Meditation Techniques Can Provide Pain Relief
Article by David L.
Hebert
Meditation, in its simplest form, is simply a way of calming your
inner mind and bringing it into balance with your body. This balance can
let your body ease its way into providing you with relief from the pain
associated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, arthritis, and
other disabling conditions.
Often, because your days are hectic and you have so many thoughts
running through your mind at the same time, your body can go into
sensory overload. As a result, it can feel like your body just wants to
shut down, similar to the way a marathoner can seemingly hit a "wall"
where it seems he or she just can't go on anymore. (The
24/7 flu
t-shirt compares the fatigue and pain of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
and Fibromyalgia to how one feels after running a marathon.)
By practicing daily meditation, you can help your mind and your body
find quiet time to mend and re-establish a sense of equilibrium.
There really isn't a wrong way to meditate. As long as you're letting
your mind rest, you're probably accomplishing your goal. If you find
that as you try to meditate, your thoughts keep running to how you’re
ever going to find the energy to get the dishes done or deal with any of
those other things that coping with a disabling condition makes seem
overwhelming, just gently push those thoughts away.
A particularly beautiful way of dealing with thoughts like this is to
picture the thoughts being wrapped in a clear bubble -- a nice soap
bubble with an iridescent rainbow that shimmers on the surface. Imagine
the thought inside the bubble, bouncing around lightly inside that
clear, shiny sphere -- and then imagine that bubble just floating
lightly upwards, bouncing slowly to and fro in the breeze -- until it
climbs so high you can't even see it anymore.
You don't have to sit in a yoga position and have absolute quiet to
enter a meditative state. You can meditate while walking, or bathing, or
even -- heaven forbid -- doing the dishes. The important thing is that
you let your mind take that important relaxing break.
And while you're doing it, use your imagination to help heal your
body, too. One particularly effective way is to envision your body being
wrapped in a gentle pink cloud. (One of my favorites is pretending that
it's a nice big wad of sweet, pink cotton candy.) Pink is a soothing
color, and you can let yourself feel the warm sensations of the color
spreading through your body and carrying a nice healing glow along with
it.
If you have a part of your body that is being persistently painful,
send an extra bit of this warmth and color to that part. Imagine it
spreading a healing energy throughout the area, and be thankful that
your body has the time to indulge itself in healing. You don't have to
believe in the process whole-heartedly; you just need to go through the
actions. Your body and your mind will do the rest.
Try it for a week or two. At the very least, you'll find that you've
been able to enjoy some nice quiet moments to yourself. More than
likely, you'll find that the pain has started to dissipate, and you've
discovered a new way to bridge the gap between mind and body and have
found a way to help the body heal itself.
This is by no means the only way to meditate. It's just one of a
million. But it's a great start, and it really is fun to try. Let
yourself indulge in it, and then hop onto the Chronic-Illness.org Forum
to share your results with others.
David L. Hebert
is a lawyer and writer from Manitoba, Canada. He is the author of
The Everything Learning French Book, the upcoming
Speak French (In No Time) (available in 2006), and
Freedom of the Press . For more information about the author of
this article, you can visit his Web site --
Lurquer.com.
Copyright © 2005 Pamela Rice Hahn
All Rights Reserved |
