Severe or long-term pain should always be checked out by a health professional, but you can help yourself with everyday stresses, pains, and aches. We tend to judge them with anger and as the enemy, “Damn arthritis pain! Hurting me again!”

Stress, aches, pain — always and without exception — need our loving attention. If you can reach the part of the body that is stressed or in pain, you may be able to relieve it. Using both hands, if possible, cup them slightly and lay them over the stressed or painful area. Begin to breathe slowly and deeply. Imagine that you are breathing warmth and loving energy through the hands and into your body at the point of pain. Imagine the warmth and energy flows into you through the top of your head and flows out through your hands. You may want to say something like, “I love you. I love you. I love you.” Sense, feel, or imagine the pain and tension melting away under your hands.

Keep your hands in the same position until you feel a shift in your overall level of relaxation or a lessening in the degree of stress or pain. Keep in mind with certain health conditions people commonly place a layer of suffering with their illness. If you have an illness you don’t need to have suffering. Consciously take a moment and tell your brain to remove the suffering and focus on the current health problem at hand. You may see your pain or illness greatly reduce when you consciously tell your body to remove the suffering.