Mindfulness.com
Meditation
See all Meditation

Browse

Top articles

How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners

10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation

What is Meditation?

Mindful LivingSleep
CommunityFor Work

Already have an account?

Sign in

00:00

00:00

Primary vs. Secondary Pain

In this meditation, we'll explore how to be with pain in a new way that doesn't create more tension and suffering.

So let's find a comfortable posture, which could be sitting, lying down or standing. If it's comfortable to do so, you can close your eyes. And we'll start by taking a deep breath together. In through the nose. And slowly out through the mouth.

Inviting the jaw to relax and soften. Letting the shoulders be at ease. As well as the hands and the belly. And as the body starts to settle, let the breath fall back into its natural rhythm. And just spend some time focusing your attention at your breath.

Remember this isn't an imagining of the breath. It's not thinking about the breath. Instead we're feeling it from the inside out. Sometimes it can be helpful to place a hand on the belly to feel it a little more vividly, if you have trouble feeling it otherwise. And enjoy the peace and simplicity of not having to do anything other than just feel your body breathing, the gift and the privilege of that.

So much of our tension and suffering isn't coming from difficult experiences, but rather the thoughts and the emotions that we cake on top of those experiences. In meditation, as we're doing right now, we practice dropping beneath that internal narrative, the judgements and the ideas, and experience something at its most basic simple form. So we'll continue practicing this with the breath as it's a preparation for other things that we might experience in our day. So continue to feel the body breathing. Particularly feeling the belly as it inflates like a balloon on the inhale and deflates on an exhale.

Anchoring your attention at that very simple movement and experience. Regardless of how the breath is for you, if it's long, short, shallow, deep, there's nothing intrinsically right or wrong about it. It just is how it is. But practice viewing the breath in that way. Just with curiosity of, Oh, what is it like to breathe in this moment? As if you were getting to know the breath as a long lost friend.

If ideas, thoughts, judgments arise, just deepen the presence back to the breath. Nothing you need to fix or make better. Dropping beneath the judgmental mind and into the bare experience of breathing. Let's take one more deep breath together. In through the nose.

And out through the mouth. Great job. As you go about your day today, notice when your mind gets caught up in secondary pain, thoughts, emotions, judgments, all the things we cake on top of our experience, especially the difficult experiences. Primary pain, the normal pains of life that's going to be there. But secondary pain, we have some choice around.

And in this meditation, we're practicing dropping beneath the secondary pain and just into the raw experience. Great job. Thank you for your practice. Until then, take care.

Meditation

4.5

Primary vs. Secondary Pain

In this meditation, we'll explore how to be with pain in a new way that doesn't create more tension and suffering.

Duration

Your default time is based on your progress and is changed automatically as you practice.

So let's find a comfortable posture, which could be sitting, lying down or standing. If it's comfortable to do so, you can close your eyes. And we'll start by taking a deep breath together. In through the nose. And slowly out through the mouth.

Inviting the jaw to relax and soften. Letting the shoulders be at ease. As well as the hands and the belly. And as the body starts to settle, let the breath fall back into its natural rhythm. And just spend some time focusing your attention at your breath.

Remember this isn't an imagining of the breath. It's not thinking about the breath. Instead we're feeling it from the inside out. Sometimes it can be helpful to place a hand on the belly to feel it a little more vividly, if you have trouble feeling it otherwise. And enjoy the peace and simplicity of not having to do anything other than just feel your body breathing, the gift and the privilege of that.

So much of our tension and suffering isn't coming from difficult experiences, but rather the thoughts and the emotions that we cake on top of those experiences. In meditation, as we're doing right now, we practice dropping beneath that internal narrative, the judgements and the ideas, and experience something at its most basic simple form. So we'll continue practicing this with the breath as it's a preparation for other things that we might experience in our day. So continue to feel the body breathing. Particularly feeling the belly as it inflates like a balloon on the inhale and deflates on an exhale.

Anchoring your attention at that very simple movement and experience. Regardless of how the breath is for you, if it's long, short, shallow, deep, there's nothing intrinsically right or wrong about it. It just is how it is. But practice viewing the breath in that way. Just with curiosity of, Oh, what is it like to breathe in this moment? As if you were getting to know the breath as a long lost friend.

If ideas, thoughts, judgments arise, just deepen the presence back to the breath. Nothing you need to fix or make better. Dropping beneath the judgmental mind and into the bare experience of breathing. Let's take one more deep breath together. In through the nose.

And out through the mouth. Great job. As you go about your day today, notice when your mind gets caught up in secondary pain, thoughts, emotions, judgments, all the things we cake on top of our experience, especially the difficult experiences. Primary pain, the normal pains of life that's going to be there. But secondary pain, we have some choice around.

And in this meditation, we're practicing dropping beneath the secondary pain and just into the raw experience. Great job. Thank you for your practice. Until then, take care.

Meditation

4.5

Duration

Play in-app

Scan the following QR code with your camera app to open it on our mobile app

Similar to this

Awakening Out of Autopilot ModeMeditation by Melli O'Brien
Melli O'Brien

Awakening Out of Autopilot Mode

Meditation · 5-20 mins4.6

More from this teacher

Get Unlimited Access

Start your mindfulness journey today.

A Mindfulness Plus+ subscription gives you unlimited access to a world of premium mindfulness content.

  • Over 1,800 meditations, sleep, calm music, naturescapes and more
  • Daily mindfulness video meditations 365 days a year
  • 100s of courses and tools to help manage anxiety, sleep and stress

Email Missing

We couldn’t detect your email with the SSO provider you have selected.
or

Mindfulness Guarantee

We are here to make a positive impact on the world. We never want to sell you something that hasn’t helped you live a better life. That’s why if you’re unhappy with any purchase from us, you have 30 days to get a full refund and your money back.

If you subscribed to Mindfulness Plus+ and are unhappy with your purchase, please get in contact with us within the 30-day period and we’ll refund your purchase.


Learn more about our Mindfulness Guarantee.

Mindfulness

Bring balance into your everyday life.

We believe in a world where everybody has access to the life-changing skills of mindfulness.

  • 2,000+ Guided Meditations
  • Daily Coaching
  • Sleep Content
  • Mindful Exercises
  • Mindful Radio
  • 10+ Courses from world-class teachers

Private Browsing

Added to your cart!

Checkout

Thank you for joining us

Congratulations on your subscription! Dive into the full library and enjoy all it has to offer.

Claim your free access

Create a mindfulness account and we’ll unlock this premium session in your account forever.

or continue with
By continuing, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Do you already have an account?

Start a free trial to play this session

7-Days free trial, cancel anytime.

Finish personalizing your account

Complete a few quick questions to make your own personalized mindfulness plan.

Sign up or login to your mindfulness account to proceed.

or continue with
By continuing, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Do you already have an account?

Mindfulness

One membership to gain access to a world of premium mindfulness content created to help you live happier and stress less.

  • 2000+ Guided Meditations
  • Courses from world-class teachers
  • Resources for Stress + Anxiety
  • Breathing exercises, gratitude practices, relaxation techniques
  • Sleep meditations, playlists, stories
  • Mindful talks, podcasts, music, nature sounds