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Relieving Pain Through the Power of Immobility · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  When we are injured or affected by a disease condition that can
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  cause pain, we find that the nerves attached to the injured
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  area capture a vibration and transmit it to the brain as a
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  signal we associate with pain. This signal is intended to spur
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  us to some form of action to relieve the causative factor.
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  In some circumstances, however, we are not in a position to
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  solve the cause, for instance, in the case of an acute injury
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  or a chronic disease condition, and the pain becomes
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  unrelenting, constant and intense to the point that it
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  impacts our ability to concentrate or function
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  virtually at all. In such instances, we obviously
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  know there is an issue and thus the signal has done its job.
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  We then seek to relieve the pain so that it is not interfering
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  with what we need to do. For most people, pain relief
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  comes in the form of a drug of some sort and herb, a relatively
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  mild painkiller or a powerful narcotic, or even a sleep
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  inducing anesthetic such as is used to perform surgery.
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  Yet there are other ways one can achieve pain relief, either by
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  shifting the concentration away from the area that is under
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  pressure or through a mechanism that stills the vibration of the
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  nerves carrying the signal. Many people have found relief
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  through non drug methods including the use of hypnotism,
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  acupuncture or if possible deep meditation that leads to a
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  trance like state. In some instances the
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  application of a cold pack or a topical anaesthetic or counter
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  irritant can deaden the nerve vibration at the site of an
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  injury and provide thereby pain relief.
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  Some people systematically habituate themselves to bear
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  what would ordinarily be extremely painful.
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  The mother provides yet another method through the practice and
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  perfection of the static power of immobility.
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  The mother writes. Quote, Some people are more or
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  less what I call coddled, that is unable to resist any pain, to
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  bear it. They immediately say I can't, it
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  is unbearable, I can't bear anymore.
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  This indeed changes nothing in the circumstances.
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  It does not stop the suffering because it is not by telling it
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  that you don't want it that you make it go away.
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  But if you can do two things, either bring into oneself for
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  all nervous suffering, for example, bring into oneself a
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  kind of immobility as total as possible at the place of pain,
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  this has the effect of an anesthetic.
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  If one succeeds in bringing in inner immobility and immobility
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  of the inner vibration at the spot where one is suffering, it
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  has exactly the same effect as an anesthetic.
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  It cuts off the contact between the place of pain and the brain.
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  And once you have cut the contact, if you can keep this
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  state long enough, the pain will disappear.
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  You must form the habit of doing this, but you have the occasion
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  all the time, the opportunity to do it.
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  You get a cut, get a knock. You see, one always gets a
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  little hurt somewhere, especially when doing athletics,
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  gymnastics and all that. Well, these are opportunities
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  given to us. Instead of sitting there
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  observing the pain, trying to analyze it, concentrating upon
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  it, which makes it increase indefinitely.
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  There are people who think of something else, but it does not
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  last. They think of something else and
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  then suddenly are drawn back to the place that hurts.
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  But if one can do this, you see, since the pain is there, it
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  proves that you are in contact with the nerve that's
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  transmitting the pain, otherwise you wouldn't feel it.
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  Well, once you know that you were in contact, you try to
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  accumulate at that point as much immobility as you can to stop
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  the vibration of the pain. You will perceive then that it
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  has the effect of a limb which goes to sleep when you are in an
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  awkward position, and that all of a sudden you know, don't you?
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  And then when it stops, it begins to vibrate again
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  terribly. Well, you deliberately try this
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  kind of concentration of immobility in the painful nerve.
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  At the painful point you bring as total an immobility as you
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  can. Well, you will see that it
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  works, as I told you, like an anesthetic.
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  It puts the thing to sleep. And then if you can add to that
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  a kind of inner peace and a trust that the pain will go
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  away, well, I tell you that it will go.
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  Of all things, that which is considered the most difficult
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  from the yogic point of view is toothache, because it is very
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  close to the brain. Well, I know that this can be
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  done truly to the extent of not feeling the pain at all.
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  And this does not cure the bad tooth.
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  But there are cases in which one can succeed in killing the
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  painful nerve. Usually in a tooth it is the
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  nerve which has been attacked by the carries the disease and
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  which begins to protest with all its strength.
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  So if you succeed in establishing this immobility,
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  you prevent it from vibrating, you prevent it from protesting.
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  And what is remarkable is that if you do it fairly constantly
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  with sufficient perseverance, the sick nerve will die and you
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  will not suffer at all anymore, because it was that which was
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  suffering. And when it is dead, it does not
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  suffer any longer. Try End Quote reference Sri
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  Aurobindo and the Mother, Powers within Chapter 12, Power of
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  Immobility, pages 1:02 to 1:03.