Befriending the sensations of the body, in whatever areas that might be sending prominent signals at the moment, is an important part of interoceptive and internal bodily awareness.
Daniel Siegel, Awareness, 2018, tarcher perigee, page 75
Notice, allow, respect, and honor all body sensations. Calmly watch as they arise, as they peak, and as they subside. Can you do that?
I spent the night with body sensations that my mind wanted to label as "down right unpleasant". I am very familiar with this discomfort. I know how it works. I know what the cause of it is. And though I never know exactly how or when it will present or how long it will last, or to what degree of intensity it will be at when it does present...I know it pretty well.
Last night I decided to include an unexpected bout of it into my practice. I "observed " the experience. When it came on, I automatically felt myself going into the habitual resistance mode, "Oh no! Not this now!". And I slowly pulled myself back. I did my best to put away any farther resistance and to just allow it to be exactly what it is. I did my best to breathe and relax through every wave as I objectively observed as if from a distance. I noted that this bout started at ten Pm and was over at 2 am. It is hard for me to scale its intensity because, despite what people might believe, I have a high pain threshold. So let's just say in comparison to how bad it can get...it can sometimes knock me to the floor and have me praying for a quick end...it was about a 6 or7 on the 1-10 pain scale. And like most waves of "pain" each wave had a crest and a trough. It would come in, rise in intensity, peak, and then slowly subside. I did not judge it. I kept reminding myself that "this human" was just having another life experience. "Wow! Isn't that cool?" I visualized what the body was doing and why it was doing that. I thanked the body for taking care of things. And I had great respect for the whole process. I patiently noted, accepted, respected, and honored the expereince "this human" was having....until it was over. I got though it! And it wasn't too bad at all. Pain is much easier to deal with without resistance let me tell ya. Life is so much easier to deal with without resistance too.
Please note that I am not encouraging others deny pain. Certainly learn to accept, relax and honor the experience but that doesn't mean to "ignore it or deny it!" Pain is usually, if not always, an urgent messge from the body that something is up. It is a way of catching our attention so we do something about it in cases where the body cannot take care of the problem itself. The body system will try to take care of it itself and the majority of time any interventions from us just gets in the way of its natural process of returning to homeostatsis. ...but sometimes we need to do something to assist it. So don't diminish your pain experience. If you do not know what is causing your pain...find out!
This experience I had last evening has been something I have been living with for a long time. I know what is happening in my body when this pain arises. So, that is why I can safely use it in my practice. Just want to make that clear.
Still, it is always beneficial for us to learn to put away our judgement and resistance when we encounter experiences we tend to deem as "unpleasant". Heed your body sensations...all of them... with observation, acceptance, respect, and honor. Keep relaxing into what is even if it is painful.
All is well!
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