When we practice meditation that brings our attention to our bodies, we may become aware of many aches and pains in our bodies that we hadn’t noticed before. These could be very subtle or they could be very noticeable. A pain or discomfort in a particular area of the body we may be inclined to try to get away from it or change it somehow, which is a natural reaction. If the pain isn’t a result of some specific physical problem, like in the knees for example, then this may be a chance to really deal with the potential for release and healing.

Many unresolved issues are actually held in the form of tension or discomfort that is held in the body. The subconscious holds the past that has not been healed. The body is a kind of storage for the subconscious to keep things that have not been completed in our lives. That is why in meditation we may discover pain from this, welcome it and use it to release the original hurt.

We may gain insight into what we were holding and how it came to be visible to us as we experience release. If we have an ongoing pain in a place like our right shoulder, we may be able to find the source through meditating and becoming conscious of something from childhood connected to our father. This memory of a childhood reflection related to the father can be the vehicle for giving us some insight into the self. The real issue is not what the father’s actions were at all. He serves as the reflection of something that already existed within the self.

We might become aware of patterns that exist with all men because of this childhood issue that we’ve gotten some understanding about. We may see our patterns of relating – or not- to men. We will realize in the end that this is a distorted pattern within our masculine polarity. Many times we will discover that if we trace back in our lives, a problem with the masculine will relate to our relationship with our father, and if it with the feminine, it will be connected to our initial imprinting with our mother. They will both reflect and mark what we bring to our lives, and the universal rule of sympathetic attraction will cause us to be drawn to the parent that will allow us to work out the karma we have chosen in our lives.

The case is the same for emotional pain. If we really allow ourselves to experience our emotions in our bodies, to be present to ourselves and honor what is happening, we will be able to notice what develops during this process.

We can’t really just sit and meditate every time we have discomfort from feelings or emotions. But the practice of meditation in this manner will give us the opportunity to stay in the moment of our experiences in the rest of our lives while they are happening, and this can be powerful and empowering.