Healing For Pain Relief

This meditation helps you to lean into any pain you are experiencing in your body rather than trying to escape it. Guiding you through different sensations beyond the pain to begin to view pain differently. Accepting where our body is at right now and breathing space into the body can help to find relief within and develop tools and curiosity to assist in the healing of our bodies.

Transcript

Meditation for anyone who is experiencing physical pain and this meditation can be done either sitting or lying down.

It's specifically designed to work with difficult physical pain.

And let's begin by noticing the support you are receiving from what you're sitting or laying on.

Paying special attention to the sensations here of support.

Whether you're sitting or lying down allowing your weight to sink down through these points of contact and wherever possible letting any tension drain down into the support underneath you.

As you are sitting or lying here letting any thoughts or images go,

Just feeling supported by what's beneath you.

And when you're ready noticing the breath.

Actually feeling the breath through the movement of your belly or chest,

Shoulders.

Noticing how the whole body expands a little on the in-breath and relaxes a little on the out-breath.

Just observing where the breath moves to and from.

Watching the breaths go in and out.

Allowing the breath to be exactly as it is.

Letting the breath breathe itself.

In a moment we turn our attention to a physical condition or sensation that's been troubling you.

Something that's not the way you would like it to be physically.

And this can include chronic pain.

Something that's almost always there.

Something that may be hard to sit with or it could be a painful injury or something that hasn't healed yet.

It could be a simple ache or a pain that's reoccurring.

So take your time.

Allow yourself to use the breath to go down into the body and allow yourself to sense an area of your body that you want to choose to work on.

No,

There's no wrong choice.

Whatever you choose is going to be right for this time.

So perhaps even scanning the body with your breath.

Finding that area of the body.

Starting to become curious to what the body is storing in this area.

Also noticing a natural tendency that we have as humans to move away from pain.

See if your curiosity can invite this pain to be a teacher.

So we pay attention to this discomfort in the body in a special way.

With kindness.

Allowing that breath to move around that area and nurture that place in your body of discomfort.

And as you notice or go in a little bit more to this space,

How would you describe it?

See if you can identify specific types of sensations which could include dull,

Burning,

Tight,

Pressure,

Aching.

Notice these sensations simply as sensations and see if you can explore this area with curiosity and kindness.

Staying with the breath moving in and around that space and starting to be curious to how big this area may be.

Is it small?

Large?

Is this area thick or thin?

And if you could explore if it had a texture,

What would you say that it felt like?

Rigid?

Soft?

What is the shape of this pain?

And where are the edges?

Being curious to this place.

Following the breath in through the nose and taking a nice long exhale out.

Spending a few moments really leaning toward or going into this sensation.

Perhaps starting to notice the edges and if you could breathe just around those edges,

Seeing if that breath could soften that space.

And if you went further out past these edges where there's less discomfort or no discomfort,

Just experimenting with being right at the edge of it,

Right at the boundary of your discomfort.

Seeing if you can let the area just be on that edge,

Relax.

Knowing that you're not trying to change the area of pain or discomfort,

But you're placing your awareness just beyond the edge of it,

Letting there be a softening as you keep breathing.

You are beginning to pay close attention to the physical sensations,

The images,

Colors,

Anything that's there for you.

Really noticing how it feels.

Maybe starting to notice how you feel around this pain.

Is there anger about having it?

Does it feel sad?

Is there exhaustion?

Is there fear that it may not change?

Does it feel unfair or that it's limiting you?

What would you call the feeling in your own words and explore this as you're breathing into and around the edges of that space.

Just keeping with a soft,

Gentle breath.

Noticing if you can soften into your reaction to how this feels.

Seeing if you can be with it the same way that you would be with a loved one.

Really showing this part of you unconditional love,

Kindness,

Softness.

And if it feels right to as you breathe,

You might even place your hand over the area of discomfort or hold your belly or your heart and just meet this experience with loving kindness.

Recognizing that this would be difficult or painful for anybody to turn towards.

So we hold ourselves gently and breathe compassion into the body.

Nice,

Slow,

Gentle breaths.

Allowing things to feel softer.

Nice,

Long exhales.

Allowing whatever you're noticing to simply be there.

Allowing feelings to be there.

Acknowledging whatever is there.

Knowing that you don't have to like it.

It's just an acknowledgement that this is in your body and this is what you're feeling right now.

And as you keep breathing,

Sensations and feelings may come and go and try to stay in the seat of the observer.

Be curious if there's movement of this discomfort.

Is there change?

Perhaps it tightens or it gets loose.

Maybe it feels hard and then it feels soft.

Notice any waves of energy or images or colors.

Seeing if you can bring a sense of that kindness and compassion to your exploration of this space.

Caring for yourself enough to show up and do this.

Making sure that we really connect with what we're noticing and feeling from a place of the observer.

So not going into it too much to become overwhelmed but we're just noticing.

And spend a few breaths here.

Always returning to the next breath in.

Letting go of what you can on your exhale.

Noticing.

Allowing.

And in a few moments we're going to seek a different sensation in the body.

So take three more slow deep breaths into this discomfort.

All around the edges.

And now without trying to push any of the difficult sensations away,

Still allowing them to be there.

Start your exploration for somewhere else in your body that's not in pain.

Start to be curious if you could find a neutral or open,

Even a good feeling sensation somewhere in your body.

So as you breathe in,

Expand your awareness into your body with your breath and beyond the discomfort.

And we begin allowing your discomfort to be soothed by the rhythm of that easy natural breath.

Allowing your body to rest into the support.

And as you begin that search,

Scanning your body,

Noticing what's there and pausing when you find something that feels pleasing or pleasurable or open.

A place in your body where you don't feel pain.

So no matter how subtle that feeling might be.

It could be a sense of your hands feeling warm.

Or it might feel like the shoulders sink into the support that you're leaning against and you feel a sense of relief.

Maybe it's an area in your body that is pain free.

So pause when you find that thing,

That place in your body that feels different to the pain.

If you're having difficulty finding some place that feels okay,

You might gently just place your hands somewhere.

The way you might when you comfort someone you care about.

And allow that touch to feel comforting for you and sense into the comfort.

Letting yourself spend some time here with this part of your body that feels pleasant.

And keep following your breath in and out of the body.

Notice that you may be finding yourself being drawn back into the painful area.

And try to weave between these two spaces with little resistance.

So we allow some soft breaths.

Breathing into the area of your body with gentleness and kindness.

And when you're able to,

We gently bring your awareness back to that open,

Neutral place of the body.

The body that feels it's not in discomfort.

And you could also allow yourself to breathe between the two areas noticing the difference.

Breathing into both areas.

Noticing if things feel differently than what they did before.

And when you feel ready,

Seeing if you can broaden your awareness a little more,

Zooming out.

Including both the pleasant area and the difficult area.

Zooming out so wide that there's enough space and room for both of them.

Without pushing the difficult part away or clinging to the pleasant.

Just shifting to a wider lens.

Different perspective that includes both.

And including the entire body of all it's sensations.

And with your breath,

See if you can keep moving wider out.

To include in your awareness the room or the area that you're sitting.

The whole body.

And as you zoom out,

You might notice a sense of space or freedom.

And letting yourself spend a moment here.

Letting yourself spend a moment here.

As you breathe in,

Feeling that expansion out nice and wide.

And as you breathe out,

Just noticing what you're noticing.

You can expand out past the room.

You can go as far or as wide as you like with your breath.

Just feeling into spaciousness that surrounds your entire body.

And taking five beautiful deep breaths into your body.

Letting your exhale lengthen.

Expanding out with your in-breath.

Relaxing your body on your out-breath.

And when you're ready to,

Letting all of your awareness gradually return.

To you breathing in and going into your body.

How are you right now?

Feeling and sensing how it is to be in your body right here,

Right now.

Coming back to your center with awareness still wide enough to hold both the difficulties and pleasures of life or whatever's stored in your body.

And seeing if you can bring gentleness to whatever you're feeling right now.

Breathing space in your body.

Holding yourself.

And spending a few moments resting deeply in your body.

In the breath.

And allowing any discomfort or unease to be soothed by that rhythm of breath again and again and again.