A Chronic Pain Bedtime Practice: Breathing Around It

An end of day meditation for bodies that hurt, built around a different approach than trying to breathe pain away. Instead of fighting the sensation directly, this practice guides your breath toward the space around it, the edges rather than the center, while gently drawing attention to the parts of the body that are not in pain right now, so the discomfort is not the entire picture.
This body is doing something genuinely hard, every day, and it is still here, still breathing, still capable of finding small pockets of ease alongside the difficulty. Designed to trail gently into sleep rather than a defined close. A tender bedtime meditation for chronic pain, discomfort, and the particular challenge of resting inside a body that is struggling.
This is best used lying down in bed, similar to the chronic insomnia practice, and can be returned to on especially difficult nights.

Transcript

Let your body settle into the bed. In whatever position causes the least strain right now. Let your eyes close. Or soften your gaze. Take one breath. And let this be a practice of being with the body. Not fighting it. Notice where the pain is tonight. Without needing it to be different than it is. We're not going to try to push it away. Instead. Breathe toward the edges of it. Not the center. The space just around it. Breathe in through the nose for four. Directing the breath near the area. Not into it. Four. And out through the mouth for six. Slow. Sex. One more. In for four, Breathing toward the space around the pain. Out for six. Six. Five. Notice. If there's a part of the body that isn't in pain right now. Even a small part. A hand earlobe. Let some attention rest there too. So the pain. . . Isn't the whole picture. This body is doing something hard everyday. And it's still here, Still breathing. Still capable of finding small pockets of ease. Even alongside. The difficulty. Let your breath continue, Unhurried. Wherever it wants to go. There's no fighting to do tonight. Just breathing near it. Around it. Alongside. Until rest comes in whatever form it comes.