Hi,
My name is Allison and I would like to guide you through a meditation for pain.
The pain can be physical in nature,
It can be emotional in nature,
Or as most of us know,
Sometimes it's a combination of both.
Often when we experience physical pain,
Either acute pain just temporarily for a short period of time,
Or chronic pain,
The kind of pain that's long lasting and is for an extended period of time generally,
Sometimes without any end in sight.
So whatever pain that you are experiencing today and whatever led you to come to this meditation,
I am so incredibly grateful and I am hopeful that I will allow for some relief from your pain.
I often experience chronic pain because I have a chronic illness,
So I deal with pain daily and these are some tools that I utilize in my own life on a daily basis in order to cope with pain that I experience.
So to start out as usual,
I like to check in with our breath,
With our body,
With our breathing,
Sometimes doing a short scan of your body,
Scanning all of your bodily sensations from head to toe can help to bring yourself into your feeling body and out of your thinking mind.
Sometimes this can be something we resist when we're in pain because feeling into the pain can,
Well,
Feel scary or overwhelming.
So I understand that the urge may be to do the opposite and that is to resist the pain,
But for a few breaths,
For a few moments here,
I encourage you to follow my guidance and keep an open mind and the worst case scenario,
You find no relief and ideally the best case scenario is that you find a new way of looking at your pain or a new relationship with your pain.
So if you're comfortable closing your eyes wherever you are,
Ideally sitting down or laying down in a comfortable but alert position,
Again checking in with our breath,
Feeling into our body,
Perhaps noticing where you're holding tension,
Maybe you're holding quite a lot around that area of pain.
So for example,
If the area of pain is your knee,
Often we will find when we pay attention and really hone in on that particular leg,
For example,
That we may be holding tension in our calf muscle and in the ligaments surrounding our knee,
Perhaps even the thigh muscles above the knee joint can be tense and tight.
Often we close and tighten around areas of pain and in actuality this just adds to the pain.
So I'm going to encourage you to find the area or areas of pain that you'd like to work with today if it is exhibiting in physical pain and instead of trying to soften or relax the area of pain,
Perhaps just focus on the areas surrounding,
Noticing if you are holding and if you are trying to soften just a little,
Trying to open just a little for just a few breaths,
Opening to the tension,
Trying to open and soften around the area of pain.
Now focusing on extending your exhales longer than your inhales,
Extending your exhales automatically till your brain and your body that you're safe and you're secure,
It initiates the rest and relax response in our brain.
So focusing on extending the exhale maybe by slowly pursing the lips and audibly blowing the exhale out at a slower rate and then imagining breathing in a white positive healing light into the areas of tension,
Into the areas that you're experiencing pain and really noticing for a few breaths as you're opening to the pain,
The sensations that are present.
Obviously there are unpleasant sensations but looking for the space between,
Noticing any relief in between these points of pain.
Pain is never stagnant,
It is never consistent and always the same and if we pay attention and really watch our pain we will notice that there are waves of more intense pain and less intense pain.
Even in chronic pain it's never the same pain all day long.
So being aware of this and knowing that it is a cycle,
An ebb and flow and that ultimately if you're experiencing a intense level of pain at the moment knowing that sooner than later you will have some relief and some lessening of the pain as it will ebb and flow.
It will lessen and increase and sometimes this knowledge when we're in the midst of a very painful moment can be very freeing,
Can be very helpful to focus on knowing that this pain,
This sensation is not permanent,
Is not going to be exactly the same forever.
It will change,
It will lessen,
It will increase potentially but it's never guaranteed to be the same level of pain.
So just noticing still if we're back to tensing around the pain,
Are we still holding the openness,
Easing the tension around the source of pain and if you are have you noticed any change in your level of pain?
Sometimes when we stop resisting,
We stop holding and we open up to the unpleasant feeling in this instance pain,
We notice a change maybe not a lessening of the pain but perhaps a little distance from the pain and maybe less of a storyline associated with the pain.
Often with pain we start to get anxiety or we start to worry or anticipate that this is not going to go away and how this is going to affect my future day,
My future moments,
What have you.
Try not to in the midst of pain ruminate and think about how the pain is going to negatively impact you.
I encourage you in these moments to honor your pain,
To listen to your pain,
To breathe into the areas of pain and sit with it even if just for a moment.
Continuing to breathe just for a few more breaths here,
You're doing so good and now just going back to a normal breath,
A normal rhythm,
Doing one more body scan,
Scanning from your feet,
Up your legs,
Up your back,
Your abdomen,
Your shoulders,
Both arms,
Your head,
Your facial muscles.
Noticing any difference in the sensation of pain,
Has the pain changed at all?
Not adding a story or judgment,
Just being a curious observer of your own sensations.
And now as we finish the practice today I'd like to take a couple of deep cleansing breaths focusing on breathing into that area of pain once more.
Inhaling completely all the way to your belly.
Hold one,
Two,
Focusing on that area of pain and exhaling,
Breathing the tension,
The holding,
Softening just a little bit more.
Inhaling one last time,
Bigger than you have all day.
Hold one,
Two and now exhale completely.
Noticing any changes once more.
Noticing if your pain has lessened just a little.
I hope this brought you some relief,
Some soothing and I hope that you can remember these tools in the future in moments of intense pain.
Remember what we resist persists with loving kindness.
From my heart to yours may you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be peaceful.
Thank you for listening.
