Managing Pain

We tend to view our pain as a solid unchanging mass inside of us, something that we react to with avoidance, fear, and intense instinctual resistance. When we change our response to our pain, when we bring curiosity and acceptance to its presence, we can let go of the additional suffering we create for ourselves and instead move into a space of more compassion, clarity, and freedom.

Transcript

You can feel free to close your eyes or soften your gaze and begin to take a few deep breaths in and out.

As you breathe,

Feel free to make some micro movements with your body as you settle into the chair or bed that you're sitting on.

Take these moments as if to experiment.

What allows my body to let go even slightly more?

What feels calm in my body?

What relaxes or lets go when I lower my shoulders away from my ears?

When I let my arms hang loosely?

When I consciously let go of tightness or tension in my belly?

When I let my hands rest comfortably wherever they might feel right?

And is it possible to give my body permission to let go into the support below me?

Reminding myself that in this moment,

I do not need to hold.

I do not need to strengthen or tighten or clench or grasp.

But I can soften.

I can let go into the supports around me and bring my attention inward to the internal felt sense experience of my body.

With this internal focus,

Feel free to scan your body,

Perhaps starting with your head and dropping through the muscles of your face,

The muscles in your neck and shoulders,

And allowing that awareness to wash down your arms.

Noticing what sensations are present in your chest and belly.

Dropping into the bigger muscles of your back.

Even taking a moment to breathe space into each vertebrae.

As we're scanning through our body,

Is it possible to not change anything,

But simply make notice?

Letting your attention continue the scan down through your pelvis and hips.

Washing down the muscles of your upper legs,

Your knees,

Your lower legs.

Letting the attention wrap around your ankles and feet.

Further supporting.

Further relaxing.

Further letting go.

As you scanned your body,

There may have been certain parts of your being calling your attention more than others.

Feel free to return to those spaces and places that might feel tense or uncomfortable.

Our brain often interprets pain as something solid,

Dense,

And unmoving.

But when we feel into the spaces that feel painful,

We can often notice subtle movement,

A constellation of sensations that make up that one area.

Feel free to bring your attention to one of those places that's calling you.

In your mind's eye,

Is it possible to describe this area of your being?

Does it feel tight?

Dense?

Is there a color associated with it?

Or a texture?

Taking a moment to breathe into that area,

Creating a little bit more space.

Are you noticing any sensations in that area that might be moving?

Expanding or contracting?

Swirling with energy or blood flow?

It's okay to notice.

And allow that attention to gently unfold as the constellation of pain continues to evolve.

Letting go of our attention in that one or two hot spots of discomfort.

I invite you to bring your attention to another area of your body.

An area that might feel neutral,

That might feel relaxed,

That might feel calm or warm or supported.

And let your attention fully witness and be present in that area of neutrality or peace.

What are the constellation of sensations there?

Warmth or coolness?

Expansion or swirling?

Is it associated with a color or changing colors?

Does this neutral or pleasant area have a texture?

Or any other sense about it?

On the next breath,

Letting go of that pleasant zone.

Bringing your attention back to the area of discomfort.

Noticing the constellation of sensations that make up that pain,

That make up that tightness.

Sitting with it for two breaths.

Noticing movement.

And on the next inhalation,

Bringing your awareness back to the neutral or pleasant zone of your body.

Feeling any comfort.

Letting your entire being fill that space of neutrality or pleasure.

Your body also holds these spaces,

Ready to be accessed.

On the next breath,

Moving back to the area of discomfort or pain.

Recognizing it as a trusted friend.

That's a part of this moment.

A part of this experience.

Breathing space around the discomfort or the tightness.

And bringing our attention back ever so slightly to encompass more of our body than just this discomfort or painful area.

As if we're taking steps backwards to be able to see a broader view.

The view of our entire being sitting here,

Breathing.

Noticing the interaction of discomfort and pleasure.

Swirling together.

Weaving in and out of one another.

Using our breath to notice the ever-changing flow of one sensation into the next.

Taking a step in our mind's eye even farther back to encompass our surrounding area.

The air around our being.

The space above us.

The spaces below us.

The spaces on either side.

And the space in front of us and behind us.

Allowing your mind to notice how this space intermingling with the spaces inside our body is a part of our being.

Are also the same space that is made up of large expanses of the environment.

Imagining sitting in front of an ocean with waves gently tumbling in and receding.

Using our breath to mimic the gentle to and fro motion of each wave lapping the shore and then returning to the larger ocean.

Noticing the vast expanse of sky as far as your eyes can see.

Noticing the space of that visualization and how it now feels inside your body.

While the discomfort and neutral places are still there,

There is also free and clear space.

Returning back to this wide expanse of nature.

Noticing snow-capped mountain ranges that go on as far as the eye can see.

The rugged expanse of nature also brings a sense of safety.

Of trust.

That it will always be here.

That it can weather any storm and hold beauty and serenity despite any circumstance around it.

Allowing our mind to notice that we only must be present for this one breath.

Noticing the way this one breath flows into the next.

And then being with this one breath.

Noticing the space between each inhale and exhale.

Between each exhale and next inhale.

As you breathe,

Is it possible to send some gentle currents of gratitude?

For the strength that your body has persevered.

As well as for its fragility.

Its tenderness.

It has served you well and will continue to do so.

May I notice moments of space throughout this day.

May I feel at ease in my body and mind.

May I feel safe and supported by myself and those around me.

May I feel my vitality and strength with each breath.

May I notice moments of feeling spacious and calm.

May I feel at ease in my body and mind.

May I feel safe and supported by myself and others.

May I feel my life force energy,

Vitality and strength with each breath I take.

There's a poem by Judy Brown called The Trough.

There is a trough in the heart of the earth.

There is a trough in waves.

A low spot where horizon disappears and only sky and water are our company.

And there we lose our way unless we rest.

Knowing the wave will bring us to its crest again.

There we may drown if we let fear hold us in its grip and shake us side to side and leave us flailing,

Torn,

Disoriented.

But if we rest there in the trough,

In silence,

Being in the low part of the wave,

Keeping our energy and noticing the shape of things,

The flow.

When time alone will bring us to another place where we can see horizon,

See land again,

Regain our sense of where we are and where we need to swim.

Trusting that that trough will hold us.

As we allow ourselves to breathe,

To notice the flow,

The shape of things.

We will resurface and feel that support and safety that is always holding us.

Taking another breath or two,

Feel free to move your body in small movements as you come back to this moment.

And when you're ready,

You can open up your eyes.

Namaste.

Reviews

Love the trough poem

So helpful in getting through a tough moment. Thank you.

Thank you ⭐️so helpful used less than a week after major surgery when my body was feeling stressed. Reference to nature & gratitude for our bodies great inclusions 🌊

Delightful and helpful for my chronic pain today. Thank you. 🩵