In Pain? Try Meditation

I know that a lot of my readers are dealing with chronic pain issues of one kind of another, either from arthritis, fibromyalgia, trauma, or any other number of issues. I think most of you know that I deal with chronic back and hip pain from a car accident many years ago. I see a pain management specialist regularly in addition to seeing Dr. Carr for hormone balance.

Many years ago, after the accident, I was in therapy with a psychologist for a number of years. He helped me with a lot of issues and one of the things we worked on was ways to cope with the pain. He taught me a number of meditation techniques, and I found them very helpful learning to relax my muscles (tight muscles can worsen pain, but it's a catch 22 situation---when you hurt, you tense up). When my pain gets really bad, I sometimes go in my bedroom, lay down on the bed, and practice my meditation techniques. It helps distract me from the pain and it also allows me to not feel quite so rigid in my muscles. When my blood pressure used to get high, it even helped with that.

I have an IPhone, and I have found I particularly enjoy the programs by Andrew Johnson. He has a number of different programs for meditation focusing on relaxation, succcess, anger management, etc. He has a wonderful Scottish brogue that I find very soothing. I came across this article in the HuffingtonPost.com and thought it was worth sharing with you. If you have any particular meditation techniques or tips, share them with us in the comments section.