Yoga Nidra Reimagining Pain

Join me in exploring what drives pain and tension patterns in your body. From a place of security, becoming curious about beliefs that further entrench familiar tension patterns in order to defuse their charge. And to explore how these pain patterns continue to exist with a high level of threat attached to them. Turns out pain is highly complex and unique. By tuning in the hope is to gain an inner knowing about what are some of the drivers of the loud voice of pain and how you might grow the quieter voice of calm and safety.

Transcript

The loose focus for this practice is reimagining pain,

Which may seem like a strange phrase and also will definitely initially feel like if only it were that easy.

And of course,

It is not at all easy.

Nothing about living with chronic pain is easy.

It's a loud and niggling and obnoxious voice that can take over all parts of life,

A major disruptor in every sense of the word.

I'm speaking specifically about physical pain,

But if in this practice,

An emotional pain feels more present and more pertinent as your focus,

You may choose to make that your focus for inquiry.

As usual,

Yoga Nidra is always ultimately about what is most present for you,

And chances are you will discover anyways that there's an overlap between physical and emotional pain.

A word about pain that goes beyond physical damage to the body,

Turns out pain is more complicated and definitely unique to each person.

Pain is information about threat.

Its purpose is to alert the body to a potential harm,

Messages that tell the body to take a protective action,

Much as animals do in the wild,

As well as domesticated pets.

This is the ideal situation,

Acknowledge the pain,

The body reacts,

And then move through the injury with time.

Unfortunately,

Circumstances don't always allow for remediation in real time,

Where the pain event is tagged with a high threat level,

Placed in a danger file in the amygdala of the brain,

And the pain persists,

A message or siren of ongoing threat,

Growing and becoming a well-worn groove of sorts over the course of weeks,

Months,

And years.

The nervous system detecting danger in this area constantly,

Or at least that something is not right,

Which continues to sound the alarm.

This is where there is opportunity to effect change with pain,

Starting to reassure the nervous system,

Feeling in real time that there is a normalcy in sensations as messengers that will come and go,

That there is room in the body to notice a safe place,

A comfortable place,

A different somatic conversation that can help shift tension patterns when the body is recognized as a safe harbor,

Instead of only hearing messages of threat.

And as well,

To explore any thoughts or beliefs that are associated with pain that may be inadvertently entrenching these tension patterns and pain experiences deeper into your being.

For example,

I deserve the pain.

I am more alive in my pain and anger.

If I have a role in inflicting pain upon myself,

At least I am in control.

Or if I let go of the muscle guarding and tension,

Then I am vulnerable.

Exploring for a moment if there is a belief you hold true about your pain that may actually be sabotaging the nervous system and your ability to move past this loud and painful voice.

Now putting this belief to the side,

But recognizing it may be one to explore later in this practice from a rested state of awareness.

Suspend overthinking here and simply allow any intention that may be arising in this moment relative to your pain experience.

Maybe I will let go of the tug of war with pain and be with what is,

Or whatever your intention is.

There is no need to explain your intention around reimagining pain to anyone.

Simply allowing it to arise spontaneously.

And then stating it for yourself in the present tense and with conviction.

Allowing now for a new suggestion to filter in.

Allow a willingness to give way to feeling relaxed or safety in the body over tension.

A willingness to be with expansion over constriction.

A moment to cultivate safety that allows the body to soften.

Each inhale creating more space,

And each exhale deepening your sense of ground.

Inhale expansion,

Exhale into support.

Taking three more comfortable and full breaths now.

Attending to your body's comfort in this practice in the way you would offer support for a trusted friend or your favorite pet.

How can you adjust your environment in order to snuggle in a little deeper?

A brief inventory from feet to legs,

Hips to torso,

Lower back,

Upper back,

Chest and shoulders to hands,

Neck and head.

Repositioning and offering support such that you are as comfortable as you can possibly be.

And from here,

Imagine a time or even an imagined scene where you are moving freely and effortlessly.

In this place,

Everything is just the way you want it.

For this reason,

There are no restrictions.

A fluid movement that occurs almost spontaneously and without much conscious thought.

You are in your flow,

Perhaps seeing it in slow motion,

Effortless,

Spontaneous,

Fluid.

Putting yourself in this scene for a moment,

Observing what you are wearing,

What colors are present or images that attract your gaze.

You moving through this space just for you,

But seeing who else is there if someone or something else is supporting you here as well.

And welcoming in sounds in this scene,

Especially if they are somehow supporting you in movement.

Hypnotic,

Rhythmic,

Reassuring sounds propelling you forward.

You are comfortable here.

The temperature is just right.

Soak it in.

Where is the center of this freedom to move in you?

What part of the body feels more alive here?

If it feels right,

Even moving wrists,

Ankles,

Or tapping,

Rubbing arms,

Legs,

A hand of support somewhere on your body,

Suspending thinking and simply supporting here what wants to happen.

Trusting your body knows what it needs without having to make sense of it.

Allowing all parts of the body to have a voice or come online without judgment as I name them.

Taking inventory of sensations first at the head,

The face,

Aware of any tension in the muscles of the face,

At the brow,

Cheeks,

Jaw,

Making the face as expressionless and heavy as possible in this moment.

Mouth,

Ears,

Nose,

The breath easy and rhythmic through the nostrils,

A slow tempo.

A metronome for movement,

Eyes,

Scalp,

Neck,

The whole head and neck as sensation.

The space between the neck and shoulders,

The upper traps that often tell a story of caring stressors.

Now allowing this area to give in to gravity.

Shoulders as sensation,

Upper arms,

Elbows,

Forearms,

Wrists,

Palms of the hands and fingers.

Both arms as sensation from shoulders to fingers and where they meet at the torso,

Upper chest,

Upper back,

Stomach,

Lower back.

Sensing the rise and release at the torso with each breath and where it meets the hips,

Thighs,

Knees,

Forelegs,

Ankles,

Feet,

And toes.

Both legs as sensation from hip to toes.

Aware of the whole body,

The whole body purely as sensation.

These sensations that come and go.

Sensing even the area out beyond the physical body.

An expansive,

Trusted place of awareness only for you.

A weightlessness here.

A slow moving flow.

This space that can feel both grounding and unrestricted.

A liberating and trusted place.

Lingering here in this place of rested awareness.

And all the while resting as being.

Each deep and comfortable inhale bringing you more expansion.

And each exhale letting go of whatever gets in your way.

Continuing at your own pace to find more of what you need on the inhale.

And discharging any obstacles on the exhale.

Then aware of how this rested place of awareness feels in your body.

This unique sensation fingerprint in you.

Noticing if you feel warmth somewhere in the body.

Or coolness.

Are you sensing a heaviness anywhere in the body?

Or a lightness.

Being curious if there's a stillness.

Or a flowing pulsing feeling.

Spend a moment to characterize this language of deep rest and awareness in you.

Naming how and where you feel more expanded.

Safe.

Or relaxed.

This creates a handle for you to return and grow this in yourself little and often.

And from this place consider welcoming in that thought or belief you named for yourself at the beginning of this practice.

The one that you feel might be entrenching you in certain pain and tension patterns in your body.

I am more armored and less vulnerable in my pain and tension.

I deserve this pain.

Whatever this thought is for you,

Bringing it to the forefront.

Saying it quietly to yourself several times.

Recognizing perhaps for the first time a thought that might be lurking in the background that you are largely unaware of generally.

If you don't sense one here,

Welcoming in any thought or belief that you know to hold you back in some way.

Curious about how a thought that holds us back emotionally or mentally can also hold us back physically.

Manifesting in the body somewhere as excessive tension.

Allowing the sensation fingerprint of this thought to be seen as sensation and felt as sensation in the body.

As you repeat this belief to yourself.

Naming how and where you feel these sensations.

Is this a familiar feeling?

Are there secondary emotions developing?

Turning to your inner resource place of calm or rested awareness at any time.

But as you can,

Let the truth and layers of this deep seated belief bubble up to the surface.

If you can feeling the full force of it in your body.

And now what happens if you imagine letting go of this belief for a moment.

Allowing yourself to drift into an opposite belief.

Carrying it on by stating it to yourself in the present tense and with conviction.

I deserve to be comfortable.

I can relax in certain moments and still be safe.

Whatever it is for you,

Your own phrase that captures the opposite of your long held belief.

One that might allow you to soften.

To appreciate even briefly a different way of being.

Noticing what shifts or changes a sensation in the body as you allow this opposite belief to be fully present.

Using the breath if it's helpful here to expand into this new space.

Each inhale allowing you to inhabit a more comfortable place.

This place only for you and exactly as you want it.

This place of new possibilities.

Lingering here.

Inviting in the images,

Sounds,

Colors or textures that spontaneously emerge.

And bring it deeper into your core self.

Reimagining here what more comfort looks like.

And feels like.

In your body.

Finding any gratitude if it's currently present for the ability to find a new conversation in your body.

Letting gratitude or contentment flow through you on the inhale.

And spread throughout you on the exhale.

Each ebb and flow of the breath.

Washing well being over every part of the body.

The torso.

Legs and feet.

Arms and hands.

Neck and head.

The whole body flowing with gratitude or contentment.

Aware of any new knowing through this journey you have just taken in this practice.

Sensations.

Feelings.

Emotions.

Beliefs.

Awareness.

And gratitude.

Taking any part of this that may have planted a seed for reimagining pain and tension.

In order to find a different way of being.

Slowly starting to reorient to the space around you.

Yourself within it.

Offering support anywhere it's needed.

Perhaps with a rubbing.

Tapping.

A hand of support.

Anything that feels like it needs to move.

Stretching.

Rotating wrists.

Ankles.

And gradually coming back with a sense of well being.

Taking all the time you need here.

To come to the conclusion of your practice.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

Bye bye.