Living with pain

Living with pain. This track is for pain in the body that has gone on a long time. It is not a replacement for care from the people treating the pain. Keep seeing them. This is something to add, for the minutes when the pain is loud. This is not about making the pain go away. Forcing it away often tightens the body more. The aim is to change how you hold it. If it gets too much, open your eyes, look around, and stop.

Find a position you can stay in. Sitting, lying, propped up, whatever your body allows today. Eyes closed or open.

One slow breath out.

Now find the pain. Let your attention rest near it, not on it. Near it.

Notice its edges. Where does it start, where does it fade?

Now notice what is around the pain. The muscles that have tightened to guard it. The lifted shoulder. The shallow breath. The jaw. The body braces around pain, and the bracing can hurt too.

Breathe around the pain. Not into it, to push it out. Around it, as if making a little more room. In. And a long, slow breath out.

Again. In. And out, letting the muscles around the pain soften a little.

And again, in your own time.

The pain itself may not change. What is around it can. The guarding, the bracing, the held breath. That is what you are letting go of, bit by bit.

If the mind says this is not working, that is a normal thought. You are not here to make it work, only to breathe near the pain without fighting it.

Keep breathing. Long breaths out. Soft around the edges.

Now say something to the painful place, the way you might speak to someone who is tired. I know you are there. Or: I am not fighting you right now.

Stay a little longer. Breath, softness, the kind words.

Now widen out. Notice the parts of the body that do not hurt right now. There are usually some. A hand, a foot, the top of the head.

When you are ready, take a deeper breath in and let it out. Move slowly. Open your eyes if they were closed. Look around the room.

Living with pain is tiring. Come back to this whenever you need it.

If you are in danger or feel you cannot keep yourself safe, call your Weave clinician, or Tele-MANAS on one four four one six, any time.