This is a three-step breathing space meditation for working with pain.
In the first step of the breathing space,
Taking an intentional posture that puts your body at it as much ease as possible,
Whether it's sitting or lying down,
Making yourself as comfortable as you can be in this moment,
And then asking yourself this question,
What's going on in my experience right now?
What is this painful experience?
How do I know this pain?
What body sensations are here?
What qualities tell me it's pain?
Is it a tightness,
A burning,
A pulling,
Pressure?
Just noticing for yourself what sensations tell you that you're experiencing pain,
And then notice your emotions.
What emotions are here?
Maybe there's irritation or anger or sadness,
Fear,
Anxiety.
Noticing whatever emotions are here.
They might be clearly related to the pain or something else,
But just simply acknowledging whatever emotions are here.
And what thoughts are here related to the pain?
And thoughts can include images.
You might notice,
Is there an image of what's happening in your body that's causing the pain?
As well as what we most typically think of as thoughts,
Which are thoughts in the form of words.
What are you telling yourself?
What's your mind telling yourself about this pain?
Like,
This is never going to end.
I can't stand this.
Or whatever it is that you notice is coming up in your mind related to this pain.
So this first step is really about checking in to see what is this experience of pain?
Body sensations,
Emotions,
And thoughts.
So we're opening our awareness to notice more fully what this experience of pain is.
In the second step of the breathing space,
We let that inquiry go to the background,
And we bring our attention as fully as possible on the sensations of breathing.
So we're gathering our attention on the feeling of the breath,
Wherever you feel it most easily in your body.
It could be the nostrils,
Your chest,
Your abdomen,
Maybe there's a whole sense of your whole body breathing.
But just wherever you feel your breath,
Noticing the actual body sensations as the breath comes into your body,
And as the breath leaves your body,
Just focusing your attention on one area,
Like feeling the belly expand on the in-breath,
And contract gently,
Sinking on the out-breath.
So just as best you can,
Placing the fullness of your attention on the sensations of breathing from moment to moment.
And if you notice your attention shifting from the breath,
Maybe it's shifting to the painful sensation,
Just as best you can,
Redirecting and bringing your attention back to the breath.
Just feeling the next breath as fully and completely as you can.
And then in the third step of the breathing space,
Beginning to expand the field of attention so that it still includes the sensations of breathing,
But it also broadens to take in the sense of your body as a whole,
The sense of your posture,
Your facial expression,
How it feels from the inside,
Acknowledging whatever sensations are here in the whole body,
Any discomfort,
Particularly any tension holding,
Bracing that may be surrounding the pain or in reaction to the pain.
And you might see if it's possible with the breath to breathe into the area of intensity,
And on the out-breath inviting some release to come with the natural release of the exhale,
A sense of softening into that area rather than holding and bracing.
Breathing in,
Feeling the sensations,
And breathing out,
Letting go,
Releasing any holding or sensations that's possible to let go of.
And it's okay if it all doesn't leave,
But just this sense of softening can be helpful.
And then as you end this meditation,
Perhaps setting this intention to engage in this practice,
Perhaps in a more abbreviated way in your day-to-day life,
Where you stop when you notice the pain sensation and ask yourself,
Oh what's going on right now?
What's the body sensation or sensations?
What emotions are here?
What thoughts?
Take a moment to check in with that.
Step one.
Step two,
Gathering your attention on the breath,
Just feeling the breath,
Just focusing on a few in-breaths and out-breaths,
And then expanding your awareness to feel the whole body as you breathe,
Noticing,
Scanning through any areas of tightness or holding or bracing,
And seeing if it's possible on the out-breath to release some of that tension,
Some of that holding that doesn't need to be there.
I hope this practice serves you well.
