Season 1, Episode 6 & 7: The Labyrinth

The concept of using the mind to process and release pain is one I’ve been intrigued by for some time. I first encountered it in Headspace — founder Andy Puddicombe described how one of his teachers at the monastery asked him to continue to search for his pain, to find what color, size, texture, and shape it was, and it it changed and moved as he observed it. I found this to be incredibly moving and poetic, and loved trying the technique myself…but I found it took some effort to apply, and was sometimes but not always effective. I recall one occasion that I tried the technique, when I was doubled over in pain after being accidentally glutened (I have celiac) when the technique seemed utterly worthless, and all I could do was lie in a dark room until I passed out from exhaustion. And I gave up on the idea of using meditation to help with pain.

Later, I became equally interested in the concept of techniques to process traumatic emotions through hypnosis, chanting, and yoga nidra. I read several books, talked with friends who had had success, and studied techniques such as iRest. While I know these and other approaches have worked for many many people, they didn’t help me process my trauma, and neither did any other approach that I tried.

Then I was truly amazed by the techniques taught by Les Fehmi and Susan Shore-Fehmi through Open Focus. For the first time, I was able to learn and apply a repeatable process that put me in control of my pain, both physical and emotional.

This track is my attempt to marry up the imagination, playfulness, and ease of yoga nidra with the Open Focus technique for dissolving pain. To me, the process of dissolving — or as I call it, releasing — pain is like a labyrinth: a layered repetition of focused attention that leads you, step by step, to a centered feeling of connection. In my labyrinth, the walls of the labyrinth are narrow as part of an induction process that leads to a very wide, very spacious center where the release of pain can take place.

To prepare for writing this practice, I studied with Susan Shore-Fehmi, listened to many iterations of the dissolving pain practice, and read all the books on the Open Focus technique. I also read several books on hypnotic management of pain. None of this seemed quite sufficient, so I searched for metaphors to understand the inner landscape of pain, and came across the Janus coin concept of maze and labyrinth: one is intended to confuse and trap, and one is intended to guide and release.

I explored the history and architecture of labyrinths, and was inspired by the embodied sense of the hero’s journey — the experience of walking a labyrinth is a kind of abstract story. For me, it became a powerful visualization tool to remind myself of the steps for releasing pain, and I’m sharing it here, in a long form and a short form, in case it’s also useful for anyone else in pain.