Hi
@Contralto
I'm not sure I can do the subject of mindfulness justice in a few words, but I'll try. It's hard to explain because the exercises involve changing the way we look at the world in order to focus on what's happening right now. We naturally think about the past and all the things that are going to happen in the future: we often give little attention to the present moment.
It's noticeable when we do focus on the present, perhaps when we're so busy on one task that we shut everything else out (don't hear people talking, the phone ringing immediately or whatever). It's what sports people try to achieve when they talk about "being in the zone".
What's this to do with pain? Firstly, we have to let go of why we're ill, what caused it, what we could/should have done to avoid it, why we didn't deserve it etc - that's all in the past. Secondly, we have to ignore the future: how our illness may get worse, pain may increase, treatments may fail, complications may develop - all things that may/may not occur. Our focus has to be on this moment in time (which could include pain right now).
I've found the audio tracks from the book/course on the web on SoundCloud.com - search for "Mindfulness for health". Here's the link to the first one "The body scan" to give you an example:
https://m.soundcloud.com/r-tamuranovait/mindfulness-for-health-the-2
This should help you relax and make you aware of your body, but it won't help your pain. This next one "Compassionate acceptance" is designed to help you accept your pain with kindness and compassion:
https://m.soundcloud.com/r-tamuranovait/mindfulness-for-health-the-5
Other exercises are as simple as making a drink of tea/coffee as you normally do, but actually pay attention to what you do, during each step of the process. Something so simple that we do everyday on auto-pilot means we normally think about other things, so this time, focus on the making the drink only. Assuming you're using a kettle, watch it simmer then, boil; watch the steam begin to rise from the spout and see if it makes patterns in the air.
Another exercise to get you to focus is simply to sit outside and watch the clouds go by. It's hard not to daydream as our minds naturally want to wander.
The course teaches that you can control your mind AND your mind can control your pain (to an extent), and it details the science to support this. Basically, my understanding is that with chronic pain we get stuck in a "feedback loop" where the inflammation or whatever generates pain signals to our brain; our brain responds to the pain, but whereas a cut or a burn will eventually recover, the chronic inflammation etc keeps signalling more pain. Our brain eventually comes to expect this chronic pain and this expectation makes it worse than the original pain. You can train your mind to focus on the pain and effectively "turn it down" (but not turn it off).
I was sceptical, but it has helped me.
For clarity: I have no links to the book's authors: there are hundreds of books on mindfulness, this was recommended to me and it's specifically for pain relief.