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Mind Training

 

 

We have pain for a reason, and that reason is usually to protect us in some way.  The pain may be there to tell us that we have to stop so that we don't damage ourselves, or it may warn us that we are in a similar situation to one when we were previously hurt.  Or it could be there to alert us to an injury.  Whatever the circumstances, pain is a sensation that is created (or intensified) by the brain, and the brain always has a reason for doing this (of course this reason may or may not be accurate). 

 

So the bottom line is that usually we experience pain when the brain's processing tells it that we need pain to protect us.  Sometimes, in the case of long-term pain, we may know that the pain system has become over-sensitive.  We may know that we don't need that level of pain, and that the pain itself has become our main problem.  Often when this happens the impact of the pain, both in terms of it's intensity and the impact on our lifestyle can trigger mental reactions that feed into a vicious cycle and add to the intensity of the pain we experience in the long term.

 

In this situation learning how to train our minds can really help. One aim of this is to undo some of the patterns that have unwittingly been adding to the intensity of our pain.  Mind Training can also help us to convince the brain that we are safe and do not need pain to protect us. 

 

Mind training begins with the regular practice of Mindfulness and Compassion exercises similiar to those that can be downloaded from this iste.  Over the next few months more information will also be added to this site about how to train the Mind for effective pain management.

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