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I don't know if it's the weather, a cascade effect from ordinary "earned" aches being worse than normal this week, or something else entirely. Whatever it is, right now I'm uncomfortably aware of joints that I normally don't even remember that I have. OTC painkillers take the edge off, but that's about it. (I'm currently rotating among acetaminophen, aspirin, and ibuprofen, so that I don't get too close to the maximum dosage of any of them. Checked for negative interactions first; none are known.)
What's to be done about the rest of it? Intense focus can leave pain in the 'irrelevant' category for a few hours, along with most other bodily sensations, but it will intrude at points of fatigue and distraction. That's where technique starts to matter. Actively ignoring pain, deliberately shutting it out of my thoughts or shunting it off to an unspecified Somewhere Else, can work but takes up a disproportionate amount of energy and attention - as one would expect from an important-urgent signal. And when I have the luxury of time to think, it's also philosophically distasteful. Long exposure to Buddhism has left me unwilling to cut off any part of my experience without good reason*.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, what I've found to work best is a Buddhist-derived practice. Its basic form is described here in the section "Working with Pain". At the start, it helps to find tense muscles and invite them to relax, one deep breath at a time. Continue until the amount of tension you're holding hits a lower plateau than you started with. That cuts out at least some of the secondary discomfort that comes only from body position. Then follow through the steps in the article. Around #2, it becomes apparent that what you've been identifying as 'pain' isn't a unitary sensation, and its components tend to be individually more bearable than their aggregate. I find that step #3 is optional - I'll do it if I'm planning to spend a while in meditation, but otherwise not. Regardless, when you're ready to go do something else, step back the amount of attention you're granting until you can just keep awareness of the component level of pain, but no more. With practice, one can maintain that state for an extended period of time. Of all the various methods I've tried, I find that one leaves me with the most energy and attention to spare for other things. These days, I've had sufficient practice that it can carry me between natural periods of deep focus comparatively easily, so long as I have the energy to get started in the first place.
As usual, YMMV. Hope this is useful to someone.
* Good reasons include 'this is too much right now'. I've had opportunities to become aware of my limits that I wouldn't wish on anyone.
What's to be done about the rest of it? Intense focus can leave pain in the 'irrelevant' category for a few hours, along with most other bodily sensations, but it will intrude at points of fatigue and distraction. That's where technique starts to matter. Actively ignoring pain, deliberately shutting it out of my thoughts or shunting it off to an unspecified Somewhere Else, can work but takes up a disproportionate amount of energy and attention - as one would expect from an important-urgent signal. And when I have the luxury of time to think, it's also philosophically distasteful. Long exposure to Buddhism has left me unwilling to cut off any part of my experience without good reason*.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, what I've found to work best is a Buddhist-derived practice. Its basic form is described here in the section "Working with Pain". At the start, it helps to find tense muscles and invite them to relax, one deep breath at a time. Continue until the amount of tension you're holding hits a lower plateau than you started with. That cuts out at least some of the secondary discomfort that comes only from body position. Then follow through the steps in the article. Around #2, it becomes apparent that what you've been identifying as 'pain' isn't a unitary sensation, and its components tend to be individually more bearable than their aggregate. I find that step #3 is optional - I'll do it if I'm planning to spend a while in meditation, but otherwise not. Regardless, when you're ready to go do something else, step back the amount of attention you're granting until you can just keep awareness of the component level of pain, but no more. With practice, one can maintain that state for an extended period of time. Of all the various methods I've tried, I find that one leaves me with the most energy and attention to spare for other things. These days, I've had sufficient practice that it can carry me between natural periods of deep focus comparatively easily, so long as I have the energy to get started in the first place.
As usual, YMMV. Hope this is useful to someone.
* Good reasons include 'this is too much right now'. I've had opportunities to become aware of my limits that I wouldn't wish on anyone.
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