For one whose thought is tranquil, mastery extends from the most minute particle to the vast expanse.
—Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras translated by Miller, 1995
• Study a neuroscience perspective on substance abuse
• Educate yourself about your addiction
• Rewire your nervous system for healthy reward
• Train in mindfulness techniques to overcome cravings
• Learn yoga and mindfulness methods to ease withdrawal
• Engage ways to maintain your recovery and foster your potential
Addiction is a mind-brain-body problem, and so treating it with a therapy that alters all three will be most effective. If you are dependent on a substance, your mind is focused on the substance. Your brain is rewired around the substance, helping to explain why most of your pleasure comes from engaging in your habit. In addition, you feel discomfort and even pain in your body if you stop taking the substance. The combination of pleasure from using and pain from withdrawal along with the way your brain has been rewired, makes substance abuse difficult to overcome. Yoga and mindfulness address all these problems on multiple levels: mind, brain, body, and spirit. You change your mind’s focus, rewire your brain’s pathways, soothe your body’s discomforts, and draw on your spiritual nature to help you overcome the pull of addiction.
Jean came to us to give up smoking. She knew it was bad for her. Her husband wanted her to quit, and she worried about setting a bad example for her children. Nonetheless, she was unable to give it up.
We taught her meditative hypnosis. During one session, she was meditating deeply with her body visibly relaxed. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and sat bolt upright saying, “I can’t do this!” We were surprised and asked her, “Why?” She explained with a strong sense of certainty in her voice, “I realized that the only time I relax is when I sit down and have a cigarette. If I give up cigarettes, I will have to give up relaxing! I can’t do that!”Now that she was aware of what she was really feeling and doing, we were able to guide her in learning how to relax without a cigarette. She had no problem letting go of smoking and enjoying her life more fully, relaxed, and comfortable!
The neuroscience of addiction explains why it can be so difficult to overcome a drug habit. Drug-taking behavior alters the reward pathway of the brain. We are wired to seek pleasurable experiences. The reward pathway begins in the midbrain, projects to the forebrain, and then goes back to the midbrain. This pathway is involved in the normal feelings of pleasure for behaviors that are necessary for survival such as eating, drinking, and sex. When you engage in one of these activities, dopamine is released, and you feel pleasure. The powerful experience of pleasure you get from taking a drug is due to how it activates your reward pathway to release dopamine.
FIGURE 15.1 Reward Pathway
There are different kinds of addictive drugs that have varied specific actions and effects, but they all share in the same general impact they have on the brain through the reward pathway. The use of an addictive substance brings about a strong sense of pleasure as the substance enters the bloodstream and brain, resulting in an intense craving to repeat the experience. Normally, the blood-brain barrier prevents the passage of molecules into the brain, keeping the nervous system stable. But many drugs, including pharmacological medications, penetrate the blood-brain barrier, altering the balance of neurotransmitters. Nicotine, alcohol, cocaine, barbiturates, and opiates can easily cross the blood-brain barrier, which is why these drugs have such a powerful impact on users.
But when you use drugs regularly, you expend all the pleasure at once, which is like taking the foot off the brakes, thereby releasing more dopamine. The drug dramatically alters the brain’s activity all the way down to the synapses between neurons, such that you may find little joy in anything but your drug.
Yoga and mindfulness rewire the reward pathway back to normal. Mindfulness meditation can help you overcome your cravings by altering the pleasure-pain struggle. In addition, yoga methods help alleviate the physical discomforts that accompany withdrawal. And through your own practice, you discover pleasure, satisfaction, and lasting well-being arising from your inner resources.
PRECAUTION: Whenever you undergo withdrawal from an addictive drug, you should be medically monitored. Never try to do it alone. Practice the yoga and mindfulness exercises included in this chapter and throughout this book as you undergo treatment at a hospital or drug treatment center or with a therapist. Licensed medical practitioners can offer you proper care throughout the process.
According to yoga tradition, the body is the temple of the soul, the breath is the lord of the mind, and the mind is the sovereign of the senses. Any yoga and mindfulness approach to overcoming substance abuse involves cultivating your mind and breathing to help you control your senses. Your body heals as you gain self-knowledge of your physical, mental, and spiritual being.
The flywheel of habit turns, and you may find yourself stuck in patterns that are harmful to you without being aware of it. The yamas and niyamas provide some guidelines that can help you survey your current lifestyle and get back in touch. Review Chapter 4 on the yamas and niyamas. Use your journal to help you observe and record your experience. But remember: Don’t judge yourself, turning these into another set of moral values. Observe and exercise restraint where possible, with the faith that you are engaged in a positive process. Use your journal to reflect on these issues as you inspire recovery and fulfillment.
Begin with the yamas to help you question and even stop engaging in some of the patterns that have led to where you are now.
1. Ahimsa, compassion and nonharming
• List ways you may be harming yourself and others
• How can you practice nonharming, not just in actions, but also in attitudes and thoughts?
2. Satya, not Lying
• List some ways you might be deceiving yourself about your drug use. For example, when we asked our client Nicky about how often she used drugs she answered in naïve honesty, “Oh, not much at all. Well, I smoke a little pot when I get up, then I have a six-pack or so of beer during the day. I might smoke again before I go out at night, and then, well, when I’m partying (which I do four to five times a week), I like to use a little speed to keep me going, or I might drop some acid. But, I don’t really use drugs, and I could stop taking the little bit that I do any time I want to. I just don’t feel like it.” She was sincere, unaware of her self-deception. She honestly hadn’t faced that her life revolved around a regular habitual pattern. She didn’t really use drugs. They used her.
• Educate yourself about the truth regarding regular alcohol and drug use. Information about the harmful effects of drugs is readily available on the Internet as well as other places, such as treatment programs (e.g., Narcotics Anonymous).
• Write down some ways you could look at things more realistically and truthfully about the substance(s) you use. Then free yourself to choose.
3. Asteya, not stealing
• Do you want to have something that doesn’t really belong to you or that you haven’t earned? Sometimes people
• use drugs as a shortcut. For example, one client said, “I feel at my best: energetic, confident, and competent, when I’m high.” He used amphetamines regularly, and although he felt self-assured when using, the drug was killing him. Ingesting the drug for confidence and energy was turning him away from his own inner resources, leaving him feeling depleted and ill when the drug wore off. With the support of therapy, he turned toward the true source of confidence and competence, the wellspring within him.
• List some of the things you want out of life. Note ways to truly achieve these goals from your own resources (e.g., getting schooling or training, becoming more fit, or developing a talent).
• Are there ways you are relying on other people or drugs instead of relying on your own abilities?
• List how you can give rather than take.
4. Brahmacharya, restraint
• Drug use often involves a valuing of being “high.” Write down your thoughts about what it means to feel high. For example, does it symbolize freedom?
If so, question whether you are truly free, since drug use comes with a heavy price: dependency.
List ways you have had a natural high without drugs.
Have you experienced well-being following yoga and mindfulness practice?
Have you felt a similar glow after sharing closeness with a significant other or from creating something yourself?
• As you reread your thoughts about these possibilities, resolve to learn the skills you need to achieve higher
• consciousness without drugs.
5. Aparigraha, nongrasping
• Dependence on drugs is a kind of attachment. You can develop detachment to resist the pushes and pulls of dependency.
Note when you have been detached from something, able to let something go, without relying on anything outside of yourself, even a small thing.
• Observe ways that you are putting the source for your well-being outside of yourself rather than within.
• List your strengths, ways that you can facilitate your own capacities. Ask significant others to list your strengths and capacities.
Niyamas offer positive values to give you the strength to flourish.
1. Shaucha, purity
• Shaucha can be your inspiration to do what you can to become healthy in body, mind, and spirit. Withdrawing carefully under medical supervision is one aspect of recovery, but you can prepare yourself by caring for your body with healthy eating and adequate sleep. Practice the breathing, postures, and meditations regularly.
• Schedule a brief, daily yoga and mindfulness session.
• Look up nutrition on the Internet or at the library. Plan a healthy day’s meals you can imagine integrating into your eating routine.
2. Santosha, contentment
• Note the things you like about your life as it is now. Even though you probably have much you would like to change, find a few things that you feel good about.
• Practice mindfulness for one minute and appreciate the quiet.
3. Tapas, austerity
• You can draw on tapas to help you handle the challenges ahead. We all have a superhero in us, even if it’s tucked away.
• List a time or times when you endured something tough.
• Note what it would be like to be strong and capable now.
4. Svadhyaya, self-education
• What would you like to do with your life?
• List some of your interests.
• Learn more about each of these interests.
Borrow books from the library on one of these topics.
Talk to people whom you admire.
Discuss your interests with people who are involved in them.
Search the Internet.
Educate yourself, delve deeply, and follow up on your curiosity.
5. Ishvara pranidhana, discover the divine within
• What inspires you?
• Put yourself into an inspirational situation, for example:
Admire a sunset.
Take a walk in nature.
Read an inspiring book.
Be with young children.
Watch an inspirational movie.
• How can you open yourself to the spiritual dimension?
• Write about times when you have felt spiritual.
FIGURE 15.2 Chart Your Drug Use for One Week
If you have been abusing drugs or alcohol, your dopamine has been depleted, which helps to explain why you may feel less enjoyment in life. Research on the yoga technique, yoga nidra, has been shown to increase dopamine release. A group of researchers in Denmark measured subjects using two PET scans for two conditions. In the first condition, participants turned their attention to speech with their eyes closed, and in the second condition, they performed yoga nidra meditations. During the meditation condition, dopamine release increased by 65% (Kjaer, Bertelsen, Piccini, Brooks, Alving, & Lou, 2002).
You can perform yoga nidra meditation to become calm, bring balance to your nervous system, and increase the release of dopamine, thereby, giving you a pleasurable experience without resorting to your chemical substance. Regular practice can put you on the path to rewiring your reward pathway away from your substance and back to healthy reward.
You might find that your body temperature will lower slightly as you lie still. To keep your body temperature stable, cover yourself with a light blanket before beginning yoga nidra meditation.
Lie down on your back in savasana. If you back is sore, place a pillow under your legs behind your knees to relax your lower back. Breathe comfortably in and out for several minutes and allow your breathing to relax. Now, focus your attention on your right foot. Allow it to relax as completely as possible. Then, move your attention up through your leg to your knee, relaxing these areas. Continue moving your attention all the way up to your thigh and then to your hip, relaxing all the muscles as you go. Now, become aware of your entire leg, letting it relax completely. Next, focus attention on your left foot and let your attention travel up to your hip, relaxing as you go. Now, move up though your whole body, part by part, relaxing as you go. Notice your torso area, front and back, waist, chest, lower to middle to upper back, right hand, right arm, right shoulder, then focus on your left side in a similar manner up your neck, throat, face, and finally to the top of your head. When you have finished, breathe comfortably as you notice your entire body, relaxed and at ease. Finally, feel your body as it meets the surface you lie on. Then extend the range of your awareness to include the room you are in. When you feel ready, open your eyes and stretch, relaxed and refreshed from your pleasurable yoga nidra experience. Practice this meditation daily, to help your nervous system regain its natural capacity to enjoy life, without the help of external stimulants or depressants.
Your breathing tends to reflect your inner state, and so by stabilizing your breathing you can literally stabilize your entire nervous system.
Sit in the pelvic pose or the easy pose, with your back held relatively straight. Perform several relaxed, complete breaths. Next, inhale naturally, hold for three counts, and then exhale completely. When you get to the bottom of your exhale, gently draw in your stomach muscles and hold for three counts. Inhale slowly, letting the air completely fill your lungs and expand your stomach muscles. Perform the pattern three times and then perform three comfortable complete breaths. Repeat the pattern for several minutes. When you are ready, sit quietly, relaxing your breathing.
You may be bothered by cravings and impulses, thinking you can’t control them. But that very thought may be aggravating the problem. Consider this: Perhaps your tolerance for pain should expand. We often think of directing our efforts toward lessening pain or getting rid of it. But to be able to truly overcome discomfort, you need to change your approach to it. Mindfulness offers a different tool for control of uncomfortable cravings.
Pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain puts you on a roller coaster. Mindfulness helps you go beyond this pleasure-pain cycle. Grounded in the present moment, you become detached from your typical discomforts and open up to something new. When working on cravings, do this series of meditations several times a day. Stay with it. This kind of personal work, when coupled with appropriate professional care, can help you to master your situation and yourself.
When you experience craving, feeling as if something is missing and you want to fill a void, turn your mindful eye from inside to outside. Look around the room in which you are sitting. What do you see? Notice the lighting, the colors, and any textures and shapes. Are there other people there? Turn your attention to what other people are doing. Don’t judge them—just as you shouldn’t judge yourself. You may be surprised to notice interesting qualities that you have missed. Allow your attention to remain focused on your environment, experiencing without evaluating. Breathe comfortably as you notice.
After you have become mindful of your environment, turn your mindful attention inward as you relax your breathing and let go of any unnecessary tensions. Observe what you are experiencing now, but don’t label what you notice, simply watch. Tolerate and accept your feelings just as an experience. Notice the qualities of the sensations. If the feelings become too intense, shift your attention outward again. Go back and forth, inward and outward, while you relax as much as possible. Soon your craving will begin to alter somewhat. You may even feel that it has less of a pull on you.
Question why you really need this habit so much. Perhaps you have defined yourself as this or that type of person who needs it, but remember, that in your deeper, true nature, you were not born with this need. You developed it through your own thoughts and experiences. You can become detached from the craving, the need, through your own inner renunciation.
When you feel ready to withdraw, seek medical assistance to ensure that you go through the process safely. You can use your yoga and mindfulness skills to ease your withdrawal. Without realizing it, you may be adding to your pain and discomfort by your interpretations. You feel uncomfortable and then think, “I can’t stand it, it’s awful, terrible,” or perhaps telling yourself that your personal suffering is unique and far worse than anyone else. But with mindful awareness, you subtract the evaluative part of your experience. Research has found that negative evaluation of pain, processed in the cingulate gyrus, literally intensifies your pain. So, learning to mindfully accept what you are feeling, even if it hurts, will lower your pain experience and increase your pain tolerance. You can influence your discomforts much more than you might believe possible, and these next exercises show you how. You can also use the meditations to overcome cravings.
The discomfort associated with withdrawal is often felt as an overwhelming experience, something that hurts you. But in truth, pain is a combination of sensations and cognitive appraisal. By learning to separate these parts and distinguish them, the sensations become manageable and the interpretation can alter. With willingness and practice, you can do it!
Warm up session: Do this exercise when you are feeling only a slight discomfort. As your skills improve, you will be able to apply this meditation to strong cravings or pains. Notice the sensory component of the discomfort you are feeling. Focus on its qualities: Is it hot or cold, sharp or dull, or anything else? Do you feel the discomfort as an intermittent pulse with spaces between, or is it a continuous wave?
Pay particularly close attention to the spaces between, the times when the sensation is not there. What are the qualities of these moments, when there is no discomfort or less intensity? Can you remain objective, simply attending to it, like data to be observed? When you have been able to sustain attention to the sensations, move on to the next exercise.
Now that you have learned to experience the elements of the uncomfortable sensation without distinguishing the sensation as pleasant or unpleasant, apply pratyahara to withdraw from these sensations, however you experience them. Begin by attending to the strongest, most intense sensations, then turn your attention to the subtler ones, then to spaces between the sensations, and eventually to moments without sensation. Allow the relief from lulls in pain to spill over into the moments of intense sensations, softening them a bit. Let the feeling of calm that you develop spread. As it becomes deeper and stronger, the sensations may become milder and easier to handle. Keep breathing comfortably and allow as much relaxation as possible.
You may find yourself getting fatigued from meditations 1 and 2. Learning how to concentrate your attention on something else is a tried and true way to lessen the experience of pain and discomfort and give you some rest. You have had moments when you became spontaneously absorbed in something interesting. It might have been great music, a fascinating book, an intriguing movie, or being deeply involved with others. Although this exercise guides in focusing attention fully on music, please feel free to choose what fascinates you.
Pick something that you can enjoy easily. Listen to a piece of instrumental music you find soothing. Listen carefully to the melody one time through. Play the music again and listen to the background sounds, perhaps a subtle rhythm, or a secondary thread that runs through the music. Play it a third time and listen only to the pauses between notes, the quietest sounds, the empty moments between. Play it one more time and listen to everything together. In the union of melody, background sounds, and spaces between you can find the full enjoyment of the music. Finally, simply sit quietly and allow listening, open and absorbed in the experience. You may hear the music as you never have before, and enjoy it fully. With practice, you can become absorbed in whatever you choose to focus your attention on.
Try applying this exercise to other sensory experiences, such as the sweet aroma of a rose, the taste of a ripe piece of fruit, or the enjoyment of viewing a beautiful art object. Keep your attention focused. Seek enjoyment in the experience itself. You may be pleased to find that the discomfort vanishes.
Many drug users are simply seeking enjoyment, and yet they are continually frustrated by their addiction, which is not a source of true happiness. You can give up drugs without having to give up enjoyment, like our client Jean. Samyama practice develops your sense of well-being independent of drug use. True happiness comes from within, without the need for anything outside. As the great Zen Master Lin-Chi said many years ago, “Nothing is missing! You have everything you need.” We offer this exercise for focusing on music, but if this is not what interests you, direct your attention to something else that does interest you, such as fine art or movement.
Sit comfortably in the easy pose (see Figure 6.11). Play your favorite music as you listen intensely with your eyes closed. Develop dharana focus on the sounds and the qualities. Allow yourself to become completely engrossed in the music, in dhyana meditation, to be in the groove (see Chapter 9, the exercise “Dhyana Meditation on Music” on page 73). Keeping all your attention on the music, let yourself dance to the beat if you feel so moved. Allow everything else to disappear for a few minutes. You are one with the music, lost in the moment. When the music is finished, sit for several minutes and experience the resonance of well-being. You can evoke this pleasurable experience whenever you choose. Your ability will grow stronger with practice.
Maintaining the process involves daily practice. The more frequently you practice, the easier your recovery will be. Create a daily routine of postures and meditation. We offer some simple routines here, but please feel free to incorporate any of the yoga and mindfulness practices you have found most helpful.
Overcoming dependence on a substance requires you to use everything you have to conquer the pull of the drug’s powerful effects on your mind and brain. You can sustain your recovery by enlisting all of your capacities to help you. This meditation reverses the usual order of chakra meditations, to open you to receive energy, encourage its flow, and allow smooth communication within, linking your resources from mind, body, and spirit. With everything working together, you can achieve your goals! (Refer to Figure 5.3 for the location of the chakras.)
• Sit cross-legged on a pillow or on a chair. Close your eyes and breathe in gently, hold for a few seconds, and then breathe out for a minute or so.
• Open the flow of your energy by focusing your attention on the crown chakra, at the top of your head. Visualize energy flowing in as the energy circles around the top of your head.
• Breathe comfortably as you imagine that this moving energy begins to flow downward into the brow chakra at your forehead. Here, the power of your mind is activated, stimulating your mental energy to help you with clear thinking and deeper understanding. Imagine the energy circling around your forehead as your mental vision becomes clearer and clearer.
• Allow all that energy to move down into your throat chakra. The energy circles around as you enhance the link between your mind and body as they work together. Your mind can communicate unimpeded with your body, and your body can send signals that are heard by your mind, with a smooth back and forth flow of energy between your mind and body.
• Once more, notice your breathing, in and out, and then allow your energy to sink lower into the heart chakra. Here you can open your heart to emotions of love and compassion as you follow the energy swirling around in the center of your chest. Your emotional capacities can animate your mind and body, allowing you to empathize sensitively with others.
• Breathe, relax, and continue to send the energy down to the solar plexus chakra, the energy center of your body. As you visualize the energy circling around, you can feel a strong sense of who you are in this moment. As you sense your mind, body, and emotions working together, you can experience confidence that you can take charge of your life and direct it toward health and happiness.
• Breathe, relax, and allow your energy to flow down to the sacral chakra located below your navel. Imagine it spinning around, fostering joy in living each moment as you travel your path. You can feel your creativity, your sense of enjoyment, which you can bring about without having to rely on anything outside of yourself to make it happen. As your energy flows here in your lower abdomen, you can visualize finding meaning and enjoyment in what you do.
• And finally, breathe, relax and let your energy sink all the way down to the root chakra at the base of your spine. Here is your connection to the earth, your source of vitality. In touch with the earth, your energy can now move from your foundation, around and around and then up again, unimpeded and free to flow wherever you send it.
Breathing coordinated with movement can stimulate a healthy flow of energy. Imagine that your breathing is sending healing energy to the area you are exercising. As you breathe in, imagine that the air carries prana to that part of your body, bringing vitality to help this area develop. As you exhale, imagine that you are expelling toxins from the area. Visualize the air you breathe in as brightly colored or bright and clear. Visualize the stale air going out as dark colored and murky. Contemplate this image during posture practice. Concentrate attention on your posture while breathing, to link them.
1. Perform a daily sun salutation (see the instructions in Chapter 11 in the section “Bottom-up Calming with the Sun Salutation” on pages 87-89 to circulate your energy and develop flexibility.
2. Perform the warrior series (see the instructions in Chapter 13 in the section “Embody Strength: Warrior Postures” on pages 109-110) to build strength and courage.
3. Enhance self-esteem and self-confidence with the standing archer pose, one of the oldest asanas of yoga practice. This posture enhances self-esteem and confidence. It builds lower and upper-body strength and improves concentration and focus.
a. Place your feet wide apart as in the warrior pose. Place more of your weight on the front leg, but keep your back straight. There should be a stretch in your right upper thigh.
b. Extend your arm out over your bent leg as if holding a bow and turn your head to look toward your outstretched hand, looking in that direction.
c. With the other hand, perform the movements as if you are pulling back bowstrings. Your hand should be all the way past the right side of your chest.
d. Breathe deeply, in and out, while holding this posture and looking steadily toward your outstretched hand.
e. With every breath, keep your attention deeply focused, and feel yourself expanding as you become strong and balanced.
f. Hold this position for several minutes. Then, turn and repeat on the other side.
FIGURE 15.3 Archer Pose
Practice yoga and mindfulness regularly to forge new habits for unifying mind and body. Breathe with movement, and keep your attention focused mindfully in the present moment. A sense of inner confidence develops. Healthy habits, daily yoga postures, regular relaxation, and mental exercises initiate a process of self-care. Take charge of your own destiny and you can transcend circumstances that seem beyond your control! Your achievements, however small they may seem, give pleasure. And even small steps will get you to your destination. This quote from Gandhi may be inspirational to you in your journey:
But with proper discipline, we can make ourselves into beings only a “little below the angels.” He who has mastered his senses is first and foremost among men.
—Gandhi 1960, 143
Sometimes people who get involved in harmful habits feel their life is worthless and so why not indulge in harmful habits. But if you feel your life is worthless, why not help someone else? By giving of yourself, you discover the inner goodness within. Devotion to others can be a surprising source for self-cure. The famous psychologist Alfred Adler believed that caring about and helping others is central to mental health.
It is almost impossible to exaggerate the value of an increase in social feeling. The mind improves, for intelligence is a communal function. The feeling of worth and value is heightened, giving courage, and an optimistic view. The individual feels at home in life and feels his existence to be worthwhile. . .All failures. . .are failures because they are lacking in social interest. (Adler & Deutsch, 1959)
Substitute compassionate, benevolent thoughts and actions for harmful ones. So, when you feel like indulging in your negative habit, try helping someone else instead. Get involved in a benevolent project or volunteer work. You might find yourself craving the positive effects brought about by your compassionate action!
Each day, take one step on the path toward fulfilling your dreams. If you dream of being more organized, you might begin by cleaning out a messy drawer. You might take a larger step and enroll in a class, apply for a job, or apologize to someone to forge a better relationship. You can seek higher goals and find meaning, fulfillment, and happiness in your journey.
Keep a daily journal with your thoughts, feelings, and sensations. You might choose to write at the same time every day, or you may prefer to do it randomly at different times each day. Look back after several weeks to observe trends. You may see ups and downs, which is natural. Setbacks are a normal part of the process. Extend tolerance to yourself as you would with others. Trust yourself and have faith. You can succeed!
FIGURE 15.4 Fostering Healthy Habits