Some people with lupus live with chronic pain, caused by the inflammation that SLE can produce in our bodies. Living with chronic pain can be very difficult and pain killers are not always the answer.

Vidymala Burch suffered two spinal injuries at an early age and has lived with chronic pain ever since. As a result of her experience and following a physical breakdown at the age of 25 she eventually developed a social enterprise called Breathworks where people with chronic pain take an eight week course to learn how mindfulness could help them to cope better with their physical symptoms.

Her book- Living Well With Pain and Illness is a useful guide to this approach.

If you visit her website you can also find some free meditations there (if you give your name and email address) to try.

Breathworks courses, (including an online one on her website for those who may be unable to attend in person) are run all over the country. The next one in Brighton is a 6 week course starting Wednesday13th April, 10-12.30pm at the Brighton Buddist centre, 17 Tichborne St., Brighton. The cost of the course is £110/£150 which includes the book- Mindfulness for Health by Vidyamala Burch and Danny Penman. If you’re interested then you can contact ratnadakini@gmail.com who runs the course for more details.

For more information follow these links-

Vidyamala Burch Breathworks, Mindfulness-based Pain Management  

The BBC also had an interesting programme on radio 4 which looked at ground breaking research into relieving chronic pain.  

The Problem with Pain- A Slow Motion Catastrophe.