Pain or Expectation?

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When Ackerman writes on touch she mentions that "our fear of pain contributes to it. Our culture expects childbirth to be a deeply painful event, and so, for us, it is" (102). 

The idea that we could control the amount of pain we feel just by changing our mindset fascinates me. I once had a friend who dislocated his shoulder while diving. We drove to the hospital and after many hours of waiting they informed him that they would just pop it back in. Steve had the choice of being awake or being put under. I was very uncomfortable with the thought of just hearing and seeing his shoulder being returned back to its natural resting place and couldn't even image his thoughts as he would be the one feeling it to. To me the choice was obvious. But much to my surprise Steve said he'd been practicing meditation and that he would be fine without any medication. He told the doctor to give him a minute and then to proceed. What I saw next amazed me. My friend simply closed his eyes, started breathing deeply and seemed to go off into another world. After a minute the doctor took his arm, counted to three, and forcefully twisted. The pop was enough for me to squirm. Yet Steve didn't even wince. He opened his eyes like nothing had happened. His body started shaking from the shock which is apparently a very common reaction but Steve was as calm as I had ever seen him. I asked him how he did it and he claimed he just "went to another place". (I have since read articles that describe this very phenomenon of using meditation to avoid the feelings of pain.)

 In our culture, childbirth is depicted in movies and TV as the most painful experience a woman will ever have. There's always LOTS of blood curdling screams and sweat and tears. But does it have to be like this? To me it's very comforting to think that the answer could be "no". Coaching women to view the experience has one to embrace rather than one to fear, breathing techniques, acupuncture, and other means of stimulation can make a woman's experience a much more pleasurable one. That way, a new mother could focus on the more positive senses: hearing your new baby cry and take its first breath, seeing your new child for the first time and trying to determine who's nose it has, and holding them close.

So next time you're in pain (either physical or emotional), try this guided meditation. It helped me once! There are also many others on YouTube.

http://www.meditainment.com/pain-management/


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