Mindfulness and addiction are natural opposites.
Addiction directs your mind towards the next ‘fix’. It makes it impossible to focus on the present moment, the core and goal of mindfulness practice.
Being uncomfortable in the present moment is also often one of the root causes of addiction. The substance or activity you are addicted to promises an escape from a painful reality.
Mindfulness in therapy
While it is possible to learn the basic principles of mindfulness from a book or a video, if you are being treated for addiction, it is best when mindfulness is integrated into your therapy by your counselor. He or she can help you fine tune your mindfulness practice so that you can overcome your individual obstacles to recovery.
Practicing mindfulness in the therapy session can also be very useful since some of your issues around cravings, an inability to tolerate silence and a low stimulus environment, and unresolved and unregulated emotions are very likely to come up directly, instead of mostly being reported from situations outside the counseling office.
Main elements of practice mindfulness
- Breathing exercises
Focusing on your breath is the core of mindfulness meditation. Breath is the source of life, the one substance we all need. Breathing slowly in and out connects you to this vital substance, instead of the toxic substances you may be addicted to.
Breathing slowly in, holding the breath, breathing out even more slowly, and then repeating the process, can really challenge you when you are struggling with addiction.
You have no choice but to be in the present moment. And maybe you cannot bear the pain of this present moment.
You have no stimulus except the breath. If you have been addicted to mind altering substances, you will have to learn how to connect to a low stimulus environment.
- Connection to the world around you through mindfulness of the senses
Listen, watch, smell, feel.
Again, if your addiction makes you crave sensory overload or if, on the contrary, you have been trying to numb out your perceptions, this may present a great challenge. It is also an opportunity to work through it, with your counselor.
- Management of intrusive thoughts
In the early stages of practicing mindfulness meditation, most people have to deal with intrusive thoughts. The method is to notice them, recognize them in a non-judgmental way, and let them go (without acting on them, of course). This is exactly what you need to learn when dealing with the impulse control issues to overcome addiction.
If you try and fail in the presence of your therapist, this can open up very useful investigation into the structure of your addictive thoughts and feelings.
Mindfulness can change the neural pathways in your brain.
As you practice mindfulness tools, you build up new, healthier habits. As you reinforce those habits, you actually change the neural pathways in your brain, creating new ones and weakening the addictive ones. Mindfulness and addiction cannot co-exist together in your mind.
Mindfulness practice in relapse prevention
Mindfulness is particularly powerful in relapse prevention. Your counselor can teach you ways of quickly connecting to the state of mindfulness, and of staying there until the craving subsides.
Mindfulness and addiction
Since you can only practice either mindfulness or addiction in any given moment, mindfulness can, over time, fill the space that used to be filled with your ‘addiction practice’.
Mindfulness, as a therapeutic tool, can also help you to go deeper and find the underlying causes of your addiction. Mindfulness connects you to life in a positive way, and mindfulness is always available, whatever happens.
Mindfulness also puts you in control of your life again. Not be being harsh or rigid, but by learning to accept and connect.
You will discover that your breath is the most powerful substance you will ever use.
For further information, please take a look at my specialty page on individual counseling.
