As mentioned in my previous post (Mindfulness for Chronic Pain), if I could give you only one tip that would definitely be this one…START YOUR MINDFULNESS JOURNEY TO REDUCE CHRONIC PAIN, TODAY.  My reco to get started: FOLLOW THIS 8 WEEK MINDFULNESS PROGRAM (SELF-LED BOOK).

This is a fantastic book written by Vidyamala Burch and Danny Penman; who have experienced the benefits of mindfulness first hand after suffering severe body injuries/severe pain themselves. Through their 8 week program they explain how regular mindfulness practice has been proven to be as successful in relieving pain as strong painkillers. They suggest a 20 minute daily practice following several meditations recorded by them (https://soundcloud.com/hachetteaudiouk/compassionate-acceptance-meditation). The practice can be split in 2 10’ meditations.

I’m herewith sharing the week-by-week summary of the program:

• Week 1: The body scan (learn to connect with your body and softer tension)
• Week 2: Breathing anchor (learn to become aware of thoughts, feelings, emotions)
• Week 3: Mindful movement
• Week 4: Compassionate acceptance towards your experience of pain/health challenge
• Week 5: Seek out the pleasant – start living your life again
• Week 6: Open heart – learning about the impermanence of anything in life (the ‘good’ and ‘bad’)
• Week 7: Connectedness – learn to focus on similarities with other human beings vs. focusing on separation

As part of the program they also teach you to PACE yourself. For 2 weeks you record all the activities you do (and for how long you do them), noting down when you get tired or when your pain increases. After that period of time, you are guided on how to interpret the results, so you set up a baseline. For instance, for me, when I’m working on my PC, I MUST stretch and change working position (from seating to standing/standing to seating) every 30 minutes. Staying longer in the same position will result in increased back/leg pain, and once pain escalates it takes longer to bring it down (i.e. I’ll have to stop working and go for a walk so pain diminishes).

Getting deep understanding on what works/doesn’t work for your body is a key enabler to achieving much more every day (vs. overdoing it… breaking…and having to deal with recovering…).

Trust me on this one! You can really diminish your chronic pain with mindfulness. Give it a try…and let me know how it worked for you!