Yoga for Chronic Pain - Benefits of Meditation
“Yoga Sutra 1.2: yoga citta vritti nirodah (Yoga is the restraint of the fluctuations of the mind)”
Today’s post is the third in a series of four blog posts discussing chronic pain. Below is a brief discussion on meditation and how they can impact chronic pain and disease. The next post will be the final one in this series and will dig a little deeper into how the gentle movements of a yoga asana (pose/posture) practice can be used as a tool for pain care. I hope you will continue to join me on this important journey.
Pain Reactions
From an early age we demonstrate an automatic avoidance to painful stimuli. This can be a lifesaving reaction - like pulling away after touching something hot. As we grow and mature, while this specific example of a hot stove will still be an injury preventing response, we may now use this same reaction to all painful stimuli in our lives, which is not always so helpful. This same reaction can cause us to pull away from ourselves and try to suppress the signals that our body is sending us. Thus, perpetuating a cycle of pain and avoidance.
Pain is not only a physical (sensory) manifestation. It is also cognitive/mental, emotional, and even spiritual. Our sense of pain is our brain’s interpretation of a signal it is receiving. As stated above, this can elicit an appropriate response in many cases. The downside can be when these same reactions get applied to all uncomfortable stimuli (physical, mental, emotional). In this sense, our body’s pain signals may become hyper-sensitive and default into fight-or-flight-or-freeze response every time.
These hyper-sensitive pain signals can set off a whole host of compensatory actions in our bodies. We can develop painful trigger points, increased muscle tone, and contractions. These reactions in turn can cause us to change how we move leading to over-activation in some muscles and almost no activation in others. This lack of activation in some muscles can lead to atrophy of those muscles and perpetuate the cycle of dysfunction and pain.
Yoga, and meditation specifically, can be an amazing tool in pain care to allow us to turn inward and learn to listen to and assess our bodies with mindful non-judgement and non-emotional focus on the sensory aspects of pain.
Mindfulness and Meditation for Chronic Pain
Using mindfulness and meditation to address pain can be an impactful tool as it allows us to be aware of our sensations and emotions around the pain without attachment or judgement. It is important to relearn that pain does not have to define us, even if it is a persistent and limiting part of our daily lives.
There are so many options for meditations that it may seem overwhelming to start a practice as part of a pain care plan. My suggestion would be to start with short 5-10 minute sessions and try a variety of styles of practices to see what is the best fit for you and where you are on this journey. There are some great mobile apps available as well to help your begin, resume, or deepen a meditation practice such as Insight Timer (link below).
While there is no guarantee that meditation will make us pain free, it can definitely be a tool to acknowledge what we are feeling and reconnect to our bodies. Mindfulness and meditation are continuing to be studied for their potential impact on pain and pain management.
Research on Chronic Pain
Yoga is a growing area in scientific research. My hope is that this will allow yoga to become a bigger part of mainstream pain management programs and healthcare in general.
In multiple studies, meditation has been shown to lessen stress and depression in people with chronic pain even when their pain levels have remained the same. This mindset change can be such an incredibly important part of comprehensive pain care because it addresses the WHOLE person in pain and not just the pain symptoms themselves.
There is also a growing collection of evidence that indicates that pain meditation is not an effective way to treat chronic/persistent pain and instead it can actually lead to other issues such as severe medication side effects, addiction, and even increased pain. While medication is still an important part of pain care (especially acute pain), there are more and more reasons to look to yoga as a complimentary and critical part of any pain care plan.
Guided Meditation
As I have in the past, today’s blog post includes a link to a new guided meditation that I created for you. As always, I would appreciate you subscribing to my channel, liking my videos, and sharing with friends and family.
Learn more:
Insight Timer: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/insight-timer-meditation-app/id337472899
Yoga and Science in Pain Care: Treating the Person in Pain (book) - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/yoga-and-science-in-pain-care-neil-pearson/1130133762
https://www.health.harvard.edu/pain/mindfulness-meditation-to-control-pain
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-you-can-ease-your-aches-and-pain-with-meditation/
https://www.healthline.com/health/meditation-for-chronic-pain
