Mindfulness is the practice of being fully involved in a moment and aware of all your surroundings. The idea is that instead of letting life pass you by, you should live in the moment and take in every aspect of your current experience. In the context of addiction recovery, it can be helpful if you find yourself struck by a craving, feeling hopeless or depressed, or overwhelmed. It sounds simple enough, but most of us have trouble with this kind of focus.
If you’ve ever found yourself standing in line, sitting on a bus, or in any other situation where you’re effectively stuck in one spot, you know that it’s easy to let your mind wander. First you start thinking about how bored you are, then you worry that it’s taking too long and you’re going to be late for something, then you notice the man all but screaming into his cell phone, and now that you’re starting to get good and irritated, a child starts screaming somewhere, and now you’re just a giant ball of frustration, irritation, and anger.
If you practiced mindfulness, according to its proponents, you wouldn’t get so overwhelmed. It can include meditation, but that doesn’t mean you can’t practice it wherever you are. In the bus situation, you could focus on your breathing. Take a breath in for a count of four. Hold it for four. Let it out for a count of four. Repeat until all you’re focused on is your breathing. Feel the way your lungs expand and contract. Imagine that you’re letting out all that frustration as you exhale. It might not get you to a place of complete tranquility, but it can at least make you feel less like a ticking bomb about to go off on the people around you. If you are somewhere where you can sit down in what people typically think of as a meditation pose, you can also try focusing on relaxing each part of your body one at a time.
Of course, there are people out there who think that mindfulness is a sham. They may be practical people who view mindfulness and meditation as mystical or spiritual things that they simply don’t believe in. Addiction recovery, they would say, is all about proven medication and behavioral therapy, things that we have actual evidence about their effectiveness.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many studies that prove either side of the argument. The few that have been done were poorly designed, lacking things like an actual definition of what mindfulness is or a control group against which to test the results.
Either way, there’s no harm in attempting mindfulness, as long as you don’t neglect other areas of your treatment. If it doesn’t work for you, there are plenty of other alternative therapies to try. If it does help, the stress relief can be a tremendous help in staying sober.
If you or a loved one need help with quitting drugs or alcohol, consider Asana Recovery. We offer medical detox, along with both residential and outpatient programs, and you’ll be supervised by a highly trained staff of medical professionals, counselors, and therapists. Call us any time at (949) 438-4504.
