Can mindfulness meditation reduce pain?
Mindfulness is defined as “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experience, moment by moment” (Kabat-Zinn, 2003 p. 145). The goal of mindfulness is to teach participants to become aware of body sensations, thoughts, and emotions and to relate to them with an open, non-judgmental, patient attitude. This open state of mind can be cultivated by repeated practice, and yes when I say repeated, I do mean for more than just a few minutes a day for a couple of weeks.
Meditation is the tool, the vehicle, we use to help us cultivate our mindfulness. It is through meditation practice that we learn to integrate the attitudes that are required to cultivate a mindful mind.
What this all means is that by 1) Giving our full attention to each individual moment as it unfolds, 2) applying the mindful attitudes of non-judging, patience, acceptance and letting go, just to name a few, and 3) by focusing our attention on the breath to anchor ourselves into the present moment regardless of the sensation, emotions or thoughts we notice, we are able to create strengthening and stability within the body and mind.
Increased research into mindfulness shows the positive benefits and results has on our physical, mental and psychological health. Danny Penman Ph.D, author of Mindfulness in a Frantic World, states, “Recent clinical trials on mindful meditation have shown a reduction in chronic pain by 57% for beginner meditators and up to 90% for accomplished meditators.”
Hospital pain clinics are now prescribing mindfulness meditation to help patients suffering from the pain and distress caused by a wide range of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, cancer and the side effects of chemotherapy, chronic fatigue, migraines, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, IBS, coeliac disease and back ache. Some imaging studies show that mindfulness soothes the brain patterns, and with time and regular practice, change the structure of the brain itself, helping to reduce the intensity of the pain, and in some cases leaving it barely noticeable.
Before we carry on, it’s important to note that the brain has an ability to adapt and change structurally to experiences. The brain centres will strengthen and develop according to where we focus our attention. When we experience and give our attention to primary pain that is caused by injury, illness or damage to the body or nervous system, we activate our secondary pain, which is the minds reaction to the pain. The mind, as wonderful as it is, may not be our best friend when it comes to pain. It latches onto the sensation, amplifying it with escalating thoughts like, “Is this going to get worse” “How bad is this?” “Am I going to recover/heal?” “Am I going to have to live with this for the rest of my life?” This may trigger depression, low mood and low motivation in some and stress, anxiety and worries in others. In both instances, the associated emotions enhance the intensity of the pain.
When we feel pain, the mind gets busy processing how to resolve the pain. It shifts through all the memories of times we have experienced pain sensations as well as all the emotions associated with those memories. This amplified process causes the mind to become overstimulated, triggering our natural response of wanting to “run away from the pain”, “distract ourselves” or “get rid of the pain”. No wonder the suggestion of asking people to mindfully notice their pain and just sit with it sounds preposterous. The simple process of mindfully anchoring into the present moment can bring relief to chronic and acute pain sufferers. This happens by cultivating an awareness of the movement of the breath, and patiently, noticing the pain, without striving for it to change. This can be a real challenge for chronic pain sufferers as they struggle against the minds natural response of wanting to block pain sensations.
Some people will meditate with a desired outcome in mind, for example “I am feeling stressed and my shoulders are tight and sore. If I practice some mindful meditation, I will feel more relaxed and be able to get rid of this tension and pain in my shoulders.” If you start your meditation practice with an outcome in mind, you once again activate the scanning part of the mind which zooms in to monitor every changing sensation - if the pain and tension is getting better or worse, plus every thought that arises to the changing sensation. The real challenge is to practice the letting go attitude of mindfulness when the mind is so used to being overstimulated. As you practice letting go of the thoughts and sensations, you learn to practice letting go of the struggle that is in the body and the mind. Mindfulness soothes the circuits that amplify the pain, teaching the meditators to turn the volume down on their pain as well as their emotions associated with it.
What we practice grows. As we patiently practice turning down the volume to pain, time and time again, we start to grow the conditions for the healing process to take place in our body, mind and spirit.