Meditation Articles Series

My friend and I have been emailing back and forth this past week. For three months now he has been having a lot of back pain that has immobilized him at times. Despite all sorts of therapies and medication he has still not recovered. Right now he is in a phase of physical limitation whereby he can only hobble about using walking sticks.

Well, the other night he emailed me to say that he had had a breakthrough in his attitude toward his bad back. He wrote that he had finally taken responsibility for his own healing, and that he had accepted that he was restricted in getting about. He had stopped struggling. His acceptance of what is, rather than how things should be gave him a great sense of relief. Since then amazing results have happened. He is walking about without focusing on his pain, and he is walking with greater ease.

Meditation is healing

In meditation thoughts arise. If we struggle against these thoughts they become even stronger. It’s a bit like having a bad back; if we struggle against the pain it becomes stronger. Once my friend accepted and allowed what was happening his pain has decreased. In meditation when we accept that thoughts arise and allow them to be there and to pass away without hanging onto them, we then stop struggling with the mind just as my friend stopped struggling with his mental thoughts. This is a state of awareness and freedom. This creates inner peace and calm. My friend calls it a sense of relief. Either way, as a result the body relaxes and without the hindering mental emotional tension the body can heal itself. We go from struggle to serenity, from hindering to healing.