If you are struggling with addiction, you may also have to deal with issues like anxiety and depression while you are recovering from it. To be affected with these emotions is natural as you withdraw from substance abuse and adapt to a different and more challenging environment.
In this article, Deepak Chopra highlights the importance of meditation in dealing with anxiety and depression while recovering from addiction. He says that feeling depressed is a sign that shows you have attachments to the past and you are still stuck to them. You may be depressed by the fact that you chose the path that would have ultimately resulted in self-destruction. This can result in negative emotions like shame and guilt. Anxiety is all about living in the future with apprehensions and thoughts focused on worries and concerns and thinking whether you will be able to face the obstacles and challenges in future.
Whenever you are depressed or anxious, you get disconnected from your true self- who you are and what is your true source of existence. So you may start looking for fulfillment and peace and motivation outside of yourself. However, the fact is that whatever answers you are looking for outside are well inside you. You don’t have to seek them outside.
How Meditation Can Help You in Recovery?
Deepak Chopra says that you have to avoid seeking happiness and sense of wellbeing in the outside world during your addiction recovery. Rather, you must re-train your mind to start looking inside yourself. So, you must shift to a higher level of consciousness and this can be achieved through meditation.
Meditation is a way to condition your mind to reach in the state of pure silence. Meditation enriches your thought process. This helps you be aware of every thought that passes your mind. It is a source of correlation, creativity, possibilities and synchronicity. To harness this power, you have to remain quiet and let your consciousness guide you. But there are ample meditation myths all around related to its practice.
When you are addicted to a substance, your actions are guided by a conditioned mind. Therefore, you tend to repeat the same behavior until the time no amount of substance you are addicted to is enough to meet your desires. To heal yourself from the addiction, you must condition your mind again to stop the compulsive behavior. Meditation helps you achieve this.
According to Deepak Chopra, connecting to your inner power can also prevent you looking for other ways to combat depression and anxiety, like television, social media, gambling, shopping, alcohol or drugs. Also, it has been seen that a person trying to recover from one addiction gets addicted to other in order to ease discomfort. This will entangle you in a vicious circle of addiction and stops you from healing and getting better. Meditation connects the mind, body and spirit and does not let you develop toxic habits as you become consciously aware of your thoughts.
It is said that when you pray, you talk to the source, i.e., God, Universe or Divine or whatever you consider as the supreme power. However, it is said that when you meditate, the source talks to you.
Benefits of Meditation
Whenever we meditate and try to explore our unconditioned mind, the benefits can be seen on a physical and psychological level. Deepak Chopra highlights the following benefits of meditation:
• Physical health benefits like reduction in blood pressure, lower levels of stress hormone or cortisol and decrease in the levels of bad cholesterol or LDL
• Having less negative thoughts
• Better quality of sleep
• Improved immunity
• Feeling a sense of inner peace
• Feeling calm in stressful situations
• Developing a vision and increased creativity
• Better sense of connection to self and the environment
Find Your Inner Self with Meditation
When it is about recovering from addiction, meditation can make you more aware and help with making conscious decisions when confronted with challenges. For example, if your mind goes into the past and worries about the future, with meditation you can make your mind resilient to these thoughts.
It is not necessary that with the help of meditation, you will not face tough situations, but it will definitely make sure that you are armed with necessary tools and abilities so that you react in a more positive and healthier way. With time you will become habituated with detaching and not trying to exercise your control over situations. This is a huge benefit of meditation as when we try to control situations as it blocks the flow of positive energy and sets you off on the opposite path which is against what you are trying to attain.
Also, meditation must be done consistently. We also understand that recovering from addiction is a challenging work and involves dealing with stress. Meditation is a tool through which this stress can be released along with the prevailing emotional toxicity. You can practice meditation through guided meditation on CDs and Youtube videos. You can simply relax, just sit and be in the moment while putting all your attention on your breath. You can also do Yoga. In yogic practice, you connect with awareness as you make different postures. You can even join meditation courses run by various organizations and temples and centers.
When you practice meditation, you move to a stronger sense of wellbeing and fulfillment and you adopt behaviors that will make you experience peace, love, success and creativity.
