How To Meditate Without Pain. Body scan meditation for pain relief (10 Minutes)

In this guided body scan meditation for pain relief, I invite you to take a few moments of mindful attention so you can center yourself in the face of stress. Over the course of the next 10 minutes, I will guide you in calm, controlled breathing and a guided body scan to release physical tension. Doing this practice consistently will help you make space in the mind to avoid feeling overwhelmed. A daily practice can be habit forming so that in times of stress you can automatically drop into a place of peace. In fact I challenge you to use this 10 minute meditation every day for 10 days straight. Im positive that if you are consistent in taking 10 minutes a day to be present in the moment youll find incredible benefits. Are you up for the meditation challenge? Comment below and tell me you are in. Everyone is welcome, no experience needed, so invite a friend!

This meditation video has been sponsored by Ungloo. Ungloo is a company on a mission to make meditation comfortable. They make a wide range of meditation products that provide support and comfort during a regular meditation practice so that people can sit in a way that feels peaceful. Ungloo has a top rated portable meditation chair with back support that is loved by industry experts and meditation gurus. I have yet to find a meditation seat that is as supportive of the hips and back as the Ungloo chair. More and more people want to sit in meditation on the ground but don’t feel like it’s their thing because their bodies are different. This would be amazing for my not so bendy friends who often experience back and hip pain when trying to meditate. Ungloo is changing the game and making meditation more accessible and available to everyone. I love their authentic, genuine message and mission to get more people grounded, calm, and “highly meditated”. If you are looking to feel inspired to meditate more, you have to check out Ungloo.

Body Scan Meditation For Pain Relief 10 Minutes

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Now do you want to learn how to meditate without pain? Here are Ungloo’s Top Tips:

There are currently nearly eight billion people in our world.  Out of those eight billion people there is one thing we all have in common.  That thing is the experience of physical pain.  We all have felt pain at one time or another.   Sometimes it is severe intense pain other times and more commonly it is a quieter chronic pain.  According to a study looking at chronic back pain it stated that up to 80% of adults will experience back pain in their lives.  80% of adults!?! And that was just looking at back pain.  Pain is universal.  Which is why it makes sense that it is one of the most common problems preventing people from meditating.  I have had meditation sessions where after only 30 seconds I start to feel an ache in my upper back.  I have tried to ignore the pain in the moment but as time goes on the nagging pain gets louder and louder.  No matter how hard I tried to focus and meditate ‘around’ the pain, thoughts of how uncomfortable I was kept taking over my mind.  When you experience similar situations while meditating it is frustrating. It is difficult to imagine how meditation can be relaxing or therapeutic during these moments.  The good news is there are ways to combat pain you have while meditating. The first step to meditate without pain is to identify where the pain is coming from.  Knowledge is power. If you know where the pain is coming from then you can use specific positions and supports to relieve or lessen the pain.  Let’s take a closer look so that we can take your meditation from a stressful painful time to an enjoyable restorative practice.

Upper Back pain

Do me a favor.  Right now stop and notice how you are sitting.  Chances are your shoulders are hunched forward and your lower back is curved into a round ‘C’ shape?  This slouched position is so common while sitting because we constantly have to fight gravity to stay upright.  Our spine is naturally curved in an ‘S’ to support our body and disperse the pressure.  However, in order to maintain this curve it requires strength.  Our muscles are responsible for holding our spine in an erect posture.   So as time goes on our muscles become fatigued and we slowly fade into a slouched position.  

I have often tried to do mental checks to sit upright but sometimes it just feels easier to slouch.  It is much less work to slouch however it is problematic for our bodies.  Slouching creates muscle tension which leads to back and joint pain overtime.  When you meditate and try to sit upright for a long period of time you may start to feel an ache between your shoulder blades.  This is because your back muscles are simply not strong enough to sit upright that long without complaining.  That complaining feels like a knot or an uncomfortable twinge that won’t go away.  Sound familiar???  To combat this type of pain while meditating try lying down.  Lying down will allow your entire body to be supported by the floor. This will give your muscles a break.  If you are prone to getting sleepy when lying down then try using a meditation chair with back support. This will allow you to lean against the backrest and take some load off your back muscles while also maintaining an upright posture. 

Lower Back pain

Lower back pain is a widespread problem.  The lower part of your back is called your lumbar spine.  Your lumbar spine is curved which can make it a prime target for extra wear and tear.  Sitting is probably not your most enjoyable activity whether you have been diagnosed with degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, herniated discs, or just know you feel lower back pain. According to an article from Harvard Medical School, “There have been some studies that measured the amount of pressure on the discs. Not surprisingly, the pressure is lowest when you’re lying down. But there is more pressure on the discs when you’re sitting than when you’re standing.”  So to prevent feeling lower back pain while meditating you can try different positions.  Positional changes such as lying down or standing can help you from aggravating your lower back.  Movement is fantastic medicine for lower back pain.  So try a guided walking meditation. The Calm App has walking meditations ranging from 5- 30 minutes. 

  Now if you want to master sitting meditation but your lower back pain simply won’t let you sit cross legged on the floor try using supports.  I suffer from degenerative disc disease. Unfortunately I have had the awful luck of also herniating some discs in my lower back. The pain was debilitating however the Ungloo Box has been the perfect solution to help me find comfort while sitting and meditating. The Ungloo Box is a versatile chair designed to provide customizable support to your body.  The chair elevates your hips 8 inches off the floor.  This helps you to tilt your pelvis forward which assists your lower back with keeping its natural curve. Having your hips elevated by the Ungloo Box also gives your legs space to sit cross legged or in a kneeling position taking pressure off your lower spine.  

Hip Pain

As we get older our joints become less flexible.  For example my one year old can often be found sucking on his toes.  If I tried to do that not only would that be a comical sight but I would probably have to go to the doctor because I pulled a muscle.  As we age our tissues retain less water and our joints start to calcify, decreasing our range of movement.  If we have a desk job we don’t move as much as we did as a young kid running around the playground.  This decrease in movement often leads to tight hip flexors resulting in decreased range of movement and hip pain.  This decrease of flexibility and range of motion in our hip joints can make sitting in the cross legged position uncomfortable and painful.  We simply are not used to sitting with our hips rotated outward for 20 or even just 5 minutes.  

 
To meditate when we have tight or painful hips the Hero pose is a great place to start.  This pose is a kneeling pose.  The kneeling position prevents you from having to rotate your hips outward.  If it is too much for your knees to kneel you can use a support such as the Ungloo Box, or the SIT3 if you’re just looking for hip and or knee support and not back support.  The Ungloo Box has an open bench so that you can sit on the bench and then fold your knees under the bench.  This allows you to achieve a kneeling position without having to rest your weight on your legs and fully flex your knees.  Another option is to sit in a lotus cross legged position but use a support like the Ungloo Box.  The Ungloo Box has triangular support blocks to wedge under your lower legs while sitting in a cross legged position.  This takes the strain of gravity off your hip joints because your hips are fully supported by the blocks.  

Final Takeaway

The impact meditating can have on your life is invaluable.  It is important to us that nothing gets in your way when you want to meditate.  A lot of people just opt out of sitting on the ground all together so the chair works fine too, of course. However, once you start sitting in a designated space that’s more grounding, i.e. cross legged or kneeling, you might find yourself settling into the meditation in a way that can bring you more freedom and relief, once you’ve found the right support system and set up. Pain is a huge burden.  It is understandable why back or hip pain can make you think twice before meditating.  However you don’t have to let pain get the best of you.  There are solutions!  I have seen the night and day difference of meditating with the Ungloo Box.  Now I can focus on my breath and achieve that restorative practice I yearn for.  Using different positional changes and supports like the Ungloo Box can stop pain from derailing your meditation goals.