"There are four steps in dealing with pain.

"There are four steps in dealing with pain." 

The first is preventative. When you sit down to meditate, you probably know by now where pains tend to appear. Try to let the breath energy flow into that area even before the pain comes. Remember, however, that sometimes pain in one part of the body is caused by a lack of circulation in another part of the body. For instance, a pain in your knee may actually come from a lack of circulation in the middle of your back or in your face.

When that's the case, you have to let breath energy flow in the middle of the back or in the face if you want to prevent the pain in the knee.

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The relationships between circulation of breath energy and pain can be very unusual and unexpected. So, explore for a while. Try releasing any tension you can feel anywhere in the body. And you'll find that there may be one spot where, when you release the tension there, it will improve the energy flow in the area that you usually get the pain.

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When I was a young monk in Thailand, the group meditations at the monastery were an hour and a half every evening. I usually found that after fifteen minutes, I had a pain in my knee. And even though they allowed us to change positions, those who did change position were looked down on by the other meditators. So, in order to protect the good name of America, I tried my best not to move. I quickly realized that this required working on my breath circulation immediately as soon as I closed my eyes to meditate. In my case, I found that the pain in the knee was caused by a lack of breath energy flow in the upper back.

That's how I learned the first technique for dealing with pain: the preemptive strike.

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The second step, when pain has arisen, is not to focus on that spot. As I said this morning in the guided meditation, you might focus on the opposite side of the body or any spot where you can find that the breath energy is very comfortable.

Stay in the comfortable spot and let the pain have the other spot. You do not have to get into the line of fire. The mind will be tempted to focus on the pain and deliver a long commentary on the pain, but you have to tell yourself not to believe a word of what it is saying. Keep reminding yourself that as long as you're in a good spot, you're not threatened by the pain...

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If you can maintain this determination, you will find that the breath energy in the spot where you're focused becomes more and more comfortable, more powerful.

That's when you can move to the third step, which is to think of that comfortable energy spreading through the pain.

For example, if you feel comfortable energy in the area around the heart, and the pain is in your knee, think of the energy flowing from the heart down through the body, down through the leg, through the pain, and then out to the feet, relaxing any feelings of tension you may feel in those parts of the body.

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Make sure that you don't stop the energy flow right at the pain. Perceive the pain as being porous―it's not a wall―and that the energy can go through it easily. In this way, you're not being the victim of the pain. You're taking a more proactive role.

It's not so easy for the pain to shoot you when you're being proactive. And in this way, you feel less threatened by the pain. 

The voices in the mind that are complaining about the pain have less and less power...

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Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Feelings of Pain
Excerpt from:
The Karma of Mindfulness

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TO LEARN ABOUT THE FOURTH STEP IN DEALING WITH PAIN AND TO READ THE REST OF THE ESSAY, GO HERE:

http://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/KarmaofMindfulness151207.pdf