Journey Through Pain

Learn new ways to be with physical and emotional pain in a kind and gentle way. This is not always an easy practice, particularily when you have a strong experience of pain, but it is very powerful and can transform a seemingly solid sensation into something more workable. Wishing you relief and peace from this practice. From my album "Everyday Meditations".

Transcript

Journey through pain meditation.

So just starting by settling into your meditation posture.

So sitting up tall and dignified but not stiff.

And feeling the weight of your body going down to the ground.

Just scanning through your body,

Loosening your shoulders.

Untightening your hands.

Loosening your belly,

Your legs,

Your calf muscles,

Your feet.

And settling into an upright but relaxed posture.

And as you do this,

Making the clear intention to be here and now,

From moment to moment.

And when you do notice that your mind goes off into the past or the future,

Being kind to yourself and accepting that that's what our minds sometimes do and that's okay.

And when you notice that your mind does wander off during this meditation,

Which it inevitably will,

You can congratulate yourself for noticing,

Rather than seeing it as a negative,

As something you might have done wrong.

So just encouraging you to experience this meditation moment by moment with a beginner's mind and openness and acceptance and a curiosity into what's arising for you in each moment.

So just noticing how you are right now.

How's your mind?

Where is your mind at right now?

Remember this is a non-judgmental noticing,

So you're just checking in as an observer.

How are your emotions right now?

How are you feeling?

Are you feeling it in the moment?

Or is there something in your body that wants to move and be somewhere else and abandon this meditation?

Maybe there's something in its pressing that you have to do.

Just noticing that.

Just sitting with it as best you can.

So just accepting how you are right now and offering yourself some kindness.

Maybe just spend a moment now wishing yourself well and knowing that you deserve this time with yourself to give yourself some positive energy,

Some new resources and some trustworthy and robust ways to deal with what life throws at you.

So just spend a few moments wishing yourself well with real kindness and compassion.

And now just inviting you to scan through your body with a gentle curiosity,

Noticing maybe any areas of tension,

Pain,

Discomfort or maybe just an unknown sensation in the body.

And now noticing where it is,

Really trying to pinpoint exactly where it appears in your body.

And does it change or move around?

If you want to you could give it a colour and a shape.

And just continuing this curious attention noticing if it's physical pain or maybe an emotion that's showing up in your body.

A tightness,

Anxiety,

Some tension.

And can you tell between the two?

Between a physical pain and an emotional one?

Is there a difference?

And we can actually work with both in exactly the same way.

With a gentle,

Kind curiosity.

And letting go of those expectations that by maybe focusing on it,

It might disappear.

So just noticing maybe if that sensation or pain or anxiety seems to increase in intensity.

If it does,

That's okay.

Just knowing that you can always move back from it if you want to.

If it becomes too much.

And you can just return to your breathing for a moment.

Just ground yourself.

Offer yourself some kindness.

And then when and if you're ready,

Just returning back to the place of discomfort.

Once again,

Just gently noticing it.

Tune in to our session forty.

And as you notice this sensation,

Become aware of your attitude towards it.

Is there acceptance?

You able to let go of it?

And also are there any thoughts relating to this pain?

Is there a story?

Is there a history to it?

Again,

Just watching those thoughts,

Knowing that you don't really need to get tangled up in the story,

But rather just experiencing whatever sensation is here now whilst being aware of your feelings,

Emotions and your thoughts.

Being very gentle and knowing that your breath is always there if you want to return to it and ground yourself.

So just working with what is.

Vocabulary 4 You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You And as you continue with this practice just knowing that you can tune out my voice and just follow your own instinct into what you need right now.

So now just expanding your awareness out to get a sense of your whole body sitting here,

Holding the whole of your body in a wide spacious awareness.

So with this awareness of your body as a whole sitting here,

Also become aware of your thoughts,

Your emotions and body sensations.

And if you want to you can imagine gathering your arms in,

Bringing your thoughts,

Emotions and body sensations in towards you,

Very gently with kindness and firmness.

And as you breathe out just releasing your thoughts,

Emotions and body sensations.

So breathing in,

Gathering in your thoughts,

Emotions and body sensations,

Bringing them towards you and cradling them for a moment with kindness,

Affection and firmness.

And then breathing out and just releasing them.

And that's not pushing them away,

Just allowing them to go where they want to go.

You might notice that some of them are sticky,

Want to hang around,

Maybe your thoughts,

Maybe a particular sensation or just a general tone of your emotions.

And if they want to hang around for a bit longer that's okay,

Just allow them to be there.

You're simply making space for your thoughts,

Emotions and body sensations,

Opening up a door,

Giving them another place to be.

So once again just breathing in again,

Gathering in your thoughts,

Emotions and body sensations,

Cradling them for a moment or two.

And then breathing out and just releasing them,

Allowing them to go where they want to go.

Until then,

God Bless.

You You You You You You You You You You Now just gently returning to the physical aspects of your body.

Just noticing how you are right now.

How's the pain or the anxiety or tightness or tingling or unknown sensation that you noticed at the beginning of the meditation?

How are your emotions at the moment?

Have any thoughts crept in again?

Are they the same thoughts?

And just remembering to let go of any success or failure or any goals.

We're not after any particular result.

We're just noticing the ebb and flow and constant change of our mind,

Our body and our emotions.

Just being curious about how they are from moment to moment.

And knowing that maybe they're not as solid as they seem at first.

As stuck.

As unmovable.

And actually maybe there's a dance going on in every moment.

For us just to notice.

So just taking a deep breath in right now.

Breathing out.

Breathing out.

And you can congratulate yourself for spending this time to give yourself positive energy.

And also to sit with sensations and emotions and thoughts that aren't always pleasant and can be difficult to work with.

But also knowing that in doing this practice we gain a little more understanding and insight.

And maybe also realising that maybe these things aren't as solid as they seem.

And with some patience and kindness and curiosity we can sit down next to the things in our lives that seem unpleasant.

And be with them as best we can.

Whilst remaining grounded and rooted.

And trusting in that deep stillness within us.

To be able to understand and move with any change.

From moment to moment.

And now inviting you to expand your awareness out further.

To get a sense of the space around you.

Noticing the contact with your skin on your clothing.

The light through your eyelids.

Maybe the soundscape around you.

And then taking another deep breath in.

Breathing out,

Watching that urge to jump up,

Get on with your day.

Just trying to hold that awareness,

That stillness for a few more moments.

And when you're ready,

Just gently opening your eyes.

And being mindful as you transition into the next part of your day.

Thank you.

Reviews

Your guided meditation was just what I needed today, thank you 🙏🏽

Thank you for this meditation @Andy. It helped me open up and allow tears to flow and then clear my head and heart.

Thank you Andy, i used your meditation now several times during my painful earinfection. It really is helpful 🪷

Wow that was incredible. I really needed this. Thank you.

Great quality recording, lovely sentiment, well thought out, very uplifting, great voice. Voice to soundtrack ratio not so great. Voice can be a bit jarring if you get absorbed in the awesome soundtrack.

perfect pacing for me, very helpful to give time for the feelings and emotions 🙏 the only part that was not perfect for me was the bell: i would prefer a softer sound

Incredible. A favorite of mine for nearly 10 years. I continue to grow with each listen.

This was lovely. I used some of the quiet space to journal a bit. Thank you, Andy.

Excellent, good pacing, effective (at least for me). I look forward to additional sessions. Thank you!

Wonderful Meditation. It helped me sit through tough emotions and give myself some kindness, some separation and a different perspective on the way I was feeling.

Incredible. This meditation has helped me release a decade of psychosomatic pain.

Beautiful…🙏Thankyou. Was feeling very low..Certainly needed at this moment in time..Bless. Incredibly uplifting..🙌⭐️
Namaste..🙏💞🌸😍

Very useful. I'll be repeating this one as it will help me come to terms with the pain, stress and sadness I feel at the loss of my husband to vascular dementia.

Well spaced. Lots of time/space in which to allow, observe (in between the suggestions and guidance), which I also found very helpful.

Thank you Andy.I have pain in my hands, elbows, spine.this helped me see I was resisting the pain and the resulting tension was making it worse. The pain is still here but I’m letting it be and I feel so much more at ease

This always helps me to calm and relax when I'm in pain. Thank you 🙏

Lovely piece Andy, thank you. I have extreme pain so I could not sit up this time however it still worked very well.

Your gentle voice & calmness is very soothing and along with my Reiki, the tooth pain subsided and I was able to be still & pain free, thank you for your energy ⚡ ✨🙏🙌🌹☯️

I had migraine, the whole left side of my head, now it’s only a tiny twinge. I better get away from this screen. Thank you Andy.

Good meditation. However he does cue you about your sitting posture and I listened to this laying down as a bedtime meditation, which it's not really designed for. But I did fall asleep so it worked anyway :-) And I slept well. Usually pain wakes me up and I struggle to get comfortable.