Can focusing on pain actually help suppress it? Maybe, say researchers in a new video called "Meditation: Addressing Pain" from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH).
By concentrating on pain during mindfulness and meditation practices, we may be able to lessen our emotional responses to it.
This is according to Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D. He is the founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
In the video, which is on the NCCIH's YouTube channel, Dr. Davidson speaks to former NCCIH Director Josephine Briggs, Ph.D., and explains how our brains process pain and how researchers are working to better understand it.