Meditation and Mindfulness for Pain: A Path to Stress Reduction

Mindfulness and meditation can help you to cope with acute and chronic pain. 

Mindfulness has been studied as a tool for pain management for years. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) techniques are a way of sitting with pain and reducing the stress and negative thoughts associated with the pain, which often exacerbates it. 

Mindfulness and meditation techniques have been proven helpful for reducing pain associated with arthritis, fibromyalgia, back pain, and digestive disorders. There is also an increasing number of studies on the benefits of addressing painful mental issues, such as depression and chronic worry. 

But how exactly does it work, how long does it take, and how can mindfulness help us now?

We are all mindful to one degree or another, moment by moment. It is an inherent human capacity. ― Jon Kabat-Zinn

How it Works: The Science Behind Mindfulness and Pain Relief

The brain alerts us when we feel pain, which often leads to worries or rumination. While worry over pain is natural, thoughts such as "Why is this happening to me?" Or "I wish it would stop" can lead to a heightened pain perception. When we focus on the pain and try to rationalize its purpose in our lives, we expose ourselves to negative thought spirals, depression, or anxiety. 

Mindfulness helps a person reduce reactivity by heightening awareness of the present moment experience and bringing compassion to the situation. More specifically, mindfulness affects the brain's perception of pain by addressing the corresponding thoughts about pain.

When we feel pain in the body, responding with awareness instead of reactivity has been proven to reduce the sensitivity of pain receptors in the brain, according to a 2019 report by Fadela Zeidan and Jennifer N. Baumgartner. In this study, the person in pain was instructed to bring the focus back to the breath and, eventually participate in a guided meditation where the attention is also returned to a focus on a feeling or emotion.

This is a simple way of learning to better cope with acute or chronic pain, especially when the practice is repeated. 

The Role of Meditation in Pain Management

A few types of meditation practices that can be beneficial for pain include mindful meditation. Simple initial practices you can try right now are below.

Vipassana Meditation 

A Buddhist meditation, Vipassana is also referred to as insight meditation. This practice begins with attention to sensation and is often taught as a seated meditation. To practice, find a tall spine and close your eyes.

Bring attention to the breath and focus on the inhale and all the sensations attached to it, then exhale and focus on all the sensations attached there. Continue this same way for five minutes and incrementally increase the time. To support your practice, you may use a guided vipassana meditation that uses sound to remind you to return focus on the breath as the mind wanders. 

Mindful Body Scan

“The mind and body are like parallel universes. Anything that happens in the mental universe must leave tracks in the physical one.” — Deepak Chopra

Mindful body scan meditations bring awareness throughout the body with conscious attention and no judgment. Similar to focusing on the breath, a body scan meditation means targeting one's focus. Beginning at the toes, to practice a body scan, the attention moves consciously up the body, pausing on each body part to note sensation without judgment. Moving from one part of the body to the next, such as the toes to the feet and the feet to the legs, you can begin to cultivate a different relationship with the body's sensations that is full of acceptance. 

Visualization

“Visualization is daydreaming with a purpose.” ― Bo Bennett

Visualization means focusing on a part of the body feeling pain and using a visual cue to acknowledge and be one with the sensation. For example, if you have lower back pain, you can sit and close your eyes, imagining white or pink light filling the lower back and expanding outward. This meditation is not about trying to change but rather working with our innate creativity to learn to be compassionate with exactly how we feel, which eases our reactivity to pain.

Mindful Movement

Practices such as yoga and Qigong can be incredibly beneficial when practiced intentionally. While there are many forms of yoga, restorative yogic practices can help relieve stress in the body by tying breath with movement. Qigong, an ancient Chinese practice, is another gentle practice that uses breath, movement and meditation together to help bring a person into the body and work with the energy to increase flow and focus.

Conclusion

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”  ― Viktor E. Frankl

Mindfulness benefits for pain management boil down to enabling us to take control over our minds and responses to stimuli. When we feel pain, we can benefit greatly from these practices through movement, seated meditation, or breath practices. Mindfulness is complementary to other therapies for acute or chronic pain, such as physical therapy or medications, as appropriate. 

Mindfulness practices do not have to be complicated. A few conscious breaths can help us shift our mindset. Try to take a deep breath right now, in through the nose, and hold the breath for five seconds. When you exhale, release all the breath and notice the body and sensations that arrive with this release. Try this a few times, simply noticing a little more how you feel.

Thoughts will arise when practicing mindfulness, but with practice, you can learn to return to the sensation with more awareness and compassion.  

At Aura, 97% of people find calmer in just three days, which speaks to the power of meditation and mindful practices for anxiety and stress. If you’re looking for more guidance, community support, and resources to support anxious thoughts, join me at Aura, the most holistic meditation app on the market, for 30 days free.

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