Fragrant Heart Blog

The simple answer is, yes it can. If you already have a meditation practice you will be able to recall the feelings of deep relaxation you have experienced from time to time. It is by being able to relax and to soften around pain that a person can move through the pain so that it disappears. As humans, generally speaking our reaction to pain is to try in some way to get away from it. For example, when a person is feeling emotional pain they may resort to overeating, overdrinking, overworking, or some other distraction so that they don’t have to feel their feelings of discomfort. The same can also be applied to physical pain. However, there are of course degrees of pain. Pain management with medication is obviously very important in many areas of unwellness to maintain some sort of equilibrium. In the research that I have been doing people have reported reducing analgesics and undergoing medical procedures without anaesthetic. Their daily meditation practice has enabled them to relax and be inwardly calm and at peace.

Here’s a method that you may like to use if you are experiencing pain in your body. You may be sitting in meditation and become aware that you have some discomfort, or you may go into meditation with some pain that you want to relieve. Allow that part of your body to become your one pointed focus and observe what happens. For example there may be a pain in the right shoulder. You take your attention there and get a complete image of the pain. You become aware of the sensations, where they begin, where they end. You become aware of the size, how big the area of this pain is. Is it a centimetre or many centimetres in size? You become aware of its shape. Perhaps it has the shape of a ball, or a square or a cone or some other shape. These sensations may be quite dense or the density may vary on different layers of the sensations. You stay aware, just observing any thoughts that may be arising and passing away in the same way as the sensations in your body. Once you have an image of the pain you concentrate fully on it. You may begin to feel overwhelmed at this point as the discomfort may increase. Accept and allow what you are feeling. In this way it is possible to dissolve the pain in your body. Through one pointed focus which meditation can be defined as you relax, accept and allow and what occurs is a natural release of endorphins. Endorphins are the brain’s opiate-like pain relievers. As a result a person can feel euphoric with a profound sense of relief and well being. Pain naturally dissolves.

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On my first meditation course the teacher told us to focus on the breath entering and leaving the nostrils. Well, I thought that didn’t seem too difficult. But by the second day I was ready to leave. No matter how hard I tried, my mind would wander off. I would come back to the breath when the instruction was repeated but it seemed within a few seconds I would be off again in some reverie. By the beginning of the third day I had convinced myself that meditation wasn’t for me. My body ached from hours of sitting cross-legged on the floor. The cushion now felt like a lump of concrete under my buttocks. Flies droned around the room in the late afternoon warmth and I began to dread one landing on my head in its drowsy state. A monologue raged through my head; “What am I doing here? This is crazy. This isn’t for me. I need to go home. This isn’t fun. There must be easier ways to feel peaceful. What a waste of time! I’m fed up with being told to focus on this dumb breath.” Yes, the mind was having a great time with the thoughts pouring through it and my reactivity to each of those thoughts.

The fourth day loomed in the early hours of the morning as the first bell rang to wake up and go to the meditation hall. I sat with my blankets around me to keep me warm. Somewhere during that day I began to notice I wasn’t so agitated. My mind was still busy but I wasn’t reacting so violently to the thoughts. I noticed my body was a little softer and more relaxed. It still ached but I wasn’t holding myself so tensely. The instructions became helpful and soothing rather than annoying and repetitive. As the days of meditation continued my mind was not so besieged with thoughts. In these moments I felt very calm, very peaceful, very still, and deeply relaxed. My body seemed to straighten and grow taller as I continued to sit cross-legged in the practice sessions. The room took on a deep and penetrating silence. I felt that silence filling me with a joyousness that was somehow familiar and something that I had forgotten long ago.

What made me stay for the ten-day duration of the meditation course? Perhaps it was curiosity to find out if this formal “meditation thing” really worked. Perhaps I was ready for the immense shift in my life that meditation brought. Certainly when I began to experience the stillness and quietness inside me I couldn’t wait to get to the hall to sit and meditate. I began to realize that meditation really does work. Could I continue to bring inner peace and calm, serenity and acceptance into my life? That is indeed the ongoing journey.

What I have learnt is that meditation does require perseverance and discipline. It requires that you show up each day to sit in your practice for whatever length of time you have decided is right for your life. The ‘secrets’ for an ongoing meditation practice are perseverance and discipline, and accepting and allowing what is happening in any moment. These ‘secrets’ will enable anyone I believe to benefit from meditation.

Certain types of music like classical music or gentle lyrical music can be relaxing and help some people hold their attention and focus. On our Fragrant Heart website the guided meditations can be played with or without background music. Most of us have probably experienced the soothing and calming effects of listening to music. Much of Mozart’s music for example, has a rhythm that helps to induce a slowing of brain wave patterns that can lead to what is known as the alpha state. This is a state of deep relaxation and peacefulness. Music as an adjunct to meditation is useful at times especially if you are new to meditation, or your mind is particularly busy. If you are emotionally upset and finding it difficult to concentrate music can also help to settle you into your practice. My suggestion is to use music only when you absolutely need to. As you continue your daily meditation begin to let go of having background music even if it is only barely audible so that you can move into and experience real stillness without distraction.