Give the mind something good to preoccupy itself with so that it’s not focusing on the pain or on how frustrated you are with the illness. Allow the breath to actually help with the healing process.

"Try to work with the breath. It’s good, if one part of the body is especially ill, not to focus on that part immediately. If there’s a strong pain in some part of the body, find a part that’s not pained. Focus your attention there. And think of the breath flowing freely in that part of the body.

Then as that little beachhead gets established, you can spread it to other parts of the body and finally into the pained part. Think of the breath energy flowing all around and through the pain. All too often we tighten up around pain, which just makes it worse. So think of the breath energy flowing well and going right through it. It can permeate anything.

If you’ve got congestion in your nose or in your ears, think of the breath energy coming in and out every part of the body. That eases the pressure on the nose and the head, and eases the breathing process as a whole. There’s breath energy coming in through the pores all over the skin.

And you may find that focusing on one part of the body in particular is very helpful for pains in another part. If you have a headache, sometimes it’s good to focus down around the base of the spine. Stomachache: focus on the knees.

In other words, give the mind something good to preoccupy itself with so that it’s not focusing on the pain or on how frustrated you are with the illness. Allow the breath to actually help with the healing process."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Meditating When You’re Sick"

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