Looking Directly At Your Pain

Something that I think is worthwhile meditating on is the experience of looking directly at your pain.

This is something that was very helpful for me as it allowed me to grow confidence in really just seeing my pain as a sensation without having to attach a story to it.

And this changed my relationship to pain and helped me to live with it in an easier way.

Maybe this approach really resonates with some of you and you'll find it really helpful but maybe with others you might find it challenging.

I thought it would be really useful to touch on and you may find that in the future as you spend time in your meditation practice and in your daily life with your pain,

As you reflect on it,

It may make more sense to you.

We'll do a meditation where we'll relax and ground,

Establish a connection to our body as a place of safety and support and then spend some time looking directly at your pain.

By looking I mean we'll spend some time being present with the sensations of your pain and seeing if we can have the courage to stay with the sensations and allow them to be there from a sense of groundedness and calm.

This can subconsciously start to change your relationship with pain and it can start to lose its power as a threat.

We can almost start to become friends with it.

So when you're ready,

Find yourself somewhere comfortable to sit.

It could be on a meditation cushion or a chair or lying down if you need to,

As long as you're comfortable and you can relax.

Once you're comfortable,

Let's start by bringing your awareness to your breath.

Begin to notice the feelings and sensations of your breath within your body,

The air coming in and out of your nostrils and throat.

Notice the feelings and sensations of your lungs,

Ribs and abdomen,

Rising and falling with each in-breath and each out-breath.

Whatever you notice,

There's no need to create stories around it or to push it away or change it.

Just allow whatever is there to be there and give it space.

When you become distracted,

There's no need to judge yourself or stop the distraction.

Just allow it to be as it is and then gently bring your awareness back to your breath and back into feelings and sensations within your body.

Shift your awareness slightly to become aware of your out-breath as a resting and settling breath.

And really follow your out-breath down and allow yourself to relax into your body,

Deeper and deeper with each out-breath.

And instead of visualizing it,

Try to really feel it in your body.

Become aware of your sense of ground.

Notice the feeling of the weight of your legs.

Notice the feelings and sensations of the ground or chair pushing up from below you.

The feeling of it really supporting you as you deeply relax into it.

When you're distracted,

You may notice a sort of lifting up feeling in your body.

If you notice this,

Gently allow the tension and lifting up feeling to soften and deeply relax back down into your sense of ground.

Now move your awareness up into the trunk of your body and become aware of any feelings and sensations within your trunk.

Whatever you notice,

Give it space and allow it to be as it needs to be,

To move as it needs to move.

Expand your awareness out to the rest of your body,

Out to your arms,

Up to your neck,

Your head,

And back down into your legs until you become aware of feelings and sensations within your whole body.

And see if you can really feel your body from the inside.

If you notice yourself trying too hard,

You probably notice a sense of holding or contraction within your body,

Or maybe a lifting up feeling.

If you notice this,

That's okay,

Just allow that tension within your body to gently soften and relax again.

You can reconnect to the feelings and sensations of your ground and see if you can really allow yourself to trust it and let go into your sense of ground.

As you allow yourself to rest there,

Into your ground and in your body,

You may notice some kind of pleasant feeling there.

You may notice that your body is there for you.

Your body is a place of comfort and support,

A place where you can really let go and just be with what is happening within you,

Holding your space with a sense of compassion and love.

You could take a moment to notice any pain in your body.

See if you can find the courage to spend a few moments really noticing and being with the sensation of pain.

See if you can watch the sensations of your pain without attaching any kind of story to it.

Just notice the raw sensations for what they are.

And see if you can find the courage to spend a little while now just being present with those sensations.

Allowing your body to relax and let go and allowing those sensations to move through as they need to.

Anytime you feel yourself in your body wanting to lift up away from the pain or push it away,

Just notice this and then allow your body to really let go,

Soften and relax again.

And then notice what you feel.

You may notice that you can actually feel a sense of calm and relaxation even though your pain is moving through you.

It can feel almost like your body is melting down while your pain is moving up.

For a little while,

Just keep noticing and allowing yourself to stay with the sensations of your pain.

And in those moments where you allow your body to soften and let go,

Do you notice a change in your relationship to the sensations?

What do you notice in your body?

As we bring this meditation to a close,

Let's finish off by bringing a sense of love and joy to your heart center.

Feeling of accomplishment and fulfillment for the meditation that you've just done.

For the courage that you allowed yourself to feel.

And allow that feeling of love and joy in your heart to radiate out,

Filling your body with feelings of enrichment,

Fulfillment and nourishment.

Changing our relationship to pain can take some time,

But in my experience it is well worth the effort.

Once you start to connect to a different way of being with your pain in meditation,

This change in relationship will steadily grow into moments within your daily life and can become a true resource for you in your life infused with pain.

If this meditation interested you and you'd like to explore other ways of being with your pain from a sense of calm and groundedness,

You can take a look at my course,

Finding Peace While Living in Pain,

Where I step-by-step take you on the journey that I walked in developing a way that I can more easily and peacefully live with my pain.

It's a path I wanted to share in the hope that it could help others with the same struggles.