Hi,
Friend.
Welcome to this meditation,
Which will be focused on chronic pain.
First,
I would like to mention meditation is used as a tool to help reduce symptoms you may be experiencing due to mental or physical pain,
Not in place of anything you're doing right now for your pain.
Research shows that meditation uses neural pathways that make the brain less sensitive to pain and increases use of the brain's own pain-reducing opioids.
Meditation is the habitual practice of training your mind to focus and redirect your thoughts.
People also use the practice to develop other beneficial habits and feelings,
Such as a positive mood and outlook,
Self-discipline,
Healthy sleep patterns,
And even increased pain tolerance.
Your perception of pain is connected to the state of mind,
And it can be elevated in stressful conditions.
Some research suggests that incorporating meditation into your routine can be beneficial for controlling pain.
Pain can be mental,
Emotional,
Or physical.
Studies have proven that different types of pain correlate with each other.
For example,
Physical pain can cause depression and anxiety.
By releasing some of that anxiety,
This can help reduce symptoms of depression,
Which then can help alleviate the physical pain in the body.
If we can remove some of the dwelling on pain,
It can help alleviate the pain.
When we are feeling pain,
Sometimes our brains lead us to feel pain in areas that aren't affected.
We can essentially cause more pain or increase the pain by thinking about it so much.
Always saying,
I'm in so much pain tells your body that you're in a lot of pain.
Meditation can help to bring more positive thoughts to the pain,
Accepting the pain for what it is and becoming friends with the pain essentially so that you can be in more control of it.
This meditation will be the first of a series of meditations I will make specifically for chronic pain.
As someone who has personally experienced both mental and physical pain,
I have found that doing guided meditations has helped me a lot by decreasing my anxiety,
Which then started reducing my depression,
Which then started to reduce the pain I have associated with arthritis.
Get yourself into whatever position is best for you in this moment.
Before we start the meditation,
Make sure you are comfortable and ready to begin.
If you need a minute,
Hit the pause button and come back.
In this moment,
Just observe your body.
How are you feeling right now?
Are you feeling any pain in your body at this moment?
If so,
Just observe it.
Don't put any words or thoughts into it.
Just observe with love and compassion.
For a minute,
Think of someone that you love deeply.
Bring their face into your mind.
Imagine if they were hurt and had pain,
Physical or emotional.
How would you treat them?
Would you treat them with love and compassion?
Now bring that feeling for yourself.
We tend to immediately go to negative thoughts when it's about ourselves.
It's this instinctual thing that is embedded in humans for survival,
Which comes in handy for some situations,
But most of the time,
It can do us more harm.
We need to rewire our thought patterns to speak to ourselves in a way that we would to someone that we love and care about deeply.
Sit here for a few moments,
Just breathing naturally,
Observing.
Your chronic pain,
Either physical or mental,
Is there to protect you.
Your body is actually trying to protect yourself from causing any more pain.
This is a beautiful thing your body is doing for you instinctually.
Thank your body for trying to protect you,
Just like a mother would to protect their young.
I'm now going to lead you through a gentle body scan.
The idea is to bring awareness to your areas of pain and not away from it.
By noticing it and accepting it,
Over time,
You may be able to reduce the pain by not giving it so much power.
Of course,
Everyone will have different levels of pain for different reasons.
Meditation is a tool to help alleviate symptoms you may be experiencing.
Studies do show that meditation and mindfulness done regularly does have an effect on reducing pain.
Let's begin with a body scan.
Bring your attention to your feet,
Observing any sensations in your feet.
Just observe without judgment.
Move up through your lower legs,
Over your knees,
Your upper legs and thighs.
Breathing into each area,
Take a pause when you notice areas of pain.
When you do notice an area of pain,
Take a deeper breath.
When you breathe out,
See your breath going into that area and visualize the muscle and all the deeper structures letting go.
Continue up through your pelvis and all around your stomach.
We tend to carry a lot of anxiety in these areas and possibly your pain has caused more pain with feelings of anxiety.
Take two to three deeper breaths in these areas.
Again,
Remember observing without judgment,
Just noticing.
Bringing awareness to the different sensations,
Emotional and physical.
Breathe in deeply and imagine a pink healing light coming through your nose.
And when you exhale,
Imagine that pink healing light going into those areas like a warm,
Comforting,
Soothing energy melting into all of the structures.
When you are ready,
Start to move up through all your organs,
Seeing this healing light moving through your body,
Bringing soothing comfort,
Effortlessly swirling around all your organs and melting into all of your areas in the stomach and chest.
Breathe in and out,
Observing all of this healing energy bringing so much comfort.
Slowly see this healing energy moving and swirling around through your neck,
Your shoulders,
Down your arms and into your hands.
Stay here for a couple of breaths.
Again,
Noticing any sensations or any areas of pain,
Take a deep breath in,
Seeing that healing light coming through your nose,
Breathing out,
Seeing it swirl down around your shoulder,
Arms and hands.
Imagine that perfectly warm feeling,
Comforting and soothing.
Move back up through your arms,
Through your shoulders,
All through your neck,
Your jaw,
Your mouth,
Cheeks,
Ears,
Your eyes and forehead.
Spend some time here relaxing your tongue and all those facial muscles,
Seeing them all relax.
Take a couple of healing breaths in and out,
Letting go of all of those little muscles in your neck,
Face and all around your head.
Now that we have scanned throughout your body,
I want you to spend about five minutes here starting from the top of your head,
Slowly working your way back down to your feet.
I will leave you on your own and remember you were observing with no judgment.
God take that.
You you you you you you you Now that you have observed your whole body I want you to take three deep breaths in and out Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose or whatever is most comfortable for you.
Every breath in say,
Thank you body for protecting me.
Breathe out.
I release any tension attached to the pain I experience.
Do this on your own for three breaths.
When you catch your mind wandering just take a deep breath in and out and say these words.
Breathe in,
My mind is calm.
Breathe out,
My body is pain-free.
I will check back in in a few minutes.
Breathe in,
My body is pain-free.
Breathe in,
My body is pain-free.
Whenever you are ready gently open your eyes.
Notice any sensations now.
Are they any different?
Do you feel more calm?
Check in with your pain.
Does it feel like it's any less?
This can be both physical and mental.
If you don't feel much of a difference,
It's okay.
Just keep doing breathing exercises every day.
Breathing in a mindful way helps the whole system.
I hope this session has helped you.
I also have a lot of other meditations for sleep,
Relaxation,
Among many others you can use anytime for free.
Sending you so much love on your journey to help alleviate any pain that you might be going through mentally or physically.
Continue on with the rest of your day and come back anytime you need to.
