June 4th, 2021
By Jack Petti
Guest Writer for Wake Up World
We all know that addiction to drugs and alcohol is a biological disease and it has a direct link with our mental health. Considering this fact, trying to figure out how mindfulness and meditation practices can work in order to reduce the effects of substance addiction makes sense. But do we know how it actually works?
This goes without saying that meditation and mindfulness are extremely effective while recovering from drug or alcohol addiction. These are the processes of developing new neural networks for overall well-being, optimism, positivity, and self-awareness. Meditation has the power to reduce negativity and our toxic judgments of ourselves and others. On top of that, it promotes self-observation and mood stability in us. Be it alcohol addiction or drug addiction, you should know when to call an alcohol addiction helpline to prevent further damages. Unfortunately, addicted individuals are not mentally attentive to this thought.
As long as meditation is concerned, all its benefits form an extensive outcome and that is improved self-love. While the advantages of self-love are truly countless, we have compiled the most useful ones that can lead addicted individuals towards lasting recovery.
Before we discuss the benefits of addiction, let us first understand what that really is and what are the best meditation practices to fight substance addiction.
What Is Meditation?
Addiction alters the functionality of your brain. If you want to rewire the addiction-affected brain, you have to heal both body and mind. Achieving sobriety is indeed a big victory. However, an addicted individual may still struggle to maintain it while facing various triggering situations. This is where meditation comes into play. It has the potential to stop addicts from negatively reacting to such triggers.
Many addiction treatment centers use meditation in their intensive outpatient treatment programming. It can also be used at home to attain similar results. Meditation is a kind of safe exercise that is practiced to focus on body and mind connection. Its overall goal is to improve well-being in terms of physical health, mental health, and spiritual health.
There are a variety of types of meditation. However, most of the rehab centers practice specific techniques that are within the reach of beginners. Let us take a look at them one by one.
Breathing Meditation
The major purpose of practicing breathing meditation is to achieve inner peace by calming the mind. Relatively, it is quite easy to practice. You can follow the below-mentioned steps to practice breathing meditation:
- Sit in a quiet place and close your eyes.
- Try to be fully attentive to your Slowly take the breath in and release.
- Lose your body and use this energy of focus for diverting your mind from potential triggers to your mind.
- Do not let your focus move from Notice how the air goes in through your nostrils and goes out when you exhale.
- There is a strong possibility of distraction because of some In such situations, try to focus back on your breathing.
Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness meditation is the simplest and the most effective of all. The primary aim of this is to help addicted individuals observe inner sensations and thoughts. These are the things addicts usually never do; however, many rehabs use this technique to help them seek inside and understand the importance of substance-free life. For practicing it, follow these steps:
- Sit in a way that your neck, head, and spine should be in one. Keep your hands as per your comfort.
- You can sit in a crossed-legged posture if you are comfortable with this.
- Close your eyes and let your thoughts come and Never label any of these thoughts as good or bad while practicing.
- If you want to keep your eyes open, try to focus on a fixed object to avoid unwanted distraction.
- When you stop thinking and just focus on your breathing or a specific, fixed object, you are practicing in the right way.
Moving Meditation
The common perception of people about meditation is practicing it while sitting still. However, very few people are aware of the concept of moving meditation which aims at connecting with nature. It implies the absence of inner thoughts and a sense of connection between mother nature and our mind, body, and spirit. Follow the below-mentioned steps to practice it:
- Choose the best place for this practice such as a garden, lake, river, forest, or other natural spot.
- Focus on your state of mind while you are You can walk, cycle, or even run. If you want to run or walk, concentrate on how your feet hit the surface of the ground. While cycling, be attentive to how you pedal.
- Think about how negativity is leaving your body and positivity is filling up the vacant space.
- Focus on how the blood is rushing through your body, how you inhale and exhale, and how your muscles are relaxing with every breath.
Top Major Addiction-Related Benefits of Addiction
- Overcome anxiety, stress, insomnia, depression,
- Enhanced Mental Health
- Improved self-confidence
- Better self-control
- Promotes emotional health
- Improves attention span
- Reduces memory loss
- Generates kindness
- Fight addiction more effectively
Final Thoughts
Nowadays, meditation is becoming more and more available as a part of holistic treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. If you are struggling with addiction, consider entering a rehab facility that offers meditation and yoga as this can transform your life.
About the author:
Jack Petti is dedicated to healing people with addiction problems. Apart from being the Chief Executive Officer at Renaissance Recovery. Jack handles and manages several other roles at the company. He is known for his work with clients that helped them build a strong and solid foundation for recovery.
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”110027″]
