Method Name:  Mindfulness Meditation

Description:

   As soon as pain arises in the body, our minds become preoccupied with how to get relief.  If we can remove the cause of the pain or numb it with analgesics, well and good.  But most people, at some time in their lives, face significant pain from which they cannot escape, and millions of people, victims of disease or injury, must live each day in unavoidable and often excruciating pain.

   If we cannot escape from the pain, must we then experience abject and meaningless suffering?  No, there is an alternative, a way to escape not from pain but into it.  We can apply mindfulness meditation to the pain.

   Mindfulness meditation is a way of focusing awareness on the pain and observing it with precision, while at the same time opening up to it and dropping resistance.  As we develop this skill, the pain causes less suffering, and may even "break up" into a flow of pure energy.  This may sound too good to be true, but it is a fact that has been discovered by thousands of people.  The technique of mindfulness takes time, effort and determination, but anyone can learn to develop this skill with regular practice.

   The method of mindfulness applied to pain may appear to be very challenging.  At first you may not have good concentration.  Your mind will wander a lot and you will have to bring it back over and over again.  But just as in any other exercise, skill comes with time and practice.
 

Short Example of How to Meditate on Pain

   I would like to give you a tangible sense of the experience of mindfulness.  Close your eyes and let your whole body relax and settle in.  Pick one area where pain is significant.

   Get a clear sense of the size and shape of the painful region.  Is it long, round, triangular or some other shape?  Is it flat like a pancake or does it have a three-dimensional volume?  Is it uniform or does it have areas of greater or lesser intensity within it?  Are its borders sharp or diffuse?  Does it spread any influence through the body or is it completely isolated? --- You now have a much clearer and more precise sense of the painful sensation.

   Now observe even more carefully, as though the pain were a living being in its own right, as though it were, for example, a lizard on a wall.  How and when will this creature move?  Will its borders change?  Will it get stronger or weaker?  Will its center shift?  Watch very carefully for a while and notice that every few seconds the pain may change, if only in a tiny way.  Every time the pain changes in any little way, relax your whole mind and body into it and just observe it without judgment.

   This is a first step in developing the skill of mindfulness of pain.  It is true that sometimes the pain may seem to get worse as you focus on it.  This, however, is a temporary phenomenon.

   Mindfulness meditation is composed of two elements:  an opening up to the pain, and a careful observing of the pain.  The opening up fosters a process of spiritual purification.  The careful observation leads to deep insight.
 

When and Where to Meditate

   Meditation is a state of both relaxation and alertness.  If you meditate in a seated posture, try to keep the spine straight.  This will help you to remain alert.  If you meditate lying down, you must have very strong determination not to let your mind sink into sleepiness or even fuzziness.  If you become even slightly drowsy, open your eyes and stare at infinity without getting involved with visual objects.  This will help you remain aware and alert.

   Some conditions that produce pain are made worse by prolonged periods of motionlessness.  If this is true for you, be sure to move appropriately.  But in between moving, try to be very still and focused.

   The most important moment in any period of formal meditation comes when you get up to resume your daily activities.  Your ability to maintain a meditative state throughout the day (and hence reduce the suffering from your pain) depends on how you handle this transition.  Instead of thinking, "The meditation is over, now it's time to do this or that," think, "I have become somewhat more calm and focused.  Now my job is to try to preserve this state."

   During the day, whenever you become agitated or start to suffer a lot from pain, drop everything for a few minutes.  Sit down or lie down and do a short but high quality "mini-meditation" to re-ground yourself.  Do this as many times a day as needed throughout the day.

   The combination of setting aside at least a half an hour each day for formal meditation together with frequent mini-meditations will eventually allow you to maintain a state of deep calm and high focus for much if not most of your day.

   This meditation method for pain relief/ coping with pain was provided by an Anonymous Meditator (web site unavailable).

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