An awful lot of people live with chronic pain symptoms. Anyone who has to deal with this themselves knows how drastic that can be. After all, it's not just the pain itself that causes problems. Chronic pain often affects multiple aspects of life.
In addition to pain, there is regularly:
- restriction of movement
- loss of strength
- loss of independence
- poor sleep
- weariness
- irritability and changes in behavior and emotions
- loss of work
- pressure on social life
- side effects of medication
This clearly shows how closely physical and mental health are linked. In naturopathy, it is often said that the body and mind form a whole. In the case of chronic pain, this unfortunately becomes painfully clear.
Pain, cramping and breathing
Pain causes body cramping. As a result, blood and energy are less able to circulate. It also works the other way around: reduced blood flow can maintain pain.
What is often overlooked is the effect of pain on breathing. When we are in pain, breathing stops, as it were, or it becomes shallow and high. This increases stress in the body and strengthens tension, which can further aggravate the pain symptoms.
Vidyamala Burch, who herself lives with chronic pain, developed a mindfulness program especially for people with pain symptoms. In a short video, she shows how cramping and pain influence breathing and how you can raise awareness about it.
Cause and effect of pain
Developing awareness about breathing helps to distinguish between what is fixed and where there is room for change. Sometimes the cause of the pain cannot be treated immediately, but its consequences can.
When you notice that you are breathing high and shallow, you can choose to breathe deeper, towards the belly. Breathing with the whole body creates relaxation. Cramping decreases and thus pain can also decrease.
This relaxation creates space to explore what's happening in the body. Some parts become looser and more resilient, while others remain tense. The same goes for emotions that often go hand in hand with pain, such as anger, sadness, or exhaustion. By bringing attention to breathing over and over again, these feelings can ease step by step.
In the longer term, this will create a new awareness. You learn that there are elements that you can influence. This provides space, perspective and often more mental openness.
More with mindfulness
Physical awareness combined with attention to breathing is at the heart of mindfulness. There are many exercises that can help with this. Guided meditations often involve body awareness, for example via a body scan.
Even simple check-ins during the day can do a lot:
- how high is my breathing rate?
- where are my shoulders located?
- How do I feel right now?
You can combine these moments with breathing techniques.
Read more
- Vidyamala Burch has a number of guided meditations stand that you can listen to for free.
- Our blogs about the Wim Hof breathing or the breathing exercise: 4-7-8
- Our treatment, acupuncture for pain
