Struggling with somatic tracking..

[john_clifton]

I feel low back and (new) rib pain so frequently and intensely throughout the day that I struggle to find "when" to do somatic tracking. I know that being obsessive about it is not helpful per Gordon's book, but i'm having a tough time trying to learn how to orient towards the pain throughout the day in comparison to doing brief seconds/minutes of somatic tracking exercises in a more contained manner. It makes sense to do it when I'm meditating and more composed and I enjoy that work, but when I feel intense jolts of pain hundreds of times a day then how am I supposed to orient towards that? Do I send a message of safety EVERY time I feel the pain throughout the day or do I just try to ignore it? Door C? It's a dicey game I'm playing and would appreciate any advice for breaking through this hard time. I've been working with these modalities for 5-6 months now with only minimal progress and outcome independence is really challenging me because my personality type gets worried a lot about if I'm doing something wrong and wasting my time because of it or somehow making things worse.

 

[Cactusflower]

@john_clifton in his book The Way Out, Alan Gordon gives some nice instruction on your very dilemma. He suggests mainly self soothing and calming your nervous system when you are in a very high state of pain and fear. One of his clients could only do somatic tracking for a few seconds at a time. Gradually she was able to work up to less fear of the sensations and increase her time.
The main thing is to see every second as a success - always keep it in the positive!

Good Luck!