When I was first recommended a mindfulness course for chronic pain, I felt ambivalent. Already deep into my trauma healing journey, I meditated daily and practiced gratitude. But after waiting over three years to see a specialist for pelvic floor pain, I was willing to try anything.
The course began with a meditation, and I thought, “I already do this daily.” However, the meditation was unlike anything I had experienced. It revealed that my self-perceived mindfulness had room for growth. Impatience surfaced, but it also opened a door to trying something familiar in a new way. Just 10 minutes into the course, I realized this journey would be transformative.
Chronic pain can lead to mental health decline, loss of identity, and a cycle of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that feel insurmountable. Pain affects relationships, physical health, and quality of life. Practicing mindfulness amidst pain is challenging. Pain is hard, and breaking the cycle seems impossible. When in pain, our focus is on symptoms, creating a cycle where pain affects thoughts, thoughts affect feelings, and feelings affect behaviors. We wonder if we’re strong enough to endure and when it will end. Some days, living minute to minute is the challenge; other days, pain doesn’t dominate. Why? Perhaps it’s the adage: Energy flows where attention goes.
Mindfulness, practiced for thousands of years, is often described as present moment awareness. Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as “an awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.” This aligns with what the hospital shared. Observing our pain with awareness, paying attention to our bodies without judgment, and being truly present allows us to mindfully observe body sensations and reconnect with ourselves. The goal is not to eliminate pain completely but to understand, acknowledge, and learn from it, enabling us to manage or minimize it. Observation is key to understanding.
During the course, I learned how our bodies send messages through our spine to our brain, which sends excitatory signals back to the body, increasing sensitivity and pain. The brain can also send calming signals, reducing sensitivity and pain. I learned that while pain is real, I have control over my response. I can decide whether to send calming or excitatory signals. It’s up to me.
We addressed challenges like reluctance to put in effort, getting lost in thoughts, feeling too exhausted, avoiding practice due to stress or anxiety, striving for perfection, practicing too much too fast, not seeing immediate results, and managing expectations. We discussed thinking styles and psychological factors influencing pain, such as using “should” statements, catastrophizing, negative labeling, mind-reading, grim future outlooks, overgeneralizing, or disqualifying positives. We emphasized the importance of impermanence—everything changes. Observing moments reveals that pain is not permanent; it changes.
The mindfulness message was consistent: observe without blame, accusations, fixing, or figuring out—just connect body and mind with grace and compassion. I learned to relax my muscles, follow my breath, notice when I disconnect from myself, and be curious. Could I let go? If not, could I just let it be? My practice involved acknowledging discomfort as a thought and letting it go, releasing attachment, and reducing sensitive nerve branches. I realized that unused pain branches would eventually die off, making me the arborist from within.
We practiced various mindfulness activities: mindful eating, muscle relaxation, body scan observations, embracing impermanence, being present, self-love, sound meditation, rephrasing “pain” to “discomfort” or “intense feeling,” mindfulness therapy, mind/body connection, CBT and REBT, honoring all emotions without attachment or judgment, and observing with present moment awareness.
For me, mindfulness has been a game changer, especially with chronic pain. I can control, rewire my neuropathways, and stop creating sensitive branched nerves. I reconnect my mind and body in a new way. Flow, ease, acceptance, grace, and compassion were my takeaways from the 8-week course. Now, when a flare-up happens, I have mindfulness tools—tools I wasn’t aware of. By saying yes to trying something new, even when my ego thought it knew it all, I learned so much more about my pain, body, and self.
Mindfulness—an awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally. What a gift!
Thank you to the Lois Hole Hospital and Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn for opening this new world for me and many others.
Links:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/pain/mindfulness-meditation-to-control-pain
https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/use-mindfulness-to-cope-with-chronic-pain#:~:text=Being%20able%20to%20focus%20on,reduce%20depression%20and%20anxiety%20symptoms.
Jennifer Wutzke | Edmonton, Alberta
jennwutzke@gmail.com
Jennifer is a graduate of Nickerson Institute’s Integrative Mental Health Coach Training Program, and a self-proclaimed warrior who's on a hero's journey of self discovery. As a student of the school of life experiences, she lives by the mantras of I will, I create, and I lead. Her supportive community, family, and friends help guide her towards her life purpose. With arms wide open, she is always ready to lend a supportive and kind heart, to offer grace and to nourish her community. As a sacred holder of space, she normalizes vulnerability with deep conversations, big laughs, and healing tears. Jennifer has a nurturing empathic nature and empowers people to embrace their individuality, to fall in love with themselves, and to be the hero in their own lives. She truly believes that if we can tap inwards, we will shine outwards like never before.
