Soften around physical or emotional pain by using breath, visualization, and compassionate awareness.

English

This gentle meditation invites you to shift the way you relate to chronic pain. Instead of resisting or fighting, you’ll be guided to bring compassionate awareness to the sensations in your body, breathing spaciousness and softness around them. Through grounding, body scanning, and soothing imagery, this practice helps remind you that pain is only one part of your experience—not the whole story. Perfect for daily relief, cultivating resilience, and reconnecting to your wholeness.

12-Minute Softening Around Pain

Hello and welcome to Mindful Meditations. This is a meditation for any of those who are in chronic pain or even deep emotional pain that's been going on for a long, long time. I invite you to find a comfortable position, whether that's sitting, lying down, lying down, supported by some cushions, the wall, a bed or a chair. Just allowing your body to be held by whatever surface is beneath you. There's no rush. There's no need to do anything but arrive. Let's begin by noticing your breath, just as it is. There's no need to change it. Just notice. Imagine each inhale as a gentle wave moving toward the shore, and each exhale as that same wave returning back to the sea. Feel the steadiness of this rhythm. Now let's bring your awareness to the parts of your body that feel supported. Maybe your back against a chair, your head against a pillow, or your feet on the floor. Let those points of contact remind you that the earth is holding you. Just noticing where you're at. Approach it as though you're visiting an old friend, curious, gentle, without force. Notice the sensations, the warmth, the tightness, the qualities of that pain. Instead of asking the pain to leave, I invite you to offer it compassion. I see you. I feel you. You belong to this body that is doing its best. I see you. I feel you. I see you. You belong to this body that is doing its best. Now let's begin to widen the focus. Notice that while the pain is present, perhaps it doesn't fill the whole body, or not as strongly in each part of the body. Now we're going to start to scan slowly from the crown of the head, the temples in the ears, the cupids bow in the lips, the tips of the fingers, the tips of the fingers, the tops of the thighs. Can you find a place that feels neutral or less painful? For some of you, a place that even feels comfortable. Let those areas remind you of your wholeness. Pain is here, but it is not all that you are. It is a part of you. Just like jumping in the lake and getting wet doesn't make you water. I invite you to bring the breath gently towards the area, the loudest, strongest pain. Each exhale creating some spaciousness around it, like a window opening to fresh air. Each exhale carries a soft release, letting go of tension or resistance. No forcing, just an attempt at spacious softening. Finally, let's visualize a warm light, or any color that feels soothing flowing softly into the area of pain and discomfort. The light doesn't erase the pain, but surrounds it with safety and ease, like a hand resting gently over your heart, allowing the light to expand gently and right outside of the body. As we close, letting this light remind you, I am more than this pain. I am whole. Take one last slow breath, feeling gratitude for your body's resilience, and grief and sorrow that it's in pain. Leave, opening the eyes and taking in the room around you. Thank you for practicing with me today, and I'll see you next time.