Having recently endured facial surgery for the removal of an aggressive sun cancer, I found myself in the perfect position to put into further practice, a meditation for pain management.
Given that I had a large incision requiring a significant amount of stitching, and that I have a slight aversion to pain killing medication, I threw myself into meditating upon the pain I was experiencing.
Scientific research into the benefits of meditation for pain management have provided varying results, mostly because it is very difficult to successfully compare the exact same ailments and people’s pain tolerances, which may significantly differ, against differing forms of meditation.
In saying that, research has recommended doctors incorporate meditation in treatment plans for chronic pain, with some scientific research results showing a 22% – 30% pain reduction in patients, through changing the way they thought about pain.
Mindfulness Meditation assists you to focus toward the pain, instead of away from it, as pain medications do. Through this direct focus, you remove yourself from thoughts ABOUT the pain, which tend to exacerbate suffering, and you open yourself to acceptance of the source without judging it. Meditation will not directly remove pain, but it can greatly change your perception of pain which in turn provides a measurable relief from what you were previously used to.
When physical suffering occurs, we can use all the help we can get. Learning to meditate will introduce a new quality to your life, one you never realised you needed.
As I write this blog I have again proven to myself the untold benefits of mindful meditation and mindful living. I am not using pain killers and my pain tolerance continues to expand.
