Play Time

"Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless
that wants help from us." Rilke

Lets play with our pain.

First sit or recline and adjust your body so you are in a relatively comfortable position.

Now notice and release any unnecessary muscle tension. Notice your breathing. If you notice that as you inhale your shoulders rise and you jaw tightens and your breath goes to your upper chest just smile. Gently open slightly and relax you jaws. Breath so that as you inhale your belly expands outwardly like a balloon being filled with air. As you exhale your belly contracts inward like a balloon deflating. Smile like a little baby after a wonderful burp. Now lets find some pain and or discomfort to play with.

Scan your body for pain or just go to a place that obviously HURTS. Stay as relaxed as you can without to much effort. Keep the jaws relaxed and slightly open and the make sure you are belly breathing throughout this play time.

Give yourself time to experience each step in the following play time before going on to the next one. About fifteen seconds is a good average amount of time. Take as long as you like. Just let go of any need or tendency to rush through this practice.

Feel that painful area. Say "Hi" to pain and smile. Can you imagine the painful area as having a personality and being surprised at your greeting and before it can help itself, it smile back at you? Can you imagine the pain spontaneously smiling back at you? There you are smiling at each other.

It does not matter where the pain is or what intensity it is. Just you and pain smiling emphatically at each other.

Now can you imagine the area of the pain is like a little scared child being squeezed inside a big clinched fist? And that big tight fist is being held inside another big clinched fist? Poor little pain held so tightly inside two big clinched fists. Poor little smiling pain.

Can you imagine that you are the two fists squeezing poor little smiling pain? What would it feel like if you as the outer fist softly relaxed the pressure on the inner fist and the smiling pain and very gently opened yourself?

Notice and softly and almost effortlessly relax and release any unnecessary muscle tension around the smiling pain.Ahhh.

Can you imagine how you as the inner fist would feel? Now that the outer fist has opened and relaxed you feel more space and warmth and find yourself effortlessly relaxing , and releasing into it.

Sigh, the little smiling pain has a bit more space it can relax and release and effortlessly open and expand into.
Can you imagine a warm gentle cascade of relaxing, releasing, opening and expanding energy sensations spreading effortlessly throughout your body?

Sigh, such a wonderful gift you have given to smiling little pain.

" Ohhh, Thanks, says smiling little pain. That is better. I can breath easier and relax more. Thank you." Pain smiles more and with less effort. You smile is warmer and more loving.

Now can you imagine you are the inner fist and you can chose to begin to open and relax even more?

Can you imagine that now that you have more space to move into and more blood and energy flows into you, that you are becoming warm and comfortable and open?
Can you imagine how it feels to now just gently open and softly hold little smiling pain?

Can you imagine how wonderful it feel to softly hold the area with warm radiating loving energy just as you are held gently with warm radiating loving energy by your outer hand?

Can you imagine and feel another sweet warm cascade of relaxing and releasing energy sweep through your body in all directions.

" Wow, that's even better smiling pain murmurs sweetly." You smile and the little area smiles. Sometimes the little smiling pain has become just a smile.
No more or much reduced pain.

If the little one wants more release just repeat the play until you stop naturally or the pain is gone or the intensity is less. The more you play with pain the less you will have.

" Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless
that wants help from us."