6/30 – 8/4 Bringing Mindfulness and Care to Physical Pain

Bringing Mindfulness and Care to Physical Pain – Week 1 (6/30/25)

1. In formal meditation: Practice softening this week. I suggest doing it at least 3 times but find what’s right for you. If you have a daily practice, you can do it then. It can be the main focus of your practice or you can take some time for it at the beginning or end of your usual practice. If you don’t have a daily practice or if you prefer, you can devote 10-15 minutes (or as much as you want) at any point during the day to practicing softening.

2. In daily life: Notice times when you find yourself lost in resistance, aversion, or other reactivity to pain. This could include a sense of struggling with it or of trying to push it aside—perhaps convincing yourself that it is not a problem even as your stress level climbs. It could also include reactive thoughts and emotions about your pain (and/or health/life situation related to pain). Resistance, aversion, and reactivity also include self-judgments, blame, worry, anger, stories or narratives about the situation, and the like.

Remember, it’s understandable that these difficult mind-states arise—there’s no need to condemn them.  The suffering—i.e., the “second arrow”—occurs when we get caught inthem. For this reason, when you become aware of being caught or lost in a difficult mind-state, simply recognize that a reactive thought or emotion is happening. If you find it helpful, you can make a quiet, mental note like, “2^nd arrow,” “that’s just a thought,” “worry is happening,” or simply, “thinking” or “worry.” Or make up your own note. It’s about increasing your awareness of reactivity, not judging or eliminating it.

3. Buddies: Together, you will explore the investigative question, “What’s not wrong?” as offered by Thich Nhat Hanh. For this week, look for things in your day, or in just this moment, that are not going wrong—or perhaps are even going well. Try noticing things we usually take for granted until they break down or fall away. For example, not having a tooth ache; having running water; having a computer and internet access; favorable weather, etc. Each day (taking 1-2 days off is fine), focus on 3 of these things and see if you can take in the blessing of what’s not wrong. Then, text your buddy a list of your 3 things.

Bringing Mindfulness and Care to Physical Pain – Week 2 (7/7/25)

Continue with home practices from last week. (See Week 1, above.)

New Tip for noticing reactivity to pain in daily life:

• First, you have to remember to notice reactivity! If necessary, try putting up small signs around your home, tying a string around your finger, setting a reminder on your phone, or whatever works.

If you have a formal mindfulness practice and would like an (optional!) extra support for reactivity:

• When you are not doing softening, try using an investigative question like, “Can I be OK with this?” or “Can I make room for this?” Or make up your own.

Always, remember to modulate yourself with the learning zones. If practice feels somewhat difficult, that’s OK—learning new skills can be that way. But it shouldn’t feel excruciating or dysregulating. For example, it’s not helpful to get panicked, on the one hand, or zoned out/disassociated, on the other. Tip: If you are veering into the alarm zone, try decreasing the intensity, perhaps by meditating with eyes open, shifting your position, or mindfully listening to sounds until you feel more balanced. (If you practice while lying down, please note that I am using ‘zoned out’ and ‘disassociated’ to mean something distinct from ‘sleepy,’ which is the main pitfall in “prone practice.” You can bounce back from sleepiness more readily.)

Bringing Mindfulness and Care to Physical Pain – Week 3 (7/14/25)

1. Formal practice—Practice softening and/or mindfulness of the bare sensations of pain at least 3 X’s/week. With softening, you can soften around tension, reactivity, and/or pain. You can do mindfulness of bare sensations of pain right afterwards in the same session, or at a separate session. Generally, though, mindfulness of pain sensations will be easier if you do at least some softening right beforehand.
   • At the beginning of each practice session, I suggest you check in with yourself to see which practices are right for you at that time. If unsure, try a practice and stop if it feels like you’re going past your growth zone. It’s never helpful to set off those alarms! But, if you are merely restless, discontented, or indecisive, then remember that when doing more than one practice in a session, it helps to stick with the first for some minutes, then to drop it and do the second for some minutes, and so on. In contrast, jumping back and forth haphazardly and/or quickly probably won’t feel as beneficial.
   • Want an Extra Option? If you are familiar with mindfulness of vedana (the pleasant, unpleasant or neutral “tone” of each sensation), then during formal practice try being mindful of pain’s unpleasant quality. The Buddha recommended this as a good way to loosen craving and reactivity.
2. Daily life—
   • Continue softening around pain and/or reactivity in daily life OR
   • notice pleasant sensory experiences—e.g., pleasant sights, sounds, tastes, smells, physical sensations. Be mindful of seeing, hearing, tasting, these pleasant things for a few moments. Remember: they do not need to be the ultimate, best-ever, sensory experiences. Even just somewhat pleasant will do. Getting familiar with this often-overlooked world of moderate pleasantness can help to balance out pain’s tendency to grab our attention.
3. Buddies—If you noticed pleasant sensations last week, you can continue with that this week OR go back to gratitude. If you did not practice with pleasant sensations in daily life yet, please do so this week.

Bringing Mindfulness and Care to Physical Pain – Week 4 (7/21/25)

1. Formal practice—Choose from the same options as last week, with the additional choice of practicing with a “wide angle lens” or “Big-Sky Mind.”
2. Daily life—Choose from the same options as last week.
3. Buddies—Keep going with gratitude or pleasant sensations.