Befriending the Pain Body
Saturday October 27, 2018, Mindfulness Centre, Dublin, 10-5pm
And thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good, so I never tried.
Leonard Cohen, Famous Blue Raincoat
Eckhart Tolle's uses the term the Pain Body to describe "the accumulation of old emotional pain almost all people carry in their energy field"...
One of the most difficult things about being human is the experience of being assailed by the ‘worst’ in ourselves: states of acute despair, loss, terror, or pure pain that take hold at times and feel almost too strong to bear. For each of us, in these 'worst' places, our pain feels personal and unrelenting. Dismayed to find ourselves here, again, we may tell ourselves we are pathetic, or attack ourselves. In truth, we may we simply be scared or heartbroken to feel as bad as we do.
This workshop offers a space to explore and reflect on the nature of our 'Pain Body', the energy it carries, and how we can relate to it with more spaciousness, empathy and love. Over the course of the day, we will balance an acknowledgement of the qualities of our particular pain body, how it arises for us and how we are inclined to react to it, with an exploration of what truly softens and alleviates our suffering. We will also work with developing the kind of tender, present body awareness that helps to lighten the intensity and duration of our suffering.
When we bring clear thinking to the Pain Body, alongside a willingness to feel and accept its expression in us, our relationship to it lightens. In time, we can become more curious, resourceful and spacious in its presence. (I've written two brief pieces about different elements of the Pain Body here, which may be of interest - one is about self-presence, the other about our longing for the support of others.)
This workshop does not aim to overcome our Pain Body, but to re-imagine - and re-embody - it by responding to it with intimacy, vitality and warmth.
We will work in a safe, supportive and confidential way, attempting to shed fresh light on each of these themes. Through a blend of theoretical input, inquiry exercises, brief meditations, and group engagement, each person will be supported to make fresh contact with how these issues affect them. The emphasis will be on exploring this territory from an embodied, available presence. Certificates of attendance are available on request. Maximum participants 12.