Mindful meditation has become a darling of the pain-management set. This simple meditation, done daily, has been shown repeatedly to help people control chronic pain. For many, the pain goes away completely, and even those with severe pain can experience substantial benefits. Learning the meditation is easy, though you would benefit greatly from taking a class, and once you know how to do it, you can meditate anywhere.
You Have to Keep Doing It, but You'll Want To
One important point is that you can't just meditate for a few days and experience permanent relief with no other meditation. You have to keep meditating, but luckily, the sessions are short. Sometimes all you need is less than half an hour -- and in many cases, even less than that. But you'll also find that, regardless of your pain level, you may want to continue meditating anyway. The practice can make you feel so good in general that, even if your pain has been gone for a long time, you won't mind meditating daily.
It Doesn't Take Much to Feel Relief
Some really good news is that it doesn't take a lot of effort to start feeling effects from the meditation. You do have to be consistent, but within a short time (it varies for everyone, so there's no way to put an exact number on it), you should start to feel a bit different. And remember that mindful meditation itself doesn't require a lot of physical movement -- just mental consideration as you sit quietly and listen to your teacher.
You Have to Deal With Other Stress
One thing the meditation can't do is make you so immune to the pain that you can stop the meditation during stressful times. If you are experiencing a lot of stress, and you stop the meditation, you could feel a resurgence of pain. You have to keep meditating and you have to deal directly with whatever is creating new stress in your life. Psychological stress plays a huge role in how you react to pain, and feeling more chronic pain after stress is very common. The meditation gives you a way to ward off any worsening pain while you straighten out the situation.
Talk to a pain management specialist, such as at Headache and Pain Center, about finding a mindful meditation class to help manage pain. These classes are available through community centers and private schools, but your doctor may be able to recommend a few specific places.
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