Study: Mindfulness Meditation Provides Opioid-Free Pain Relief
In a study published in the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, a team led by Fadel Zeidan, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, reports that mindfulness meditation does not employ the endogenous opioid system to reduce pain.
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“This study adds to the growing body of evidence that something unique is happening with how meditation reduces pain. These findings are especially significant to those who have built up a tolerance to opiate-based drugs and are looking for a non-addictive way to reduce their pain.”
http://www.wakehealth.edu/News-Releases/2016/Mindfulness_Meditation_Provides_Opioid-Free_Pain_Relief,_Study_Finds.htm
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My question is how do people in pain meditate at all? I don't have chronic pain, but have been through the kind of pain where it's the only thing on my mind (sciatic, kidney stones.) There was no way I was going to have any successful meditation during those times.
So how do people with chronic pain manage to successfully meditate, or to do so enough to lessen the pain? Like I said, I don't know what chronic pain is like, so maybe someone can educate me on how this would work for them 
It's about being detached, and I have tried that, such as after stubbing a toe. It does help the pain not only subside, but be less important.
And thanks for the link! I'll give it a try (as I did stub my toe a few weeks ago to the point of damaging it.)
Unfortunately, I can fully imagine that.
And pain seems to be a common topic with us humans. I don't know why. I guess it's a common connector 
I'll give the pain meditation a try tonight and let you know how it goes. I haven't done much mindfulness meditation, but have learned a bit from davidji's book on meditation.
First off, I have to admit that I have had alcohol this evening and could still feel it in me as I meditated. I feel like it did not affect my attention any worse than normal, but wanted to at least get that out there.
My toe doesn't bother me in pain except when I'm wrapping it in the morning, and throughout the day when I stretch or move it as one does without noticing. When at rest, I don't even notice the wrapping keeping it semi-immobilized. The pain that came up during meditation was in my left shoulder and lower neck, which has been stiff and irritating this evening.
What I found most interesting during the meditation was first how when asked to focus on my whole body that I felt detached from it and then couldn't feel it, other than noticing my breath. Then later in the meditation as I was asked to notice the pain in that same detached manner that it would fade to no pain quickly. However, I couldn't keep my focus like that and the pain would slowly come back. Yet, every time I focused on it in that detached manner, it would fade quickly.
It's just as we were previously discussing, so I'm going to have to put the technique to use when I have other pain, including pain that's more than dull pain in a generalized area (it also seemed to travel as the guide suggested.)
So I thank you again for these meditations, and will have to try more of them. My past experience in meditation has been mostly with guided meditations for exploring higher forms of consciousness and not so much mindfulness. 
that I did try it for pain in my right knee/leg - pain is sometimes there and sometimes not.
I did find similar to you - focusing on it, it would sometimes disappear.
which is not what one would expect.
maybe it is the realization or the experience that pain is not the firm, localized, "concrete" phenomenon that we imagine it to be.
I do two meditations daily: one - jyoti and the other mindfulness. (well, actually, mindfulness not daily - but often.
I find them both powerful and transforming, in different ways.
Mindfulness is interesting, and my teacher is great. I am learning a lot.
One thing I'll pass on to you - that my teacher says - no, two things:
1. The mindfulness approach is one of curiosity, and experimentation.
no judgement. She says (maybe this is in the recording, so I may be repeating.), 'when the mind strays, bring it back GENTLY. We are practicing loving kindness with ourselves.'
2. the other thing she says, changed my whole meditation experience! That is, that the treasure of the meditation is that moment when we realize our mind has gone off on its own, and we bring it back. So, it's not that 'oh, my mind strayed 100 times I am having an awful meditation session.'
It's that every time it strays is an opportunity to be mindful.
so - for me - that put a different spin on meditation.
I look forward to reading more about your experience.
There's no telling what it could lead to, if it does lead to anything. Or, they could simply learn that the best non-opioid method of controlling pain is meditation
I'm not familiar with jyoti meditation. Upon looking it up online, I'm unsure as to which sites offer what I need to know to learn more about it (400,000 hits!) It sounds interesting, so I would like to learn more about it.
I'll have a look for that Sam Harris book. I will admit that I've never cared for his opinions on belief, yet I will still have a look at his meditation book.
As for Jon Kabat-Zinn, I've had a mindfulness meditation introductory CD set for several years now. I just ripped it to a format for my portable player (flac) so maybe now I'll finally use it
What little I've learned of mindfulness is what you've just mentioned. That it's impossible to stop thinking; the mind just has too many thoughts going on all the time. (davidji mentions something like 30,000-40,000 thoughts per day!) He teaches the same thing, to gently bring yourself back to the center, and to not scold yourself for having thoughts.
Your second point makes so much sense! I can't add anything to that, and will simply remember it when it happens.
I'll have to work with those recordings some more and see what happens, especially with other pains going on. And to play with those recordings that are just for meditating mindfully. Plus, I'll probably mix them with that sound/noise site I posted here as they need a little something in the background. The newest one, Bells Breath, would work especially well for me. I'll just post back to this thread on my experiences.
the instructions are:
sit in a good meditative posture (as described on the mindfulness tapes). close eyes. Look straight ahead thru your closed ideas.
and you have a mantra. I'm sure you know what a mantra is, but let me describe it the way the jyoti teacher did, as there can be different interpretations:
a word or phrase which is uplifting and has meaning for you.
Then-- all you do is slowly repeat the mantra, and look out thru closed eyes.
If attention strays (which it will!) gently bring attention back to the mantra.
I started doing it 5 minutes a day, (about one year ago). I am now up to 20 minutes.
Last November, I became very conscientious in my practice, and I rarely - if ever- miss a day.
For me - it has been powerful, transforming..
I will not say more in detail, so I don't bias you.
but if you try it, we can share our experiences.
This is the website of the jyoti that I learned:
http://www.sos.org/page/the-art-of-meditation.html
You will see a lot more there. I personally do not care about the dogma that goes with it. Not saying there is anything wrong with it; it is not for me.
I just do the meditation.
~~
re Sam Harris,
the only book by him I have read is the one on spirituality that I mentioned. I understand he is an "anti-religious" writer.
For me that is OK, bec. I do not care about religion. His idea in this book is that one can be spiritual and have a meditative practice without any religious trapping.
I did not find very much mention of religion in the book, to me - it does not "bash" religion, but perhaps you will feel differently..
--
Could you link me to the noise/sound page you mention posting here?
I'm interested to check it out, altho I don't use any music when I meditate.
A meditation teacher of either jyoti or mindfulness would not recommend musical background - but of course that is up to you.
have fun and I will look forward to reading you impressions/experiences.
I know about mantra-meditation, just didn't know the term. I'll have to come up with a mantra that is meaningful to me and see what happens. I would assume we're allowed to try different mantras if we're not as satisfied with the first, right?
I haven't explored the jyoti site you linked yet I do have it up to have a closer look. The mindfulness site I've shared to other people, including on my FB page, and people liked it enough to comment and share.
As for dogma on that site (and elsewhere) I'm not religious (just spiritual with certain beliefs) so dogma can be bothersome to me, too. At least with a website, you can ignore that kind of thing and distill it down to the pertinent and useful information. I'll look for a Kindle version of Harris' book as I can at least read a chapter for free first (the digital method of "thumbing through a book."
The noise website has its own thread in this group now, but I will link it again here: MyNoise.net
The link in the middle of the page, Online Noises, is where you will find all of the pages with the different sounds. The site's owner, Dr. Stephane Pigeon, has done a fair amount of research on the use of sound for healing purposes, such as tinnitus. Thus, most of his pages can be calibrated to your hearing curve. Not truly what you need if using the sounds for meditation, just to point out the broad "spectrum" he covers with his site
There are many pages of natural sounds, too (water, wind, rain, insects, birds, even farm animals) so you can recreate some outdoor setting you like, including an oasis (that link is one I made with the function "Save in URL" so you can do that same once you've made a setting you like and want to keep.) I'm pretty sure you could create almost any natural soundscape you can imagine, especially by either opening multiple pages at once or using another function called Super Generators. If there's some outdoor landscape in your mind that would be perfect for meditating, create it and see what happens
I want something that I can record,
say 2 minute interval, then a one minute, then repeat.
with a little ping at the end of each interval.
for my yoga practice.
right now I use a kitchen timer, which is a loud ring, so I hide it under blankets.
and - having to open my eyes to re-set each time, is less than ideal.
I saw an app for a smart phone which does exactly what I want - but I don't have a smart phone - so no help for me.
I figure there is probably something online but I haven't been able to find anything.
However, if you have audio editing software, you could make your own. Or, I could and send you a file. I've got a fair amount of natural sounds in digital format here, so it wouldn't be a problem to throw something together. Just tell me for how long and what kind of background sound you want
When I searched just now, I saw there were many hits for devices (as well as apps) and even youtube videos with the timers. Maybe not to your specification, but they are out there. I would suspect the devices would be programmable, but I haven't checked to be sure of that.
Let me know if you want me to edit something together for you. It wouldn't be a problem at all. I enjoy doing such things 
or am I imagining?
anyway, that "search" you sent was very nice of you.
I however cannot figure things out.
for the "gym boss" says,
"1 or 2 intervals - 2 seconds to 99 minutes
Repeat up to 99 times
Beep and/or Vibrate alarm"
does that mean I can set 2 intervals, say of 3 minutes, and have that repeat for up to 99 minutes?
that might work.
The ideals would be 2 1/2 min, - that's for the movement, and 1 min (rest), and then that repeats.
Then sometimes I have to change for a certain movement.
~~
does that sound doable to you?
I thot maybe I could record such a thing on a cd. Can one record on a cd like I recorded on a tape?
I once recorded on a cassette tape - yes I still have them, lol ,
a set for myself as described above, at the end of the specified time interval, I ring a little bell.
but the quality of the cassette was bad -- all I could hear was the sound of the cassette.
so if you know how to do something like this, I would be MOST APPRECIATIVE!
I've been using a kitchen timer for 30 years. It is not ideal, means I have to open my eyes at the end of each movement, which would be better if I could just keep going.
let me know, and probably I haven't explained what I need very well, - if you need more explanation.
since you say you enjoy doing this
I obviously have no talent in that direction at all.
And I didn't answer your post about the mantra because you answered that question for me
Okay, I took a look at the Gym Boss and it reminds me of a triple timer I use for baking bread. You set each timer for the interval you want, and then can make all three count down at the same time, beeping at each interval (example: rise, rest, bake.)
As I understand that yoga timer, it has two timers that either work at the same time, or one after the other (I would assume the latter) and then repeat. So, you can set each timer to a range from 2 seconds to 99 minutes and repeat a set of both together up to 99 times. You would set the first timer for your yoga at 02:30 and the second one at 01:00. Then set the repeat function for however many times you need for your total session. At least, that's how it seems to be set up to me.
You could record anything I throw together onto a CD, but I would have to send the file in wav format so that the computer software would understand that you're making a normal CD with it. MP3 files and other compressed formats don't convert back to uncompressed formats well at all (wav is an uncompressed format, and the native filetype on a CD.) That is also assuming you have a CD-player in your computer that can burn new CDs (most do these days.) Alternately, send the file-link to someone you know who could burn it for you. I am not sure if drugstores will do that or not. Kinko's might as well.
Alternatively, if you have computer speakers, and some program for playing music (I use JetAudio) you should be able to program that to repeat a ready-made file. It might also be programmable to play two short cuts (one at 2.5 min. and one at 1 min.) indefinitely.
You could also update your speakers to something like this that works as both a media player and a pair of speakers:
HY - A14 Dual Loudspeaker Digital Music Speaker Media Player
I've never seen anything like that before, and the price is right. Plus, it will play from both SD cards and USB drives. So, I could send you another custom-made media file, even on MP3, and you just download that onto a flash drive and plug it into the back of that player. (And if you want to look at my search for more choices, try this.) I already have a couple of media players and a wireless dual speaker, but all of them were rather pricey. I just wanted devices that would last many years before I had to replace them. I have no idea about the quality of the above speakers.
Well, let me know what you think, and we'll work something out if you need other files. Also, if you have a preference for nature sounds, let me know. That noise site has many choices, including fire, wind, rain, fan-noise, and other similar sounds. I bought some of them last year, so that's why I can edit them for sharing
I understood the first part-
about that yoga timer-
it sounds like it will be worth it for me to try it.
after that you lost me, I am very non-techie. also didn't sleep much last nite, so am not going to even TRY reading it right now.
but will try when I have some sleep.
thanks for explaining. I may be able to understand, once I set my mind to reading it. I appreciate you taking the time!
btw, re musical background -- for me, I don't do any musical background to either Jyoti or mindfulness med.
of course anyone can meditate however they wish.
Just so you know tho, if you are meditating with music, you are not doing jyoti or mindfulness.
how is your meditating coming along?
I am still doing Jyoti once every day for 20 minutes and usually once a day mindfulness for 20.
however, my mindfulness med is not as consistent as my jyoti med.
but "i am doing the best I can."
is if you have an in-person friend who can show you how to do some of these things (assuming they are semi-tech savvy.) Because it really does sometimes require visual aids
My meditation "practice" really hasn't launched well. I recently spent some birthday money on a juicer, and have been reading, buying produce, and just tried it out earlier today. It's a learning experience in and of itself, for what sizes to cut things and so forth. Still, I have some good recipes, and so far, at least one is tasty
Also, when I have meditated, I didn't use music either, but did use one of the background noises (I think I chose Zen Garden.) It helped me to ignore noises outside of my apartment by masking them with the sounds of a garden space. If my patio was isolated enough from everyone else, I'd meditate out there, now that the weather is getting nice and warm.
Anyway, that's all I mean by "sound." Just natural sounds that do tend to take me to that kind of reality and away from this one. I can better focus that way