Suppressing pain techniques

The cultivation of calm or tranquility and the development of concentration
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Alīno
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Suppressing pain techniques

Post by Alīno »

Hello my friends :)

Until we have no jhana bliss, we have to cheat a litte bit, to suppress our PAIN... :spy:

In my case, when my legs seems to feel pain, i start to scan my whole body by putting my mind in my leg filgers at firts, and then pass it throught my whole body to the top of the head. Then, when mind becomes clear and bright, i move it on the painfull spot and then, while keeping my mind clear and concentrated, i begin to spread emptiness and clearliness on that spot, saying "empty, no pain...", or "clear...clear...", some seconds after - pain disapear. Then if i feel another spot, i bring my mind to it, by mouving it from the the spot to another, keeping skaning like this my legs with a clear mind. :meditate:
Technicaly, i think, it is possible to make grow the mind and "clear" not just one spot, but legs in a whole...or even an entire body ... :o :soap:

I have another technique dealing with concentration. Actualy, if we dont run away from pain, but go very close to it, go in the very middle of the pain, we can see that in the middle - there is nothing :) empty, void... And pain disapear... :shock:

Do you have any other techniques about dealing with the pain ? Or teachings about it ?

Metta :anjali:
Ajahn Nanadassano (before ordaining) : Venerable Ajahn, what is the bigest error that buddhist do in their practice?
Ajahn Jayasaro : They stop practicing ...
dharmacorps
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Re: Suppressing pain techniques

Post by dharmacorps »

I deal with chronic pain. My experience is the more you try to suppress or make it go away, the worse it gets. I focus on breathing into the areas with pain, imagining breath energy coming in and out of it. If a certain area has too much pain and its too intense to breathe through, I focus on a spot as close as I can get to the painful area, and work my way in.
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Dhammarakkhito
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Re: Suppressing pain techniques

Post by Dhammarakkhito »

one of the great frames of reference. 'feelings in and of themselves' or 'feeling in and of itself' the suttas say. pain thus in and of itself. by your title i thought you meant using meditation as a sedative but i see. you have to know pain is only a feeling and focus on breath. breathing in short knowing you breath in short... long long/ out; the elements comprising the body void of self. the aggregates void of self, not craving for painlessness so no clinging

for good measure: Collectedness of Breathing https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html

"When I dwell with my mind well-established in the four frames of reference, the pains that have arisen in the body do not invade or remain in the mind. Which four? There is the case where I remain focused on the body in & of itself — ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world. I remain focused on feelings in & of themselves... mind in & of itself... mental qualities in & of themselves — ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world. When I dwell with my mind well-established in these four frames of reference, the pains that have arisen in the body do not invade or remain in the mind."
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html
Last edited by Dhammarakkhito on Sun Jan 28, 2018 7:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Alīno
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Re: Suppressing pain techniques

Post by Alīno »

:goodpost: Thank you Dhammarakkhito !

I think this sutta is about the same mechanism but in a "whole", not only one spot... i dont know. :roll:
dharmacorps wrote: Sun Jan 28, 2018 6:32 pm I deal with chronic pain. My experience is the more you try to suppress or make it go away, the worse it gets. I focus on breathing into the areas with pain, imagining breath energy coming in and out of it. If a certain area has too much pain and its too intense to breathe through, I focus on a spot as close as I can get to the painful area, and work my way in.
Oh...its sad (
Try this technique in the OP, tell me if it works to you too...
I wish you not to feel pain.. :console:
Ajahn Nanadassano (before ordaining) : Venerable Ajahn, what is the bigest error that buddhist do in their practice?
Ajahn Jayasaro : They stop practicing ...
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Dhammarakkhito
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Re: Suppressing pain techniques

Post by Dhammarakkhito »

i think if you focus on one spot you lose awareness of the whole body. i understand you tho
"Just as the ocean has a single taste — that of salt — in the same way, this Dhamma-Vinaya has a single taste: that of release."
— Ud 5.5

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Alīno
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Re: Suppressing pain techniques

Post by Alīno »

Dhammarakkhito wrote: Sun Jan 28, 2018 7:40 pm i think if you focus on one spot you lose awareness of the whole body. i understand you tho
its true :) But in other way pain remain...
I think body awareness is about vipassana, and dealing with spots is more about samathi...
Ajahn Nanadassano (before ordaining) : Venerable Ajahn, what is the bigest error that buddhist do in their practice?
Ajahn Jayasaro : They stop practicing ...
paul
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Re: Suppressing pain techniques

Post by paul »

"And we have to be brave in contemplating stress and pain, because when we don't feel any great suffering we tend to get complacent. But when the pains and sufferings in our body and mind grow sharp and biting, we have to use our mindfulness and discernment to be strong. Don't let your spirits be weak. Only then will you be able to do away with your sufferings and pains.

We have to learn our lessons from pain so that ultimately the mind can gain its freedom from it, instead of being weak and losing out to it all of the time. We have to be brave in doing battle with it to the ultimate extreme — until we reach the point where we can let it go. Pain is something always present in this conglomerate of body and mind. It's here for us to see with every moment. If we contemplate it till we know all its details, we can then make it our sport: seeing that the pain is the pain of natural conditions and not our pain. This is something we have to research so as to get to the details: that it's not our pain, it's the pain of the aggregates [form, feeling, perception, thought-formations, and consciousness]. Knowing in this way means that we can separate out the properties — the properties of matter and those of the mind — to see how they interact with one another, how they change. It's something really fascinating... Watching pain is a way of building up lots of mindfulness and discernment.

But if you focus on pleasure and ease, you'll simply stay deluded like people in general. They get carried away with the pleasure that comes from watching or listening to the things they like — but then when pain comes to their bodies and minds to the point where tears are bathing their cheeks, think of how much they suffer! And then they have to be parted from their loved ones, which makes it even worse. But those of us who practice the Dhamma don't need to be deluded like that, because we know and see with every moment that only stress arises, only stress persists, only stress passes away. Aside from stress, nothing arises; aside from stress, nothing passes away. This is there for us to perceive with every moment. If we contemplate it, we'll see it."---"The Details of Pain", Upasika Kee Nanayon.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Key sentence: "Knowing in this way means that we can separate out the properties — the properties of matter and those of the mind — to see how they interact with one another, how they change. It's something really fascinating... Watching pain is a way of building up lots of mindfulness and discernment." In practice, begin with the recognition of materiality.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Human beings, devas, and brahmas are the broad categories of beings in the "happy realms of existence." The human world is marked by a pervasive admixture of happiness and suffering. This dual nature is the main reason why Buddhas are born here. The uneven quality of human life enables us to realize the unreliable nature of happiness and inspires in us a sense of urgency about the need to win deliverance from suffering."---"Teacher of the Devas", Jootla.
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Alīno
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Re: Suppressing pain techniques

Post by Alīno »

:goodpost:
Ajahn Nanadassano (before ordaining) : Venerable Ajahn, what is the bigest error that buddhist do in their practice?
Ajahn Jayasaro : They stop practicing ...
Saengnapha
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Re: Suppressing pain techniques

Post by Saengnapha »

dharmacorps wrote: Sun Jan 28, 2018 6:32 pm I deal with chronic pain. My experience is the more you try to suppress or make it go away, the worse it gets. I focus on breathing into the areas with pain, imagining breath energy coming in and out of it. If a certain area has too much pain and its too intense to breathe through, I focus on a spot as close as I can get to the painful area, and work my way in.
This is an interesting point about not focusing directly on the pain itself, the location. I, too, deal with a lot of bodily discomfort, not in sitting, but in the weakness of a certain system internally, organic. Sometimes, there is a secondary area that is set in motion by the primary area. If I put my attention on this secondary area, the discomfort is often alleviated quickly and the original pain area also subsides.

Another subtle point is never confronting pain directly. If I put my attention near this pain, but in a different spot as you mention above, it somehow diffuses the pain and the attention is freed at that moment. The need to work myself in to the spot becomes unnecessary. Thanks for bringing this up.
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Re: Suppressing pain techniques

Post by thepea »

There was once a very “Buddhist” student serving as manager on a course. If you interacted with him he would discuss Buddha said this and Buddha said that about meditation technique. It was taken with a big grain of salt.
A student had not shown up for one of the required one hour sits, as normal the assistant teacher sent the manager to investigate and see where he was.
When he did not return promptly the assistant teacher sent a server to see what was going on.
He found the student in bed suffering from a mild heart attack and the manager sitting beside him telling him that this was just sensation and it was annicca and to be equanimous.
He was quickly removed as manager and the poor guy was given proper medical attention.
If there is sufficient concentration we can observe our suffering with a minimum of aversion or better no aversion at all with a mind full of loving kindness.
But each individual must know their own suffering and work through their suffering as they feel they can from one moment to the next.
Sometimes we can sit with a pain and investigate it without it overpowering us at other times we can take some medication to relieve the pain so we can regain our equiminity.
Suppressing pain during meditation is only to be used by experienced meditators and it should only be done to weather a storm for a brief moment. Otherwise just change to a more comfortable posture and resume your practice.
befriend
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Re: Suppressing pain techniques

Post by befriend »

Pain doesn't like aversion the second dart so send the pain loving friendliness this has worked for me.
Take care of mindfulness and mindfulness will take care of you.
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LG2V
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Re: Suppressing pain techniques

Post by LG2V »

Nwad wrote: Sun Jan 28, 2018 5:25 pm Hello my friends :)

Until we have no jhana bliss, we have to cheat a litte bit, to suppress our PAIN... :spy:

In my case, when my legs seems to feel pain, i start to scan my whole body by putting my mind in my leg filgers at firts, and then pass it throught my whole body to the top of the head. Then, when mind becomes clear and bright, i move it on the painfull spot and then, while keeping my mind clear and concentrated, i begin to spread emptiness and clearliness on that spot, saying "empty, no pain...", or "clear...clear...", some seconds after - pain disapear. Then if i feel another spot, i bring my mind to it, by mouving it from the the spot to another, keeping skaning like this my legs with a clear mind. :meditate:
Technicaly, i think, it is possible to make grow the mind and "clear" not just one spot, but legs in a whole...or even an entire body ... :o :soap:

I have another technique dealing with concentration. Actualy, if we dont run away from pain, but go very close to it, go in the very middle of the pain, we can see that in the middle - there is nothing :) empty, void... And pain disapear... :shock:

Do you have any other techniques about dealing with the pain ? Or teachings about it ?

Metta :anjali:
That's pretty awesome. I might have to try that.

Samatha meditation helps me get rid of pain, but I don't usually use it for that. If I'm in agony, I will usually use Mahasi-style vipassana, and that tends to help quite a bit.
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denise
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Re: Suppressing pain techniques

Post by denise »

anyone remember documentaries about people around the globe that have mind over body control to the point of being able to undergo surgeries of various types with no sedation....
User1249x
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Re: Suppressing pain techniques

Post by User1249x »

OP is definitely averse to pain and should be mindful of the aversion as much as the pain. You can say "disliking, disliking" or however it appears to you if you dont like the pain or that it annoys of irritates you. Be mindful of those states and the sensations themselves, you might notice that your focus shifts temporarily to other random senses or sensations, you can recognize that event as well as it appears to you.

What this effectively will do is what you are trying to achieve by supression and more. Without any forcing, avoiding or supression but by means of seeing and knowing.
Hiheyhello
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Re: Suppressing pain techniques

Post by Hiheyhello »

Admin, please deactivate my account. TIA
Last edited by Hiheyhello on Fri Mar 23, 2018 11:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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