How Meditation Can Help Ease Pain

How Meditation Can Help Ease Pain

Posted on July 12, 2022 by Palm Beach Pain Institute in Pain Management

If you have been one of those people who always thought meditation was just a kooky and crazy practice, time to think again. Keep reading and find out how meditation can help ease pain.

What Have You Got To Lose?

If you are a skeptic, try to control your judgment just for a bit. Your chronic pain is driving you nuts, so why not try something else, something new? You have nothing to lose but the pain.

When we are in pain, we are stressed and unhappy making the pain worse. If we can calm down a bit, it might actually help. That is the purpose of meditation — to help us become more calm. Meditation can help us relax both our mind and body and maybe feel better.

Sound good so far? Once we are more calm and relaxed, endorphins are released which can actually help to increase our tolerance for pain.

How To Start

Find a quiet place and time in your home. You choose whether to lie down or just sit in a comfortable chair. Dim the lights if you want. The important part of meditating is to feel comfortable and safe. Light a scented candle if that helps, but check with Palm Beach Pain Institute because some essential oils can exacerbate some conditions.

Once you are comfortable, start small, maybe with only 5 minutes of meditation and work your way up to 20 or 30 minutes. There are several types of meditation, so decide which is best for you.

Mindful Meditation

This is one of the most popular. It helps to manage stress, pain, and anxiety. Some apps can help you work through this type.

Visualization Meditation

This combines visualizing something positive as you meditate. Its goal is to focus your thoughts, help you calm down, and reduce stress and pain.

Breathwork Meditation

This uses a type of breathing exercise to change your breathing pattern and relax your mind. UCLA has a 5 minute audio recording to help you get started.

Body Scanning Meditation

Here you focus on your body from top to bottom relaxing each part slowly. UCLA has a 3 minute audio to help you.

The number of adults using meditation in the US has tripled since 2012 and 2017 from 4% to 14%. After COVID there are probably more using this tool. Meditation is free of cost and takes only a limited amount of time.

You have nothing to lose but your chronic pain.

Contact Palm Beach Pain Institute at (561) 499-7020 for more information or additional ways to treat your chronic pain.