Meditation and Recovery from Addiction - from the Health and Healing Series at SupportNet.ca - Resources for Your Recovery

Recovery is learning to enjoy life - without the use of alcohol or drugs that alter mind or mood.

It is treatment for the condition of addiction - an approach to the challenges of life - and a path to personal growth.

Recovery requires us to learn - about the true nature of addiction.

It may be personalized - but it has its necessary Principles and its Ways.

The Principles of Recovery provide direction - to the choices that we face each day.

The Ways of Recovery provide us with tools - that help us to heal - and to enjoy life on life’s terms.

This Learning Seminar introduces the topic of Meditation and Recovery from Addiction -

What you need to know - How it works - and how Meditation can empower your recovery today.

What is Meditation?

Meditation is a word of many meanings.

Mostly, it is about being alert, aware and accepting of our experience in just being here - right now.

Meditation is letting go - of the business of the world - the clutter in our mind - and of the feelings that pass within us.

It is learning to calmly watch, listen and to feel - without being tossed about by the things that happen around and inside us.

Meditation helps us to exercise the healthy abilities of our mind - to find a place of stability and peace within our self.

SupportNet introduces several types of meditation - Active, Mantra and Mindfulness Meditation.

Active meditation is the best place to start - for those with an overly restless mind or body.

Mantra meditation allows your mind to rest on a calming phrase that you repeat over and again in your mind.

In Mindfulness Meditation - we rest our mind’s eye on our breath - notice and let go - of whatever else comes up.

Practice in any of these types - Active, Mantra or Mindfulness - can empower your recovery as described in this seminar.

Meditation and Recovery

During early recovery - the mind is a restless and erratic place. Feelings are raw and exaggerated - the body easily stressed.

The compulsive drive of addiction does not disappear - simply because we do not want to use today. Unhealthy habits of thought, feeling and behavior lead towards relapsed use.

Early recovery is not a time suited to sitting alone - in quiet observation of stuff happening inside of us.

But early recovery is a time when the skills of Active Meditation may be applied on behalf of abstinence and recovery.

Recovery Support Group is a perfect opportunity to learn the skills of Active Meditation.

Just listen to what is talked about in group. When you notice that your mind has wandered off - just bring it back to rest on what is being said. Just listen - and let go of everything else.

When your mind drifts to the past - or to worry about your future - let go right away. Bring your mind back to rest on what is being said - right now in group.

When you start to think about others in group - what they are like or what they have done - let go right away. Such thoughts only distance you from what you may need to hear today.

Recovery phrases make excellent mantras - and are healthy affirmations to repeat in your mind.

Just for Today - This Too Shall Pass - First things First.

Recovery phrases help you to learn the Principles of Recovery - and to counteract the poor habits of addiction. Repeat these quietly in your mind - as their truth takes hold inside your self.

Early recovery is not a time to try and force your mind to your will - or to always expect a settled mind.

But it is an important time to learn how to listen - to notice and to let go of risky thoughts - and to occupy your mind with the healing wisdom of recovery.

As the turmoil of early recovery settles, there are countless ways that meditation - and the skills that it teaches - can empower your recovery from addiction.

Meditation is practice - in many of the things upon which we rely for our recovery.

Addiction is a condition in which the mind is closed - to anything not consistent with our continuing to use.

Recovery is about learning to listen - to relate and to reflect on what we may hear from others experienced in recovery.

Meditation is practice - in listening, watching and feeling - without distancing or defending our selves.

It is learning to maintain a calm mind and body - regardless of what is said to us - or what arises from within us.

Addiction thrives on feelings of anger, worry, shame and fear - usually stirred by poor habits of mind and memory.

Re-thinking - Re-feeling - Resentment - and Relapse.

Recovery is about learning to notice - and to let go - of our poor habits of mind - before they take us on a journey of overwhelming feeling and relapsed use.

Meditation is practice in letting go. We learn to rest our mind on our body movement, mantra or breath - and to let go of whatever else may come to mind.

Thoughts - Fantasies - Feelings - Memories. These are all the same during meditation - stuff to notice and to let pass - as we rest our mind back to our mantra or breath.

Addiction is about taking things that change the way we experience our self and the world around us.

We use substances to control the way that we feel - until the substance takes control over us.

Meditation teaches us to calm, centre and to ground ourselves.

It helps us learn to relax our body - and to maintain a calm presence of mind - regardless of other stuff that may occur within or around us.

Meditation provides us with real abilities - that steadily increase our confidence in dealing with life on life’s terms.

Recovery teaches that relapse begins within our own mind.

Many of us struggle with recurrent thoughts of the past, with feelings of shame - with worry and fear for the future.

Substances have been the solution - to avoid or to settle our selves when these issues come to our mind.

Practice in meditation shows us healthy ways to relate to the memories and feelings that arise from within us.

It is not that these things have no meaning to us. But meditation is learning to be not overtaken by this stuff right now.

It shows us that we need not always be tossed about - or our better judgment overwhelmed - by the passing waves of memory, thought and feeling.

In Summary

Meditation is practice - in many of the skills on which we rely upon to deal with life on life’s terms.

It can be as simple as learning to just listen in Recovery Group.

But regular practice in meditation can empower your recovery from addiction in many different ways.

You have now reached the end of Meditation and Recovery from Addiction.

Look for this and other Learning Seminars at www.SupportNet.ca - Resources for Your Recovery.