Monday, November 12, 2007
How Meditation Helps to Manage and Heal Chronic Pain
One of life's greatest stressors is chronic pain. The suffering that many people experience in dealing with pain has two aspects: primary and secondary suffering. Primary suffering involves the sometimes unavoidable physical discomfort from pain. Medical therapies like medication, acupuncture, and chiropractic are often used to alleviate this kind of suffering. Secondary suffering involves emotions, like anxiety, fear, despair, and depression that are stirred up in reaction to primary suffering. This type of suffering is most closely associated with chronic pain. Thus it is easy to see why the reactivity of secondary suffering can make a person miserable, and exhausted. As a stress buster, the regular practice of meditation is very helpful in the management and healing of pain, including both primary and secondary suffering (please see links on my blog to online reports about the scientific research behind this claim).
How does meditation help to manage and/or heal the suffering from pain? There are four primary ways.
1. The cultivation of present moment awareness, through regular meditation, lessens reactivity to pain.
Present moment awareness allows a person in pain to come back to the actual sensations of the present moment rather than getting lost in thoughts and reactions, which keeps the person in depression or sadness over the past and fear, anxiety and/or despair about the future. When a person is more grounded in the present, they are better able to have a creative response to their suffering.
2. There is a shift in awareness, through regular meditation, from the constricted experience of pain to the more expanded awareness of the soul.
When we are focused on what we do not want, and we are in a cycle of reactivity, our awareness is actually excluding many things which could bring us comfort and a better quality of life. Present moment awareness and the awareness of the soul is expanded awareness. This level of consciousness may include awareness of discomfort, but it also includes things like pleasure, peace, laughter, wisdom, love, and the experience of bliss.
Expanded awareness makes us more lighthearted because it helps us to reconcile the opposing qualities of life. It makes us whole. So we feel less need to expend precious energy fighting or resisting pain.
3. According to some mind/body experts, repressed emotions and stress are often the true cause of pain in some cases. Through regular meditation, repressed emotions and stored stress can be released.
Some doctors and mind/body experts are convinced that, at least in some cases, the brain actually creates pain as a distraction from suppressed emotions like rage. According to Dr. John Sarno, author of The MindBody Prescription, and Healing Back Pain, the brain can create a distraction to our awareness of threatening emotions by creating pain in parts of the body. Sarno cites research which indicates that the brain initiates a process whereby blood circulation is reduced to a local area of the body, thus leading to mild oxygen deprivation in the area, hence pain.
When we meditate, we release accumulated stresses, and become a witness to our thoughts and injuries to our ego. If we receive proper meditation instruction, and are taught how to gently let repressed emotions go, we can remove the need for the pain in cases like this.
4. Regular meditation cultivates gentleness and compassion, lessening feelings of isolation and victimization, and improving our ability to care for ourself and to receive care from others.
When we approach meditation practice, we do so with an attitude of non-judgement and gentility toward the thoughts that we begin to observe in our mind. This attitude carries over into our life. We become more patient and understanding with ourselves as well as with others. From a place of greater calm and present moment awareness, we can feel more connected to others, thus opening up avenues of compassion and sharing which are comforting and healing.
If you are interested in learning how to meditate through the effortless technique, and personalized instruction of Primordial Sound Meditation, please contact David Blake Jones, certified Chopra Center for Wellbeing instructor, at (404) 784- 7789, or email him at davidblakejones@gmail.com.
Restfulawareness.googlepages.com
How does meditation help to manage and/or heal the suffering from pain? There are four primary ways.
1. The cultivation of present moment awareness, through regular meditation, lessens reactivity to pain.
Present moment awareness allows a person in pain to come back to the actual sensations of the present moment rather than getting lost in thoughts and reactions, which keeps the person in depression or sadness over the past and fear, anxiety and/or despair about the future. When a person is more grounded in the present, they are better able to have a creative response to their suffering.
2. There is a shift in awareness, through regular meditation, from the constricted experience of pain to the more expanded awareness of the soul.
When we are focused on what we do not want, and we are in a cycle of reactivity, our awareness is actually excluding many things which could bring us comfort and a better quality of life. Present moment awareness and the awareness of the soul is expanded awareness. This level of consciousness may include awareness of discomfort, but it also includes things like pleasure, peace, laughter, wisdom, love, and the experience of bliss.
Expanded awareness makes us more lighthearted because it helps us to reconcile the opposing qualities of life. It makes us whole. So we feel less need to expend precious energy fighting or resisting pain.
3. According to some mind/body experts, repressed emotions and stress are often the true cause of pain in some cases. Through regular meditation, repressed emotions and stored stress can be released.
Some doctors and mind/body experts are convinced that, at least in some cases, the brain actually creates pain as a distraction from suppressed emotions like rage. According to Dr. John Sarno, author of The MindBody Prescription, and Healing Back Pain, the brain can create a distraction to our awareness of threatening emotions by creating pain in parts of the body. Sarno cites research which indicates that the brain initiates a process whereby blood circulation is reduced to a local area of the body, thus leading to mild oxygen deprivation in the area, hence pain.
When we meditate, we release accumulated stresses, and become a witness to our thoughts and injuries to our ego. If we receive proper meditation instruction, and are taught how to gently let repressed emotions go, we can remove the need for the pain in cases like this.
4. Regular meditation cultivates gentleness and compassion, lessening feelings of isolation and victimization, and improving our ability to care for ourself and to receive care from others.
When we approach meditation practice, we do so with an attitude of non-judgement and gentility toward the thoughts that we begin to observe in our mind. This attitude carries over into our life. We become more patient and understanding with ourselves as well as with others. From a place of greater calm and present moment awareness, we can feel more connected to others, thus opening up avenues of compassion and sharing which are comforting and healing.
If you are interested in learning how to meditate through the effortless technique, and personalized instruction of Primordial Sound Meditation, please contact David Blake Jones, certified Chopra Center for Wellbeing instructor, at (404) 784- 7789, or email him at davidblakejones@gmail.com.
Restfulawareness.googlepages.com
Monday, July 30, 2007
Misconceptions about Meditation
As a certified meditation teacher, I have become familiar with many common preconceptions about the practice of meditation. Since I have often felt like an iconoclast, my prior assumptions about meditation never really hindered me from exploring meditation; although, a couple of uncomfortable attempts at beginning a practice almost stopped me from continuing down the road I currently travel. Several years before learning to practice Primordial Sound Meditation, I remember being guided by a teacher to see a white light that I could never really see, and then another time, being guided to focus on the tip of my nose. Talk about awkward.
Fortunately, I was exposed to the wisdom and life story of Deepak Chopra, M.D. In his deeply personal book, Return of the Rishi, he shares how he overcame addiction to smoking, and found peace, bliss, and rejuvenation through the effortless practice of Transcendental Meditation. In 1996, I finally learned to meditate with comfort and ease, using a close cousin of Transcendental Meditation, Primordial Sound Meditation, which Deepak had adopted and resystematized several years before, after creating the Chopra Center.
For those of you who are not familiar with Deepak's story or who are still inexperienced with a comfortable meditation practice, I would like to review eight misconceptions about meditation. Hopefully, the information which I share will encourage you to continue to explore the path of meditation, a path which I am so happy to have found.
Eight Misconceptions about Meditation
1) Meditation is only for hermits, people who practice yoga, vegetarians, and those who eat wheatgrass.
Reality: There is a wide range of people who practice meditation. Many athletes practice meditation to help them stay "in the zone," and to obtain deep rest. Many corporate executives rely on meditation to balance their lives and make better decisions. Parents who meditate report that their ability to care for their children is strengthened by the renewal that comes with daily meditation. Artists often rely on meditation to enhance their creativity. Some examples of famous meditators include T. Harv Eker, the author of The Millionaire Mind, Frank Zane, a famous bodybuilder, Howard Stern, Bill Ford of Ford Motors, Tiger Woods, Tina Turner, and Al Gore.
2) Meditation requires concentration, and takes years to master.
Reality: While some meditation techniques use concentration, others like basic meditation, and Primordial Sound Meditation, do not. Primordial Sound Meditation utilizes personalized mantras which offer a soothing disconnection from the activity of life. The gentle favoring of the mantra interrupts the normal flow ("the mind chatter") of thoughts, leading to more abstract levels of the thinking process, till we ultimately slip beyond thought and enter the stage of "Restful Awareness". Forcing, or trying, leads to tension, and for most people, that is not a good way to begin a practice of meditation.
The basic meditation class taught by Restful Awareness, Inc., as well as its Primordial Sound Meditation course, do not require years to master. They are both easy to learn and can be practiced effortlessly on a daily basis after the brief instruction process is complete. Within two weeks of regular practice of these techniques, beneficial physiological and mental changes occur. However, the benefits of a daily practice increase over years of practice.
3) Meditation offers no real health boost.
Reality: Though not a cure by itself, there are hundreds of studies which have documented the beneficial effects to health from transcending through meditation. The more scientists have discovered about the debilitating impact of stress, and the mind-body connection, the greater the evidence for the power of meditation to heal and keep well.
4) Meditation is only for Hindus and Buddhists.
Reality: There are meditation practices in almost every religious tradition, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, as well as the Eastern traditions. The Primordial Sound Meditation technique originates from the ancient yoga tradition of India, but is not a religion, and does not necessitate adherence to the beliefs of Eastern traditions. Furthermore, the mantras in Primordial Sound Meditation have no specific meaning, and are only used for their specific vibration or sound.
5) Thoughts are not part of the meditation process.
Reality: As we release stress in meditation, thoughts arise, and are absolutely part of the process of meditation. The more we try not to think during meditation, the harder it is to let go and to have silence. When we meditate and thoughts arise, we gently let them go, and gently return to the mantra.
6) Meditation is just a relaxation technique. Like sleep, it dulls awareness.
Reality: Meditation is not only an excellent way to relax. It is also a technique for cultivating greater awareness.
Researchers have found that the amount of rest experienced during the deepest stage of meditation is twice as great as that found in the deepest stage of sleep. However, sleep leads to restful dullness; meditation leads to restful alertness. During meditation, brain waves become more coherent. Regular meditation leads to greater present moment awareness, and a more intimate connection with one's self. As we meditate, we begin to be aware that we are part of something greater than our ego. Our awareness shifts from the constricted experience of stress, toward the more expanded awareness of our spirit, or non-conditioned mind.
7) Meditation requires lofty thoughts.
Reality: Everyone, even long time meditators, have a shadow or dark side. We do not meditate because we have lofty thoughts. Rather, we meditate because we want to improve the quality of our lives.
8) Meditation will make life problem free.
Reality: While the quality of life improves with regular meditation, we will still experience challenges. The difference is that with regular meditation, we develop the foundational skill of "being present", so we can more easily follow our better instincts and act with less reactivity when we are faced with stress. Furthermore, we begin to view forces outside of ourselves as less threatening when our awareness expands beyond our ego needs.
Fortunately, I was exposed to the wisdom and life story of Deepak Chopra, M.D. In his deeply personal book, Return of the Rishi, he shares how he overcame addiction to smoking, and found peace, bliss, and rejuvenation through the effortless practice of Transcendental Meditation. In 1996, I finally learned to meditate with comfort and ease, using a close cousin of Transcendental Meditation, Primordial Sound Meditation, which Deepak had adopted and resystematized several years before, after creating the Chopra Center.
For those of you who are not familiar with Deepak's story or who are still inexperienced with a comfortable meditation practice, I would like to review eight misconceptions about meditation. Hopefully, the information which I share will encourage you to continue to explore the path of meditation, a path which I am so happy to have found.
Eight Misconceptions about Meditation
1) Meditation is only for hermits, people who practice yoga, vegetarians, and those who eat wheatgrass.
Reality: There is a wide range of people who practice meditation. Many athletes practice meditation to help them stay "in the zone," and to obtain deep rest. Many corporate executives rely on meditation to balance their lives and make better decisions. Parents who meditate report that their ability to care for their children is strengthened by the renewal that comes with daily meditation. Artists often rely on meditation to enhance their creativity. Some examples of famous meditators include T. Harv Eker, the author of The Millionaire Mind, Frank Zane, a famous bodybuilder, Howard Stern, Bill Ford of Ford Motors, Tiger Woods, Tina Turner, and Al Gore.
2) Meditation requires concentration, and takes years to master.
Reality: While some meditation techniques use concentration, others like basic meditation, and Primordial Sound Meditation, do not. Primordial Sound Meditation utilizes personalized mantras which offer a soothing disconnection from the activity of life. The gentle favoring of the mantra interrupts the normal flow ("the mind chatter") of thoughts, leading to more abstract levels of the thinking process, till we ultimately slip beyond thought and enter the stage of "Restful Awareness". Forcing, or trying, leads to tension, and for most people, that is not a good way to begin a practice of meditation.
The basic meditation class taught by Restful Awareness, Inc., as well as its Primordial Sound Meditation course, do not require years to master. They are both easy to learn and can be practiced effortlessly on a daily basis after the brief instruction process is complete. Within two weeks of regular practice of these techniques, beneficial physiological and mental changes occur. However, the benefits of a daily practice increase over years of practice.
3) Meditation offers no real health boost.
Reality: Though not a cure by itself, there are hundreds of studies which have documented the beneficial effects to health from transcending through meditation. The more scientists have discovered about the debilitating impact of stress, and the mind-body connection, the greater the evidence for the power of meditation to heal and keep well.
4) Meditation is only for Hindus and Buddhists.
Reality: There are meditation practices in almost every religious tradition, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, as well as the Eastern traditions. The Primordial Sound Meditation technique originates from the ancient yoga tradition of India, but is not a religion, and does not necessitate adherence to the beliefs of Eastern traditions. Furthermore, the mantras in Primordial Sound Meditation have no specific meaning, and are only used for their specific vibration or sound.
5) Thoughts are not part of the meditation process.
Reality: As we release stress in meditation, thoughts arise, and are absolutely part of the process of meditation. The more we try not to think during meditation, the harder it is to let go and to have silence. When we meditate and thoughts arise, we gently let them go, and gently return to the mantra.
6) Meditation is just a relaxation technique. Like sleep, it dulls awareness.
Reality: Meditation is not only an excellent way to relax. It is also a technique for cultivating greater awareness.
Researchers have found that the amount of rest experienced during the deepest stage of meditation is twice as great as that found in the deepest stage of sleep. However, sleep leads to restful dullness; meditation leads to restful alertness. During meditation, brain waves become more coherent. Regular meditation leads to greater present moment awareness, and a more intimate connection with one's self. As we meditate, we begin to be aware that we are part of something greater than our ego. Our awareness shifts from the constricted experience of stress, toward the more expanded awareness of our spirit, or non-conditioned mind.
7) Meditation requires lofty thoughts.
Reality: Everyone, even long time meditators, have a shadow or dark side. We do not meditate because we have lofty thoughts. Rather, we meditate because we want to improve the quality of our lives.
8) Meditation will make life problem free.
Reality: While the quality of life improves with regular meditation, we will still experience challenges. The difference is that with regular meditation, we develop the foundational skill of "being present", so we can more easily follow our better instincts and act with less reactivity when we are faced with stress. Furthermore, we begin to view forces outside of ourselves as less threatening when our awareness expands beyond our ego needs.
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