Let's start by choosing a position for this meditation. Choosing any position that you like, one where you'll be as comfortable as possible and yet alert. So you can either sit in a chair, you can lie down on the floor or your bed, you can stand, or you could even do slow walking up and down the room. And during the practice, if you feel it would help to change your position, maybe lie down, maybe stand up, then by all means doing so. In this practice, we're going to be really paying attention to how the pain is triggering our nervous system, perhaps.

So setting ourselves up in a posture that's going to be non-threatening and as comfortable as possible is a really important place to start. And just beginning to settle into the position that you've chosen. Seeing if you can give the weight of your body up to gravity and to allow yourself to be held and gently supported by the surface that you're resting upon. And very, very gently, just coming a little bit closer to your experience in each present moment. Always allowing the body to feel stable and supported as an anchor for your awareness.

And this is a trauma sensitive practice in the sense that pain itself, the experience of pain, can act like a trauma and that it can cause the nervous system to become chronically dysregulated. We can very easily find ourselves tipping into fight, flight and freeze responses, which is what happens to humans when we feel under threat. And very understandably, pain itself, the experience of pain can be perceived as a threat on this physiological level. Our brains and nervous systems register that there's something wrong and quickly goes into a stress state. Experientially, this will manifest usually either as feeling overwhelmed on the one hand, fighting, trying to get away from the pain.

Or on the other hand, maybe we shut down, we become a little bit numb, a little bit cut off, a little bit spaced out, perhaps. So there's a kind of numbing response. Both these responses are very normal, very human, but we can work with them using mindfulness - a gentle, caring, kindly, loving quality of mindfulness towards our experience of pain moment by moment. And in this practice, we're going to learn how to respond to these tendencies by continually coming back into a state of balance. If you're feeling overwhelmed, I'll suggest that you broaden awareness.

And if you're feeling a bit numb, cut off, shut down, I'll suggest that you brighten your awareness, get a little bit more interested in exactly what's happening in your body. But first of all, let's just drop into the sense of being present with the support of the chair, the bed, the floor beneath us. If it's helpful, you could take a deeper in-breath. And then on the out-breath, releasing and letting go a little bit more. Do that a few times, if you find it helpful.

And if it's not helpful, then of course, just don't do it. Simply rest here and settle here and arrive moment by moment. And at any point, if you feel agitated, edgy, you finding it difficult to present, then what I suggest is that you really drop your awareness into the points of anchoring with the surface beneath you. So this will be the quality of contact between the bottom and the chair, the back of the body on the bed or the floor if you're lying down, the soles of the feet on the floor if you're standing or walking. Or you might want to take your attention into your hands, sense of the hands resting moment by moment.

Or, you could also pay attention to sounds if it becomes too agitating to be in the body. Just opening your awareness to be aware of sounds. That's another option. So just arriving, settling, or resting in whatever way works for you right now. And very, very gently, let's open our awareness to include our experience of pain.

So in my case, I just very, very gently edge a little bit into my lower back. And I notice that I've got sensations that feel a little bit tight, achy, painful. And if it's helpful, you could breathe into the sensations at whatever part of the body you've attended to. And then soften and release a little bit with each out-breath. And seeing if you can bring a quality of love, of care, of kindliness to your experience corresponding to your own experience of pain, the way you would naturally respond to a loved one who was hurting tenderly and gently and softly.

If at any point it becomes overwhelming, if you're agitated, maybe fearful, what I suggest you do is broaden your awareness. Be aware of all the other feelings in the body right now. The weight of the body on the chair, maybe taking your attention to a part of the body that's not painful and resting there for a few moments. Being aware of sounds. Having broad, open, inclusive awareness of all of your experience.

And if you're still feeling a little bit numb, a little bit stuck, a little bit hard, a little bit cut off, just seeing if you can edge a little bit closer towards the precise experience of the pain in the body. What are the sensations like? Where are they located? What's their quality? And breathing with these sensations, if you can. Breathing a love and tenderness and releasing the holding, the contraction, the tightness with each out-breath. So always looking for this quality of balance, where we're open to the experience of pain without tipping into either overwhelm on the one hand or blocking and denial and being shut down on the other hand. And maybe a practice will feel quite dynamic.

You're moving in and out and in and out, flowing with the breath, letting the sensations of pain flow in the body, calibrating your awareness. Always looking for this quality of balance. The middle way, if you like, between these two responses of overwhelm and denial. Always breathing. Always softening.

Always shifting your awareness to another anchor like the hands, the bottom on the chair, the back on the bed, feet on the floor, or sounds if you find that helpful. So let's meditate together quietly for a few moments now with this quality of openness, tenderness, kindness, curiosity, and exploration. You can continue meditating for as long as you like, but knowing that you can come back to this practice at any point during the day or during the night. Just noticing when you're tipping into overwhelm and in the noticing you can broaden, open your awareness. And noticing when you're numbing yourself, getting cut off a bit hard, tipping into denial, then you can move closer to your experience, warm up, be curious, wake up your awareness.

And cultivating this ability to rest in the middle way, this open, loving quality of awareness moment by moment by moment. Thank you for your practice. And I wish you all the very best.