Skip to main content

Meditation - Calm the Mind, Release the Pain

Today's post is going to be a little bit "out there" for some of you, but it's a technique that I've found to be particularly helpful in reducing a lot of pain and stress in my life.  This is not some sort of new-age guru type stuff - this is practical relaxation of the body and mind.

This week on MorningCoach.com, our mentor J.B. Glossinger has been discussing stress and peace.  And that made me think that this would be an excellent time for me to share the way that I've been meditating (though not with any sort of regularity until this week) for years.

I learned this technique from Matt Furey when I was doing his Combat Conditioning program (which, if you're into good hard workouts that don't take long and you can do anywhere, is absolutely first-rate).  Matt is not only a top-notch fitness expert, but he also has experimented with a ton of different visualization exercises, Chinese wellness techniques, and more.  His recommendation is as follows, and I've suited it to my needs.

First, I get into a comfortable position (usually seated, though recently I've done this from the Grok Squat position or occasionally a back bridge if I'm feeling up to it) and close my eyes.  The next step I use is to begin breathing deeply - making sure to use relaxed belly-breathing.

Then, I start to envision colors:  I inhale the color white, a bright blinding-type white.  I actually imagine the white flowing into me through my nose, like some sort of sentient fog in a sci-fi movie (you're inhaling, so this should be going in through the nose!).  This is the purity, calm, and good energy that I want to fill myself with. It's healing for the entire body.  I inhale slowly, over a period of 4 to 6 seconds.  If it helps you to count that time off, go for it.  I imagine that white energy flowing into me and filling me up.

Then, I exhale the color black.  Black is all the negative energy, the stress, the pain, the negative thoughts, etc.  I imagine that black energy being pushed out of me as I exhale, again over a period of 4 to 6 seconds.  Again, count that time off if it helps you.  If some part of your body is tense or hurts, then imagine that black energy flowing out of that section of your body and leaving through the mouth (exhaling should be done through the mouth).

Inhale the white.

Exhale the black.

Ahhh...


While you're doing this exercise, you should be clearing your head of any thoughts other than concentrating on your own breath, and the colors white and black.  If a thought of any kind comes into your head, add its presence to the black that you're pushing out.  Let it exit your body and disappear.  Don't get upset with yourself for not being able to keep your mind clear, just accept it and push it away with the black.  As J.B. says, this takes practice.  

I've found that this breathing meditation is awesome for relaxation, but also for clearing away headaches and pain.  When I have a headache I'll imagine it as the black and feel it flowing out of my head as I exhale.  I'll do this for up to 20 minutes at such times, and it really helps to remove a lot of the pain of a headache.

On occasion, I've also imagined other colors coming into me - I've found that blue is great for headache relief, as I associate blue with cooling and relief (and frequently I feel pain as heat or red).  Experiment with what works for you!

Work this into your morning (or whenever) routine.  I have recently started doing it each morning for 3-5 minutes just to center myself for the day and get nasty thoughts out of my head as I prepare to get things done and deal with the world.  It's a great part of any daily ritual!

Do you meditate?  What techniques do you use?  Let me know in the comments below! 

Comments

  1. This technique really resonates with me. I only have brief periods of time at this time of year, and often no quiet place to retreat to. I'll be test driving this and I'll let you know the progress. Thanks Jamie!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad to hear it Janet! I like it because colors are "easy" to envision, and because you can use whatever colors work for you given the situation you're in.

      Delete
  2. Reblogged this Jamie. Thank you for sharing. Jenni Whipple

    ReplyDelete
  3. For those who experience physical pain when sitting on a cushion in the full lotus , burmese, half burmese or cross legged positions....try the Moonleap meditation cushion. It is ergonomically designed to help alleviate back pain, hip, leg, ankle and foot pain and numbness.

    www.meditationcushions.moonleap.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Jamie, I will try this meditation. I have done something a bit similar where i inhale "smiling energy" and i exhale "grey energy" but the colours are simpler and easier to visualize. Maybe I will use orange rather than white if I want more energy,.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Awesome! That's one of the beauties of this method... you can substitute whatever colors work for you!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Your Goals Might Not Be My Goals

I got a tweet to my @Train4AutismCLB account the other day, just out of the blue, that really got me thinking about goals and motivations.  For those who aren't in the autism community, there's a bit of a rift regarding the charity Autism Speaks, which is the biggest, most visible autism charity out there.  Many people who are higher-functioning autistics believe that one of the organization's stated goals of "curing" autism would only take away a facet of their personalities that make them what they are.  Then there are those who would love to have a cure for autism or at least some way to relieve some of the nastier aspects of autism and help their loved ones to have an easier time functioning in today's society.  It's a fine line, no doubt.  But the tweet I got was from someone whose profile said they were an aspie, which is shorthand for someone with Asperger's Syndrome.  This is a high-functioning form of autism where people are very smar...

How Essential Oils Are Manly

The real man's toolkit: essential oils and duck tape.  "Yeah, I use essential oils." Silence. This is the normal reaction I get why I, as an adult male human, tell other men that I use essential oils instead of things like aspirin, Tums or Rolaids, Ben Gay, or any number of other pharmaceuticals. There's this impression out there that essential oils are girly, I guess, or that they're like most other products that are primarily for making things smell nicer: they're for the ladies. Or even that they're new agey and woo-woo - to be used only when listening to Windham Hill CDs and cleansing your chakras. Real men don't care about smells, right? They thrive on sweat, piss and vinegar. They belch, fart, and otherwise release smells into the air that are simultaneously hilarious and relieving to the body. They get upset because their wives bought decorative soaps and guest towels for the bathroom that they're not allowed to use. They frown a...

Capture Those Crazy Ideas with Connected Mind

Are you one of those people whose brainstorming abilities are barely under control?  When you have an idea, do the details come pouring forth in a tidal wave, and get lost as they crash to the shore and pour back into the sea? That is me in a nutshell.  I'm full of ideas, but when they come it's hard for me to get them under control and organize anything.  I've tried notepads, using my good friend Evernote , and a whole host of other stuff to get those crazy ideas under control and in some semblance of readability.  But that's tough sometimes when you have eighty things going on at once.  Enter my new favorite tool, the mind map .  I don't know if you've ever come across this concept, but basically it's something like this:   The basic idea is that the shape at the middle is the "main topic" at hand.  The branches out from the main topic are the subtopics, and then the smaller branches are the details, etc. It's a simple enough conc...