Shinzen Young is a respected meditation teacher who has developed a mindfulness-based pain management program that is presented in this integrated book-and-CD set. He was recently awarded an honorary doctorate from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, California. His interest lies in the blending of Eastern meditation and Western science.
In this volume, he points out that meditation offers two strategies for breaking our addiction to thought: the first is to let go of distractions and return to some focus, and the second is to allow our thoughts to pass through but to observe them with detachment. These two strategies can be helpful in working with any kind of uncomfortable body sensations.
According to Young, there are many flavors of pain including aching, shooting, pressure, and nausea. Instead of relying solely on drugs to deal with chronic or acute pain, we can learn how to step out of the pain by focusing attention elsewhere; to enjoy "breath pleasure" as a physiological healing tool; to release toxic emotions that actually intensify pain; to break up pain into manageable pieces; and to work with pain as an ally that may have something important to teach us. The most helpful material is on equanimity as a resource that grows out of meditation practice:
"Intentionally creating equanimity in your body is essentially equivalent to attempting to maintain a continuous relaxed state over your whole body as sensations (pleasant, unpleasant, strong, subtle, physical, emotional) wash through.
"Intentionally creating equanimity in your mind means attempting to let go of negative judgments about what you are experiencing, and replacing them with an attitude of loving acceptance and gentle matter-of-factness."
The CD included with the book contains five meditations designed to spur relaxation, concentration, and a change of perception.
