PAIN
If you experience chronic pain, you know how it can occupy your every thought, interfering with even the most mundane tasks, like showering or shopping or struggling through this simple sentence. Or, the opposite: You become so inured to the pain, it becomes just a part of you. The new you. The bitter, defeated, impatient, slightly on-edge you. The you people like less, including…you.
Point is, how you perceive pain is key—and promising research proves it. In a ground-breaking 2008 study, subjects watched their own MRI brain scans and experienced firsthand how learning to control specific brain centers caused the pain to calm down. “It’s like turning down the amplifier on a stereo,” says Sean Mackey, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the division of pain medicine at Stanford University. “The input is the same, but your experience of pain is turned down.”
Ronald Glick, M.D., medical director at the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, agrees. “Pain is part of our fight-or-flight response, and mind-body approaches like paced breathing—which is commonly used during childbirth—slow down the heart, lower blood pressure and relax the response to pain.” Leslie Davenport, M.S., M.F.T., a San Francisco-based integrative psychotherapist and author of Healing and Transformation Through Self-Guided Imagery, urges pain sufferers to adopt relaxing mind-body techniques. “You have nothing to lose but your pain,” she says.
SYMPTOMS
More than 100 million Americans suffer chronic pain. Although this book has separate sections on migraines, arthritis, fibromyalgia, lower back pain and the like, this section deals with the discomfort associated with those conditions—the pain that doesn’t dissipate after three, four or six months.
REMEDIES
You may have turned to over-the-counter or prescription analgesics—and faced relief, along with side effects like dry mouth, upset stomach and the risk of dependence and addiction. But there’s another way—a drug-free path that relieves pain and requires only that your mind and body work together to help you take back your life.
Here, our experts share four cutting-edge techniques that can be used in lieu of medication or—if your doctor recommends it—in conjunction with a traditional medical approach.
1. Guided Imagery
These exercises can help alleviate all kinds of pain by recalibrating the mind, reminding us that the peace that exists outside of pain is still accessible, says Davenport. Advances in neuroscience also confirm that guided imagery can access the brain’s “natural pharmacy,” releasing opiate-like substances that reduce pain. A 2013 meta-analysis published in the journal Pain found that guided imagery was significantly effective for reducing pain, though researchers call for more studies. The practice also helps relax muscles and reduce stress.
“We know that if you’re imagining something, your body reacts the same way as if it were actually happening.” And while you can work with a certified imagery practitioner (go to academyforguidedimagery.com to find one), it’s not necessary. “You can absolutely learn guided imagery on your own,” says Davenport.
TRY IT:
1. Sit or lie comfortably. “The key is being a combination of relaxed and alert,” says Davenport, who recommends using imagery when the pain is coming on, rather than when it is at peak intensity.
2. Allow an image to form of a relaxing, peaceful place, indoors or out. It might be an open field of flowers, a quiet room, a mountain or even a cloud. The important thing is that the image be a place that you personally find relaxing.
3. Fully engage all of your senses as you imagine this restful spot. “Notice the sounds that are part of this environment,” suggests Davenport. “Feel the temperature. Breathe in the aromas. Observe the quality of the light and the variety of colors.” Not only does engaging the senses make the image more real and vivid, but it also engages the more intuitive right hemisphere of the brain, which increases relaxation.
4. Once you have fully imagined your environment, notice how you’re feeling. One of Davenport’s patients who suffered from fibromyalgia would imagine herself floating in the warm, salty waters of the Caribbean. She imagined the buoyancy of the water taking the pressure off her joints and the warm water providing relief from the constant ache that spread from her spine to her knees. This patient found that if she spent about 20 minutes “floating,” she could then spend several hours pain-free. She would also often “float” into sleep at the end of the day.
5. Stay in this soothing place for at least 15 minutes, more if you can.
2. Moving Meditation
In a 2009 study published in Psychosomatic Medicine, scientists tested pain perception in a group of people who practiced Zen meditation regularly versus a group of nonmeditators. They found that those who meditated had a much lower sensitivity to pain, even while not meditating.
Because Zen meditation involves sitting still for long periods, it can be a challenge for beginners—especially beginners who are in pain. Instead, try moving meditation, which trains your mind to pay close attention to small movements, says Hugh Byrne, Ph.D., a meditation teacher in Silver Spring, Md. Because your attention is closely focused on the movements, your mind may become calmer, which helps to shift the experience of the pain, he says.
One of Byrne’s students was a woman in her 60s in significant pain as the result of treatment for cancer. “At first she found the mindfulness meditation almost impossible because the pain was just too much,” says Byrne. “Over time, through the practice of mindfulness meditation, she was able to open up more to her pain and not be so caught up in it. If she could stay with the actual sensations themselves—of pinching or throbbing or heat—she was able to see that some of her suffering came from her resistance to the experience.”
TRY IT:
1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart, toes pointed forward, knees slightly bent, and hands relaxed at your sides. “Be aware of the sensations of standing on the ground, of your body breathing, of the weight on the legs,” says Byrne.
2. Inhale and slowly raise your arms in front of you, parallel to each other with palms facing down.
3. Exhale while slowly moving your arms out to the sides of your body, then lowering them to the original position on an inhale.
4. Repeat movement for five to 10 minutes, noticing the sensations in your body each time.
3. Autogenic Training
Autogenic training involves speaking (and repeating) positive phrases while focusing on different parts of the body. “Saying these phrases creates images in the brain that stimulate the autonomic nervous system, which is associated with relaxation and a lowered heart rate,” says James S. Gordon, M.D., founder and director of The Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, D.C.
“It’s really a form of self-hypnosis,” Gordon adds. Autogenic training helps you relax into the pain instead of tensing against it, which is what we often do, he says, adding that being able to relax makes all the difference in the world. All the difference in the world. All the difference in the world.
TRY IT:
Sit or lie down quietly, close your eyes and repeat each of the following six phrases—slowly—six times:
1. My arms are warm and heavy. I am at peace.
2. My legs are warm and heavy. I am at peace.
3. My heartbeat is calm and regular. I am at peace.
4. My abdomen radiates warmth. I am at peace.
5. My forehead is cool. I am at peace.
6. My breathing is easy. I am at peace.
4. Soft Belly Breathing
Gordon also recommends soft belly breathing, which he has been using on himself and his patients for more than 40 years. In fact, one of his patients was able to undergo a surgical biopsy using soft belly breathing and forgoing anesthesia—not that Gordon recommended it. “She went into a very deep state of relaxation and was able to not experience the pain,” says Gordon. “People have different capacities, but all of us can use these techniques to reduce pain.”
TRY IT:
1. Sit in a comfortable chair surrounded by things you find peaceful.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Breathe in slowly through your nose, silently saying the word “soft” as you allow your belly to expand.
4. Breathe out slowly through your mouth, silently saying the word “belly.” Relax on the exhale.
5. Bring your attention to the image and feeling of your belly as soft.
6. Do this for five to 10 minutes, once or twice a day.
