Meditating Through Pain

How meditation makes us stronger and more capable

After getting an infinity symbol tattooed on my ribs in 2010, I promised myself I would never get a tattoo again. Needle jabbing into ribs for over an hour was one of the most painful experiences I had up to that point. I remember it feeling like my whole body was being shaken from the inside in the most unpleasant way.

But in 2013, when two of my best friends said we should all get triangles tattooed on ourselves, I was in. I wanted to share that experience with them, and I loved the idea of a downward-facing triangle, an ancient symbol of the feminine, with my best friends.

Of course, we decided the best place for it would be on our ribs. (lol) We humans are silly creatures.

So we went in, and I watched as each of my friends received her tattoo before getting on the table myself. The tattoo artist, also a friend, suggested that I get it a little higher up than I had planned because it would be more painful down below. Which was a great call in the end because it rests right above my infinity symbol, and I love thinking of it as the infinite journey of the self inward toward the divine.

Both of my friends had to leave for previous engagements, so not only was I the last person on the table, but I was also alone in the studio with the artist. As he concentrated on placing this permanent ink, with no other distractions available, I sat and looked at the clock, waiting for the time to be over so I could be free of this pain.

It was becoming unbearable. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to sit for the rest of this experience. But I knew I couldn’t stop now.

That’s when I came up with the idea to try and meditate through the rest of the tattoo. I’m not exactly sure why I thought of it. I mean, I was meditating every day for about a year at that time—sitting for 20 minutes a day and then one hour with my sangha on Sundays. Meditation had offered me a lot of relief from my incessant thoughts, so perhaps I thought it would help me with the pain too.

So I started to move into a practice of meditation, placing my attention on the breath and letting it stay there, allowing me to be in the present moment.

And then something fascinating happened.

I stopped feeling pain. There was relief. Also, time seemed to stand still—not slow and dragging on, but as though I was just suspended in one unending present moment.

All of a sudden, there was just the single prick of the needle.

What I realized later is that when I came fully into the present moment, there was no buildup of the past and there was no anticipation of the future. There was just the present moment, and that moment was tolerable. More than tolerable, even—there was no sense of struggle at all.

I wish I could describe how magical it was and unlike anything I had experienced before.

What has stayed with me, though, is the realization that being present with what is happening isn’t as painful as we might think. Instead, staying present is exactly what we can handle. And it’s the only place where we can actually do anything.

Our minds tend to create stories which are always outside of the present moment. These stories aren’t necessarily bad, but if we don’t know how to separate from them, it can seem like the only way to perceive reality.

When we’re wrapped up in a story of the past or the future, it carries an additional weight—more emotions and experiences, both real and perceived, than what the present moment itself carries.

During my tattoo, for example, I was holding onto all the pricks of the needle that came before the present moment, and I was anticipating all the pricks of the needle that were still to come. That’s a lot of pain to carry all at once!

But when I entered fully into the present moment, releasing anything from before or after, instantly all I was left with was one small insertion of the needle.

Meditation offers many benefits, but how this story specifically applies to our lives is how workable they become when we let go of the stories of the past and the future. We don’t let go forever, but we create the space to be present with what is—in this moment, right here.

And right here is the only place where we can do anything.

This practice of dropping into the here and now makes everything much easier to handle. We can approach each situation with a sense of calm and clarity, allowing us to make better decisions for our lives.

Often, the world tries to hype us up—get us agitated and angry or scared in an effort to get us to act. Because if we’re feeling these uncomfortable feelings, then we’re more likely to move into action in order to not feel these feelings anymore.

Sometimes folks try to do this to get us to spring into action for good causes, and sometimes they want us to spring into action to take advantage and sell us something.

Neither are helpful to us or the world around us.

When we are centered and peaceful, we’re actually much better able to address the problems of our lives and the problems of the world. There’s no way to make a truly good decision when we’re acting out of our amygdala response. Hopefully we do, but it’s much more likely we will be sloppy, make mistakes, or perpetuate fear and anger.

None of those things have ever helped my life in any way, aside from being experiences I had to learn from—not to mention clean up any mess created by them.

To be propelled by a sense of urgency only creates situations where we act out of our old, unhealthy patterns because we don’t have the space to think clearly. Eventually, this sense of anxiety and urgency leads to burnout. Our systems can’t handle being in a fight-or-flight response for extended periods of time. That’s not what we were built for.

We evolved to mostly be relaxed and resting. This is where our greatest health comes from, and it’s where our greatest sense of peace, clarity, and connection comes from.

Anyone who thinks meditation is a way to bypass and detach from this reality either hasn’t practiced meditation or has been taught improper methods.

Meditation brings us into closer contact with reality and gives us something to work with.

It allows us to feel more deeply.

Which means when I am laughing with friends, I’m all there, and the love and joy fill every part of my being up with radiance. If I’m lost in thought, there’s no space in my being to receive.

And when I am present with a stressful situation, I can stay with it and address it immediately, instead of becoming either immobilized or agitated by becoming fearful of the future.

The practice of presence doesn’t remove pain or challenge from our lives, but it does transform how we meet them. It offers us clarity, steadiness, and the chance to respond with wisdom rather than fear. And in every moment—joyful, painful, or mundane—that presence is the gift we can always give ourselves.

It lets life be something we can experience and enjoy, rather than be at the whim of. We start to become the collaborators and creators of our lives instead of sitting back and merely responding to what happens to us.

There are so many gifts that meditation offers, and one of them is the power of presence which gives us a sense of peace we can carry into every moment. Regardless of what that moment holds.

---

The Sanctuary Within

July 8, 15, 22, & 29 2025 | 7-8pm EST | Online

The Sanctuary Within is a four-week journey into cultivating your own inner refuge. In a world that often feels chaotic, this container offers space to build deep calm, safety, and strength from within. Through guided practices and community support, you’ll reconnect to the steady foundation inside yourself — a sanctuary you can return to anytime.

This series is for anyone ready to feel more grounded, secure, and at ease in their own skin. When you create safety within, everything else begins to shift with greater ease and clarity.

Week One: The Power of Presence
Find calm inside, reconnect with yourself, and learn to notice your thoughts and feelings without getting overwhelmed by them.

Week Two: Meeting Ourselves with Compassion
A gentle opening into emotional healing, integration, and the transformative nature of self-love.

Week Three: Trusting Something Greater
Exploring how to listen for guidance, build spiritual trust, and soften into co-creation with life.

Week Four: Healing in Connection
Anchoring the experience in community, shared reflection, and the medicine of being seen and held.

The teaching portions of these sessions will be recorded for you to watch later.

$50-$150 sliding scale

Reserve your space here.

*Please email me if finances are an issue, no one will be turned away for lack of funds.