Harnessing Mindfulness: A Pathway to Addiction Recovery

In 1982, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Stress Reduction Clinic, based out of UMass Medical Center, was pioneering research into the burgeoning field of mindfulness and its impact on recovery.

A decade later, in 1992, John Teasdale and Zindel Segal, together with Mark Williams, collaborated in developing an eight-week mindfulness program; in 2002, they published a seminal book entitled “Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A New Approach to Preventing Relapse.”

But why would mindfulness be included in wellness programs for recovery from drug and alcohol abuse? What’s the purpose of this wellness technique, and what advantages does it offer to a recovery program?

The science is clear, including mindfulness practices in addiction recovery and wellness programs offers a slew of benefits to addicts as they battle to control the thoughts associated with temptation and relapse. Let’s take a look at the mechanism of mindfulness techniques and the safeguards they bring to holistic addiction treatment programs at Carrara.

What Is Mindfulness and Why Is It Important in Recovery?

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are scientifically proven strategies like “mindfulness meditation” that helps addicts deal with the chaos going on in their mind during their recovery.

Why is mindfulness important for recovery? Because it modulates the addicts’ cognitive and psychophysiological processes surrounding the self-regulation of emotions and the way the brain wires the reward processes that release the neurotransmitter “dopamine.”

Never mind narcotics, dopamine is a heck of a drug. Well, it’s not really a drug; it’s a neurotransmitter released in the brain. But the reason why it’s largely focused on addiction treatment is because it’s responsible for encouraging behavior we find pleasurable. If you sniff a line in a club and have a great time, your brain releases dopamine and tells you that it likes this new you and the way you feel.

You see, the brain is “plastic.” It’s not the same type of plastic you’re thinking about right now. Plasticity refers to the brain’s ability to adapt to new stimuli. It has the ability to rewire its reward system and pleasure centers to reinforce the reward you get via dopamine when you repeat the same activity.

Essentially, it starts to form the complex web of addiction in your mind. Mindfulness techniques help you to identify a dopamine-induced craving.

Through the use of mindfulness techniques, you’ll be able to step outside yourself mentally and observe your thought processes as an independent observer. You’ll remind yourself that this momentary suffering is simply a desire and that this too shall pass.

This technique bypasses the dopamine reward mechanism, it’s like reprogramming what your brain thinks you find pleasurable. Mindfulness for addiction really does work, and it’s become an integral part of addiction treatment. Mindfulness strategies like meditation, breathwork, and guided imagery bring real, tangible benefits to people in recovery.

The Power of Now – Being in the Present Moment

Being mindful centers around the principle of being aware of the present moment. We only have self-power in the present. For instance, you’ve probably promised yourself that you’d get clean tomorrow or next week. How did that work out for you? The reality is all you’re doing is making false promises to yourself and how you might feel very differently, and probably will, about your intention to get sober when you wake up tomorrow morning.

Mindfulness activities for addiction recovery teach you how to be present and aware of your thoughts and feelings at any specific moment. When you’re conscious of your thoughts and emotions right now, you can use mindfulness tactics to muster the courage to take action to get clean or stay on your path to getting sober.

Let’s take a look at how to practice mindfulness activities to improve your self-awareness.

Try a Body Scan, Meditation

A body scan is one of the most basic and effective mindfulness exercises you can use to identify the current state of your mind and body. It’s really easy to do and reap tremendous rewards. Here’s a brief guide on how to do a body scan meditation.

Start by sitting alone in a quiet room where you have some peace and quiet. You’ll need around five to ten minutes to complete the exercise, so avoid all distractions while you’re completing the scan.

Close your eyes and imagine a healing white light landing on the crown of your head. Imagine the light slowly creeping down your head, over your cheeks, and into every muscle in your face. As the light moves down your head, relax every muscle as the light reaches it. For instance, feel the tension in your forehead slowly disappear and relax your jaw so that the teeth part slightly.

Let the light move into your neck and shoulders, relaxing them as you keep breathing, and project the light down your arms and into your chest, relaxing your muscles as you go. Keep moving the light down every muscle group in your body, from your back to your abdomen and into your upper and lower legs, right down to your feet.

Concentrate on Your Breath and Pay Attention to Your Thoughts

Focus on the rise and fall of your breath during the scan. Conscious breathing keeps you relaxed during the session. By breathing in for a 4-count and exhaling to an 8-count, you active the “rest-and-digest” part of the nervous system that takes you out of your manic state, helping you calm down and think clearly. After entering a fully relaxed state, notice the thoughts in your mind. Are you experiencing a craving?

Why?

Notice the cravings effect on your mind and physiology, but don’t give it any power. Act like you’re standing outside of yourself, watching your body and mind react to the sensation of the craving.

Realize that the craving is nothing more than a reaction to your new choice of getting clean. Tell yourself that it has no power over you, and you should gradually feel the craving fade away. This technique is so effective and easy to do anywhere, anytime. As you get better at it, you’ll be able to do it in almost any environment.  

Mindfulness – Control Your Life by Controlling Your Mind

The benefits of mindfulness techniques are proven science and a highly effective tool to help you get full control of your mind and actions in the present moment. Practicing mindfulness strategies daily builds the skill, and the more you practice it, the more it becomes second nature.

What can you hope to gain from practicing mindfulness? Here’s a short list of what’s waiting for you when you commit to daily practice.

Lift Anxiety and Depression

Addicts often have co-occurring mental health disorders, with anxiety and depression being common problems facing addicts. Using mindfulness for anxiety and depression helps you look at the reasons why you’re feeling anxious, removing those stressors from your mind. You stop wallowing in self-pity and have the mental fortitude to maintain a healthy emotional balance in your mind.

Build Coping Skills and Mitigate Cravings

Relapse is a real risk for addicts in recovery. Mindfulness techniques give you the strategies you need to cope with dealing with your cravings and thoughts of relapsing back into your old behavior. Take control of the chaos and stay on-track to living the sober lifestyle you want so badly.

Build Emotional Strength

Your self-confidence builds with every win you get practicing mindfulness techniques. The more you do them, the more you build up your emotional resilience, giving you the strength to push through your moments of weakness.

Improve Immunity

Addition to drugs and alcohol deteriorates the immune system response, making you prone to infection and disease. Rebuilding your mind with mindfulness techniques not only strengthens your brain function, it builds you immunity. There’s plenty of research showing how mindfulness techniques can improve immune cell activity and immune function.

Stop Cognitive Decline

Prolonged addiction does immeasurable damage to the brain, and some substances can fast-track the progression of cognitive diseases like Alzheimer’s. Practicing mindfulness improves the brain’s plasticity and helps it recover. When you’re actively using your mind instead of letting it run riot, you’ll start to build new neural pathways and produce new brain cells, strengthening your cognitive function.

Sleep Better and Boost Your Mood

It’s tough to drop off into dreamland when your mind is racing at a million miles an hour, and you don’t feel tired. That’s where the mindfulness meditation and body scan come into play. It’s a highly effective technique to reduce the stress response, known as “fight-or-flight,” that keeps you awake. You’ll find you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer, waking up less during the night. Better sleep stabilizes your mood, and when you finally feel like you’re back in control of your headspace, you’ll feel amazing.

Change Your Mind on a Dime and Experience Real Freedom from Addiction

When a craving rampages through your thoughts, you can’t ignore it. But you have a choice in the moment. Give into the craving and ruin your recovery, or stay on the path to your goal of achieving lasting sobriety. If you choose to stay sober, mindfulness techniques can help.

At first, you’ll find it shocking how effective these tools are and the results they bring to your recovery. It’s only when you confront it using mindfulness strategies that you can do something about the hold these thoughts have on your actions. So, how to improve mindfulness?

It’s easy. Just practice it as much as you can.

It might take effort to find your feet with the practice in the beginning, but the more you do it, the easier it gets. The more time you spend on the bike, the faster you learn and the better you get at riding. The more you practice, the better you get at it.

Carrara – Professional Wellness Instructors Trained in Mindfulness

Mindfulness in addiction recovery isn’t a “nice-to-know” strategy; it’s absolutely essential to learn this skill if you want the best chance of making a lasting recovery. It’s a life skill you can carry with you and deploy whenever you need it. At Carrara, we have professional wellness instructors trained to teach these strategies to our clients. Take a moment right now and call us to talk about it, we can help.