Mindfulness is a great way to reduce stress and improve emotional regulation for anyone. Newer research has suggested another benefit, though: it might just help you recover from addiction.
Mindfulness is a broad term that encompasses a wide range of practices. While some practices are used for religious purposes, others are secular and simply intended to ground you in the moment. Most mindfulness practices are based on observing your thoughts or physical sensations quietly.
Below, we discuss how mindfulness can help you on your recovery journey and some practices you can start today.
How Mindfulness Helps in Addiction Recovery
The brain is shaped by experience. If you’ve repeatedly engaged in thoughts and behaviors that propelled an addiction, you have shaped your brain without knowing it in ways that worked against you. To recover, you need to engage in thoughts and behaviors that reshape your brain in a healthier way. Mindfulness can help you with this.
Research suggests that certain mindfulness practices are effective ways to treat substance use. Dr. Eric Garland, PhD, a professor at the University of Utah, has found that mindfulness-oriented recovery enhancement (MORE) helps the brain and body become more sensitive to healthy pleasures, which reduces cravings.
This type of mindfulness practice emphasizes mindfully savoring healthy pleasures, meaningful experiences, and joy. For instance, you might focus as you see something beautiful or taste something delicious. When you notice those feelings, you turn your attention inward to savor the feeling and absorb it more fully.
Mindfulness in general also cultivates self-awareness and self-control, which helps you become aware of your automatic reactions. This awareness can help you better control your choices.
Mindfulness Practices You Can Start Today
1. Focus On Your Breath
There are many things in our daily lives that add to our stress, but just breathing can often restore a sense of calm. A common mindfulness practice is to take breathing breaks throughout the day where you focus on your breath, often inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. The goal is to focus on the sensation of air entering and exiting your body as it sustains you.
Focusing on your breach might sound simple, but it’s easy to get distracted. When you do, just gently return your attention to your breath.
2. Observe Your Thoughts
Our thoughts often direct our lives, but they don’t always represent reality. It’s easy to forget that as you go about your day, often thinking negative thoughts that make it harder to maintain the positive change you need for addiction recovery. But the truth is, thoughts are just thoughts.
You can practice mindfulness by taking a few minutes to observe your thoughts as they enter and recede from your mind. The goal is not to judge your thoughts, but rather to simply observe them. By practicing becoming aware of your thoughts, you will make it easier to challenge the unhelpful thoughts that work against your addiction recovery goals down the road.
3. Be Present In the Moment
It’s very easy to be somewhere physically without having your mind there. Many of us end up worrying over the future or getting distracted by our phones while we’re spending time with our families, working, or watching TV.
One of the easiest mindfulness practices for many people is simply paying attention to the current moment as you do ordinary things. You can notice the sensation of your feet moving as you walk and the textures of the food as you eat. It takes some practice, but it’s worth it.
Looking for more information on addiction recovery and mental health? Sunrise Services is here to help, whether you need chemical dependency treatment or DBT therapy for dual diagnosis. Check out our blog for more behavioral health advice today.
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