At one time or another, we will all want to learn how to use our meditation practice to work with pain. There is no literal, paint-by-numbers prescription for relating to pain; however, there are several important teachings and skillful awareness practices to consider when working with pain and unpleasant sensations. (read more)
Below are some resources that you might find helpful:
Below are some additional resources that you may find helpful in building your understanding of how to work with pain:
Audio: How to Transform Your Relationship with Pain – Jonathan Foust
This talk explores strategies to help you shift how you relate to pain and physical discomfort. You’ll learn what the Buddha taught about being with physical distress, how discovering your reactive patterns can reduce unnecessary suffering and how to apply specific techniques that can help you use unpleasant sensations as a transformative practice.
PDF: My Path with Arthritis – Darlene Cohen is a Zen priest in the lineage of Suzuki Roshi and has a graduate degree in physiological psychology. She is the author of Turning Suffering Inside Out and works with groups dealing with physical and/or psychological pain.
Audio: Working With Pain, Bhikkhu Bodhi describes his personal experiences with severe chronic pain since the 1970’s and discusses ways to work with and manage pain.
Book: How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and their Caregivers, by Toni Bernhard (Wisdom Publications, Second Edition, 2018). “Until forced to retire due to illness, I was a law professor for 22 years at the University of California – Davis, serving six years as the law school’s dean of students. I had a longstanding Buddhist practice and co-led a weekly meditation group with my husband. Forced to learn to live a new life, I wrote. The book is Buddhist-inspired but is non-parochial. The tools and practices in it are intended to help anyone.”
Book: The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body
Book: The Healing Power of the Breath: Simple Techniques to Reduce Stress and Anxiety, Enhance Concentration, and Balance Your Emotions
Audio: Choosing to Live Well with Pain and Illness: Tami Simon speaks with Vidyamala Burch, who for over 30 years has lived with chronic back pain as a result of a car accident, multiple surgeries, and congenital spine weakness. Searching for a way to cope with her situation she started practicing mindfulness meditation to help accept and move beyond the pain. She is cofounder of the Breathworks organization in the U.K. where she teaches mindfulness-based approaches to living with physical pain and illness. She is also author of the new Sounds True book Living Well with Pain and Illness. Vidyamala speaks about what it means to turn toward pain and soften, and how to live one moment at a time. (56 Minutes)
