Recovery from drug addiction isn’t a singular event. Instead, it is a process that changes over your lifetime. Since triggers and cravings are ever-present in your home environment, you need many tools in your recovery toolkit. One of the most powerful tools you can use is the practice of mindfulness.
You will learn the importance of learning mindfulness in addiction treatment and ways that you can use mindfulness to strengthen your recovery.
The first step to lasting sobriety is evidence-based drug treatment. Multi-Concept Recovery (MCR) is one of Southern California’s premier outpatient drug treatment programs. We offer you and all clients customized drug treatment programs tailored to meet your specific needs. Address your addiction today and call MCR.
Multi Concept Recovery is a Burbank rehab center that offers quality addiction care for those in need.
What is Mindfulness?
When you look at the word mindfulness, what comes to mind?
You may have a basic, working definition of the term, but mindfulness in and of itself seems vast and esoteric. In reality, mindfulness is very simple.
Mindfulness is defined as the ability to be fully present and aware of what is going on in our environment in the current moment. With mindfulness, whatever you sense and feel at any given time is to be accepted at face value and without judgment. You acknowledge that you are feeling what you are feeling and let it pass.
Practicing mindfulness in treatment is often easier said than done. In early recovery, your mind is trying to regain a sense of balance, and your thoughts go all over the place. It is very easy to lose focus and let your mind wander, and your thoughts can wander to craving and desiring to use substances.
Mindfulness allows you to understand and accept yourself. It allows you to be aware of your senses and what you are feeling. When you feel vulnerable and thoughts of using drugs loom large, mindfulness practices can bring you back to the present, help you acknowledge and accept your feelings, and help you move past them without judging them or yourself.
Ways to Strengthen the Connection Between Mindfulness and Addiction Recovery
So, how do you strengthen the connection between mindfulness and addiction recovery and make it work for you? As stated earlier, the concept of mindfulness seems so vast and hard to wrap your thoughts around. The simple truth is that you possess mindfulness already and need to learn ways to cultivate that mindfulness.
There are simple and effective ways you can help mindfulness grow within you that benefit your recovery. The easiest way to grow your sense of mindfulness is through the use of mindful breathing. All you need is 10-15 minutes of your time and a quiet place away from distractions. Simply find a comfortable place to sit and focus on the inhale and exhale of your breath. When thoughts and emotions are felt, simply acknowledge what they are without judgment and let them pass.
You can also extend mindfulness to other daily activities, such as eating. When you sit down to eat a meal, focus on every bite of food. Make note of the tastes and textures of your food. Mindful walking is another effective way to incorporate mindfulness into your addiction recovery. To perform walking meditation, find a secluded and quiet spot with enough room to walk 10-15 steps comfortably. Walk 10-15 steps, then pause and breathe for any length you like. When you are ready, you can turn back around and repeat.
There is no limit to the ways you can incorporate mindfulness into your daily routine. Once you find a couple of activities that you like to do, find other ways to incorporate mindfulness into your routine. Once you make mindfulness a habit, you can reprogram your mind and are better able to repel the triggers and cravings that can lead to relapse.
Transform Your Life With The Help of Multi-Concept Recovery
Deciding to address your drug addiction is a major life decision. To make the goal of lifelong recovery a reality, you need to find a drug treatment program that has the programs and support that will help transform your life. Multi-Concept Recovery (MCR) features evidence-based treatment programs that are carefully tailored to meet your specific needs. We offer multiple levels of outpatient substance abuse and mental health care that allow you to heal and grow while being able to live at home and have the support of your family.
Call MCR today and start on your path to freedom with our Los Angeles addiction treatment programs.
