Mindfulness & Pain and Illness

Pain and Illness are among the most challenging experiences we can have, and if they’re chronic it means that, for all their efforts, the doctors don’t have a way to make them go away right now. We’re left with an experience that’s unpleasant and challenging. However, this is not all that’s happening. In her book, Living Well With Chronic Pain and Illness, Vidyamala Burch, the founder of Breathworks distinguishes two kinds of suffering:

Firstly there are the actual unpleasant sensations in the body in any given moment —  this ‘is primarysuffering’. And secondly there are the myriad manifestations of resistance to these sensations that occur physically, mentally and emotionally — often all at the same time — ‘secondary suffering’.  This distinction offers a key to living successfully with chronic pain because it shows how to make changes. If pain is an unavoidable fact of your life due to your circumstances and health and you try to overcome or banish it, you’re setting yourself up to fail … But if you can distinguish the two levels of pain you can identify the habits of resistance that cause secondary suffering (and) find a way back to living creatively with a greater sense of being in control.

Mindfulness practices can help us see how we pile extra layers on top of our physical difficulties and how to let go of them. The Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course starts with learning the Body Scan (reconnecting with the body gently and mindfully), the Mindfulness of Breathing meditation (focusing on the breath and exploring experience), and mindful movement (gentle stretching or movement). Bit by bit we become aware of our resistance  and unconscious reactions to what is happening and learn to move towards difficulties rather than pushing them away. Exploring your experience in the group and with the instructor helps in learning to allow difficult things to be there, ending  the battle that our reactions to pain can create.

The mindful approach to living with pain and illness also includes draws on the issues associated with  stress, depression, anxiety and so on, so you may find it helpful to look at these pages as well. Jon Kabat Zinn’s worked for many years in the University of Massachusetts Medical Center with people who had chronic conditions, so working with them is central to the MBSR course. Vishvapani has also trained in Breathworks Mindfulness Based Pain Management.

Finding Out More

Living Well With Chronic Pain and Illness: the Mindful Way to free Yourself From Suffering by Vidyamala Burch

Contact Us to learn more

Take the MBSR/MBCT course via Distance Learning, or Book on a Course

Learn more about the benefits of mindfulness for working with stress; depression and anxiety, PTSD & OCD;