Dr. Sanjay Gupta

The idea that meditation could give you that sort of relief was pretty mind-numbing, I think, for a lot of people.

I don't mean to suggest that that pain relief lasts forever, just like OxyContin doesn't last forever.

But during the time that people meditate, they can drop their pain scores significantly.

And that's just your mind.

People really aren't sure why these things work.

And it's hard to study.

But what they do know from an outcome standpoint is that these patients are getting tremendous relief.

There's options out there.

There's hope out there.

But pain is the most mysterious sensation that we human beings experience.

You've got to treat it that way.

You know, I preface all these conversations I have with patients with a reminder that, look, I don't want to say anything that's going to minimize their pain.

Because I think when I say something like,

All pain resides in the brain.

I'm not at the same time saying it's all in your head.

Those are two different things.

And I'm saying this as a neuroscientist.

But all pain is in the brain.

I don't want that to sound minimizing, okay?

But that is where pain is.