Meditation Exercises for People with Addiction Problems

Mediation is something that many people practice for a variety of reasons. For some people, meditation can be done to alleviate some of the struggles that recovering addicts are going through. Recovering from addiction can be troublesome and tumultuous but with the assistance of meditation, you can work on pulling yourself through the hard days to bring yourself closer to a full recovery. If you are interested in doing this, you may wonder what exercises there are for people who are meditating to try and combat addiction.

There are many different forms of meditation that you can practice if you want to try and use meditation as a coping mechanism to fight off addiction. You can use all of these meditation methods or the ones that work best for you and resonate with your needs the most. The most popular meditation methods you can use for this are practicing mindfulness, Zen, guided meditation, and transcendental meditation. Each form of meditation has different benefits, so you may want to try them all to see what works best in your mind.

How Does Meditation Help Combat Addiction?

Meditation can help tremendously fight off addiction, primarily when used with other forms of therapy and assistance. Meditation can help you be more aware of your thoughts. While this might be the same time, being aware of the harsh reviews that come with addiction and subsequently withdrawing from that addiction, practicing meditation regularly will help you be more in tune with yourself. In addition, meditation has been shown to help people relax more, calm themselves, and cope with several psychiatric problems, such as depression, anxiety, and emotional triggers that may stem from addiction.

It will be a long process of learning your triggers and figuring out what works best for you. Thankfully, there are several forms of meditation that you can try, with each one having its benefits over the other. However, before you begin practicing your preferred form of meditation, you must ensure that you can meditate effectively. Trying to meditate in an environment that is not suitable for meditation will only lead to frustration. Coupling that with the struggles that come with overcoming addiction is not a good situation to put yourself into.

Learning the right way to meditate is just as important as learning which form of meditation works best for you. Meditation is not too difficult to grasp, and it is relatively easy to get into the right environment to begin. You just have to know what you are looking for.

Where Should You Meditate? How?

There is no set place where you are going to need to meditate. Instead, you will want to find a place that works well for you and your needs. Ultimately, you will want to be in an environment where you can focus wholly on yourself and your thoughts and feelings. This means that you should avoid situations where you might be listening to Dwight Schrute talk about Dunder Mifflin in the background or where you may have roommates arguing about beets or other stupid topics.

Instead, you should try to find a relatively quiet location in an area where you can sit undisturbed for any length of time. For some people, this will be in a particular room of the house, such as the bedroom. This may be done outside in the garden for other people, especially those who tend to feel comfortable outside. Some people might even feel more comfortable meditating as a group even if nobody in the group speaks to each other. The key to proper meditation is to find a place where you will be both comfortable and undisturbed.

As to how you are going to practice meditation, that is going to be entirely dependent on the type of meditation that you choose to follow. Some forms of meditation require more instruction or dedication than others, such as repeating a silent mantra to yourself. Other forms of meditation can be done without any assistance or work- simply the knowledge of how to get it done. To know the best way to meditate, you will have to have a good idea of what type of meditation you will follow.

What Types of Meditation Are There?

In truth, there are countless different types of meditation for all nuances purposes that one may have. About four types of meditation exercises for addiction have proven to be more effective and useful than other forms of meditation. These forms of meditation will include mindfulness, Zen, guided meditation, and transcendental.

As the name might suggest, mindfulness meditation focuses on being mindful of your thoughts and feelings as well as accepting them as they are. Zen meditation focuses on being calm and present at the moment, working to help clear the past from one’s mind. Guided meditation can help visualize peaceful and calming imagery, and it can be even more effective when the guidance is provided by someone known and trusted. And finally, transcendental meditation focuses on effortlessness to achieve peace and reduce stress.

Each form of meditation can be helpful in their circumstances and help with particular thoughts, feelings, and urges. While it is not required, learning several forms of meditation can quickly help someone feel as if they know how to handle a situation since that person will have more tools at their disposal to utilize. It may take some time to find which form of meditation can help you and your struggles but it will be worth putting effort into.

How Do You Practice Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is a form of meditation that focuses primarily on being in the moment and understanding what is going on in your mind. At its core, mindfulness focuses on acknowledging how you feel without passing judgment on those emotions, which helps you concentrate, focus, and ultimately be aware of what is going on in your mind. It can be done by sitting down in a comfortable position and letting the material world fade away, focusing only on your thoughts and non-judgmental observations of how you are feeling. This includes acknowledging even the undesirable feelings you may have when combating addiction. You will not want to pass judgment on those feelings, such as whether it is right or wrong to have them, but you will simply want to accept those feelings as they are. This is the crux of being mindful, as you are aware of your mind and what is going on in it.

What Are its Benefits?

Practicing mindfulness has many benefits, ranging from increasing your awareness of how you feel to increasing the amount of self-acceptance you may have during these challenging times for yourself. It will help you learn to acknowledge what you are feeling and when you get more adept at this form of meditation, you may even get to the root of why you think the way you do. Mindfulness can also help your overall ability to focus and concentrate on your surroundings in a non-judgmental manner as you learn to do with your emotions. For many people, mindfulness can also help increase self-acceptance; you slowly realize that it is okay to feel the way you do even if the feelings themselves are not the most desirable ones.

How Do You Practice Zen Meditation?

Zen meditation is another form of meditation that has some roots in not reacting or passing judgment on how you feel or, more specifically, what you may have done in the past. This can be particularly helpful for people who suffer from addiction and feel guilt about the actions they may have taken throughout the struggle in their life. Zen meditation works by bringing the focus to the current moment, the very seconds as they pass by, allowing you to increase your focus on the here and now.

You will want to focus on all the things happening as they happen, whether that might be a draft in the room, a fleeting thought in your mind or noises you hear that are miles away. Zen meditation aims to ultimately clear your own past and what guilt you may have over previous actions by accepting that what has happened has already passed and that you are living in the present moment rather than in the past.

What Are its Benefits?

Especially for people who suffer from addictions, Zen meditation can have numerous benefits. While it might be difficult at first to get past the initial guilt and repressed emotions you may have when trying to clear yourself of your past, it will be well worth it. Zen meditation helps to encourage calmness and non-reactivity to challenges and emotional situations. It can help you become more focused and more aware of your situation and learn how to focus on the here and now without tying it to your past or your past actions. In some cases, it may also help to alleviate some guilt you have over any actions you may have taken in the past.

How Do You Practice Guided Meditation?

Guided meditation is a form of meditation where a practitioner, either in a recording or in person, will help you to visualize peaceful and calming situations. Typically, the practitioner will talk calmly and soothingly, describing tranquil or peaceful mental images you can imagine while meditating. While meditating, you will often sit with your eyes closed to better visualize the mental photos and sit in a comfortable but stationary position. If you work in person, you may face the practitioner while meditating. If you are listening to a recording, you will likely not have a direction to face while you are pondering; simply make sure you are in a quiet environment where you can focus on what the practitioner is saying.

What Are its Benefits?

The main benefit of guided meditation is instilling a sense of peacefulness and calmness in the person who is meditating. It can also help to facilitate a sense of trust with the person you are contemplating if you choose to meditate with a practitioner who will guide you through the meditation process. This meditation can help distract you from some of the urges and challenging thoughts you may have while battling addiction. It will also help you learn the ability to calm yourself down and achieve a peaceful state of mind in a calm, collected manner.

How Do You Practice Transcendental Meditation?

Transcendental meditation is the final type of meditation shown to help people fight addiction. This type of meditation aims to reduce stress, achieve inner peace, and help you learn how to do things effortlessly. To do this, you must devise a silent mantra that resonates with you. If you are working with a mentor or a practitioner, they may be able to help you come up with a mantra that you feel comfortable using.

Once you have decided on a mantra, you will want to assume the meditation position where you feel the most comfortable. From here, you will simply want to repeat the mantra you have come up with silently until you can do it effortlessly and without a second thought. It may take some time and practice, but it will be well worth it.

What Are its Benefits?

The main benefits of transcendental meditation include the ability to reduce your stress levels, calm yourself down, and bring yourself peace by eventually repeating the mantra in your mind without any effort. It will be tough to learn how to replicate the mantra effortlessly, but the road to recovery will be made a lot smoother when you are equipped with the ability to calm yourself down at a moment’s notice by repeating the mantra that you have adopted.