-IBIS-1.5.0-
rx
meditation
pain (relaxation)
psychospiritual approaches
definition
Each of these meditations may be read very slowly to a friend or silently to oneself.
Deep relaxation, filling the body with silence:
Take a few deep breaths and settle into a comfortable position.
Bring the attention to the top of the head.
Let the mind quiet to receive the multiple sensations arising there.
What is experienced - tingling? warmth? fullness? hardness? Allow whatever arises to come fully into awareness. Allow it to be received by a soft, open mind.
As sensations become noticeable, observe that sense of soft presence wherever the awareness is focused. Begin slowly to direct the awareness down through the body.
Feel the sensations in the muscles and tissues of the face. Let awareness and warmth soften each part of the body they enter into.
Direct the attention, this feeling of presence, through the whole face. Let all the tension be released from behind the ears.
Soften the muscles around the eyes. Let the holding melt. Notice how you may be "trying" to see and let the eyes be soft.
All around the jaw. Let the tension leak away. Let the face be completely soft and relaxed.
Let the attention continue into the throat and neck. Feeling the muscles and flesh. Moment to moment, sensations arising in soft openness.
As each sensation is received, that area releases its tension. Each sensation softening. Opening that area.
The shoulders. The bones and ligaments. The muscles and flesh. Softening.
Nothing to hold. Nothing to support. Just let the shoulders be soft and easy. Completely relaxed. Letting go of tension, of any holding whatsoever.
Let the attention move slowly down each arm. Feel the current in each hand pouring out each finger, releasing all the tension in the shoulders, arms, wrists, fingers.
Feel the abdomen and chest. The torso. Feel the sensations from within. Softening each organ as awareness enters it. The stomach softening. The lungs, breathing free and easy. All by themselves. Let go of any holding in the torso, in the chest.
Just let the breath breathe itself. In open, warm awareness. Nothing to hold to. Nothing to push away. Just awareness, receiving sensation. Moment to moment. In warm silence.
Feel the back. Let the attention move slowly down the spine. Relaxing vertebra by vertebra. All the tension, all the holding, softening, melting away. Just sensation, moment to moment, releasing any tension, any resistance, any holding in the muscles, in the flesh. Softening.
Let the awareness continue to move slowly through the body. The small of the back. The buttocks. Completely relaxed.
Let the awareness come to the anus. If there is any tension, soften. Let go of any tightness. Completely relax the pelvis and pelvic bowl.
Feel the thighs. Any holding? Let the flesh and muscles melt into the body. Each moment of sensation releasing another instant of tension. Softening. Deepening.
The knees. Any feeling of stiffness? Let it go. The lower legs. The ankles.
Let the awareness enter fully into each part of the body as it moves slowly from head to toe.
Feel the soles of your feet. The tingling. The vibrating. Let each moment soften the body.
Bring the awareness from toe to toe. First the large toe on each foot. Then, the next. Then, the next. And the next. And the next. Feel the current draining from each toe. The whole body soft and open.
Beginning from the toes, the soles of the feet, the ankles, begin to fill the body with a soft stillness.
Through the calves of the legs. The knees. Let the body be filled with silence. With a vast quietude. Each muscle releasing its tension. Even the bones seem to soften, in silence, in space.
Through the hips. A deep stillness. Openness. Through the stomach. A great quietude that permeates every organ.
The chest. Softly breathing as it will. Silence filling the lungs. The heart cradled in a great stillness.
In the arms and shoulders. In the elbows and hands. Silence filling the body. Quieting the mind.
In the neck. In the chin. In the throat. Silence. Stillness. Openness. Let the silence slowly fill the area behind the face. So that the whole face - eyes, ears, mouth - is just sensations floating in the stillness.
Let the stillness fill the body to the very crown of the head.
The body silent. Yielding. Still.
Now let the awareness flow through the body, bringing warmth and patience to each cell; let it soak into each strand of muscle, each layer of flesh. In the ligaments, in the tissues, let the body melt into stillness and warmth.
Let the whole body fill with silence. A deep, spacious softening.
Let the silence engulf you.
Sit quietly and gently in the stillness.
(Levine, p. 134-145)
see:
cancer treatments: immune enhancement (includes types of meditation)
compassion and healing
healing power of meditation
healing power of prayer
meditation: forgiveness
meditation: pain (beyond the body; exploration; float free; opening; relaxation)
mind beyond body
relaxation techniques
self-hypnosis
treatment of chemotherapy side-effects
treatment of pain
footnotes