Daily Meditation Practices for Addiction Recovery: Simple Steps for a Healthier Mind

Introduction

Stress is something we all have to deal with, to one extent or another. But when we’re living in addiction, we can find ourselves fueling action from a place of stress and anxiety. This isn’t sustainable in the long term, and can cause burnout or even a “rock bottom”. Being fueled by positive, “high vibration” emotions such as Joy, Peace, and Love is much more conducive to a fulfilling lifestyle. It’s my belief that Peace isn’t just given, it’s earned. One way you can bring yourself into alignment with higher vibrational emotions, have a healthier mind, and eliminate distress is by establishing a regular meditation practice.

In this article, we’ll explore the benefits and logistics of establishing a mindfulness routine, along with some common blockages to be aware of. If you already have a mindfulness practice of some kind, we’ll also talk about ways you can “level up” your routine to help you along your recovery journey. May you be blessed during you’re experience through this realm.

Addiction in meditation recovery

As any addict can tell you, there are hurdles to overcome when breaking free from our dependencies. These include cravings, emotional turmoil, traumas, and physical withdrawal symptoms. When first coming to terms with these circumstances, a part of us may feel that these problems are insurmountable. Thankfully, a mindfulness practice can combat many if not all of the challenges associated with early recovery. Now, I’m not saying meditation is a magic pill that will transport you to some alternate reality where everything is always butterflies and rainbows. However, a consistent meditation practice can equip you with the tools necessary to process and manage the curveballs life throws your way.

Meditation has been shown to increase matter in your pre-frontal cortex (responsible for decision-making) as well as promote health in the hippocampus (related to memory) and the amygdala (related to our fight-or-flight responses). In lamens-terms: it’s good for the brain. While you may feel resistance to the process when first starting out, over time you will almost certainly notice benefits to many areas of your life, including your addiction recovery journey, if you are able to habituate yourself to a regular mindfulness practice.

When under the grip of addictive substances and/or behaviors, commitment to anything can be a challenge. The only solution is to rewire yourself to gradually take on more commitments (within reason). Starting with honoring a few commitments you make to yourself can lead you to being dependable when making commitments to your fellows and to your concept of a Higher Power. Of course, this runs the risk of you falling short of your expectations. This is a good opportunity for you to develop a “growth mindset”, where you view failures as a learning experience instead of as your lot in life. Shift from an “all or nothing” attitude to one of continual self improvement. If you want to meditate every day, and only end up meditating three times in a week, that’s still a step towards your ultimate goal of having a daily practice. Reframing failure into a learning experience does wonders for our mental health, and one way we can learn to shift to this growth mindset is by deciding to start a meditation practice.

The final benefit we’ll highlight about how meditation can help with addiction is that it teaches us to be content with things just as they are. Oftentimes, we give in to temptation because we’re bored and want something to occupy us. Learning to be calm, focus on the moment, and accept things how they are is part of the recovery process. Learning these skills through meditation serves as a “keystone” habit; a good habit that leads to other good habits. While meditation on its own may not replace all of your bad habits, it can be a pivotal turning point along the way towards your goals.

Establishing a consistent meditation practice

Starting a new habit and having it “stick” is a lesson to be learned. Our cadence with a meditation practice will naturally wax and wane, but over time the trend can tend towards a more complete routine by planning to start a practice.

Don’t despise humble beginnings; starting with as simple as five minutes a day of meditation can have a lasting impact on your quality of life. I prefer to meditate in the morning to ground myself before the day gets busy, but some people prefer to meditate at night because it helps them fall asleep. Test out both and see which one works better for you. Who knows, maybe you get so into meditating that you end up having a session both at night and as well as the following morning. Just make sure that after your initial testing phase to determine which you prefer that you do your best to remain consistent.

The typical recommended length of a meditation session is about twenty minutes. Longer can help, but you’ll get a lot of benefit out of working up to twenty minutes of meditation a day. Depending on your personal beliefs and practices, you may choose to meditate for longer on your “day of rest”/Sabbath. In Thereveda Buddhism, lunar cycles denote a time for increased mindfulness towards spiritual practices known as “Uposatha”. This can be a good time to meditate for longer than normal, too. You can find Uposatha days by searching “Uposatha days _____” in a search engine, with the current year as the blank space.

If you get into it, your goal will likely be to aim to meditate every day. That’s how habits become fully ingrained. However, when starting out, don’t beat yourself up if you only manage a few times a week. It can take a while to rewire our habit centers, and sometimes life gets in the way of our own imagined ideal. If something comes up so that you can’t meditate during your alloted time period, you can always have a “catch up” session during your next down period.

Finally, don’t resign yourself to meditation not “being for you” if you face initial resistance. Some people pick it up right away, but others have to train their mind for a few sessions before the experience really begins to click for them. There’s no need to get frustrated if you can’t completely quiet your mind — there are other forms of meditation besides just Zen meditation. If you’re having trouble remaining calm, consider focusing on your breath during the duration of your meditation.

So, what have you got to lose? There are plenty of benefits to meditating even if you don’t suffer from an addictive personality, but the pros for a recovering addict are so numerous that you really owe it to yourself to give it a shot. And if you do, feel free to comment about your experiences and aspirations for your practice.

Next, we’ll discuss different ways to advance your practice once it’s become an established routine.

Leveling up your mindfulness practice

What if you already have a meditation practice, and don’t know where to go from where you are? Let’s consider a few ways we can transition into a fuller meditative experience. Note that this isn’t a comprehensive list, and at the time of writing this I am still learning and experimenting with different additions myself, so please don’t consider me a “guru” — moreso, just another addict doing the step work in a way that suits my personality.

1. Mudras. Mudra is a Sanksrit word that refers to certain hand gestures or poses. You likely already utilize some mudras in your day-to-day without even consciously acknowlding that you’re using a mudra. There are a range of different mudras with different intended benefits, including overall success, wisdom, and yes, even addiction recovery. It’s better to see an image of a mudra to understand what to do, and I don’t want to take images from others without their permission, so it’s best just to go to your favorite search engine and search “Mudra for _____” and fill in the blank.

2. Mantras/affirmations. Mantras and affirmations can help you realize a deeper state of relaxation while meditating. At first, it’s reccomended to listen to established mantras/affirmations, and then eventually you can even start creating your own. Two notes: firstly, if you’re listening to someone else recite affirmations to you, it’s likely better to hear “you are” affirmations as opposed to “I am” affirmations. Secondly, when creating your own mantras, remember that each chakra has its own associated word. “I am” is for the root chakra, “I feel” = sacral, “I do” = Solar Plexus, “I love” = heart, “I speak” = throat, “I see” = third eye, “I understand” = crown. So, if it calls you, pick an aspect of existence you want to meditate on and activate the different portals of your being by acknowledging each aspect of processing.

3. Music. There is so much good music out there that can help with meditation. From instrumentals, to tuning forks, to singing bowls, to solfeggio frequencies, to the Shumann resonance. Pick something that speaks to you, and drift away from there.

4. Guided meditations. This one is really helpful in addiction recovery. Recovery Dharma often has guided meditations as part of their meetings. It may take some experimenting to find a style, subject, or guide that works with you, but once you do it can really enhance the quality of your practice.

5. LED Lights/Color therapy. Different colors are associated with different feelings and frequencies, so picking an emotion that you want to work through and finding a color that maps to it can also help you deepen your meditation.

Conclusion

Whether your new to meditation or have been at it a while, it’s a good habit to get better at for help along the addiction recovery journey. Don’t get discouraged if everything doesn’t change all at once — slow and steady wins the race.

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Until next time, may the Force be with you!