Breathworks teamed up with The Oxford Psych to create our first ever animated video on one of the key concepts in our Mindfulness-based Pain & Illness Management (MBPM) approach: primary and secondary suffering.
Pain can be an overwhelming experience that can start to weigh us down. Evidence-based mindfulness techniques can help to lighten the load by changing the way that we experience pain through training the mind to respond differently. This video explains that what we experience as pain is made up of two elements: our primary and secondary suffering. Our primary suffering is the direct, felt experience of pain in the moment. Our secondary suffering is the negative thoughts and judgements that we add on top in reaction to pain. As the thoughts, emotions and worries build, we add layers of additional suffering that contribute to our physical tension and felt pain. Mindfulness approaches can help to reduce secondary suffering and relieve pain; this video explains how.