Hi,
I'm Zoe from Bondi,
Sydney,
Australia,
And I'm going to share with you a guided pain meditation from a book written by Steven Levine called Who Dies.
And this is about opening around pain.
So sit or lie down in a position you find comfortable.
Allow yourself to settle into this position so that the whole body feels fully present where it sits or lies.
Bring your attention to the area of sensation that has been uncomfortable.
Let your attention come wholly to that area.
Let the awareness be present moment to moment to receive the sensations generated there.
Allow the discomfort to be felt.
Moment to moment,
New sensations seem to arise.
Does the flesh cramp against the pain?
Feel how the body tends to grasp it in a fist,
Tries to close it off.
Begin to allow the body to open all around that sensation.
Feel the tension and resistance that comes to wall off the sensation.
Don't push away the pain.
Just let it be there.
Feel how the body tries to isolate it,
Tries to close it off.
Picture that fist.
Feel how the body is clenched in resistance.
Feel how the body holds each new sensation.
Begin gradually to open that closeness around the sensation.
The least resistance can be painful.
Open,
Soften all around the sensation.
Allow the fist moment to moment to open.
To give space to the sensation.
Let go of the pain.
Why hold on a moment longer?
Like grasping a burning ember.
The flesh of the closed fist is seared in its holding.
Open,
Soften all around the sensation.
Let the fist of resistance begin to loosen.
To open.
The palm of that fist softening.
The fingers beginning to loosen their grip.
Opening all around the sensation.
The fist loosening.
Gradually opening.
Moment to moment.
Letting go of the pain.
Release the fear that surrounds it.
Notice any fear that is accumulated around the pain.
Allow the fear to melt.
Let tension dissolve so that the sensations can softly radiate out as they will.
Don't try to capture the pain.
Let it float free.
No longer held in the grasp of resistance.
Softening.
Opening all around the sensation.
The fist opening.
The fingers one by one loosening their grip.
The sensation no longer encapsulated in resistance.
Opening.
Let the pain soften.
Let the pain be.
Let go of the resistance that tries to smother the experience.
Allow each sensation to come fully into consciousness.
No holding.
No pushing away.
The pain beginning to float free in the body.
All grasping relinquished.
Just awareness and sensation meeting moment to moment.
Received gently by the softening flesh.
The fist opened into a soft spacious palm.
The fingers loose.
The fist dissolved back into the soft open flesh.
No tension.
No holding.
Let the body be soft and open.
Let the sensation float free.
Easy.
Gently.
Softening.
Opening all around the pain.
Just sensation.
Floating free in the soft open body.
É you
