Reddit reviews Freedom from Pain: Discover Your Body's Power to Overcome Physical Pain

I've dealt with chronic SI joint pain from the start of my pregnancy and the meditation exercises in here have helped me manage at least that overwhelmed feeling I get from experiencing constant pain: https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Pain-Discover-Overcome-Physical/dp/1604076631

I wake up every 1-2 hours at night from the pain and now that I'm towards the end I can barely walk. I use a large gel ice pack that can be strapped to my back when the pain is driving me completely mad. Even if it doesn't take the pain away the cold sensation is at least distracting. I also wear 2 different braces together to provide even pressure and a bit of support. I wish there was a magic bullet and honestly sometimes it feels like even after birth there's no way this pain will go away. I just remind myself to take one day at a time and every morning I wake up is one night closer to potential relief. I do a lot of tiny self care things too like painting my nails, wearing a nice face mask, watching happy movies, etc... just to take the edge off and shift my mental state where I can. Best of luck, we're so close!

I'd highly, highly recommend the book Freedom from Pain by Peter A. Levine and Maggie Phillips (https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Pain-Discover-Overcome-Physical/dp/1604076631/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1491171177&sr=8-1&keywords=freedom+from+pain&linkCode=ll1&tag=outofthehum0e-20&linkId=638ac5de25ce326befd502620bc778ae). Not only does the book explain research and practices in an easy-to-understand way, the book comes with a CD of guided meditation. I can't tell you enough how much reading this book and following it's exercises has helped me.

In addition, I've found that there are several good YouTube channels such as TheHonestGuys (https://www.youtube.com/user/TheHonestGuys). They have a TON of guided meditation and some of them help with pain. I find I like to do a different one every time though - they have so many.

I've also found that Amazon Prime has beaches you can watch - literally beach waves go in and out, which can be very calming. There's also fireplace videos that can do that as well.

On some Blueray players (with Wifi), there is an app called FitYou - that has a whole Guided Meditation channel. The videos are free to watch (and great) but there are usually commercials in it every few minutes or so.

Spotify also has some great music as others have mentioned.

Additionally, I've found that energy meditation along with gentle (very gentle) tai/chi Qi Gong meditation helps a lot and also helps move and stretch the muscles.

One great thing to do, which I've been doing, is check things out at the library first (like a cd or dvd) - then you can see if it help and works for you - before you buy. :)

In general, I spend 20-minutes+ around lunch time every day to do some kind of mindfulness meditation, then I often to tai-chi or gentle exercise later in the evening.