My mindfulness practice has included paying more attention to how mental preoccupations and physical tension are intimately linked. Sitting this morning, I noticed that my shoulders were incredibly tight and painful, which is not unusual for me as my shoulders are where I carry tension. Pain and tension in my shoulders has been somewhat more common the past few weeks due to many preoccupations with work.
The question is, during my formal sitting practice, do I continue to keep my attention concentrated on my breath and ensure my body is still relaxed overall, or do I take my attention away from my breath to focus more intensely on the muscle tension in my shoulders? I don’t think there is a yes or no answer to this all the time, but certainly I recognize the usefulness of paying more attention to places of tension in my body.
Of course, usually I’d rather not pay attention to tension in my body, I’d rather stay with the breath and try to reach for that lofty goal of “stillness” and silence. This physical pain is usually seen as a distraction, a nuisance, an annoyance, when my goal is to focus on something else.
When I do decide to focus specifically on the muscle tension, I find that mindfulness does have a healing effect. Mindfulness of pain is a fascinating practice, and I encourage anyone to try it out! For me, the practice is about pinpointing where exactly the pain is in the body and whether it moves, whether it changes or shifts or continues to stay the same, what type of pain it is (throbbing, shooting, aching, tightness, discomfort). I keep asking the question, “What is this?” to really uncover what this experience is all about. Intially, the pain might initially get worse, but eventually it is able to subside all on its own.
Off the cushion, applying mindfulness to how this muscle pain accumulates throughout the day is definitely worthwhile as well. This can be an continuous effort because my habit energy is to ignore the pain and tension, and wish or pretend it isn’t there. When I am able to notice it during my daily activities, I do find that the physical tension is an outward manifestation of mental and emotional tension. The physical tension appears when I am trying to mentally push myself to accomplish a task in a hurry, or I am trying to compensate for a certain quality that I feel that I am lacking (diligence, dedication, outgoingness, etc.). I am being forceful and aggressive in my mind, and that forcefulness comes along with physical tension.
With time I hope that this forcefulness and self-aggression can subside the more I can hold it in mindfulness and remember that I really want to be relaxed and at ease. When I am able to remember to practice mindfulness, and apply this awareness to my body and its levels of relaxation and tension, I find it provides many useful results and I learn so much about my mind and body in the process.