Softening your body practice for managing pain and tension.
Hello and welcome to Choosing Mindfulness.
My name is Banu Joy Harrison,
And I will be guiding you in a practice for softening your body,
A helpful skill for stress reduction and shifting your experience of pain in your body.
Let's begin.
You can practice this meditation sitting,
Standing,
Or lying down with your eyes open or closed.
Take a moment to let your body settle into your chosen position,
And take a few slow,
Deep breaths.
Now,
Focus on an area of mild to moderate tension or pain in your body that you're currently experiencing.
Notice where in your body the pain is.
Is it in your arms,
Legs,
Head,
Back,
Or torso?
If you are having more pervasive body pain right now,
Pick one smaller area to work with during this meditation.
Notice how large or small the area of discomfort is.
Is it a circular shape or irregular?
Does the discomfort have a color or sensory quality like heavy,
Red-hot,
Ropey,
Achy,
Or burning?
See if you can find some good adjectives to describe the sensation of discomfort.
Are you bracing against or tightening up around this pain?
Notice what happens in the area just outside the more intense discomfort.
Is the surrounding area bracing,
Tightening,
Or holding the pain?
Now,
I'd like you to imagine bringing some softness into this area.
Let any images or experiences arise naturally from your body if possible,
Rather than trying to think of the right experience to shift your tension or pain.
Letting these images arise naturally takes time to develop,
So try not to be disappointed in the beginning.
Trust that your body knows exactly what it needs to do to soften and settle.
You might imagine the painful region exhaling and softening.
You might imagine soft clouds or marshmallows surrounding this uncomfortable area.
Perhaps you wrap the tension in a soft,
Downy,
Warm comforter,
Noticing if and how the sensations slowly shift.
You might notice the painful sensation softening and dissolving into a new substance.
Or perhaps a colored liquid begins to slowly seep in,
Unraveling the tightness and tension.
Maybe pressure starts to release as you create an imaginary opening in the region of your tension and pain.
See if you can have fun with this process,
Being curious to the exploration and the images that come up naturally in your body.
I kind of wanted to find out.
.
.
I just want to know,
Well,
What has happened to me?
If you find yourself going into thoughts,
Emotions,
Or the storyline of what happened to you,
See if you can gently let these drift away as you return your attention to your sensations.
Notice if your sensations have changed since you first started this practice,
And see if you need to find some new adjectives to describe the changed sensations.
Continue to notice with curiosity and kindness what begins to happen as you invite softness into this part of your body.
You might notice that other body areas are becoming softer and more relaxed even if the painful area hasn't changed much.
Again,
Just being curious about what your body is doing with these sensations.
See if you can notice even a very tiny shift anywhere in your body.
It could be that your thoughts are a bit slower,
Or that your heart rate is settling down,
Or perhaps your shoulders sink more deeply into the surface they're on.
The area of tension or pain may not change much,
But that's okay.
As you continue to practice this skill of softening your body,
You will create more pathways in your body that will help you tend to and shift your relationship with your discomfort.
As we bring this practice to a close,
Take a moment to be grateful for your body's cooperation in beginning to soften your tension and pain.
And thank you for practicing with me today.
