Lean into Pain to Resolve It

One of my students once said to me, when doing Big Tree, she has learned to lean into pain to eventually resolve it.

 This is precisely what’s effective in healing, physical pain or emotional pain. Often when a condition becomes chronic, we have learned to ignore it to some extent and numb it in our awareness. This is why the body has learned to co-exist with the condition. In order to heal it, we must bring our full awareness into it, look right into it, lean into it, wake it up, hear it, see it and experience it fully. Then the healing may start.

I have remembered to try it again this morning when my persistent stomachache finally got my attention. So it’s a meditative practice that can be done anytime in life, not only in Big Tree Standing Meditation. It’s not a “oh, it’s hurting again, oh no, oh what can I take to stop it” kind of going-outward-for-help notice, but rather, “what is it trying to tell me, and how can I change” kind of going-in-deep awareness.

This requires me not afraid of what the body is trying to say, therefore allowing it to cry out fully, which could mean at first experiencing more and deeper pain. Know that the body would not give us more than what we can take, so relax into the pain. The more I relax, I feel more spacious in my stomach area. I see, I have been tightening it chronically without notice. As I release more space for the stomach, I do feel the pain spread and intensifying. I ask, what are you trying to tell me? It says, “Give me space. Always allow space for me to work, to breathe. Protect my space even when you feel tense, nervous, worried or pressed in by outside demands.” I hear you. And this will require on going practice in life.

Then the pain begins to subside. It moved to the spleen. My spleen felt hot. I relax around my spleen and ask, “What are you saying to me?” “I am empty. I have been working too hard at times when you over ate. I need rest, too. So please take breaks.” I see. I must not over eat out of nervousness or fear. Be in the moment in my body when I eat, and stop when I feel the signal for the first time. My stomach and spleen slowly begins to calm.

This is all practice to be in the body while living life. And when we feel pain in the body, it’s a wake up call, telling us how we must change for healing to start. We are powerful. We can heal ourselves. Now take that one step and begin to really listen, really see, and begin to release that old familiar tightness pattern. This is a life time practice, and we are doing this together now.