Meditation in surgery

Meditation for Surgery

By the time that many of you read this post, I’ll be recovering from surgery. In fact, the anesthesia will have worn off and I will be thoroughly engaged in working with my pain through the use of pain medications (yes, I use them) and my meditation practice.

I’m going to have to make this a quick post because I’ve got a lot to do before I head off to the hospital, but here’s some straight talk about how to use the art of meditation for surgery…or pain…or illness…or…life!

While this post will be short, I hope that by sharing what I’m doing in my life, it will inspire you to do the same. After all, the best opportunity that you have to practice meditation is right here, right now, regardless of what’s going on, right?

Meditation is the Art of Living Your Life

While I’m writing about using my meditation practice for surgery, in fact, meditation is really about working with life, isn’t it? After all, you don’t need to have a painful procedure, or undergo medical intervention, to find yourself in need of a little help in working with your mind.

Meditation is about being aware, in life and in all that you do. That awareness can also be used when you’re trying to deal very difficult experiences, like pain or loss.

Meditation for Pain

The main thing that I’ll be using my meditation practice for today and in the weeks to come, will be to prevent myself from getting swept away in the sensation of pain.

I’ve written on this before in a post for the blog, Tiny Buddha. In that post, sharing my experience of an ankle surgery that I’d had, I wrote that: 

A few weeks after the ankle pain subsided to a tolerable level I found myself “missing the experience” and began a review of what I had gained from the whole affair. I mused on the fact that when I was dealing with the phenomenon of pain, my attention was clear, focused and precise; I’d really been engaged.

Pain is something that, in general, we try to avoid. After all, its noxious, it isn’t pleasant, and it can distract us from our daily life. However, pain can also be an incredible way to put your method of meditation into practice. That’s what I learned in that last experience and that I hope to use again in the next few weeks to deepen my meditation practice.

Meditation Isn’t About Trying to Keep the Pain Away

As I’ve written in the past, meditation is about being present with all that arises, being able to remain at peace, in moment-to-moment awareness, despite what’s arising in your mind or in your body. In that way, pain is simply another form of arising, or phenomenon, that you work with when you meditate.

So, as I prepare to enter my practice of meditation in surgery, I encourage all of you to take whatever you’re given in life and turn it into the perfect opportunity to practice meditation.

P.S. – Research on Meditation and Pain

As many of you know, I’m a big fan of research into the positive effects of meditation and health and well being. If you enjoy it as well, check out this article, titled, “Could meditating before or during surgery decrease your pain?” It’s great to see that ongoing research and study is confirming what meditators have known…for centuries!

How To Meditate

Maybe you’ve already got a meditation practice. If that’s the case, great! Keep it up. And feel free to use all of the content from this site to support you in your efforts. If you haven’t started to meditate, begin now.

Many people don’t meditate because they believe that they need to do “something special” in order to meditate, maybe you’re one of them. “Doing something” special isn’t the case. All you need is your breath, and a few minutes of time set aside to begin your practice. Here are some tools to get you started:

This site has tons of tools for learning how to meditate.

I encourage you to look through the HUNDREDS of articles that I’ve written and especially check out my weekly meditation tips and other useful meditation materials provided for your health and well being. And please let me know if you’d like to discuss anything with me, have any questions or need clarification regarding anything that I’ve written about.

Thanks for visiting and have a mindful day.