Today I want to point you to a meditation that is a great introduction, and is presented beautifully by meditation teacher Tara Brach. Listen to it here for free. In 28 minutes Tara will talk you through how to sit, breathe, relax, feel your body, attend to sounds, and return kindly to your mindful state after having drifted off into thinking. Of the many dozens of meditations at her site, this is possibly the most comprehensive and most helpful mediation for someone with pain.
I have been using Tara’s meditations on and off for the past 9 months, and really appreciate having internalized her instructions for practicing on my own. One thing she has taught me, which really helps me to continue to meditate: I do not judge any more how I am doing. I now just enjoy this quiet time for my mind, body and emotions– to whatever degree it happens that day.
Even if you don’t have much time, this meditation offers a great intro in the first 5 minutes. While Tara is a teacher in the Buddhist tradition, this meditation offers general instruction accessible to anyone.
See more about meditation and Tara here. Also check out her great talk 10/16/2013 which gives a very nice introduction to the science of mindfulness with the topic of happiness.
I was quite impressed when I chanced upon the Pain Management Task Force Final Report May 2010 by the US Army which recommends meditation as part of its “comprehensive pain management strategy that is holistic, multidisciplinary, and multimodal in its approach, utilizes state of the art/science modalities and technologies, and provides optimal quality of life for Soldiers and other patients with acute and chronic pain”. See more.