Working with Difficult Bodily Sensations

This meditation focuses on developing effective ways of dealing with difficult bodily experiences such as pain and discomfort in meditation.

Transcript

This meditation focuses on developing effective ways to work with difficult bodily experiences such as pain and discomfort in meditation.

In our daily lives we spend a lot of time moving towards pleasant experiences and away from unpleasant ones.

In some situations this is quite appropriate and beneficial.

If a vehicle is headed straight at us,

We jump out of the way.

If we see a loved one,

We want to move closer to them and give them a hug.

But much of the time this moving towards the pleasant and away from the unpleasant is not helpful.

When for example every small discomfort makes us move or change position,

We may never find a comfortable position.

Or when we like some food so much that we can't stop eating it,

This is obviously not helpful for us.

The awareness we develop through mindfulness and through mindfulness meditation helps us see what is beneficial and useful and what is not.

What leads to stress and suffering and what leads to genuine happiness and freedom.

And to make helpful and appropriate choices we have to be willing to open to our experience just as it is.

And we do this in mindfulness meditation.

So in this practice we cultivate a kind and non-judging awareness of our experience.

Believing to things just as they are.

This is how the poet Rumi puts it in the poem The Guest House.

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy,

A depression,

A meanness.

Some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.

Come and entertain them all.

Even if they're a crowd of sorrows who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture.

Still treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out for some new delight.

The dark thought,

The shame,

The malice.

Meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.

In mindfulness meditation we aspire to bring this quality of welcoming all of our experience with kindness,

Compassion,

Friendliness and equanimity.

Not grasping,

Not resisting,

Not judging.

Just opening to and experiencing.

Welcoming the guests.

So for this period of meditation sit down or lie down in a relaxed and comfortable posture.

Bring yourself to be fully here.

Opening to your experience just as it is.

You can use the breath as a focus or anchor for your awareness and then when another experience appears a sound,

A bodily sensation,

An emotion or mood,

A thought.

See if you can welcome that guest,

Experiencing how it is manifesting and allow it to come and go.

Not grasping onto the pleasant.

Not resisting or pushing away the unpleasant or difficult.

Can you open fully to what is present for you in the body,

Heart and mind?

So use the breath as a focus or anchor for your awareness and come back to the breath when you become aware that the mind has moved into thinking.

When a strong experience calls for your attention,

For example a feeling of discomfort or pain in the body,

Let that become the focus of your attention.

So let your attention move from the breath to that sensation,

To that feeling,

Feeling of discomfort or pain.

If it's overwhelming or extremely difficult to be with,

Make any changes you need to make.

Open your eyes,

Change position,

Do whatever you need to do.

But many of our difficult experiences we can,

With practice,

Learn to open to and be with.

So when you become aware of a feeling of pain or discomfort in the body,

Move toward the experience,

Welcoming the guests.

Feel the sensations.

There might be pressure,

Heat,

Tingling or pulsing,

Throbbing,

Piercing.

Let yourself fully experience what's present,

Recognizing what's here and allowing it to be just as it is.

So recognizing what you're experiencing and allow it to be just as it is.

Not resisting,

Not pushing away.

Giving interest,

Curiosity to this experience of discomfort or pain.

See if you can get beneath the labels of discomfort and pain to the direct experience.

Notice do the sensations stay the same or do they change?

Do they move from one area of the body to another?

Do they get stronger or weaker or stay much the same?

Allow yourself to fully experience what's here.

And when thoughts come up,

As they often will,

Note these and let go of them.

When you open to the sensations you might experience a strong emotion or mind state.

Let yourself open to that.

Let it come and go.

When we move towards difficult experiences in meditation,

We're actually doing something counterintuitive.

Our natural tendency is to push away or move away from what's difficult.

What we're inviting ourselves to do in meditation is to actually move into the experience.

Open as fully as we can to it and see its impermanence,

See how it changes,

How it comes and goes.

How if we don't identify with it but just directly experience it,

We can see it come and go.

It doesn't need to cause us the same kind of problems as it might do if we're not aware of it.

So recognizing what's present and allowing it to be as it is.

So stay with the sensations as long as they're calling for attention.

And when they lessen or pass away,

Let your attention come back to the breath.

And if the difficult experience comes back,

Open to it again in the same way with kindness,

Care,

With attention.

Welcoming the guests.

How is it to move towards difficult experiences and to open to them in this way rather than pulling away or resisting or avoiding the experience?

Welcome the guests.

Welcome and entertain them all,

Even if they're a crowd of sorrows.

Treat each guest honorably.

Reviews

Welcoming pain and all that is with kindness and curiosity. Thank you, Hugh.

Love and appreciate your meditations. Your voice is sublime.

Thank you Hugh for the meditations, I love them so much. 🙏🏻

Beautiful as always 🫰🏼 Blessed to receive 🙇🏼‍♂️

This really helped with passing discomfort. 🙏 Thank you

So supportive for the pain I’m experiencing today. Helped me to rest in impermanence as I watched it move, intensify, and then soften. Thank you!

A great reminder to be accepting of sensations in the body right now. Not always easy but then, most things worth doing aren’t easy.

Gave me some things to consider about the way I view my body.

Love your meditations. Hoping you will do some lives in Pacific Time

Thank you - such a helpful reminder! A great way to start the day and utilise daily - thanks again!

This is great and I love the Rumi poem which really helps. Thank you so much.

I cover up pain in my neck (ice or warmth alternately because common psi medications don’t work). I worry that one day the pain will overtake my solutions.
Which even now do not fully mask the pain.

Welcoming physical pain knowing there might be a gift on the other side of suffering is a phenomenon I learned from healing. But I had never applied this to emotional pain. This morning you helped me understand that I need to also welcome emotional pain when they arise as a guest of honor. By sitting with emotional pain they are also bringing us the gift of healing. Thank you dear brotherly spirit Hugh.

I have listened more than once, and have found it very helpful in coping.

Namaste Hugh. Thank you. Your calm and warm tone of voice helps me hold the discomfort in a calm and kind awareness. I love how you incorporated The Guest House at the beginning of your talk and toward the end of the meditation.

Your calm voice and the considered content make an excellent rescue passage. Thankyou so much.

Wonderful, thank you!

This meditation is helpful in itself and a good adjunct for anyone working with. the “Turning Toward” section of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. (MBSR). Thank you, Hugh.

Beautiful, absolutely beautiful! Thank you very much for sharing your compassion and love.

Invite them all with lovingkindness