Zen Meditation Can Relieve Pain

Do you know Zen? Canadian researchers have studied how experienced Zen meditators can handle experimental pain; they report their findings in the journal Psychosomatic Research.

The study used 13 highly-trained practitioners of Zen meditation (they all had more than 1,000 hours of practice); 13 control volunteers were selected, matching by age and gender. Both groups were given individually-adjusted heat stimuli on the left calf; the intent was to elicit moderate pain, with 53 degrees (Celsius) as the maximum temperature used. To establish a baseline, all participants had their moderate-pain-inducing temperatures scored at baseline (no task required), during concentration of their attention on the stimulation site, and finally during a less- concentrated and more non-judgmental period, which was intended to simulate meditation ‘mindfulness’.

The first task – concentration on the stimulated area – resulted in increased pain intensity in the non-meditators, but no change from baseline for the experienced meditators. During the ‘mindfulness’ stage, meditators reported decreased pain intensity while non-meditators reported no change from baseline.

Two other findings were of interest. The pain reduction in meditators was related to how many lifetime hours of meditation practice they had accumulated; there was more pain reduction in the more senior practitioners. Second, meditators seemed to breathe much slower than non-meditators.

Mindful meditation is becoming recognized as a force in self-healing. I’ve recently mentioned its use in insomnia, and there are many other conditions where it has been shown to have benefits. So it may be worth looking into.