Pain 

Pain is very interesting.  Physiologists, psychologists, researchers have found that pain is not a singular, unified thing.  It is a composite, an experience that comes from many signals.  Some signals are from the body – the nerves in the body. Some of the signals are past memories, stories, projections, fears, worries. So it’s interesting to practice simply being aware of the physical sensations, breathing with awareness of just the physical sensations, without feeding into the commentary, the story, the judgment, the reactions, the emotions.  Separate all that from the pain, and just relax and soften and be present with those sensations – is the pain pulling, burning, pulsing, vibrating. Does it come and go? People often say they are in pain all the time.  And they think they are. But you can look and perhaps see that the sensations, come and go, they’re not permanent; they change.  So by practicing mindfulness of physical pain people report that over time their experience of pain is not as bad.