Dr. Alberto Sola is one of the world’s leading experts in medically-based ibogaine treatment; he has more clinical experience with safe and effective ibogaine administration than any other M.D. in the world today.
You’d like to try meditation, but you don’t know where to start. There is so much information about meditation on the internet, and too much information can be overwhelming. You have often read about the wide range of benefits meditation can have for your mind, body, and soul, and have even heard that it can be especially helpful for individuals working on their recovery. It all sounds so promising and wonderful! Unfortunately, when you sit down to meditate, your mind goes in a thousand different directions. Thoughts come and go at an alarming rate, and when you are done, you feel more stressed out than before! You know that’s not how it’s supposed to work, but what can you do?
Guided meditation may be the answer. This is a great type of meditation for people who are just getting started. Guided meditation is helpful for beginners for two main reasons. First, it is, as its name implies, guided. A leader or a recording will walk you through the meditation and will help to keep you on track. Secondly, many if not most guided meditations have a visualization component, and that can help to keep your mind busy while you are lulled into a place of focus and relaxation. Read on to find out more about mediation in general, the ways meditation can help people in recovery, and how guided meditation in particular can be a great tool for you to get yourself to a very happy place.
Benefits of Meditation
The benefits of meditation in general are vast and numerous. It’s no wonder you want to try it out! Through meditation, you can manage your stress, increase your self-awareness, and gain new perspectives about stressful situations or relationships. It helps us to focus on the present, rather than living for the future or dwelling on the past. Your mind will feel quieter, which will make it easier to get things done and stay concentrated on your day-to-day tasks at hand. Meditation can increase your levels of patience and tolerance, and can even boost imagination and creativity. It can help you sleep better, and make you feel more rested after a night of sleep. All of these benefits can work together to provide the best benefit of all: meditation can reduce negative emotions. Many people report that meditation has helped them decrease the amount of sadness,fear,anxiety, orangerthat they feel on a regular basis, thereby making them happier individuals overall.
Benefits of Meditation for Addiction Recovery
Clearly, all of the benefits described above will be a great help to you on your addiction recovery journey, but there are additional benefits of a regular practice that apply directly to people recovering from an addiction. Meditation can help to balance the mood swings that come with recovery, especially in the early stages. While in the past you may have self-medicated with drugs or alcohol, that is no longer an option. Sitting quietly and focusing on your breath can help you to work through any difficulties you may face. This action can also help you deal with cravings, because after a period of meditation, the craving will decrease and you will be more prepared to deal with challenges that arise. Learning not to react negatively to a stressor can also help you to rebuild relationships that may have suffered during the time you were an active drug or alcohol abuser.
Simply put, meditation can help you to find pleasure in something simple. Unlike support groups or counseling, meditation is something that is available to you anytime and anywhere, and it costs nothing to practice.
Why Guided Meditation?
As mentioned above, guided meditation is a great starting point for people who want to try out meditation and find a way to include it in their daily lives. It requires no training; simply seek out a guided meditation experience or recording, and you can dive right in. All you have to do is listen. The leader or voice on the recording will tell you everything you need to do, every step of the way.
Guided meditation is effortless. Unlike independent meditation, you just follow directions and go where it takes you. If you meditate alone, you may find yourself very distracted. You may remember all the things that need to be done around the house, or find yourself making mental plans for the week ahead. In guided meditation, the leader’s voice and directions constantly reminds you where your focus should be.
Furthermore, while there are many kinds of meditation, the most well-known one involves simply focusing on the breath. This is intended to clear your mind while directing your energy towards mindfulness, and it can be amazing. However, for newcomers to meditation, the visualization aspect of guided meditation can help you to take the mind to places it has never been before. You will go on a mental journey to a peaceful place that only exists within you, and in doing so, you will improve your right brain thinking. There are even guided meditations that exist to help you reach certain goals such as relaxation, forgiveness, quitting smoking, starting your day out right, or dealing with guilt.
A variety of durations and countless leaders are available to you, too. Start with a short amount of time and seek out a five or ten minute guided meditation. Later on, you can lengthen the time you sit in increments until you are meditating for a half hour or more. Every guided meditation leader has a different style and voice, so if you don’t like the first one you try, try someone else.
Resources for Getting Started
To participate in guided meditation in the past, you had to find a group meditation to attend or other event that offered it. This is still a great way to participate because it is simply lovely to meditate with other people. However, thanks to technology, today there are many ways to experience guided meditation in the comfort of your own home, or anywhere you may be. Here are some online resources for people who want to try it out.
- The Headspace App(headspace.org) is a multi-faceted app with a wide variety of guided meditations of all lengths and on every topic, with every goal in mind. It can help you get started, and will continue to support you every step of the way. There is a free ten-day trial, but after that, it is $7.99 to $12.99 a month. It is well worth this cost for all it offers.
- Insight Timer(insighttimer.com) is another app for meditation, but unlike Headspace, it is entirely free. As its name implies, it offers a timer for meditation, but it also has other features such as community connections, guided meditations, and more.
- The Chopra Center(chopra.com) is author, teacher, alternative medicine advocate, and public speaker Deepak Chopra’s organization, and it offers much information about a wide variety of topics, but the guided meditation pagein particular presents fifteen different guided meditations that you can enjoy for free.
- If you are looking for guided meditations that specifically address addiction recovery, then Naturally Recovered(naturallyrecovered.com) is the place for you.Holistic Health Practitioner Ashlie Pappas offers eighty-six different meditations for people working on their recovery, and there is truly something for every person and occasion listed on her site.
Each of these web sites has so much to offer people who are just starting to meditate. Try out one, or all four. Soon, you will see how easy guided mediation can be, and you will begin to see and experience all the benefits it offers. Don’t delay; start today!
At Clear Sky Recovery, we recognize the power of meditation for people working on their addiction recovery, and we will be happy to provide guided meditations for you during our stay with us. Our facility in Cancun, Mexico, is right on the beach and is a serene location for you to get better. We offer ibogaine detox treatments, which are innovative and effective, and we want to help you. Please call us today to find out more!