Self Hypnosis or Meditation as Alternative to Pain Meds

[schola]

I got my wisdom teeth pulled yesterday! While I was waiting in the dentist's chair, I decided to try a little bit of meditation to help me get through the whole ordeal.

It definitely helped me relax. The actual tooth-pulling process wasn't painful at all, but I think that was due more to the fact that the doc had numbed the back of my mouth into oblivion, rather than my meditation skillz.

I mentioned it to my dentist, and he said he once did a root canal on a lady who had her personal hypnotist come in and put her under prior to getting the procedure done. He said she went through the whole thing conscious and without any anesthetic!

So I'm curious, does anyone here use meditation or self hypnosis as a pain reliever? What do you do, and how effective is it?

[eblight]

Yes, meditation can be very effective for pain relief. Stephen Levine who has written a number of books from the Buddhist perspective gives some insight into how it can be possible. From my own experience it comes about in meditation by observing the sensations rather than labelling them as good or bad or otherwise. As humans when we experience pain our natural inclination is to avoid it or try to get away from it. Emotional pain is a good example and we can all witness people numbing themselves out by overworking, overeating, overdrinking and so on. Numbing out means we don't have to feel our feelings of inner emptiness. What I continue to do is when I feel pain or discomfort rather than trying to get away from it is to sit and be with it. I take my awareness to that place in my body where I feel 'pain' and let my breath soften around it by breathing in and out of that place. It can also be helpful to ask yourself, "Where is the beginning of this sensation? Where does it end? What shape is it? What colour is it? If it could speak what would it tell me that I need to know?" Accepting and allowing what is brings about greater inner peace. Our attachment to 'pain' causes us great distress.

[schola]

Ah. This makes a lot of sense.

I have noticed that when I focus on a pain, it actually lessened the discomfort it caused me, but for some reason my goal in meditation was to "numb" the area instead.

Thanks for clearing things up.

[evelynlim]

I was taught healing techniques while attending a workshop on The Silva Method for Mind Control.

In the Silva method, we go into "alpha" or the subconscious levels via focused meditation. Then, we actively visualise the person (can be yourself) who needs to be healed. We then use our intuitive power to find out and to repair the parts that need healing.

There are other methods like Quantum Touch which is also helpful for healing.

[robertanthony]

Hypnosis is a form of guided mediation they are interlinked to reduce pain.
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