So have you ever been around somebody and they were fine and then all of a sudden something triggered them and their pain just started coming up and out?
Maybe they got frustrated or angry or sad or despondent.
And what I might call that,
What Eckhart Tolle calls that,
Teacher that I love,
Is a pain body.
So a pain body is an accumulation of emotional and or mental pain that's stored somewhere in the body.
It could be in the cells,
In the muscle,
In the tissue.
It could be like a ball or a knot of energy that's sitting there just vibrating in pain.
Pain or that pain body can be either dormant or it can become active.
It can get triggered.
Somebody judges us,
Pain body gets triggered.
Somebody avoids us,
Pain body gets triggered.
We see somebody else doing something we don't like or something that reminds us of some pain we've been through in the past,
Pain body gets triggered.
Maybe we get irritable,
Our ability to be rational,
To make decisions,
To be calm,
To be kind.
And the pain body comes through the eyes,
Through our words,
Through our body,
And it almost takes over like an entity.
Have you ever had that happen to someone you know or to yourself?
Now,
Some people,
Their pain bodies maybe are relatively small or inactive.
And once in a while,
They get activated.
Other people,
There's like fireworks,
Constant activation,
Maybe lots of little ones throughout the day or the week.
And then some people have some roaring volcano pain bodies.
And I just explode.
There are folks who rarely get triggered with their pain bodies,
And there are some that the pain body is almost always active.
Like it never fully stops.
It's almost become their identity.
Their pain has become their identity.
And so we live in a world full of pain bodies with lots of people walking around full of pain.
They have pain from their childhood.
They have pain from relationships.
They have pain from loss.
They have pain from physical ailments.
And then that pain gets stored.
And then it gets triggered.
And we have to navigate that in ourselves and in the world.
So how do we become aware of the pain body in ourselves and others?
How do we release the pain when it gets triggered?
So in a really simple,
Easy way,
And you could do this with me right now.
If you just notice your body,
Kind of lightly scan it.
From head to toe.
There might be a pain body around like a knot or a ball of energy.
It might have a color,
A texture.
A weight,
A density.
Maybe something in your chest or your stomach,
Your head,
Your back.
Somewhere where there's a knot of pain.
Maybe you don't notice it for a while and then you have a conversation or something happened today and then it's coming up.
You might experience it as thoughts and as feelings,
But if you kind of scan your body,
You might also notice a pain body.
It could be the size of a quarter.
It could be the size of a golf ball.
It could be the size of a melon.
And it can even move around once you become aware of it.
So a pain body might be inactive or it might be triggered and it might be active.
If you're watching this with me right now or listening and you sense it and it's bothering you.
You're struggling with it,
Then it's likely that it's been activated somehow.
Maybe it's been simmering for a while,
Or maybe it's.
.
.
Exploding.
What do we do?
So the first and most important step here is to bring a level of presence to it.
Without judgment.
It's so hard when we dislike something to not judge it and to not try to push it away.
So we're not doing anything about the pain body except becoming aware of it without judgment.
And how do we do that?
Well,
You can start by just noticing the sensations.
Around the pain body.
So for example,
How dense is it?
How heavy is it?
Does it have a color?
If you were to run your hand over it energetically,
Is it coarse and sharp?
Is it like sandpaper?
Is it smooth?
Is it bumpy?
So instead of trying to analyze it or figure it out or heal it,
You're just noticing the quality of energy that the pain body is made of,
And you're bringing presence to it.
Just allow yourself to be here with it.
Almost with a sense of.
.
.
Curiosity and fascination.
Instead of judgment.
I got to fix this.
And the judgment and I got to fix this,
That might be a reaction,
A negative reaction to the pain itself.
You can also.
.
.
Watch that and be present with that energy.
So right now,
Maybe you just notice a pain body that's arising.
It might be a thought or a belief or a story or a memory.
But then if you scan your body,
You might notice it.
It might have an actual physical location.
Might be vibrating.
And see if you can breathe a bit deeper as you notice that.
Relax your stomach.
And see if you can soften any tension in your body and let your nervous system almost shift down a gear.
Drop those shoulders.
And it's easy to think that the pain body is a curse or it's here to punish you.
Or it's something you have to carry for the rest of your life that's just like,
Ah,
Shucks.
You might use a harsher word.
But perhaps it's none of those things.
It might be here to teach you,
To help you grow.
It might be accumulated pain from other people that as you become aware of,
You might release.
So we become aware of the pain body.
And as we do that with compassion,
As we do that with presence,
Perhaps it lightly melts,
Starts to dissolve in the light of awareness.
At its own pace.
So just notice if there's a pain body that can start to dissolve.
Start to melt.
Even if it just loses 20% of its mass.
As you breathe more slowly and deeply.
Again,
Not figuring it out or analyzing it.
Or blaming anyone.
Just watching it.
And see how that makes you feel.
Notice your energy when you approach it this way.
And it's odd.
It's almost like if you're really present and honest with a pain body.
If you're compassionate towards it,
It will start to shift on its own,
In my experience.
Now,
I'm not saying you can go and heal the worst.
.
.
Trauma of your life in one moment.
But as you bring awareness to a pain body,
It might start to shift.
It might start to dissolve.
To see how that feels.
Let some of the negativity process out.
Let yourself be here.
And let that psychic weight of pain.
Melt off your body.
And just like that,
Your energy might shift.
And pain doesn't have to always activate and then run your life.
If a pain body does activate and you go unconscious,
And you lose yourself to a rage or to frustration or to a doom loop.
Just bring your presence back.
Notice that's happened.
That's just the pain talking.
And again,
Letting it start to melt off when it's ready.
We do not have to let pain run our lives.
It can teach us something.
It can heal.
And we can release.
Okay.
Great work.
Keep letting those pain bodies dissolve with your presence.
I'll see you next time.
