Full Catastrophe Living
waking down
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 4,641
Full Catastrophe Living
I've been reading Full Catastrophe Living about Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Then I found this website to help folks work the program on their own at no cost: Online MBSR (free) . Excellent resource. I'm working through the eight weeks and feeling great. Next I will read Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention, which is based on MBSR and MBCT (Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy). In addition, I've been taking online and weekend Shambhala classes to deepen my meditation and spiritual practices. Everybody has their own path, and I found this particular path because I continue to seek nontheistic alternatives to The 12 Steps and prayer (to which I have failed to connect). Maybe you will find mindfulness or other neobuddhist practices helpful. I can say that right now I feel more psychologically stable, content, and grounded then, well, maybe ever. Two years sober come St. Stephen's Day! The magic is back!
Self recovered Self discovered
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Toronto Canada
Posts: 5,148
Congratulations, Zero. You are definitely sounding more the hero these days! Well done. I believe very strongly in the power of mindfulness and other cognitive tools as critical aspects of my continued sobriety, my mental health, and just regular getting through the day stuff. I see mindfulness as being a principal component of AVRT too.
Thanks for the link. Onward!
Thanks for the link. Onward!
waking down
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 4,641
Agreed. AVRT is about awareness, after all, and observing the mind. I have my moments, but with increased awareness, acceptance, and compassion, I am better able to redirect my suffering and return to an attitude of gratitude in the moment. It seems, though, that I am surrounded by miserable people at work and too often at home. I'm learning how much it must have sucked to be around me in past years, and I'm working on influencing my sphere for the positive.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: maine
Posts: 204
so sad right now, thinking about what a pitiful woman I have been and how that really affected my girls. Been sober far more days than drunk the past few months - so I am a work in progress - hope they can forgive me someday. Grateful to read AVRT and have been practicing mindfulness - will push forward with these techniques.
waking down
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 4,641
BP, try the lovingkindness meditation at Online MBSR (free). Gotta give ourselves a break...
For me the "relapse prevention" part of mindfulness is that the practice encourages experiencing emotions without judgement. Substances tend to be an avenue for escape or avoidance, so now that I value the practice, drinking or getting high just doesn't fit.
For me the "relapse prevention" part of mindfulness is that the practice encourages experiencing emotions without judgement. Substances tend to be an avenue for escape or avoidance, so now that I value the practice, drinking or getting high just doesn't fit.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: CA, USA
Posts: 206
I love this book. Thanks for reminding me about it because I have a copy and read it years ago, before I was ready to take its advice (or any kind of serious action). Going to revisit it now, and thanks for the tip about the site 
Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Posts: 99
Also quite good, by the same author (Jon Kabat Zinn) is "Wherever You Go, There You Are". The title says it all. Its more of a practical guide to incorporating mindfulness into everyday life. Highly recommended.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Melbourne, Victoria Australia
Posts: 1,202
Excellent post, zero. Yeah, I've been into Zinn's work for some years...but like many of us, it's taken me until recently to really remember to practice practice practice....and keep practising! Same principle of course as the much more ancient forebear tradition of Buddhist meditation, regardless of what 'school'.
I reckon mindfulness is a key aspect of any sobriety I have these days; I noticed, ruefully, when debriefing so to speak about a very recent - and mercifully short - bust (3 days), that one of the key things I'd neglected in daily self-care prior to relapsing was my mindfulness practice. Both the morning 'formal' practice and the more on-the-fly moments through each day.
It's a central, almost pivotal, part of all the group programs at the rehab where I attend outpatient weekly; together with all their extremely qualified psychological staff who run the inpatient and outpatient groups.
I do XX meetings as well, plus see my GP at least fortnightly, and an addictions counsellor fortnightly. But it's mindfulness practice that I believe is my particular key to regaining some sanity and balance: i.e. not just sobriety (precious enough in itself for a serial relapser!) but emotional sobriety too.
Cheers,
Vic
I reckon mindfulness is a key aspect of any sobriety I have these days; I noticed, ruefully, when debriefing so to speak about a very recent - and mercifully short - bust (3 days), that one of the key things I'd neglected in daily self-care prior to relapsing was my mindfulness practice. Both the morning 'formal' practice and the more on-the-fly moments through each day.
It's a central, almost pivotal, part of all the group programs at the rehab where I attend outpatient weekly; together with all their extremely qualified psychological staff who run the inpatient and outpatient groups.
I do XX meetings as well, plus see my GP at least fortnightly, and an addictions counsellor fortnightly. But it's mindfulness practice that I believe is my particular key to regaining some sanity and balance: i.e. not just sobriety (precious enough in itself for a serial relapser!) but emotional sobriety too.
Cheers,
Vic
waking down
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 4,641
So, things got crazy and I lost a week, then restarted the MBSR program on Online MBSR (free) a couple of weeks ago. Today I started week three which includes mindful yoga and I cried. I first cried because after two surgeries this year I can hardly recognize my own body. I'm so tight I can't sit up straight while cross-legged (unless on a high cushion). Simple mindful yoga postures were a challenge. I can no longer touch my toes with my legs straight...
Then I kind of cried out of gratitude because last time I did yoga was almost exactly a year ago and I ended up unable to walk and in need of surgery. I was doing yoga to help with pain, and though I was a lot more flexible, I was also being too aggressive, still thinking and behaving like a young man. I don't think the yoga caused my disc rupture, but twisting hard could have made it worse (I actually think the chiropractor made it worse - squeezing pulp out of the disc and into my spinal canal when cranking on my lower back). Anyway...
This time I'm more interested in mindfulness than yoga, but I'm also very aware that I need to do more yoga - gently. I don't have the body of a young man anymore, and I need to proceed with caution. I also need to get some strength and flexibility back, especially in my lower body. It would be nice to be able to sit and meditate without so much pain but that will require increased flexibility in my hips (and possibly a miracle arthritis cure).
I'm kind of thinking out loud, processing all this. It's like I'm mourning the loss of my youth while sensing gratitude that I can even walk. My lower back is already a little sore from just half an hour of yoga maybe two hours ago. I need to regain strength in my core. The thing I like about the mindful yoga approach is that it was designed for people with chronic pain and/or stress that found themselves at the MBSR program at a hospital (UMass, I think), so it's relatively low impact, starting at ground zero.
Anyway, baby steps (or old man steps). Hope things are going well for y'all. This is an interesting journey. First, I had to get sober. Then I had to get my head in order. Now, it seems time to put my body back together after kind of falling apart on all fronts. Slow progress, but I'm working on it.
Then I kind of cried out of gratitude because last time I did yoga was almost exactly a year ago and I ended up unable to walk and in need of surgery. I was doing yoga to help with pain, and though I was a lot more flexible, I was also being too aggressive, still thinking and behaving like a young man. I don't think the yoga caused my disc rupture, but twisting hard could have made it worse (I actually think the chiropractor made it worse - squeezing pulp out of the disc and into my spinal canal when cranking on my lower back). Anyway...
This time I'm more interested in mindfulness than yoga, but I'm also very aware that I need to do more yoga - gently. I don't have the body of a young man anymore, and I need to proceed with caution. I also need to get some strength and flexibility back, especially in my lower body. It would be nice to be able to sit and meditate without so much pain but that will require increased flexibility in my hips (and possibly a miracle arthritis cure).
I'm kind of thinking out loud, processing all this. It's like I'm mourning the loss of my youth while sensing gratitude that I can even walk. My lower back is already a little sore from just half an hour of yoga maybe two hours ago. I need to regain strength in my core. The thing I like about the mindful yoga approach is that it was designed for people with chronic pain and/or stress that found themselves at the MBSR program at a hospital (UMass, I think), so it's relatively low impact, starting at ground zero.
Anyway, baby steps (or old man steps). Hope things are going well for y'all. This is an interesting journey. First, I had to get sober. Then I had to get my head in order. Now, it seems time to put my body back together after kind of falling apart on all fronts. Slow progress, but I'm working on it.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 2,578
Hi zero -- thanks so much for the link to the online MBSR. I have a fledgling daily mindfulness practice going, and I'm going to check out the online course.
As I posted elsewhere, I am in the process of modifying my recovery plan to reduce or eliminate my participation in AA, but I want to be sure I continue to take positive action to support my well-being. I have chronic back pain, so I think MSBR would be a big help for me. I read the book a few years ago, when I was still drinking, but like a lot of things I didn't follow through on it then.
I also just wanted to put in a plug for Pilates for strengthening the core and helping with back pain. I've found it to be tremendously helpful for my back, and it also ends up being a mindfulness practice, as it requires very careful attention to the body. The downside is cost, particularly if you do it in a studio with the equipment, but some of the work can be done at home on a mat.
Anyway, thank you for the posts on mindfulness practice, and I'll probably be hanging around the secular corner more in the coming days.
As I posted elsewhere, I am in the process of modifying my recovery plan to reduce or eliminate my participation in AA, but I want to be sure I continue to take positive action to support my well-being. I have chronic back pain, so I think MSBR would be a big help for me. I read the book a few years ago, when I was still drinking, but like a lot of things I didn't follow through on it then.
I also just wanted to put in a plug for Pilates for strengthening the core and helping with back pain. I've found it to be tremendously helpful for my back, and it also ends up being a mindfulness practice, as it requires very careful attention to the body. The downside is cost, particularly if you do it in a studio with the equipment, but some of the work can be done at home on a mat.
Anyway, thank you for the posts on mindfulness practice, and I'll probably be hanging around the secular corner more in the coming days.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: PA
Posts: 12,000
thanks for posting this zero, and also others who provided responses.
a year ago I was doing the 45 minute body scan and somehow got away from it. I think it's time I stop wasting time wasting time and put it to better use.
good stuff
a year ago I was doing the 45 minute body scan and somehow got away from it. I think it's time I stop wasting time wasting time and put it to better use.
good stuff
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