I keep losing track of my body. I stand up after working on an engrossing project and only then realize that my back hurts because I’ve been hunching over my work. Or I’ve been sitting on my foot, which is now completely numb.

It’s tempting, then, to think that I can distract myself out of pain. If I fill up my brain with a challenging game, then I won’t have any attention left for the pain. The negative sensations will just fade away.

Distraction can work, particularly with small, temporary hurts. The trouble is that with stronger pain or chronic discomfort, it takes too much effort to keep pulling the brain away. We run out of resistance and the pain floods back in. We switch quickly from focusing on something outside ourselves to focusing intensely on the pain, amplifying it with our anxious attention.

The practice of mindfulness invites us to embrace our physical reality. We can observe our sensations with a friendly detachment, neither holding them close nor pushing them away.

This practice feels familiar to me from childbirth. By reminding myself that contractions were a normal part of my body’s preparation for birth, I was able to let them flow through me without getting anxious about the pain. Of course, it’s a lot easier to feel friendly towards pain when it’s leading me towards my baby. I feel much less affectionate towards my achy hip, which is leading me nowhere good.

Come join us this Friday for a talk by Zan Barry (Community Wellness, MIT) on Mindfulness for Pain Relief. I’m hoping to learn how to be more at home in my body, pain and all.