Meditation for Addiction Recovery - Mindworks Meditation

The problem of addiction has reached epidemic proportions in our society. While most of us occasionally engage in activities that aren’t exactly healthy—think binge-watching that new series, finishing off that pint of ice cream, having an odd night out at the friendly neighborhood bar—for addicts, the substance or behavior they’ve become addicted to is the main focus of their lives. Can meditation help with addiction?

Recent studies have looked at questions such as “Can meditation help with alcohol addiction? With drug addiction? How about addiction to gaming, tobacco or gambling?” When we practice meditation, especially mindfulness, we train in remaining present and recognizing all feelings, from discomfort to joy, with equanimity and goodwill. And then we let them pass. This is one way meditation helps people work with addiction. Research confirms that meditation has been proven to counter addiction issues especially when combined with psychological methods, as in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Mindfulness-based practices can also be very effective in helping prevent relapse. Guided meditation is also recommended.

For the best course for meditation and addiction recovery, we recommend Addiction, Recovery and Forgiveness.

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What Qualifies as Trauma, and How Does It Affect our Brain Structure? Meditation can help you heal from trauma and PTSD, but it’s not always the cure-all we want it to be. For some, meditation may appear to make trauma worse. Meditation brings conscious awareness to the activity in our mind, but we’re not always [...]

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Like other forms of addiction, addiction to alcohol causes great harm to those who are dependent and everyone connected to them. While there are many possible definitions of addiction and alcoholism, one that may sound familiar comes from Alcoholics Anonymous. It proposes that alcoholism is a threefold disease comprised of a physical allergy that [...]

Lovingkindness in Meditation

2021-12-11T07:37:16-08:00By Noah Levine|

Meditation changes our relationship to pain What is lovingkindness meditation? While there are many different types of meditation, there are specific practices that we call lovingkindness where we actually train our hearts and minds to wish for well-being for others — “may all beings be at ease”. This is a universal, healthy desire that we [...]

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The intersection between modern trauma theory, addiction & mindfulness by Stephen Dansiger The problem of addiction is not just a problem for people struggling with addiction. It’s a problem of the ages, and at one point or another, just about every person involved with addiction—especially those in recovery—comes to a point where he or [...]

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