Pain - Guided Meditation 2
This meditation is quite different from our usual reaction to pain of any kind.
Here in the West we tend to try to 'take our minds away' from pain, and almost pretend that it isn't there - or hoping that if we don't pay attention to it it will go away by itself. This obviously doesn't work, as witnessed by the absolutely huge sales of analgesics (medicines for relief) - these sales far outstrip those of any other medications by a huge margin.
We all get different kinds of aches of one kind or another from time to time, but we seem all too ready to rush out and buy some sort of medication at the first sign.
Unfortunately many of these medications also have undesirable side-effects - such as drowsiness, stomach trouble, constipation, addiction, or an armful of other potential troubles.
Meditation can often offer a free and effective alternative - without any of these undesirable side effects.
Of course if you have some severe and undiagnosed pain that has gone on for a long time, it may be the body signalling that something serious is going on - and therefore you should get it checked out by a physician. But for our ordinary "run of the mill" types of aches - such as headaches, backaches, from non-serious injuries and so on - meditation works very well. (Personally I always use this method with great success if I get a headache for whatever reason.)
Right at the beginning of this page I mentioned that this meditation is quite different from our usual reaction to pain - what did I mean by that ? The big difference is that - instead of "running away" from it, in this case we do the opposite - and look at it closely - this maybe sounds strange, but give it a try the next time that you have a headache or some similar pain, and you will see that it really does work...amazing !
Obviously as this is a guided meditation that is designed to get rid of - or minimise - pain...there is no point in doing it if you do not have any at the moment...."keep it on the back burner" until you are troubled with some.
Get the guided meditation script copied and printed in advance - so that it is available when you need it.)
The instructions are the same as for the first guided meditation in this series (Relaxation - Guided Meditation 1) So if you have got a "guide" all set up, (to read it to you) - and you have a pain that you want to control - then let's get started, and get rid of it !
All set ? Then one - two - three - go !
consciously relax as much as you can.......start to make your breathing slower and deeper.......remember to imagine bringing your breath right down into your belly.......push your belly 'out' as you breathe 'in' - and pull it 'in' as you breathe 'out'....... mentally go around your body and find areas that are tense and try to let them relax.......take five deeper and slower breaths.......one.......deeper and slower... ......two.......breathing right down into your belly....... ..three.......concentrate on your breathing as much as you can .......four.......slowly let your awareness go to where you feel the pain at this moment.......five.......try to look at the pain as though it was an actual physical 'thing'.... ......where is it exactly ?.......how big is it ?.......what shape is it ?.......if you could give it a color - what color would that be - and how strong a color ?.. ....... on a scale of one to ten - where would you position it ? .......gently move your awareness away from the pain again.... and gently - look around the rest of your body.......find any place where you can feel tension.......make that tension more by tightening up the muscles in that area as much as you can.......make then tighter and tighter.......really as tight as you can.......then when you cannot hold it any longer ...let those muscles completely relax.......relax them more and more.......feel them soft and loose......breathe slowly and deeply.......once more return to your pain - and look at it as closely as you can ....what size is it now ?.. ......what is its shape - has it changed a little?.......what color does it have now - is the color less intense than before ?.......where is the pain on the one to ten scale - has that changed any ?.......just look at it for a few more seconds.......then once again mentally go around your body looking for tense places.......tighten up the muscles there as much as you can as you did with the other tense place.... ......tighter.......tighter and yet tighter.......when the muscles are as tight as they can possibly be.....then relax them.......let then completely go loose and relaxed.... .....let the rest of your body be more relaxed too.......your breathing slow and deep and regular.......feeling peaceful and relaxed.......go back to your pain.......what is it doing ?.. .......does it seem smaller than before ?.......is it still the same shape or has that changed ?......how has the shape changed - look at exactly what shape it is now.......look at its color......what change has happened to that ?.......where are we now on the one to ten scale ?.......look at the pain a few minutes longer - so that you can see exactly how big it is.......exactly what shape it is.......exactly what colour it is.......and exactly where it is on the one to ten scale.... .......let your awareness slowly scan over all of your skin... ......and imagine your skin is soft and smooth everywhere as you relax more and more.......imagine that the skin of your entire body is allowing all your tension and pain and stress to just slowly seep out of you and disappear.......feel that happening for a few minutes...........notice how calm and slow your breathing has become.......notice how there is more relaxation in your muscles.......gently go back to your pain and notice how much smaller it has become.......see how it has changed shape and colour.......be aware how much lower on the one to ten scale it is......feel happy that you are controlling your pain.......you can control pain anytime that you want in this way.......notice how you feel more self-confident because of this....... let your breathing become very easy and relaxed.. ......and slow and deep......and gently go around all of your body in your mind - and relax any more small tense places that are left.......let them relax and be calm.......slowly come back to whatever pain is left.......look at it closely for a while ......how small is it now ?......what shape is it now ?... ......what color is it now ?.......if your pain has not gone completely - or at least not become so small that you can easily handle it......then gently and slowly repeat what we have been doing two or three times more.......look for tight areas in your muscles.......tighten them as much as you can - as long as you can - then when you can't hold it any longer...relax those muscles completely.......keep checking on your slow deep breathing.......and when you finally feel that you are 'on top of' whatever your pain was.....then slowly come back to the present...to the here and now.......and very very very slowly.....open your eyes and have a big long stretch !
....I am sure that if you are like 99 percent of the population then your pain has either gone completely - or else has reduced to a level that you can easily handle.
I think that you should give your 'guide/reader' a hug for helping you !
Isn't that better and easier and cheaper than taking pain killer medication ?
With this meditation you will also find that after you have done it a few times with a guide/reader - that it will become more and more effective for you. You will also be able to do it almost as well by yourself - once you know all the steps.
So let's move on to the next one in our explorations !
Click to return from Pain - Guided Meditation 2 to the Guided Meditation general page Click to go to Relaxation - Guided Meditation 1
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As with the other meditations, first of all - try to
