Tag: mindfulness and addiction

Woman in yoga clothes meditating to battle addiction in park.

Does Meditation Help with Addiction?

Meditation has been found to support addiction recovery since it can help you feel calm, cope with triggers, and ultimately, help you to avoid a relapse. Although meditation cannot wholly replace a full addiction treatment program with professional medical support, it can still be a helpful tool.

Many rehabilitation facilities include mindfulness and meditation as therapy techniques. Whether you are currently battling an addiction, in treatment, or have been sober for many years, practicing meditation can be incredibly beneficial for your recovery.

What is Meditation?

Meditation is a mind and body activity that is intended to promote feelings of calmness and relaxation. It can also help people improve their well-being and cope with illnesses.

You can begin meditating by sitting comfortably in a quiet environment. Next simply and effortlessly notice your thoughts as they come and go, allowing internal and external distractions to pass by without assessing them. Meditation may also involve deep and purposeful breathing during times of stress.

There are two main types of meditation. These types include guided meditation and unguided meditation. To practice guided meditation, a trained meditation or mental health professional will guide you through the session and work with you. Unguided meditation simply refers to meditation that is practiced on your own.

How Does Meditation Help Someone with an Addiction?

For those dealing with drug and alcohol addictions, everyday stressors can be challenging to cope with and may even contribute to a relapse. Multiple studies have concluded that mindful meditation can reduce certain symptoms like anxiety, depression, poor sleep, and drug cravings. Meditation can also help people feel more aware of their thoughts and have better control over their emotions.

Compassion with Meditation

As you begin to simply allow thoughts and distractions to come and go, you may notice all kinds of wanted and unwanted thoughts / emotions. This is completely normal. It is important to keep an open mind no matter what comes up, and understand that there are people everywhere experiencing very much the same thing.

By sitting and allowing without getting involved, it is allowing your mind and body to activate its natural healing capabilities. Much of the excess thoughts and feelings are simply reverberations of past experiences, so this sitting meditation allows all of the noise to pass by. At first it may seem daunting, but as with anything, practice makes perfect.

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Mindfulness for Addiction Recovery Boston Massachusetts

Mindfulness and Addiction

Mindfulness is generally understood as a state of mental focus and awareness that is used in meditation practices. More recently, it has become a popular aspect of cognitive behavioral therapy and has been used to help with addiction recovery.

What Exactly is Mindfulness?

When you are practicing mindfulness, you become aware of your inner self and your external surroundings. While engaged in mindfulness, you are focused on your responses to things that are going on around you in that present moment. The main goal of mindfulness is for you to become aware of your surroundings and feelings without getting attached to what you are experiencing in the moment.

Mindfulness itself is not difficult; however, it does require some self-discipline. When practicing mindfulness, it is important to bring your focus only to what is presently happening around you.

How Can Mindfulness Help with Addiction Recovery?

While mindfulness seems like a simple concept, it does require focus. It can help people who are working on recovery from addiction because it forces them to slow down and achieve a sense of tranquility and calmness. As you practice mindfulness during your recovery, you will be able to appreciate things that you did not notice before while engaging in substance abuse. When you allow yourself to slow down and take in the wonderful experiences that life has to offer to all of your senses, it can help you want to stop seeking out pleasure through your past addictive behaviors.

Mindfulness can also help you with recovery in that it can make you more aware of your reactions to what is happening around you. When you become more aware of this, you can start to better understand your own feelings and your own mind. This can help you stay in control of your mind moving forward and be less likely to return to substance abuse.

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