In recent years meditation has been used effectively to help people quit smoking and control overeating. It is now being used to help alcoholics and drug addicts overcome their addictions, maintain sobriety, and remain in recovery.
By now everyone knows that smoking is one of the unhealthiest habits a person can cultivate. It not only causes respiratory diseases and lung cancer, but the toxins in cigarettes infiltrate and damage nearly every organ in the body and compromise circulation. Smoking shortens the lifespan and impacts quality of life. Yet cigarettes are one of the most difficult substances to permanently withdraw from—according to researchers, nicotine may be as addictive as hard drugs such as heroin.
There is new help, however, for those who have been unable to quit while using medications or going cold turkey. Recent studies report that mindfulness-type meditation offers both mental and physical support to those who want to quit, and it further increases their chances of success. Meditation has also worked for chronic overeaters who are trying to cut down consumption. There are many guided meditations available on the internet that can assist novices to reach deeper levels of consciousness in order to break bad or destructive habits.
Below are some of the ways that meditation can help smokers “banish the butts.”
• Meditation reduces stress, which is often a trigger for smokers. They believe that smoking relaxes them and eases tension, but the truth is that cigarettes simply mask the stress—and increase heart rate. With meditation, the smoker soon understands what is causing the stress and can find ways, besides smoking, of controlling it.
• Meditating can make people aware of their cravings and then help reduce them. Through meditation, the smoker mindfully experiences their physical and mental states, such as the cravings and edginess that occur when cigarettes are withheld. Once these factors are recognized, the smoker can begin to accept the feelings and start to reshape their own behavior.
• People who smoke often lament that they have no self-control when it comes to quitting. The good news is that research on subjects who meditate regularly has shown enhanced connectivity in the regions of the brain that are linked to self-control. Don’t be surprised if meditating suddenly gives you the willpower to stop smoking or to stop snacking before bedtime. In fact, some smokers report that they started curbing their habit without even realizing it.
BEYOND 12 STEPS
The appeal of any addictive substance or activity—narcotics, alcohol, gambling, shopping, sex—is that it furnishes an intense high, a feeling of euphoria on which the user becomes hooked. Even cigarette smokers report the pleasurable rush of that first inhalation of the morning. But as their tolerance increases, the highs become harder to achieve; the abuser has to increase frequency of use or the strength of the substance. As a result, they may stray dangerously near toxic intake levels of alcohol or drugs in order to find satisfaction. This is why “kicking the habit” is so crucial—it saves lives.
There are a number of systems available for treating addicts, including the highly successful 12-step program advocated by Alcoholics Anonymous. Mindfulness meditation is just beginning to take its place as another beneficial practice that can break the patterns of addiction. As mentioned above, meditation facilitates self-awareness and enhances self-control; it also allows people to substitute a natural high—and one that is not habit forming—for an artificial one.
Addiction often arises from emotional factors: anxiety, depression, or fear that can make a person succumb to self-destructive behaviors. Some psychologists refer to addicts as having a “wanting mind”—a state of unhappiness that mistakenly depends on material things to alleviate it. Again, meditation can help to fill that desperate “hole in the soul” that addicts know too well and provide a more lasting state of pleasure and fulfillment.
Another core belief of 12-step recovery is faith in a higher power; this can be God or another entity of a person’s own choosing. For many centuries meditation has served as a conduit between practitioners and their deities or higher powers, and there are likely few things so encouraging, so reassuring, to someone in addiction recovery as experiencing that satisfying communion with the “godhead” during deep meditation.
Ideally, the optimal course for a recovering addict is a combination of aids: enlisting in a 12-step or other recovery program and augmenting it with meditation therapy at home.
PRACTICING MINDFULNESS
If you are interested in cutting back on cigarettes or food consumption, or if you have a more serious addiction, it is not difficult to master several of the breathing techniques used in mindfulness meditation. The examples below vary in length and purpose.
1. One-Minute Meditation: This exercise stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, the relaxation response. Sit with your eyes closed and hold a deep breath for a count of four. Exhale for an eight count as you visualize oxygen moving through your bloodstream and your stress floating away.
2. Seven-Minute Meditation: According to a research team at Harvard, this exercise soon develops focus, attention, and a sense of clarity and calm when practiced twice a day. Sit relaxed and erect and take several long, rolling breaths. Begin counting one inhale, one exhale, until you reach 10. Then count again backwards. Repeat the cycle five times, then continue breathing at this steady pace for another few minutes while visualizing the breath moving through your lungs.
3. Five-Minute Body Scan Mediation: This exercise allows you to discover unconscious areas of tension and release them. Studies show this meditation can improve sleep patterns and alleviate fatigue and depression. Sit or lie down in a comfortable pose and ease into a calm, steady breathing pattern. Then focus your awareness on different parts of the body, starting with the left toes. When you find tension, breathe into it and relax it on the exhale. Do the left and right sides first, and then move up to the neck and head.
