We all need to escape sometimes. The stress of substance use, atop the stress of daily life, can leave us feeling overtaxed. Addiction affects our relationships, career, finances, mental well-being and physical health. It can make us desperate for a hiatus from the hectic world around us.
Taking a vacation seems the ideal solution, but given the commitments of work and family as well as financial limits and travel restrictions, laying on a tropical beach probably isn’t in the picture right now.
Fortunately, you can still achieve a restful moment to restore your peace. Take a mini-mental vacation and try meditation for addiction recovery. Meditation is a mental exercise that removes your mind from your immediate surroundings and helps you to focus on calming thoughts and images. Meditation has been practiced for centuries, formerly used as a religious or spiritual practice, but has since grown into a secular practice as well. If you’ve heard of the growing focus around mindfulness, you may know a big part of the movement includes meditative practices.
Meditation takes little to no formal training and can be practiced anywhere. Many people use guided meditations (through audio recordings, videos or classes) but you can also practice meditation on your own, for as long or short a time as you’d like.
As meditation has gained popularity, it has been incorporated into treatment for many different conditions. Learning how to meditate can help you manage substance use habits and seek a happier, more peaceful life. If you’re wondering how exactly your life will improve, read on to learn some of the benefits of meditation for drug and alcohol use.
Meditation helps with mental wellness and other conditions
Meditation is really as good as it sounds. It is soothing to both the mind and the body. According to the Mayo Clinic, studies show that meditation has a positive effect on both mental and physical conditions including depression, anxiety, chronic pain, cancer, heart disease, hypertension and more. Because mental health conditions and addiction frequently occur simultaneously, there’s no doubt that by incorporating meditation for drug use into your lifestyle, you’re boosting both your mental wellness and your recovery.
Meditation imparts a fresh perspective
With the hustle and bustle of daily life, we rarely have time to reflect. Starting meditation will give you that much needed mental break to process events and emotions. You’ll have time to think about your goals and examine how you’re living your daily life.
Often, when we have time to think things through, answers become clear to us. It can be hard to think clearly or creatively when we have so much going on. Sometimes it’s just best to take a rest to escape the business and think about things in a different light.
Meditation promotes positive thinking
Negative thinking is cyclical; it’s a pattern that we have to make a conscious effort to break. Negative thinking styles can be about ourselves or the world around us. They are detrimental to our mental health and contribute to a host of issues, addiction being one of them.
Because addiction so often includes a poor self-image and outlook on life, combating it with self-affirmations can work wonders. Most types of meditation incorporate different mantras or positive self-talk. The repetition of uplifting phrases will eventually sink in and give us the confidence we need to step away from drugs and alcohol.
Meditation increases calmness throughout the day
Practicing meditation for alcohol use is relaxing in the moment and can extend those positive vibes into the rest of your day. Taking a few moments for addiction meditation at the beginning of the day can help you to feel well-rested, awake and present to your surroundings. The pleasant sensation will carry throughout your day and help to decrease the impact of the stressors around you.
Meditation can give you a healthy way to cope with emotions
When we are confronted with strong emotions, we do one of two things: we seek out something healthy, or we seek out something unhealthy. This is called coping. Addiction is an example of unhealthy coping. We seek out substances to soothe or numb certain uncomfortable feelings and we’re left to deal with the consequences.
Whether you need to cope with anxiety, sadness or loneliness, replacing drug or alcohol use with meditation is one way to change your bad habits into healthy ones. It will take practice to exchange substance use for reflection, but next time you feel the urge, give meditation a go.
Addiction meditation is a tool you can access on your own or with the help of a professional. If you are struggling to maintain sobriety, consider reaching out to Silvermist Recovery, an addiction treatment center in Western Pennsylvania. Silvermist Recovery offers a variety of programs and services to treat the whole person, mind, body and spirit as you pursue long-term recovery. Call (724) 268-4858 today to find your peace and take that mental vacation you deserve.