Why Meditation?
Learning to operate from Awareness itself
There are many different kinds of meditation, and while I will be discussing and outlining some particular types, the most important thing to remember is that just about any kind of meditation, if it grabs you, and done regularly, can be very helpful with both anxiety and addictions. One way of looking at recovery is replacing bad habits with good ones.
My advice, for long term recovery from both anxiety disorders and addictions, is that some form of meditation, prayer and spirituality, as you understand it, is indispensable. Not just for a drug-free way to calm us down, but also because making contact with something that we can call anything from God to our larger Self, to the interconnectedness of all things, goes a very long way to overcoming a key component of modern life that leads to anxiety - the sense of feeling cut off, separate, isolated, a deep sense of what one of my spiritual teachers, A.H. Almaas calls Deficient Emptiness.
One of the most effective spiritual psychologies available today is in fact, 2,500 years old, that is to say Buddhist psychology. This tells us that we are the authors of our own suffering, well a lot of it anyway, and that the cause is our own desires, and cravings. When we desperately want something, and can't get it, we become frustrated; when we want (or demand) to be treated in a certain way, we become angry and resentful when we are not. When we care for someone and want them to treat us as we would prefer, and they don't, we are hurt. Buddhists are clear, though, that there is nothing wrong with desire, its a big part of what makes us human, but there are consequences to our actions around desire.
This is quite obvious in the realm of addictions. We either want to feel better right now, or we want to stop feeling bad, its as simple as that, but as in our discussion of dopamine, this characteristic rules the roost in our lives. Again its at bottom about survival, but its when desire goes off the rails in addictions, and takes over, that we find that our actions are deeply affecting ourselves and others, and not in a good way. The good news is that there is something we can do about it, to learn to manage our desires and aversions more wisely and, dare I say it, more moderately, unless abstinence is called for. In that case, the work becomes more about managing and regulating our difficult and uncomfortable thoughts and feelings so that we don't automatically and without thinking reach for a drink, a drug, an activity, to change the way we are feeling. In a very real way, the work here is about become less automatic, more present, and often that is enough on its own - simple but not easy!
At bottom these patterns are about avoiding ourselves, our discomfort with ourselves, or our trauma or worry, which has two effects - it moves us toward dependence on the drug or activity, and it prevents us from facing what is bothering us, which is admittedly sort of the point. It just doesn't work very well as a strategy for living our lives. We need to trade in immoderate relief for more constructive ways of accepting and being kinder with ourselves, and meditation and mindfulness can be a big part of this process; in fact, it is difficult to imagine any way out of this morass that doesn't involve an awareness of that is actually happening inside us.
Here are some paths I know directly so can recommend them, but of course there are many others. In general, while meditating on one's own and online groups are excellent places to start, I can recommend the intimacy and strength of finding a group to belong to and practice with in person. Also, meditation is a powerful tool, start small, say 10-15 minutes daily and see how it goes, I don't think an immediate 10 day silent retreat is always a good idea, work up to it, and find experienced guidance and support.
The Diamond Approach - a powerful path with an emphasis on the psychological
[Meditation instructional videos coming soon!]
Further reading: The Wise Heart
