If you are someone who has tried conventional pain treatments and still experience pain, it may be worth looking at meditation. The scientific studies on whether meditation works to lower pain have had mixed results. However, it is hard to compare due to the wide variety of studies and methods. But the bottom line is that some studies show meditation lessens pain and stress for some people. Studies have also revealed that meditations can work great for beginners too.
Meditation helps in pain relief by using different brain pathways to deal with pain from those used by other pain treatments. And over time, meditation changes the brain structure to better deal with the pain.
Why meditation for pain management?
When you meditate, unlike other methods of pain relief, in order to find relief, you focus on the pain, instead of away from the pain. In other words, you’re working with the pain to reduce it and not working to block or ignore the pain. There are many types of meditation techniques and many tools like Books, Meditation apps, Podcasts, Online videos, Classes and Personal instructors to help you get started.
As many guides to getting started are free, some people use more than one type of meditation. Once you’re on the path to try meditation, you’ll find a lot many types to choose from. The only task is to look for something that you’ll feel comfortable doing. Here are some possibilities:
- Mindful meditation: Mindful meditation can help you manage stress, pain, and anxiety. You can do this meditation all by yourself or also take guidance from an instructor. Primarily, you need to quietly concentrate on your thoughts without passing any judgment on them. Being one of the most popular types of meditation, this meditation technique has also been the most studied type of meditation over the years.
- Visualization meditation: The aim of this meditation technique is to focus your thoughts, calm you down, and reduce stress and pain. Visualization meditation or Guided imagery combines visualizing something positive while you meditate.
- Breathwork meditation: Breathwork meditation involves using a type of breathing exercise to change your breathing pattern and relax your mind. This meditation technique is also sometimes used with mindfulness meditation to help you focus better.
With the use of neural pathways, meditation makes the brain less sensitive to pain. If you have pain, meditation is surely worth a try as it does help some people to get relief from pain.
