Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - Pain Is Inevitable. Suffering Is Optional. Here’s How To Draw The Line. | Bonus Meditation with Sharon Salzberg

Episode Date: June 21, 2024

While we may want to conquer physical pain, it’s actually observing the sensations and knowing when to take a break that’s the key to relief.About Sharon Salzberg:Sharon Salzberg is a meditation pioneer, world-renowned teacher, and New York Times bestselling author. She is among the first to bring mindfulness & lovingkindness meditation to mainstream American culture fifty years ago, inspiring generations of meditation teachers and wellness influencers.A co-founder of The Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, Sharon is the author of thirteen books, including the New York Times bestseller, Real Happiness, now in its second edition, and her seminal work, Lovingkindess.In 2023, Sharon released two new books: Real Life, available from Flatiron Books, and Finding Your Way, a small gift book from Workman.To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, you can search for “When Your Body Hurts.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Subscribe to Proxy now, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Dan Harris. Happy Friday, everybody. Time for a bonus meditation. You may have noticed we've been running a big series on the show recently called Get Fit Sanely. And today's meditation is in line with the theme of many of our episodes. It's about how to handle pain in your body. Pain is often an inevitable part of getting fit. So our meditation teacher du jour, Sharon Salzberg, is going to help us work with it.

She is a meditation pioneer, a world renowned teacher, and a New York Times bestselling author. She's also the co-founder of the amazing Insight Meditation Society in Barrie, Massachusetts, and she's written 13 books, including titles such as Real Happiness and Real Life. Here we go now with Sharon Salzberg. Hi, this is Sharon. This meditation will help us experience painful sensations will help us experience painful sensations without adding so much tension and fear. And with all sensations, recognizing how our bodies are always changing, as solid as they may seem on the surface.

Physical pain also serves as the template for how we work with emotional pain. So there are tools within this practice we might find useful in many places. Remember that balance is always the key. If you have an injury or ailment, you don't want to exacerbate it. Let's get started. So to begin with, sit comfortably or lie down. You can close your eyes or not. If sitting, see if your back can be straight without being strained or over-arched.

When I stop talking, that's the signal for you to try out the guidance I just shared. Take a few deep breaths and then allow the breath to become natural, so you're not trying to make it deeper or different. Bring your attention to your hands. Notice that the direct experience we have is not of fingers, it's different sensations. Pulsing, throbbing, warmth, coolness. You don't have to name these things, but feel them. As you sit, you may notice painful sensations arising in your body.

See if you can make a quiet mental note of pain, pain, simply to draw your attention closer to it. Listen to the tone of that mental note. Is it furious? Is it frightened? Or is it a calm recognition? There's pain in this moment.. Perhaps as you observe it, it grows stronger. Maybe it grows weaker. Maybe it seems to stay just the same. May stay with pain for a few minutes, observing it in this way. And then bring your attention back to the feeling of the breath or listen to sound, mind can relax again. But the breath and listening to sound serve as a refuge for us, as well as anchors for our attention.. And when you feel ready, you can open your eyes and relax. See if you can continue to feel the world of sensation and all of its changes as you move into the activities of

your daily life. Thank you for your practice. Thank you, Sharon. You can find more meditations like this one over on the 10% Happier app. Just download the app wherever you get your apps to get started. If you like 10% Happier, and I hope you do, you can listen early and ad free right now

by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondry.com slash survey.