by Deborah Yaffee
The conscious mind can really only focus intensely on one piece of information at a time and this is what makes distraction such a powerful technique when working with pain clients. Leading a client to attend to an area of comfort is a quick and easy way to distract their mind from picking at the site of their pain. Follow this with the imagery of a pebble dropping into a pond to deepen the distraction and to add an element of dissociation and you’ve got a fun and easy pain relief technique that you and your client can use to address physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual discomfort.
Here is a simple script to distract and dissociate your client from pain and associate them into an ever-expanding zone of comfort and peace.
Pebble in a Pond:
As you continue to breathe naturally, gently… and your mind relaxes even more deeply… begin scanning your body….you may go as fast…or as slowly….as you desire….you are in control. As you move your attention through your body, I want you to find an area that feels comfortable. It doesn’t matter where this zone of comfort is. It may be as small as a finger….or an earlobe….or as large as your back or your belly. You may even find there is more than one area of comfort… and that’s okay, too…. simply notice how much comfort there is in your body. Choose and focus on one of those areas of comfort and gently allow your full attention to settle there. I’m going to give you a minute to DO THAT NOW. Lift your index finger to let me know when you have done so. (Wait for signal).
Beautiful. Continue to focus in on that area of comfort, as if your mind is a camera with a special zoom lens that allows you to magnify whatever you want more of. That’s right…zooming in…magnifying that sensation of comfort and ease …noticing how your feelings of comfort grow bigger…stronger… warmer…as you do so…..creating a stronger and stronger sensation …of comfort….and comforting warmth….in this special comfort zone that you have discovered….
And as you continue to allow these feelings of comfort to deepen and expand, imagine the area itself to be become less and less solid, more fluid and flexible….softening…melting…letting it become a pool of liquid comfort….a pond… of liquefied comfort…an unlimited source of soft…warm…comfort. Enjoy this experience of comfort and warmth…this comfort of comfort…again…and again….
I want you now to imagine… a little bit of that comfort….like a small pebble…a pebble of that golden, warm comfort…above this pond…this pond of comfort. And you can allow this pebble to drop …into the center of that pool of comfort…and notice how that pebble dropping into your comfort zone creates ripples….little circular waves, spreading out…circles of comfort growing larger and larger, spreading and spreading outward…further… further… further……and as the outermost circle of comfort begins to disappear, another pebble of solid comfort drops down into the center of that pond and …..slowly, another ….and another……and another….pebbles of comfort dropping into this pond of peace that you’ve created….so that there is a continuous rippling expansion of…these circles of comfort….ever widening circles….and you can experience those waves of comfort , gently traveling further out ……further…further… ……throughout your body….tiny waves of comfort touching places further and further away….until your entire body is awash in these waves. ….waves of … warm….soft.…soothing…comfort. Feel them washing over… and through… any areas of tension or discomfort ……and as they do, notice how these warm… soft… waves of comfort… simply dissolve any tension and stress…soothing any areas that were rough, jagged, hard or tense or uncomfortable. ….that’s right…simply enjoying each …wave…after wave… after wave…feeling yourself… merging….merging…becoming one with these waves of comfort…gently smoothing any rough edges ….washing away tension….dissolving the discomfort of the past….mental, emotional, physical, spiritual………..allowing all of that to dissolve ….into a sense of vast peace…. as you rest comfortably…..
© 2009 Deborah Yaffee, all rights reserved
