Can Meditation Relieve Chronic Pain?

The last thing a chronic pain patient wants to hear during treatment is that they will have no choice but to live with chronic pain. Contrary to many beliefs, meditation is a viable pain-relief option. Meditation often involves focusing your breathing or possibly repeating a mantra to help center your mind and calm your body. With the right training, meditation can help a person manage chronic pain.

How Meditation Can Help

Experts believe that meditation can create an exceptional level of awareness within a patient, and that awareness translates to greater control over your body. This can help give you control over your focus and level of energy. By working on these skills, it is possible to identify and even lessen pain.

One of the first steps in the process of learning to control pain with meditation is to face the pain within your body. While meditating, focus on the sources of pain while keeping your body relaxed and calm. Don’t fixate on the pain, but merely acknowledge its presence within your awareness. As you become more mindful of the pain, you’ll start to come to terms with the sensation.

Once you’ve created a sensory overload of the pain within your awareness, you no longer need to focus on the pain. You’ll find that by acknowledging the pain and then ignoring it, you’ll feel the pain less when you aren’t thinking about it. Any method that distracts from the pain at this point would be sufficient, but meditation allows for an in-depth shift in focus that few other focal points can mimic.

Building Pain Tolerance

You’ll want to continue building your pain tolerance through direct mindful acknowledgment. The best way to go about this is to lie on the floor and focus on different aspects of your body over a period. This body scan helps the patient can help you become more aware of your body, breathing, and the source of your pain.

Studies have shown that sufferers of fibromyalgia have benefited from this sort of meditation. They also show that regular meditation can produce results. The power of the mind is quite intriguing, and it can help reduce pain simply be learning to accept it.

If you have questions about what pain relief options are available to you, contact Garden State Pain Control. Our pain experts can assess your pain and make you aware of medical as well as home treatment options. Contact us today to schedule your appointment.