person meditating

5 Essential Meditation Techniques

By

Sober Recovery Expert Author

person meditating

You might have heard this one before: meditation can be incredibly powerful in almost every aspect of life. Today many rely on regular meditation as a way to hone their creativity while others have shown improvement with health conditions, like anxiety, when practicing regular meditation. Perhaps you’ve even already heard that meditation can be an integral part of addiction recovery. Studies have shown that meditation can strengthen and further the addiction recovery process.

Meditation aids in addiction recovery from multiple angles. Through reducing stress hormones, increasing relaxation and pleasure, releasing endorphins and improving the physical shape and function of the body all while promoting introspection and calm, meditation’s multifaceted approach to helping addiction recovery move along smoothly is part of why it works—if one aspect of healing through meditation doesn’t work, another aspect still might.

Read these tips and discover all the good meditation can bring if you do it the right way.

In order to harness meditation as a healing tool for yourself, it’s important that you incorporate some meditation techniques that are tried and true and essential if you want to reap as many benefits from meditation in sobriety as possible. So when using meditation during this phase of your life and onward, be sure to practice these essential meditation techniques.

1. Quiet Your Mind

Do learn to quiet your mind. Once you are strong in your meditation, you might find that you can quiet your mind even in loud environments and perhaps even while moving through these environments. Many beginners in meditation find it difficult to achieve inner quietness without it being quiet on the outside as well. However, continuing to practice this will help you excel in meditation since the work only begins once your mind is completely and fully quiet.

2. Focus on Your Breath

You should learn to focus on your breath when learning to meditate. This is because your breath moves through your entire body almost as if it is the pulse of your very livelihood. Learning to focus on your breath as you inhale and exhale can help you to relax and quiet down your mind.

3. Practice Mindfulness

Once you learn to observe your thoughts as they come and go rather than feel a need to participate in or react to them, you gain a power you did not have before. If you can learn to practice mindfulness, you can liberate yourself from the chaotic power your thoughts once had on you.

This is especially important when you are practicing meditation as a part of addiction recovery as you might regularly experience thoughts that can tempt you to relapse or making other unhealthy decisions regarding your sobriety. If you have the power to simply observe, you also have the power to not act on potentially dangerous thoughts.

4. Use Good Posture

Your blood flows differently through your body when your spine is straight. Sitting with good posture when you meditate will help your blood to flow with improved functionality while helping you to bring your awareness into your own mind and body.

5. Meditate Regularly

Be sure to make meditation a regular practice. The ritual of the reflective routine is a habit you will find that your mind not only eventually looks forward to but almost requires.

If you make sure that you practice these five important meditation techniques in your sobriety, you will be harnessing much of the good that meditation can bring into your life rather than unintentionally missing it due to poor technique.

If you or someone you know is seeking help from substance addiction, please visit our directory of treatment centers or call 800-891-8171 to start the path to recovery today.

Stay Connected
Subscribe to our newsletter to get addiction help, recovery inspiration and community tips delivered to your inbox.
No Thanks. I'm not Interested