Timer pain sutras
There's always more than just local pain. You have a whole body around it. Plus its environment. Plus an awareness that is conscious of it all. The following methods use a timer to increase the sense of wholeness of your whole body-being.
Preparation: Get a good interval timer on your tablet, phone or computer. (I use the one from https://intervalspro.com. A bit complicated, but it offers many possibilities). Set an interval, e.g. 15 seconds, and let it repeat, e.g. 50 times (= total: 12½ minutes). Choose a pleasant, gentle timer sound. Place yourself in a comfortable, alert posture. Then start the timer. Then choose one of the following methods (or invent your own) and at each signal put your attention on one of the subjects:
Well Wishing:
- Wish well to your painful area, or whole body-being, with one intention/affirmation per signal. E.g.: pain free → softness → wellbeing → flow → love → health → support → warmth → kindness → freedom → thank you → strength → healing → support → light → etc.
Body Scanning:
- Become aware of a different body part on each signal. E.g.: lips → nostrils → nose → jaw → eyes → ears → forehead → skull → whole head → neck → upper arms → forearms → wrists → hands → palms → thunbs → index fingers → middle fingers → ring fingers → little fingers → whole arms and hands → shoulders → chest → belly → lower belly → crotch → buttocks → lower back → upper back → whole torso → upper legs → knees → lower legs → heels → feet → toes → whole legs → whole body → whole being.
Pulsing Awareness:
- Become aware of the pulsation of your heart. Feel the heartbeat somewhere, it doesn't matter where. If your lips are very sensitive, you could start there. Then (try to) feel it somewhere else. Keep continuing. This can be challenging. If you don't feel anything, or only in a few places, don't worry. Practicing this often will refine your tactile sense, your feeling, and your mindfulness. Perhaps after some practice you can feel it everywhere, in your lips, eyes, chest, individual fingers, and even the whole body at once.
Spacious Awareness:
- Become aware of the space. The space your pain takes up. The space around it. The space in your nostrils → in front of your face → in your mouth → ears → the space your whole head takes up → space around your head → above your head → in your mouth again → in your chest and lungs → belly → whole torso → the space between your thumbs and index fingers → between index and middle finger → between the other fingers → between your hands → between your arms → legs → feet → space of the whole body → space around the body → space between body and walls → space between the corners of the room → space of the whole building → the whole space → the whole space in your spacious awareness.
Spacious Alternation:
- Become aware of the painful area → On the next signal go to a painfree limb, organ, area, or space – even outside the body. → Then go back to the pain. → And so forth. Keep alternating. you could even alternate between pain → seat → pain → floor → pain → aire → pain → back rest → pain → light in the room → etc. This way you become flexible in going from painful to painfree areas.
Labeling:
- On each signal, label what you can feel or sense about your pain. E.g.: intense → burning → pulsing → hot → expanding → gone → ouch → decreasing → itching → flowing → moving → pulsing → gone → returning - etc. You're just the innocent, alert witness, observing from a distance what happens with your pain.
Practice one of more of these techniques several times per day. They can increase your health, wellbeing, awareness, and wholeness. You can even do them at night before you go to bed, or when you wake up and can't sleep.
Of course - as always - your mileage may vary. Try the methods, notice what works best for you and continue with that. Until it stops being effective. Than choose another Timer method.
You could practice these methods without a timer. But using a timer can really help to stay alert and focused. And there's an end to it: the silence. You may find that your sense of time can alter. Sometimes the set interval (e.g. 15 seconds) seems to pass very quickly, sometimes it seems to last so long that you wonder if the session is already over.