EXERCISES IN DISCOMFORT FOR THE SELF-MANAGEMENT OF PAIN: MENTAL EXERCISES FOR THE RELIEF OF PAIN
April 29th, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: Anti Depressants-Sleeping AidNo Comments
We proceed with the relaxing mental exercises in exactly the same way as. The only difference is that in the case of pain we have to go a little further, but the principles are just the same. For instance, in discussing phobic anxiety we saw the importance of gradually testing ourselves in the phobic situation. If our phobia concerned going into shops, we went into shops, little by little, easily and naturally, and all the time we concentrated on keeping our calm and relaxed state of mind. We follow the same procedure in dealing with pain.
In doing this there is one point which we must be clear about. The idea of testing out our reaction in the phobic situation by going into the shop seems to us a perfectly natural and common-sense thing to do. But when we come to testing ourselves with pain, we are likely to feel complicated about it. We would rather avoid it as something unnatural and not quite nice. We must not do this. It is just as natural and sensible to test ourselves with pain as it is with anxiety; and it is a very important step in overcoming our pain, just as it was with phobic anxiety.
We let our bodies relax; we feel the calm that goes with it; we feel it all through us, in our body, in our mind; we let ourselves go; we let go and we drift; we drift in the calm of it, the natural calm and ease that is all through us. We practise this until we can do it quite easily and naturally. Then we do it in increasingly uncomfortable situations. This is the beginning of our use of the relaxing mental exercises in the direct control of pain.
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