{\rtf1\fbidis\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang1033{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\fswiss\fprq2 Arial;}{\f2\fnil\fprq2\fcharset2 CommonBullets;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} \viewkind4\uc1\pard\ltrpar\qc\cf1\b\f0\fs44 Opening to pain\cf0\b0\f1\fs28\par \pard\ltrpar\par \cf1\fs32\tab\f0\fs28 Find a position in which you can remain comfortable and quiet for a few minutes.\par \par \tab Bring into your awareness a thought or a bodily sensation that is unpleasant to you. Perhaps it may be an image or a memory, a physical pain or ache. Choose only one.\par \par \tab Let your attention settle around this thought or sensation.\par \par \tab Allow yourself to be with your discomfort.\par \par \tab Bring your attention ever more intimately to bear on the thought or sensation.\par \par \tab Feel the way in which your mind or body tends to push against the unpleasantness, to close it off.\par \par \tab Feel in your mind or in your body both the pain and the resistance against the pain: both present... yet separate from one another.\par \par \tab Notice your tendency to want to identify with the resistance and to deny or isolate or push away the pain.\par \par \tab But instead of reactively pushing the painful thought or sensation away, stay with it... gently but firmly.\par \par \tab Now start to loosen the ring of resistance that surrounds the painful thought or sensation, loosening its hold in the same way you might allow a fist to open.\par \par \tab Consider the possibility that the resistance to the pain may be more painful than the pain itself. Notice how the resistance closes your heart and fills your body and mind with tension and dis-ease.\par \par \par \par \par \tab Keep relaxing the resistance... the tightness... that have accumulated around the pain.\par \par \tab Notice any fear that has developed around this unpleasant thought or sensation. Allow the fear to melt... to dissolve... along with the resistance... softening... opening... releasing...\par \par \tab Let the painful thought or sensation float free... no longer held in the grip of resistance.\par \par \tab Keep letting go of any resistance that tries to smother the experience. Allow the unpleasant thoughts or sensations to come fully into consciousness. No holding... no pushing away... just floating free...\par \par \tab All grasping relinquished. Just the thought or sensation, and the awareness of it... together... moment to moment.\par \par \tab See that the unpleasant thought is just a thought.. the painful sensation is just a sensation... just that... nothing more...\par \par \tab Softening... opening... releasing... allowing... again and again... until there is just thought... just sensation...\par \par \tab And it keeps changing... from moment to moment... it always keeps changing...\par \par \tab Soft... open... gentle... allowing... floating free...\cf0\f1\par \par \pard\ltrpar\qc\par \par \cf1\f0\fs24 (From: Ram Dass, How Can I Help, 1985, pp. 81-82)\par adapted from Who Dies, by Stephen Levine\fs28\par \cf0\f1\par \par \pard\ltrpar\par \pard\ltrpar\qc\cf1\f2\fs96 k\cf0\f1\fs28\par }