Jonathan | My Site

- Jonathan, Harvard College student

I have always been taught to "block out the pain". So, when I'm meditating and feel the soreness from training, the discomfort from my position, or little random pain sensations, I actively try to focus on something else, seemingly diminishing the severity of the pain. When the instructor spoke about "going into" the pain rather than holding ourselves at a distance from it, this completely changed my perspective of how I should approach pain while meditating and possibly at all times.

When I actively block out my pain and continue to focus elsewhere, the point of failure for me is when the pain sensation becomes too strong and overwhelms me. I feel this most during harder swim practices, where the point I slow down is the point where I can no longer handle the increase in pain.

Initially, it seemed counterintuitive to me that focusing on the pain, rather than trying to diminish it, could lead to this. However, understanding the pain response as a sensation and breaking it down into its separate components such as the flux and influx of tearing, pulling, vibrating, could help me realize that the pain I am feeling is truly only as sensation. After changing the perspective of what pain is will allow me to explore the sensation rather than getting caught up in the sometimes overwhelming sensation of it.

I'm interested in what else this approach could do for me in my daily life. Reflecting on this passage made me realize I approach stress in the same manner. I often find a distraction to avoid focusing on the stressor. By doing this, the stress is never truly addressed, just placed to the side. This is rarely effective for me as I end up focusing on the stressor AND whatever I am doing to distract myself. In all, my attention is divided and I am mindless. By breaking down the components of stress, similar to the pain approach, will help me comprehend it as less as an overwhelming feeling and lead to being more present for the other things in my life.