Research Study: Zen Meditation Can Help Bring Pain Under Control

Excellent...Science backing up what many of us meditators have been aware of for some time, and what all the great sages have taught: Control the mind, control EVERYTHING....within...throughout.

Nice to see some of it being documented!

Yet ANOTHER reason to go within folks.

Compared with an equal number of non-meditating study participants, the researchers found that highly experienced meditators reported lower pain responses, as well as less activity in those parts of the brain (the prefrontal cortex, amygdala and hippocampus) that are linked to cognitive processes, emotion and memory.

"Our findings lead to new insights into mind/brain function," study first author Joshua Grant, a doctoral student at the university, said in the same news release. "These results challenge current concepts of mental control, which is thought to be achieved by increasing cognitive activity or effort. Instead, we suggest it is possible to self-regulate in a more passive manner, by turning off certain areas of the brain, which in this case are normally involved in processing pain."

"The results suggest that Zen meditators may have a training-related ability to disengage some higher-order brain processes, while still experiencing the stimulus," added Rainville. "Such an ability could have widespread and profound implications for pain and emotion regulation and cognitive control. This behavior is consistent with the mindset of Zen and with the notion of mindfulness."

Full Article:

www.businessweek.com...

Hey thanks for this OP! I'm probably going to be going into labor with in the next week, maybe I can start learning how to master the zen meditation? I'm not using any pain meds so maybe that will help out

Good article S&F

Excellent.

I wish to share an experience relating to this...

March 1979, I had a motorcycle accident which smashed the L2 vertebrae, although I was standing talking to Police when the ambulance arrived .... I had both hands pushing on my hips with thumbs pressed deep into my back in order to stay upright. It hurt like a white-hot sword had been thrust into me.. The Ambulance men put my pillion in the back since he had obviously broken both ankles, and told me to sit in the front. All good so far.

Once we got going though the jolting hurt me even worse, so I focused my eyes and mind on the road ahead as we had 50k's to get to the university hospital. By then the guy sitting next to me was taking blood pressure and pulse, etc.. and after a few minutes complained to the driver that he thought I had gone into shock.

I had to pull my focus back to tell him I was only meditating to not feel the pain.... they both said, "Well stop it please, we are trying to help you."

From that moment on the rest of the ride was excrutiating for me.. half way to our destination they had another ambulance meet us to transfer me across.... I was not a happy chappy by then I can tell you. Same thing happened when I went to focus away from the pain agin. Weird huh?

I thought it crazy for them to want me in pain instead of wanting me comfortable and pain-free.

/end silly old guy's story

reply to post by Tayesin


Cool story.
Actually, it was not cool that you and your pillion crashed, but the pain control is cool.
Pain is a feedback, and so, the ambulance medics will use that feedback to assess injury locations, severity and the possible consquences of a certain injury.
So whilst I applaud you focus and effort in dealing with your pain, pain is still your friend and a useful tool.

What I like about your post and the OP is that this relates to pain management which is a huge issue for many individuals who have chronic injuries and illness or a terminal disease. Medication is usually the only course of action, and this has side effect other than merely managing pain. I think having an alternative or something that can be used in conjunction with medication is important.

My brother recently recieved second degree burns to 10% of his body. The thing about second degree burns is that they are extremely painful. Third degree burns, although more severe, actually destroy nerve tissue so pain is not that big an issue as opposed to other more dangerous aspects of a third degree burn. He was perscribed oxycodone every four hours but has decided to deal with the pain and only use the medication when the pain becomes unmanagable.
I shall be passing on a suggestion that meditation may be something he should seriously consider.

Great posts.

reply to post by atlasastro

You may have noticed that when people start to get depressed their phsyical pain increases.. be it headaches or injuries. I've noted it myself over the years and noted that when happy and content I could be more active with less intense pain.

I've long forgotten the name of the painkillers prescribed for me back then but do know when used as prescribed at two pills taken three times a day, I was nauseous and almost non-compus (spelling?) in three days. So I had to drop their use.

What worked for me was that I've had some meditation training while a teenager and a few years of martial arts.. all of which lead to mastering the mind over the body when focus is applied. And it's the Focusing of our Attention that is the Key... onto the pain only increases the pain experience, so away onto other things can decrease it.

Well.. I did it again.

Sorry folks for killing the thread with my posts.

Might have to change my user name to ThreadKiller, coz I seem to write the last post in a lot of threads these days.

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


Nice! If you don't mind I am going to add this article to the list of other articles I and others have posted about scientific evidence that meditation can physically change the brain.

Here is the thread if your interested: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Thanks DD!