deep inhales and exhales.
From a position of safety and neutrality just now.
Investigating.
The locus of discomfort in the body,
Wherever it is.
Being curious about it.
Maybe even friendly toward it.
And you might ask yourself as you continue to breathe.
Is the discomfort.
Shapeshifting.
Is it changing?
Does it feel like it's moving?
Does it feel static?
Is it aching or is it sharp?
Is it diffuse or is it specific?
Just sort of investigating the nature of the discomfort.
In a position of safety and neutrality.
And finally here,
Noticing and asking where is the edge of the paint?
In all likelihood,
The pain is in every square inch of the body,
So where is the edge of it?
Where does the discomfort end?
Non-pain begin.
Where is that?
Investigating that.
Okay.
Bringing your attention back to the breath.
You might.
.
.
Take one hand and place it on your chest or on your belly.
And in the final minute here,
You might.
.
.
Bring a sense of.
.
.
Sweetness or compassion.
Forgiveness to yourself,
The one experiencing.
The discomfort or pain or difficulties with your health.
It's pretty easy to bring sympathy and empathy and love to somebody else that's in pain,
But.
.
.
How rarely do we provide that for ourselves.
It's taking a moment too.
Yourself and give yourself a moment of self-compassion and sweetness here.
As you navigate these things.
All right,
Well you did it.
Thank you for coming by.
Doing this practice,
I hope you feel a slight sense of relaxation and some distance from the discomfort.
I think a big part of this practice is learning how to be our own scientist of our own brain,
Our body,
Our emotions,
And getting a little bit of distance,
Not getting swallowed up in the narrative we have around the pain,
Finding some relaxation.
Alright,
Well,
If this was helpful,
Give me a follow or leave a comment and I'll try to make more of these.
Maybe I'll make a shorter one next time.
Okay,
Thanks for coming by.
We'll see you next time.
