Meditation and Chronic Pain

Summary

For many of us, the word meditation evokes a matrix of mental images associated with its spiritual heritage, whether our own or that of others—a solitary yogi in loincloth, Buddhist monks seated in the semi-lotus position, or even Roman Catholic priests praying in long robes and sandals. Although we in the West, until comparatively recently, have been largely dissociated from our meditative roots, meditation has found expression in every major religious tradition, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Only in the last 30 years has it been pared from its spiritual underpinnings and applied to more generalized and secular considerations of physical and emotional well-being.

Now it is commonplace to see meditation taught on college campuses, in church and synagogue basements, and in hospitals and clinics—for the medically ill and the robust—as a means of improving and maintaining health. According to two recent national surveys, meditation was being sampled or practiced by seven to eight percent of the population in the United States during the one-year period studied. Despite this resurgence of interest, however, there remains considerable cultural mystery and even disagreement and misapprehension within the scientific community about the phenomenon. In this chapter, we will consider what meditation is and does, as well as why and how it can be an effective intervention in the reduction of medical symptoms, particularly in the management of chronic pain.