Closing your eyes and sitting comfortably.
Breathing deeply.
Following your breath as it travels in and out.
Calming your mind.
Letting any thoughts gently come and go.
There's no need to think about anything right now.
Just focusing on your breath as it flows in and out.
Starting to pay attention to the pain and discomfort inside of you.
Taking a deep breath and noticing where this pain resides within your body.
Your pain might be in one specific area or spread around many places within your body.
Just observing every part of you that is holding pain.
Your intention for this exercise is to meet your discomfort with mindfulness,
Openness and acceptance.
Let's start by finding the edge of your pain.
See if you can notice where your pain resides within you and where the pain stops.
Can you find an edge around the pain and also find parts of you that don't feel pain?
The edge of your pain might remain the same or it might be moving and changing.
You might experience full body pain.
If this is the case,
Just scanning your body from head to toe and notice the presence of pain.
See if you can use your mind to trace a line around the edge of your pain,
Even if you're tracing around your entire body.
This exercise is meant to help you make peace with the sensations that exist within your body.
You begin your journey to acceptance by first observing your experience with openness and curiosity.
Once you have a clearly defined edge around your painful area,
You can explore it more deeply.
If you could see this painful area,
What would it look like?
Looking inward and noticing everything you can about it.
Does it have a color?
Does it appear solid and heavy?
Is it moving,
Throbbing,
Changing?
Or maybe it looks jittery and tangled.
Taking a moment to look at this painful area and observe it,
To really see it.
If you shone a light into this area,
Would it shine through your pain or be blocked by it?
And if you tapped it with a stick,
Would it make a sound?
Paying attention to your pain in this way is not easy.
You might be noticing some urges rising within you to look away,
To turn off this recording,
And to avoid thinking about the sensations in your body.
Just breathing deeply.
Remember that you can stop at any point and return to this exercise again when you feel ready.
Or willing to continue,
Coming back to observing,
Noticing the sensations within your body.
Taking note of anything else of interest about your painful area and watching it with child-like fascination.
Becoming aware that there is a part of you that is experiencing pain and a part of you that is simply watching and observing.
This part of you that observes does not feel pain.
It can only look at pain.
When you move your awareness into the role of the observer,
You can access all that you are without pain.
In this place,
You are your true self.
You are untouchable.
You are safe.
Pain might exist in your physical body.
But here,
In the space of noticing and watching,
You are simply aware.
Aware,
Yes,
Of the pain.
And also,
At the same time,
Aware of your breathing.
Aware of the parts of your body that do not feel pain.
And perhaps,
Aware of the many joys that your life holds.
Here,
You do not judge your pain as a negative experience.
You instead just watch it mindfully as it exists within you.
As you watch mindfully,
Saying to yourself,
I notice that pain is present.
I do not like or approve of this pain.
But I am willing to accept its arrival.
I do not identify with this pain.
But I honor its presence.
And watch it with openness and curiosity.
And now,
Breathing deeply into this area of discomfort within your body,
Just imagine your breath coming in and surrounding this area.
As if by breathing into it,
You are creating space around the pain,
Expanding.
Making room for this discomfort in your body.
Not trying to reduce it or eliminate it.
Simply allowing it to be there.
I am not asking you to like this feeling or to willingly invite it into your life.
But I am asking you to let it be there,
Whenever it arrives,
Peacefully accepting.
Keep breathing,
Keep expanding,
Keep allowing.
Making room for your pain using your breath.
You might even get a sense now that the space you are creating is moving outside of your body.
That's fine.
Keep expanding,
Making as much space as you need to just let these sensations be.
As you make space for your pain to exist,
You make peace your natural state of being.
Not only do you find acceptance for what is happening inside of you,
You also begin to foster a gentler relationship with your pain.
Instead of hating your pain or complaining about your pain or trying to ignore it or push it away,
You develop a kind and peaceful relationship.
One where you do not suffer.
One where you find acceptance for what is.
One where you can feel joy,
Love and gratitude despite the presence of pain.
Continue practicing breathing and expanding around your pain.
Observing it and allowing it.
Staying in this peaceful state of acceptance for as long as you wish.
Staying in this peaceful state of acceptance for as long as you wish.
Staying in this peaceful state of acceptance for as long as you wish.
Thank you.
