Meditation For When You're Injured

Being injured is such a drag! I've had my fair share working as a stuntman, but I'm here to help you feel better. This is a mediation I like to do to aid in the healing process. Injury and pain is actually a type of mindfulness, it makes you aware of your experience and your body. So let's take that awareness and apply some healing to it. Your body is amazing and so is your mind. In this meditation we marry the two and learn how to heal with the power of presence.

Transcript

Hey,

It's Doug here.

Thanks so much for joining me for another special meditation.

It's always such a privilege to be able to come on here and help out in any way I can.

If you would like some of the joy of helping out,

Then please know you can help me out in several ways.

One,

By leaving a review and letting me know how you're getting on,

Opening up that dialogue between you and me.

Two,

You can tell a friend,

Refer a friend,

Or send this via any one of the platforms that you choose and get some more people doing this great art of meditation,

Which not only helps the individual,

But as a result,

I believe helps society.

And three,

If you're in a position to,

Then please consider leaving me a donation.

It helps me move away from my full-time job to do this full-time,

Which is what I'm really passionate about doing.

So if you can help in any or all of those ways,

Then please do.

It'll be much appreciated.

For now,

Let's get into this.

Now,

The first thing to say is,

I am sorry you're injured at the moment.

It sucks.

I know.

Injury has several levels to it.

It may affect your work.

It may affect your hobbies.

It may even affect your identity.

As a stuntman,

I can relate on all of these levels.

Trust me.

My body is my work tool.

All my favorite things I do are physical,

And I very much express myself physically.

But you know what?

That's all okay.

I've been injured a lot,

And I've got a few takeaways to help you with whatever you're going through.

Let's get started by finding a relaxing position.

Now,

I know this isn't always easy when you're in pain,

So just find the best option for you.

It doesn't have to be seated.

I know with my knee injury,

Cross-legged is just not the one when I'm hurting.

You can move some cushions around,

Put your legs up a wall,

Lie down,

Put a cushion under your knee,

Whatever it takes,

Just get comfortable.

Now that your body is sorted,

Let's get your breath sorted.

Start by just thinking about your breath.

That's all.

Just paying attention to where you're breathing from and where you're breathing from.

Slowly start to deepen each breath,

Just trying to make each breath last a little bit longer than the one before.

Great job.

You should have really started to feel like you're relaxing a bit,

But if not,

Don't worry.

We're going to carry on with this motif.

I want you now to follow your breath from its entry into the nose,

Down the throat,

Into the chest,

And down to the belly button.

Then as you exhale,

Follow it out the same way.

Body button,

Chest,

Throat,

Nose.

You can imagine these points as checkpoints on the journey of your breath.

See if you can notice how the breath feels in each area of its journey.

I want you to imagine your breath carries with it your attention.

So follow your next inhale from nostril to throat to belly and back.

It can be useful here to imagine your breath as a light,

Illuminating the areas you breathe into and out from.

So wherever your breath goes,

That area lights up.

This light helps bring us awareness.

It's like a metaphorical spotlight.

Almost like a car at night time with its headlights on,

Lighting up whatever it is going towards.

Now let's take that spotlight for a little longer journey.

On your next inhale,

Imagine extending that illuminated inhale we've just spoken about.

Pass your belly button and breathe into your left foot.

Imagine now the inside of your foot now lit up.

What can you feel here?

As you exhale,

See if you can sustain whatever you noticed.

Try this for a few rounds,

Breathing that awareness into the left foot.

As you exhale,

Sustaining that awareness.

There's no wrong answer here.

You may just be feeling the feeling of your slippers on.

Maybe you can feel the cold air on your naked foot.

Maybe it's a hard floor that your foot is resting on.

Notice whatever you notice.

Each inhale deepens that awareness and allows you to just explore that a little bit more.

Great job.

I think we're ready to move on.

We're going to take this newly acquired awareness skill and apply it to your injured area.

So with your next illuminating inhale,

Breathe directly into your injury.

Imagine directing that breath straight to wherever you're feeling your pain or discomfort.

Same deal.

Light that area up with the inhale and pay attention to how it feels.

As you exhale,

Stay connected to that feeling and repeat this for a few rounds.

Just getting acquainted with whatever you feel in that area,

Even if it is discomfort.

In fact,

Especially if it's discomfort.

Great.

Now that we've connected with that injured area for the next few inhales,

Can you explore the feelings in more detail?

Let's start with geography.

Where exactly do you feel the sensations?

Not just the general joint or limb,

But see if you can pinpoint exactly where you feel the sensation in that injured area.

Great.

Now that you have the specific location of your injury,

Can you start to zero in on the exact sensation?

Again,

Using that inhale to provide insight.

Is it a sharp pain?

Is it a burning pain?

Is it a dull ache?

Again,

No wrong answers here.

What do you feel?

Use the next few rounds of breath to see if you can fully embrace whatever sensation is in that area.

Next,

Can you notice any changes to the location and the sensation with time?

Is the area and the sensation constant or is it changing?

Use the next few rounds to the next level.

By now,

You're beautifully connected with your injury.

Using that inhale to illuminate the locality,

Severity and temporal nature of it.

I want you now to imagine your breath not just as an illumination,

But as a healing energy.

You can imagine this energy as a color and a texture if you like.

Something like warm honey is what I like to use.

You can choose whatever you want.

Once you've decided what this energy looks like,

Begin to breathe that energy,

That color,

That texture into that injured area.

Let it fill up this area with this loving gift from yourself.

Each inhale depositing more of this healing energy into that affected area.

Exhale as normal,

Just focus on this inhale providing this healing energy to that area.

Try this for a few rounds.

Let's focus now on the exhale.

Whatever negative sensations you felt earlier,

The pain or the discomfort,

The thing you zeroed in on when we were exploring this injured area.

I want you to imagine the exhale carrying a bit of that away each time.

Again,

You can imagine this as a color or a texture.

This idea of this purifying exhale taking with it all the things you don't want in that injured area.

Like a garbage truck picking up what we don't want and taking it away.

So visualize whatever is hurting you being dissolved into this colored texture and breathe out with the next exhale.

Try this for a few rounds.

Next time we will use filled energy to Great,

Now let's put these two things together.

So now you're breathing in love.

As you exhale,

You're breathing out pain.

You're breathing in care.

And breathing out hurt.

Breathing in healing.

And breathing out discomfort.

Again,

Breathing in love.

And breathing out pain.

Breathing in care.

Breathing out the hurt.

Breathing in your healing.

Breathing out your discomfort.

Try that one more time on your own.

Now we're going to shift a little bit here from that healing and I want you to focus instead on the rest of your body.

We're back to that insightful breath now,

Paying attention to what we notice.

Can you notice all the parts of your body that are working?

Not just the obvious ones.

Not just the other limbs that seem to be absolutely fine,

If that is the case.

But also your senses,

Your internal organs,

Your heart,

Your lungs,

Your stomach,

Your colon,

Your eyebrows.

Imagine all of these things that work just fine outside of your injury.

Your body is more than just what is injured.

For many of us,

The injury is such a small proportion of what's actually wrong.

But because it's painful,

We give it more gravity than the rest of our body that's working.

As an analogy,

If I gave you 90% on an exam,

You would think that was pretty good.

Although when it comes to our body,

We seem to focus on that 10%,

Like it's everything.

So bring some gratitude in for the rest of your body that works just fine.

Celebrate that.

Be grateful.

Lastly,

I want you to think of who you are,

What you are capable of in this life.

This injury is simply a hurdle to bring out the best in you,

A test to make you stronger,

A nudge to push you in your true direction.

This injury is not who you are.

You're more than that.

Keep that in mind as you heal from whatever you're going through.

Or if it's someone you have to live with,

Begin to accept that and realize that even with this injury,

You're capable of so much.

Let this injury be a lesson,

If nothing else.

And think of the old Buddhist adage,

A healthy man wants a thousand things,

A sick man wants only one.

Can this injury remind you to be grateful of what you still have and make you even more grateful once you recover?

I hope you get well soon and I hope this practice that we've gone through aids in that.

Until next time,

Namaste.

Reviews

Very nice practice thank you

This is so helpful thank you for the perspective and healing practice 🙏

Thank you. This helped to jolt me out of feeling sorry for myself.
I'll be back tomorrow

On my first day of my injury and was able to embrace the healing and for a moment, forgot the pain and swelling. Thank you. 🙏🏻

This meditation helped as I am dealing with a sprained ankle. Thank you so much.

Doug is substantial

Amazing thank u i will be back

An excellent meditation to help relieve pain. Thank you so much.

Now I feel better 😊 Thank you Doug!

Aloha, This was so helpful. 🌈 I had a hard fall tonight, injured shoulder, rotator cuff and elbow etc. I especially appreciated bringing awareness to what doesn't hurt. I'm relaxed enough to try to sleep. 💜🙏 Mahalo nui Loa

Useful, indeed. Thank you. As a lifelong athlete, I tend to tell myself a story that being athletic defines me. This guided breathing reminds me it does not.

I see this is one of the best meditations that I’ve tried in years. I feel amazing as I needed this to heal from a concussion. How would it to be to know how grateful I am for this session? Thank you 🙏

Thank you. Just a small tumble causing a distracting discomfort. Your clear guidance to breathe in Love, Care and Healing while removing the pain, hurt and discomfort was helpful. Also, the gratitude and awareness of so much more of me being well is a great reminder and aid .✨🙏

I Love the way you reminded us to give gratitude rir all your f the parts of our body that are healthy ! Our vision, our heart , our kings 🙏🏽❤️thank you 💕

Thank you for this thoughtful meditation. I will bookmark it for frequent use as I try to heal from a foot/leg injury from 6 months ago whereby a basketball player crashed into my while I was taking pictures from the first row of the bleachers (a lesson that I have learned not to do in the future).

I hope u get well soon too and be able to quit the stuntman job one day...stay happy and stay healthy always..

Very helpful! Thank you!