The Pain Body

What is “Pain Body“? Our emotional pain body is stored in the cells of the body. Old memories and negative emotions can become fuel for our pain body, if they are not faced at the moment. Learn about this ”parasite” that causes you suffering and emotional pain.

The famous author Eckhart Tolle has written the book “A New Earth – Awakening to your Life’s Purpose” where he talks about the pain body (chapter 5-6). Eckhart Tolle was invited as a guest on Oprah’s web classes to discuss the pain body. Below is a summary from these interesting conversations. Get important insights about the emotional pain body and how to break free from this toxic energy field. Also, don’t miss the video below where Eckhart Tolle explains how to get rid of the pain body!

Pain Body Definition

What is a pain body according to Eckhart Tolle? It is an energy field inside your body that is formed by negative thoughts and emotions that you are experiencing. The pain body is part of the Ego and is a very unhappy entity. Pain body can manifest itself as: illness, anger, stress, fear, sadness etc. Pain-body seeks unhappiness and unpleasant experiences that matches its energy field, because pain body feeds on negativity. Its very existence consists of this unhappy vibration and the pain-body doesn’t want an end to this unhappiness because this would mean an end to the pain-body.

How the Pain Body Works

Webclass: Oprah & Eckhart Tolle Pain Body

Find out what triggers the pain body in our daily life and how to break free from the emotional pain body by staying alert and present when the pain body becomes active.

When you are stuck in your emotional pain body your emotions will rise into your mind. So when you feel sadness, you will think thoughts that make you sad, and if you feel angry, you will think thoughts that are angry in nature, and so on. This means that all your interpretation of people and different events will become totally distorted and very negative when you are stuck in your pain body. The emotional pain body loves this negative energy of your thinking and unconsciously seeks more pain because it feeds on your negativity. This negative cycle continues as long as you are completely identified with your emotions. However, you need to realize that you are not your emotion.

The Pain Body in Relationships

What is the pain body like, when we interact with the people we love? When the pain body in relationships awakens, it will seek drama to feed it self. This is very common in close relationships. The pain body tends to push the partner’s “button” to bring a negative reaction. It’s easier to realize the pain body in someone else. You require more presence to see it in yourself. One sign that your pain body is awakening is when you react strongly with intense emotions that are greater than the external trigger (e.g. a simple remark from your partner makes you furious). If you are present in this moment and say: “oh there’s my pain body”, it means that you are not at the mercy of your pain body. The pain body symptoms in relationships include strong emotions such as rage, sadness, fear, hate, despair, and jealousy.

How to get rid of the pain body

Dissolving Pain Body Eckhart Tolle & Oprah Webclass

Healing the pain body is not complicated, but it takes some practice. Dissolving the pain body is all about being mindful and accept what is – without any judgement. The easiest way to release the pain body is by paying attention to our emotions (not our thoughts). You see, research say that we have between 35-48 thoughts per minute! It is therefore easier to keep track of our negative emotions. So, When a negative emotion arises, be still and become aware of the thought behind the emotion. Ok, but how will this help dissolving the pain body?

Keeping track of our negative emotions/thoughts is very important when healing the pain body, because we are identified with the voice in our head, and this becomes our superficial personality. The content of the egoic mind with its repetitive thought patterns can be: judgments, prejudices, likes and dislikes. Many of us are trapped in the egoic mind, and conditioned by the past, but this is not who we really are. This addiction to negative thoughts in our head is the root to our problems. We have lost ourselves in the mind and in our thoughts. So, recognize that there is a voice in your head that doesn’t stop speaking. Notice what the voice is saying. Catch yourself as you think a negative thought, more and more often. Practice this awareness everyday. Realize that it’s just a story that you have been telling yourself, about yourself, and that is all it is: a story that you keep repeating.

If you hold on to your negative stories, and memories in your thoughts and feelings, they become fuel for your pain body. In order to release your pain body, you need to recognize your negative thought patterns. You become aware when you practice presence and catch yourself with a negative thought, over and over again. An effective pain body release technique is therefore mindfulness – to be present and still when a negative emotion arises. When this happens, be aware of the thought that triggers the emotion and face it. Say to yourself: “oh, here’s that unpleasant feeling” or “here’s that negative thought again”. Accept the thought/feeling, without any judgment. Your awareness of your egoic mind means that it’s no longer controlling you. Then, focus only on your feelings, without thinking anything. Just accept your feelings as they are. When you are present, a sense of peace arises, and the unpleasant emotion automatically resolves. By being aware and present, you release your pain-body.

Mindfulness is about being present. The past has no power – the power is in the present moment. Nothing that has happened to you in the past can prevent you from being in the now, where the power is. Remember that the past has no power. The power comes with the awareness that there is a “voice in your head”. When you are present and aware of your thoughts, the thoughts can’t control you, and the process of dissolving the pain body begins. This means that the power is in the now. You can release your past and whatever happened to you that you keep repeating for yourself, by entering a more heightened state of awareness. You can release your “story” that you keep telling yourself, by becoming present and alert enough when your pain body becomes active, so that the negative emotion will not be able to control your mind.

When you become aware, your thoughts will not have control over you. Instead, you will regain your true power that is only found in the now. When you are present, you will manage your thoughts (and thereby your emotions). In this state of mind, you release your pain-body.

How to break free from your emotional pain body:

• To break free of the pain body, you need to lose the identification of it.
• You are not the emotion. You are the awareness behind the emotion.
• Become aware of your pain body. This awareness causes a shift. If you completely identify yourself with the emotion, it rises into your mind, and it will control your thinking.
• Feel the emotion without any thoughts. Accept whatever you feel at this moment. When you resist a situation or a feeling, it persists, and then it causes stress and creates further negative emotion that wants to deny what is there.
• Say “yes” to whatever arises and become friendly with the present moment, even if the present moment doesn’t look that great in the moment. Allow the feeling even if it makes you sad, angry etc.
• Surrender to the feeling. When you surrender, the emotional pain body dissolves.

Life gives us opportunities to resolve our Pain Body

You don’t have to go back in time to dissolve your emotional pain body. You get many chances to let go of the pain body everyday! Here are a few examples:

Argument: When you feel a negative emotion arising at the beginning of what could become an argument, be aware that you at this time have a mental position that is your Ego and feel the uncomfortable emotion that is part of your pain body. Now, accept this emotion and become still. Don’t get drawn into opposing the other person in any way. When you become peaceful, the argument has to resolve. When you have no drama within yourself, there can not be any drama in your experience.

Traffic: Other opportunities to resolve your pain body is if you personalize the “traffic” and get angry when people are cutting the line in front of you. When you are regarding the “event” as a personal insult, remind yourself that this is the Ego talking. The angry feeling that has now become active is your pain body. Feel and accept this angry emotion and stay present. As you become aware of your pain body, a shift within you will take place and your pain body will no longer have the control over you. This means that your emotions will no longer control your thoughts and behavior. This also means that you won’t get stressed from the event.

Also, next time you get stuck in traffic, remind yourself that this has nothing to do with you. When there is nothing you can do to change a situation, be with it. Say “yes” and become friendly with it. Use the time to meditate instead. These are wonderful “life lessons” and opportunities to learn acceptance and surrender.

If you, on the other hand, observe that you are not accepting and surrendering to the situation, then it’s a wonderful opportunity to learn about dysfunction, and observe how dysfunction arises. This is an important step towards awareness. When you are ready (and have suffered enough), you will let go of the pain body.

Remember, the emotional pain body is released one emotion/thought at a time.