Can meditation help you feel less pain?
What if one week of short meditation classes could change the way your brain perceives pain?
Fadel Zeidan, PhD, and his colleagues at Wake Forest University wanted to find out how mindfulness meditation affects pain reception.
Specifically, they looked at the areas of the brain responsible for constructing the experience of pain, such as the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and anterior insula.
Researchers performed MRI exams on 18 subjects while they applied a series of neutral and painful stimuli. They then asked subjects to focus on the sensations of their breath while applying the stimuli again.
Upon exiting the MRI, subjects rated the intensity and unpleasantness of the pain.
Next, researchers put participants through a four-day mindfulness meditation training, involving four sessions of 20 minutes each. The training emphasized acknowledgment of sensations without reacting to them emotionally.
Following the training, participants went through the whole process again – MRI exams and pain stimuli in two stages, first lying still and then actively meditating.
Here’s what they found.
Before they received meditation training, subjects showed no difference in the way they rated the pain, whether they were focused on their breath or not.
But after the training, subjects reported a 40% decrease in pain intensity between resting and breath-focusing.
Also, looking at the MRI data – meditation seemed to reduce pain-related processing.
The major difference was in the primary somatosensory cortex, a region associated with sensory-discriminative processing of information.
They also found an association between decreased pain magnitude and activation in the anterior cingulate cortex and the right anterior insular cortex.
This is important because these two areas are presumed to play a role in the evaluation of pain.
Taken together, these findings suggest that meditation may work in two ways. First, by allowing patients to better focus on neutral stimuli like their breath, meditation helps patients reduce the importance of painful stimuli.
Second, by focusing on the present moment and reducing the expectation of future events, meditation may help patients reduce the anticipation of pain.
In general, I think research is stronger when it measures real phenomena in the brain – not just self-reports. From that perspective, this experiment is a good start.
However, this particular study is limited because the sample size was so small and because it wasn’t randomized and controlled. Without these methodological improvements, we don’t necessarily know that the meditation training in particular helped change the way patients’ brains worked.
If you’d like to read the full study, it’s available in the Journal of Neuroscience.
And if you want to learn more ways that brain science can transform health, be sure to check out our Brain Science webinar series.
Do you use brain science to introduce the topic of mindfulness? A lot of practitioners have been reporting that discussing brain changes with patients can be an excellent way to introduce mindfulness. Please share what you do below.
There are certainly loads of details that way to take into consideration. It really is a wonderful denote retrieve. I provide thoughts above as general inspiration but clearly you can find questions like the one you start up in which the biggest factor will likely be getting work done in honest very good faith. I don?t determine if recommendations have emerged around stuff like that, but Most likely that your chosen job is clearly labeled as a good game. Both girls and boys notice the impact of only a moment’s pleasure, for the rest of their lives.
For a patient it would be good that they get a good meditation teacher.
It would be good that there came some rules ,certifications…worldwide.I know some excist but until now anyone who just read 1 book can start a practice in many countries.
A year ago ,a journalist went to several “therapists” with a hidden camera for a mindfulness meditation.It has been on national television…very sad,even hallucinatory..
Shinzen youngs cds helped me a lot.
Maybe it is good to investigate intention !
Dharmaseed app: joseph goldstein:morning meditation instructions,understanding intention 26 september 2014
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Discussing brain plasticity can help create expectation that learning and doing mindful practice will help take the suffering out of chronic pain. I often utilize this information to frame that what we will be doing will change neural pathways and most importantly, to start instilling a sense of control for a client…many of whom arrive in my practice feeling hopeless and helpless. Hope is Realistic!
Talk about the video editor missing the point! It’s a study, one of many, and to be said for that randomisation and established proof is essentially empty words as science doesn’t always speak from emotional experience.
As it is, I enjoyed the article, it throws mental junctures about to consider. Thanks for continuing contact.
Discussing brain science with clients helps those who are at first reluctant to accept practices that are energy and/or spiritual in nature. Individuals who who assume that approaches like Reiki are just mind-over-matter and that one “fools” oneself to deny pain, learn that positive intent, hope, and faith really can rewire the brain and result in neurophysiological changes.
Wonderful
Hi
I use neuroscience with every client, in every class, and the changes are always psoitive….. understanding the science of the brain gives back control of life to the client and through having that knowledge I see changes always in a 1st 2nd or 3rd at latest out of a 5 session programme !
In my mindfulness classes, mind science comes first…
For clients in pain, MiCBT .using the principles of Vipassana meditation with focus on sensations and sensation acceptance, hense reduction of levels of of pain. – havent had it fail yet!
Yes I like to introduce brain science to my clients to help them understand the patterns they may have created and that changes are possible with practice. To focus and be mindful on what area’s of their life are in conflict and challenge their beliefs that may no longer be serving them. Mindfulness can support an outcome that is desirable for them to work towards, with increased confidence and hope.
Rather than rely exclusively on persuasion as in “this works” I listen to subjective reports of their qigong experience (which is blended with several other related disciplines). From time to time, I bring in scientific studies and commentaries which pertain to and support our in-class experience. Qigong practice is a mind/body slow Moving Mindfulness Meditation. It works. Of their own accord, students (mostly older adults) on occasion, report significant pain reduction. Invariably, they feel more relaxed.
When I introduce mindfulness to a client, I point out that we always worry about the past or the future. Concentrating on the present moment, mindfulness, therefore decreases the amount of worrying a person does.
Hi Julie,
If you start your mindfulness practice by explaning what you mentioned above ,the following link may inspire you :you tube: four ways of letting go by Ajahn Brahm.
He explores ways of letting go our worries about past,present,future…and he is funny to!Good luck!
Two things. I’m a scientist and as far as the studies go that I’v e seen, none are even close to gold standard. For whatever reasons, it’s just a fact.
I’ve had an 18-yr mindfulness practice in the Vippasana tradition. I also suffer from daily migraines which are managed by palliative care. By releasing “the contraction’ around the pain itself, and not going down the emotional path “will this ever end. What will it mean for my work tomorrow etc.,?” I can reduce 8/10 pain just to a 6. In this culture of “we can control everything”, I have sometimes felt like a failure and I certainly know that’s not true
I have a concern that all this “data” about mindfulness esp in regards to pain control, puts people at risk who are suffering and can’t ” “meditate away moderate to severe pain.”
Face it, there are things, including physical pain( where attitude and approach can help), that we do not have100% control over. The last thing a person with pain needs is to feel like “I’m just not doing it right/hard enough/often enough etc” if I can’t resolve this. Talk about adding more depression!
I’m tired of the whole mindset that blames the victim because we are uncomfortable with the fact there is still great uncertainty and not a lot of control over physiologic disturbances in most cases.
Continue the research. Wait until the gold standard double blind placebo controlled trials are done.
I believe that there will be evidence in the direction of mindfulness/meditation is “useful” , but not a magic answer-like many are postulating without studies to back them up.
I found this comment interesting. BY WAY OF BACKGROUND, I HAD HIP SURGERY A YEAR AGO. TO SAY IT WENT POORLY WOULD BE UNDERSTATING THE MATTER DRAMATICALLY. AT TIMES, THE PAIN WAS, ON A SCALE OF 1-10, ABOUT A 56! I MEDITATED ON IT, RECOGNIZED THAT IT IS NOT ME, THAT THERE IS A NEURAL PATHWAY FROM THE HIP TO THE BRAIN SIGNALING THE PAIN, THAT “THIS TOO, SHALL PASS” AND THAT I CAN CHOOSE TO ACCEPT WHAT “IS” AND FOCUS MY ATTENTION ELSEWHERE (DESPITE ITS APPARENT MADDENING LEVEL OF PAIN). THIS WORKED FOR ME. I CAN’T TELL YOU IT WENT TO A 1 OR A 4, BUT I WAS PLEASED THAT I COULD TAKE IT FROM 56 (OR 10, IF YOU PREFER) TO SOMETHING, ANYTHING, MORE BEARABLE.
LIVE IS A JOURNEY, NOT A DESTINATION. WE CAN CHOOSE TO ENJOY THE JOURNEY AND ACCEPT THAT EVERY CHALLENGE IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO DEVELOP OURSELVES AND GROW. OR . . . WE CAN FIGHT IT, RESIST WHAT IS, DECIDE WE’RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH, WANT WHAT IS NOT . . . ALL SOURCES OF SUFFERING AND, IF WE REPEAT THEM, DEFINITIONALLY, INSANE.
So what if we finesse it a bit as follows (in CAPS):
I can reduce 8/10 pain just to a 6. THIS IS SO GREAT! IT IS EARLY IN OUR UNDERSTANDING AND DEVELOPMENT OF MINDFULNESS PRACTICES TO REDUCE AND RESOLVE PAIN. HOW WONDERFUL THAT I CAN TAKE MY PAIN FROM “HORRIFIC” TO “VERY BAD, BUT BEARABLE”? AND HOW WONDERFUL THAT I KNOW ITS NOT A PILL, ITS A PROCESS; THEREFORE, I KNOW THAT WITH PRACTICE, I CAN CONTINUE TO IMPROVE MY OUTCOMES? In this culture of “we can control everything”, I have sometimes felt like a failure and I certainly know that’s not true. WONDERFUL! LET’S FOCUS ON THE FACT THAT EVERYONE GRAPPLES W/ NEGATIVITY AT TIMES, BUT HOW GREAT THAT YOU KNOW THAT’S NOT TRUE AND CAN SET IT ASIDE AS “JUST A THOUGHT THAT DOESN’T SERVE ME”!
I have a concern that all this “data” about mindfulness esp in regards to pain control, puts people at risk who are suffering and can’t ” “meditate away moderate to severe pain.” OR, WE COULD SAY, HOW GREAT THAT WE ARE LEARNING TO DO THIS. IT TAKES SOME PEOPLE LONGER THAN OTHER TO LEARN HOW TO HIT A TENNIS BALL. SO WHAT? EVERYONE’S JOURNEY IS DIFFERENT. WHEN WE ALLOW IT TO BE “AS IT IS,” WITH ACCEPTANCE AND GRATITUDE FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO GROW, WE DROP THE JUDGMENTS AND THE ATTENDANT PRESSURE.
Face it, there are things, including physical pain( where attitude and approach can help), that we do not have100% control over. RIGHT! WHEN WE RELINQUISH CONTROL TO THE UNIVERSE OR G-D OR JUST ACCEPTING THAT WE ARE AS WE ARE AND DON’T NEED TO BE PERFECT, THAT PRESSURE DISSOLVES. The last thing a person with pain needs is to feel like “I’m just not doing it right/hard enough/often enough etc” if I can’t resolve this. Talk about adding more depression! PLS SEE ABOVE COMMENTS.
I’m tired of the whole mindset that blames the victim because we are uncomfortable with the fact there is still great uncertainty and not a lot of control over physiologic disturbances in most cases. WHERE IS THE BLAME? THE ARTICLE SIMPLY SUGGESTS THAT, “HEY, CHECK THIS OUT. WE DID THIS W/ A SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE AND IT WORKED! LET’S TRY SOME MORE OF THIS AND SEE IF THERE’S SOMETHING TO IT!” FURTHER, THE MOMENT WE MAKE A CLIENT/PATIENT/PERSON SUFFERING A VICTIM (OR THEY MAKE THEMSELVES ONE), SAID PERSON HAS TURNED AWAY FROM EVERYTHING POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND MANY RELATED FIELDS, NOT TO MENTION BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY, TEACHES US. WHO IS IN CONTROL IF I AM A VICTIM? SOMEONE OR SOMETHING EXTERNAL TO ME. WHAT IS THE REALITY? I AM IN CONTROL – I JUST NEED TO REALIZE IT. AS A GREAT BUDDHIST MASTER ONCE TAUGHT ME: “EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE HAPPENS BECAUSE OF ME!” TO BE CLEAR, THIS IS NOT BLAME; IT IS TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR ONE’S LIFE. THINGS ARE AS THEY ARE. ACCEPT THEM, AND THEN FROM THAT PLACE OF ACCEPTANCE AND NON-JUDGMENT, WORK TOWARDS CHANGING THEM W/ NO ATTACHMENT TO THE OUTCOME, BUT SIMPLY THROUGH JOYFUL EFFORT. THIS CAN (AND SHOULD) BE APPLIED TO EVERY CHALLENGE IN LIFE.
SORRY IF THAT OFFENDS ANYONE; JUST MY 2c. WHAT DO I KNOW?
Your observations and feedback are so helpful.
Yes, I am using frequently brain science issues with my patients before introducing meditation in clinical work. And it is working so well!
I have been involved in Mindfulness and other types of meditation for many years. It has been a helpful tool in recovery from childhood trauma and resulting depression. I have been immersed in the healing arts and am thinking of blending my experience with meditation as I go forward in my professional life. I took a job for Hospice as a massotherapist and after two years my job was restructured . I have been drawn to the study of Mindfulness and Pain.After moving through the loss of my primary job and my mothers declining Ahlzheimers , I am feeling ready to move forward and find the articles on Brain Science timely and useful.
Your articles referring to studies always useless because they are qualified w/the statement “this particular study is limited because the sample size was so small and because it wasn’t randomized and controlled. Without these methodological improvements, we don’t necessarily know that the meditation training in particular helped change the way patients’ brains worked.” Why not present articles about studies that have actually made an impact!
Thanks for your comment but, this is how science starts. Someone does what can be considered an incomplete study and then someone else comes along and improves on it. Studies are getting better and better but it takes time. And there isn’t the kind of funding backing this that a study for some new drug might have.
I think you hit a bulylese there fellas!
I am a ‘thrivor-survivor’ of both lymphoma and leukemia. Enacting various spiritual practices and techniques such as mindfulness, guided imagery, prana breathing, and meditation surely have enriched the process of healing and recovery from an allogeneic bone marrow stem cell transplant. I’ve also used vision maps and affirmations as a daily support routine.
My intention is to live a consecrated, meditative, ‘divine-sacred-holy’ life as an authentic servant leader. This approach must employ these practices on a daily basis.
Clarity of thought, both short & long term memory, and basic communication are vital for those of us who have experienced ‘near death’ life-threatening health challenges. There are so many to list, yet one could easily understand with intenstive chemotherapy and radiation, brain function may be dramatically affected.
Each day offers a opportunity to practice, practice, and practice more. Love & light, Dr. Hall
Deeply touched by reading your story,touched by the willingness to stay/practice with your illness.Admire so much your courage and the way you see opportunities !The way you deal with your problems inspires me!Your advice to practice practice practice..is the best advice I read!
Wish you a long happy healthy live!
The second point made by the study, i.e. focusing on the present moment can help reduce the anticipation of pain or future pain, is the one I find most encouraging. Because of the strong correlation between pain and depression, it’s encouraging to think that by experiencing pain differently in the here and now, the catastrophization and hopelessness that often attends chronic pain may also be diminshed.
I have been practicing mindfulness through meditation for a few months now and have found it extremely helpful in dealing with stressful events. I am calmer now in facing difficult situations. I plan on making mindfulness a part of my daily routine for the rest of my life. Thank you.
Mindfulness mediation has given me freedom from years of post traumatic stress following violent assault.
Now decades later my practice allows me to block some pain, not all, but most useful and helpful is the capacity to have painful (as others report) dental procedures, such as root canals, done sans medication.
There is no pain provided I relax and engage in my practice
I always find this stunning and consider it an extraordinarily useful tool.
I use a mindfulness approach as an intervention for pain. There have also been studies to point out how low mood turns up the volume on pain. Mindfulness can help an individual recognize moods and thoughts and intervene in ways that are in his/her control to help manage a situation which is often out of one’s control.
Your analysis of pain and mindfulness was confirming my own work at the time and thank you. At Monash University, as a part of a book launch for my new book on Buddhist Psychology & Counselling, (2014, Palgrave-Macmillan) we have organised a seminar on Mindfulness & pain management, and I am reading the great ICONS of of Pain Management–Vidyamala Burch and Risa Kaparo and using my own insights from the Buddha’s sermons, where he speaks of the man struck by two darts: the dart of physical pain and the reactive aversion and knows no other way out rather than drowning himself in temporary pleasures, alcohol and cigarettes (Kindred Sayings, 36, 6). This is a timely dialogue and thank you. Padmasiri de Silva
hi , all of my friends, I would like to share my own feeling regarding benefits of meditation. Why Meditation? Happiness and peace refer to states of mind. Moreover, there is another kind of experience, which is the highest and is independent of worldly objects and senses. It is called Bliss. Brahmakumaris offers foundation courses in meditation through each of its centres spread across the world.
I have found that hypnotherapy extremely successfull , which affects the sub-conscious .Quite apart from everything else,accepting ones self and feeling more empowered in the right manner,possitive thoughts and hopefully becoming more conscious in every way…suddenly one day i noticed my nails had grown long, long enough to put nail varnish on!.. for the very FIRST time in my 66years of life.!! I had not had the slightest thought about my nails,so i was amazed and very pleased for it meant there had been some internal shift in myself for the possitive. Sounds a bit funny but there it is. Great stuff.I love all this mindfullness.
All the best Sandi
Your statement, “In general, I think research is stronger when it measures real phenomena in the brain – not just self-reports.” reminds me that in many MRIs in which one would expect the individual to be experiencing back pain, the individual was reporting no pain. If we are looking at an FMRI that says there is pain and the self report is that there is no pain, isn’t the latter more important? A problem may be that we are working with a population reporting pain but not looking at FMRI’s of a population who do not report pain. Perhaps we would be surprised if non reporting people would show up “as if” they had pain An example occurred when a physical therapist was treating a patient who reported he had never had back pain before a recent auto accident. While looking at the MRI the PT remarked that because of the degeneration of the spine he was surprised the man wasn’t in extreme pain years before the accident. I wonder what an FMRI would have shown before the accident and after.
I see we do not have many pain therapists on this board. Knowing how mindfulness works with pain can enhance any therapy or the power of our mind.
Thank you for this summary ! I also integrate mindfulness and yoga practice in my work with people who experience PTSD, depression, anxiety, addiction, chronic medical conditions and binge eating. It’s a pleasure to see how much better most people feel when they have something they can actively do on their own to take care of themselves in the face of overwhelming experiences. Sometimes the brain science is less important to my clients as long as they notice that mindful awareness and yoga based practices are helpful to them. The science certainly allows me to feel more and more confident in what I do and how I’ve practiced for many years ! I’m really grateful for all of the current research showing us that that even short term interventions can have such an impact on the brain and our experience. I’m delighted in general that science is supporting practices that so many people and clinicians have found intuitively and clinically helpful in recent decades !
That insight solves the promelb. Thanks!
I have chronic pain from a pro baseball career and a disabling triple rollover a decade ago. pain and the mind have a precarious relationship. here is what I found out about my pain.
Chronic pain is a warning signal for us. Pain has to reach a certain level that becomes unbearable to influence my mind now. The pain is always there in some intensity, it is a partner of sorts.
Any attention helps pain grow. Fear of my pain would make me a victim and try to escape from it. fear is another subject. Stress escalates pain as does any other emotion felt because of it. Now, I acknowledge themin is there and let it go. I do not fear it or need to react to it. it gets little attention and no concern.
Mindfully, I went out for power walks with music. When my pain intensified I would focus on. Y breath, turn the music up and place all my focus on the pain. I was in the middle of my pain area, between my shoulder blades and with my breath. I would move my legs for another twenty minutes.
You have to move, take action or pain will over power you, in my opinion. I was in a pain group for a year. I was bringing out my own endorphins and moving and winning as pain tried to make me stop.
After a while my pain sort of condensed with practice and mindfulness. Now I do not use my morphine or Norco but exercise and use my mind to live happily.
I have chronic pain and C-PTSD, I do not suffer. I am active and encourage others to take action, mental and physical whether it be pain, trauma or depression.
Fear of chronic pain will not let you to master the space. fear has no fear inside the emotion itself. fear is a warning sign also for me now. fear is a warning signal for the defense mechanism. We can use fear to heal and serve us with practice. My mind is a beach compared to pieces of sand represented by fear, pain or the ego.
What part of the mind is subconscious and what part cognitive?
Where is the vastness, unlimited potential of the mind, right or left?
As a psychiatrist who treats mainly anxiety and depression as well as doing couple counseling and marriage therapy i introduce the concept of the capacity of our mind and our conscious intention to create changes in our brain structure to every client. I explain that therapy changes the mind as well as the brain and I quote many of the current research topics that I find here (thanks !) and have them available as handouts in the waiting room.
Explaining to a person that science is demonstrating an individuals capacity to cause actual structural changes in their brains is empowering to anyone suffering with anxiety,depression, or even couple or marriage problems.
Larry Drell, MD
counselingandtherapydc.com/info
for info on anxiety,depression, couple counseling and marriage therapy using these discoveries.
Thank you for keeping this information available.