Developing mindfulness will be a key component of changing your relationship to pain.
Relate compassionately to your pain
Recognize factors that can contribute to your chronic pain
Pain Management takes a team
If you haven’t done this yet, start by discussing your pain issues with a medical provider. Whether you think the origination of the pain is physical or emotional, check it out with a professional, get their thoughts on causes and treatment options. You can ask your doctor for a referral to a Pain Management Specialist. Your doctor may also refer you to a physical therapist. You may want to talk to a counselor or therapist to help you explore the full bio-psycho-social contributors. Remember, you are the customer, you have the right to ask all the questions you need answers for.
Look Inward
To REALLY see what is going on for YOU, you have to look inward. YOU have the wisdom to untangle this mystery, to identify the different wires that are acting up to set off this pain alarm. You just need to take the time to be quiet with yourself and, with a curious attitude, listen and explore.
Mindful meditation helps develop interoception. Interoception encompasses awareness of the physiological condition of the body. It is awareness of the present moment internal bodily sensations and state of being. It involves the integration of signals from a variety of bodily sources (heart, lungs, gut, stomach, skin, muscles, and more) and is coupled to the brain’s processing of these sensations, often tied to our emotions, experience and belief systems. (https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/making-sense-interoception).
Through interoception and mindful awareness, we are able to check in, developing awareness of the present moment internal experience of the body, across all inputs, and get back a bunch of helpful information. This allows for greater self-awareness that is coupled to a more accurate assessment of our current state of being.
We now know that in chronic pain, the pain may not correlate accurately to present moment tissue damage. The brain is processing the experience based on both present moment AND past experience and may intensify the actual experience of pain based on this information. It is important to reiterate that the pain is absolutely real, you are not imagining it, yet the intensity is increased due to the brain’s processing of the signals (or perceived threat) of both the past and current state. What is wonderful is that with greater awareness, a value driven plan of care, and a strong team approach, we can discern more accurately what the brain has learned, and we know that what the brain has learned may be unlearned.
Remember to take time for mindful practice.
It’s a good idea to set aside some time each day for your formal practice. Even starting with 5 minutes a day is beneficial. To make sense of these different wires that trigger the alarm in different ways and for different reasons, check out “The Explain Handbook: Protectometer” by G.L. Moseley and D.S. Butler.
In the SUPPORT section, we define other treatment options that you may want to look into.
Practice today with guided mindful meditation practices. Download: Meditation CRUSH on your phone.