Pain Management
| Pain Management 3:59 |
Back in the 1990s, I began having headaches behind my left eye. They would start about eight o’clock every morning as soon as I hit the road on my route for the day. I was pulling double trailers for FedEx at the time. It was an easy, relaxing job and was nearly all highway work in Missouri and Kansas. I made good money and had fairly short work days. Point is, the job was not stressful. I could not figure out what caused the headaches. I tried avoiding caffeine. No result. No amount of over-the-counter headache pills would lessen the pain. It was very sharp and made me keep one eye half-closed.
These headaches had gone on for about a year before I decided that I needed help. My physician at the time was an elderly man in his eighties. His specialty was internal medicine, but he also liked to use mental imagery when possible. It was sort of a hobby of his. He treated my headache and cured the pain right there in his office in less than a minute.
Here is what he did. He said, “Close your eyes.” I did. He said, “Visualize the pain. Let it take on a shape. Now, tell the pain, ‘Go away. I’m tired of you hurting me. You do not belong here. I will not allow you to hurt me any more.’” I did as he instructed, and when I was ready I opened my eyes. The pain was gone. Absolute total relief.
I have used this method hundreds of times since. I have developed my own way of speaking to the pain in my own idiom, if you will. That is what you must do with any technique. Develop it for yourself.
I have also used this on certain types of back pain. It doesn’t work on spasms or pinched nerves. Sorry. I’ve had a few spasms that have torn muscles in my back. Might as well get a real doctor there. Physical injuries heal much faster with proper relaxants and anti-inflammatories. But I have learned to recognize certain types of back pain that have nothing to do with spasms or bulging discs or subluxation and degeneration.
| A word about the subconscious |
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| I use the term subconscious informally here. It is not a scientific concept. But it is useful in referring to certain feelings and sensations that seem to have no apparent cause. Any use of this term on this site is purely informal. |
Sometimes your subconscious is just plain fucking with you. Sorry. I don’t know a more effective way to write that. But whatever the subconscious is, it wants attention. One of the ways it gets attention is by causing pain. If you have any kind of pain that does not respond to medical treatment, please consider using a mental exercise to treat it.
Each of the methods below works best when preceded with the Basic Meditation exercise which takes only a few minutes. The recorded exercise included with this page applies the Method 2 because it is the most complex. The other two methods are simpler and easier to practice on your own.
Method 1
Address the pain personally. Imagine it as some kind of entity, a person, an animal, a geometric shape, whichever works for you. Then speak to it mentally. “I will not let you hurt me anymore. I refuse to allow you to hurt me. You do not have permission to hurt me. Get out.” Repeat this more forcefully, even as a mental shout, if necessary.
| Meditation for Pain Management 8:36 |
Method 2
Address the pain personally, as in Method 1. Imagine it as some kind of entity, a person, an animal, a geometric shape, whichever works for you. Visualize the thing in front of you as large as a human. Visualize it as large as a car. Return the thing to human size. Change its color to solid green. Now to solid yellow. Now to solid orange. Now to blue. Now to black. Now to its original color. In your mind, move the thing to the right side of you. Now move the thing to the left side of you. Now make the thing that represents your pain smaller. Now make it even smaller. Now make it small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. At this point, you can do one of two things. You can either blow the thing away into specks of dust or you can smash it with your other hand. Do this literally. Blow into your hand and watch the pain disappear. Or clap your free hand onto the pain and feel it smash.
Method 3
Imagine you are inside your head looking at the pain. Give it some sort of shape—perhaps a cloud or a handful of dirt. In your mind, as a mental image, place both your hands around the pain that you have given a shape. Hold the pain firmly for about five seconds, squeezing only slightly. Then, slowly relax your hands from around the shape and say, “Release.” Use any word that you wish, but express the idea of releasing the pain from your grip. For example, instead of “Release,” you may wish to say “Let go.” Speak mentally in your own manner. “I release you. Now go.” Repeat every time the pain returns.
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