How to meditate when you have chronic pain

There is growing evidence that mindfulness meditation is beneficial for people with chronic pain, leading to reductions in depression and pain and improvements in physical health, sleep quality, and quality of life.

Meditation can also be very challenging for people living with chronic pain, especially for those who have a strong achievement orientation. Physical limitations, a tendency to push yourself too hard, and a perfectionistic approach to the practice can all be major barriers to benefitting from meditation.

We could all benefit from a meditation practice that is more accessible, sustainable, and enjoyable. Here are some concrete suggestions for approaching a mindfulness meditation practice when you are a high-achieving person with chronic pain.

Suggestion #1: Do not set goals (for example, for minutes per day or days per week)

If you’re reading this, you probably love setting goals and you’re probably really good at meeting them. You may be tempted to set a goal around your meditation practice, such as a number of minutes per day or times per week to meditate. Goals are helpful for many things in life, but when it comes to meditating, I’d invite you to take a different approach.

Instead of setting goals, adopt a “let’s see if I want to meditate today” mindset. This gives you the choice each day about whether to meditate or not and offers a gentle invitation, rather than a mandate. There is also no way that you can “fail” when you adopt this mindset, whereas it’s very easy to not measure up to your own self-imposed meditation goals that focus on duration and frequency.

Suggestion #2: Do not maintain a streak

There are so many great meditation apps out there, and many of them automatically show you how many days in a row you have meditated, along with other achievement-oriented metrics like total minutes spent meditating. Paying attention to these metrics can create pressure to keep your streak going, which can then make the practice more about maintaining the streak than about non-judgmentally observing the present moment.

When you have a streak going, even for just a couple of days, I’d invite you to purposefully take a day off from formal meditation practice. On days off, you can bring mindful awareness to everyday activities (such as doing dishes or getting dressed), take one single mindful breath, or choose to be completely mind-less. Whatever you choose, use this time to notice how it feels to intentionally not achieve a streak.

Suggestion #3: Know that it’s perfectly fine for your mind to wander

Your mind does not need to be focused for your meditation to “count.” In fact, let’s move away from the idea of “counting” altogether, since it is achievement-focused and involves making a judgment of yourself.

It’s OK if you zone out. It’s OK if you think about 50 other things. What we are cultivating in mindfulness practice is a compassionate (aka, non-judgmental) awareness of the mind’s activity. That is not a static thing that can be achieved and held onto for the rest of your life. It is a moment-to-moment, second-by-second opportunity to observe. An invitation to notice. A practice to return to again and again.

A mindfulness teacher of mine put it this way: “The moment where you notice your mind has wandered is mindfulness.” In other words, it’s not about the mind not wandering, it’s about noticing that it does.

Suggestion #4: Practice letting go

Approaching meditation with an orientation toward letting go can be a wonderful antidote to the pressure that many of us automatically and unconsciously apply to the practice.

You might let go of some unnecessary bodily tension (that you have conscious control over). You might let go of your attachment to reducing your pain (which paradoxically makes it more likely that your pain will eventually reduce). You might let go of your desire to control the experience or to have it be “good” or “useful.”

Letting go is a beautiful thing in meditation and in life, and these mindful moments can be an excellent time to get familiar with how it feels to do it.

Suggestion #5: Give your body the most care and support that you can

Before you start a formal meditation practice, find a position that is most comfortable for your body, knowing that you may not be completely comfortable.

I typically meditate lying down, with pillows supporting my legs (and, during New England winters, with a heated blanket covering my entire body). I also meditate while walking. I virtually never do seated meditations, because it is far less comfortable for me.

When I started meditating with a group, I had some fear that I would be judged for lying down or that someone (the meditation police?) would tell me that I needed to sit up. Luckily, there are no meditation police and your meditation practice is your own.

Giving your body support and care may also mean not meditating during times of severe pain, as you could be setting yourself up for frustration and disappointment.

How does meditation help chronic pain?

Meditation helps chronic pain when we use it as a tool to help us shift the ways of being in our bodies and minds that make pain more likely in the first place. Following these suggestions makes it less likely that we will approach the practice with pressure, judgment, and rigidity.

Instead, we might notice that meditation practice, when we make it as easy, comfortable, and low-stakes as possible, helps us to:

• Shift our relationship with our body

• Observe pain sensations with more neutrality

• Feel more compassion for our struggles and suffering

• Think in more flexible ways

Notice how shifting, observing, feeling, and thinking are processes, not outcomes, that occur on an ongoing basis.

It helps to think about meditation practice as a way of experiencing things as they are, rather than an exercise that can (or must) change something about your experience.

Paradoxically, the more you can detach from a desired outcome (like getting out of pain), the more likely you are to create the conditions under which that outcome can occur. A low-stakes meditation practice is one way to get there.

Ready to approach your pain recovery with more ease and awareness? Check out my coaching program for chronic pain and request to join today.

The content shared here is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment. Always seek advice from your physician or other qualified healthcare provider before making changes to your health regimen.