Meditation for Alcohol Abuse, Alcoholism and Rehab

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Learning meditation is one of the twelve steps recommended by Alcoholics Anonymous for dealing with alcoholism. The question arises: which type of meditation method is best?

The answer is individualistic. There are many types of meditation methods, and though they all have the same similar end goal of creating mental peace and physical bliss, they use different methods to get there. Because each person is gifted with a different mental make-up and psychology, the best type of meditation for each person is a highly individualistic affair.

Many people actually turn to alcohol to drum out their thoughts and stresses or feel "high," and are actually seeking the very same states that meditation safely produces. Meditation is well recognized, by spiritual traditions and modern science, as a way to give the thinking mind a rest and take a deliberate break from the stream of thoughts that constantly flow in and out of our minds. Most people who turned to alcohol did not know how to meditate to achieve this result of emptying suffering or stressful thoughts, and weren't aware that meditation could help them access blissful states of well-being.

The number of meditation methods in the world is nearly endless but they all have a common goal, which is to enable people to pacify their minds so that thoughts, emotions, cravings and impulses no longer distract, impel and unsettle the individual. Through the practice of any good meditation technique, anyone can eventually learn how to cultivate a mental realm of blissful clarity, peace, calm and well-being whose results will even extend to the body.

Meditation is a practice of mental resting with open awareness wherein you learn how to detach from thoughts -- and see them as an independent third person observer would -- so that you can ultimately detach from their impelling grip on you. That freedom of detachment from thoughts -- and the refusal to bolster them with energy -- in time causes them to lose strength and pass away.

If an individual practices meditation to detach from thoughts while maintaining a clarity of continued clear knowing then in time thoughts will naturally die down. This lowering of the "volume control" for the internal dialogue that normally goes on in the head will gradually result in a state of mental peace, calm, stillness, quiet or "emptiness" that is the purpose of meditation. It's a blissful state of "10,000 miles of clear skies" that does not impel one to follow thoughts, emotions, impulses or cravings of any type except those one selects to act upon.

Meditation practice is a way of learning how to cultivate this state of mental bliss and joy, which is gradually felt in the body as well as the mind. Meditation produces mental and physical states that can replace the sought-after mental numbing and physical bliss that alcoholic users hope is produced by alcohol.

The actual number of different meditation practices in the world is tremendous, but they all aim at calming the mind of wandering thoughts through various different means. The meditation method that is "best" for an individual is simply the one that works best in helping you realize the same end goal.

For instance, t here are "adding meditation methods," such as the mandala visualization practices of Tibet, that have you taxing your mind with so much required concentration that the mind, when it can concentrate no more, gives up the strain of continued one-pointed concentration. It gives up and abandons thoughts all together to produce a quiet realm of mental emptiness.

This method works similar to the act of loading a bridge with so much weight that it breaks (taxing the mind with so much concentration that it silences all thoughts and mental states), or asking a computer to perform so many simultaneous calculations that it slows down to a virtual halt.

Other meditation methods, such as mantra recitation (called "japa meditation" in India) or the continued recital of a religious prayer in tune with the breath, have you listening to sounds recited over and over again. In these methods, the wandering thought mind is eventually silenced through the continuous listening but after that mental silence appears, the awareness of that empty silence remains. With meditation you learn not only how to produce that silence but how to stay in that state of peaceful open awareness.

Other meditation methods, such as "subtraction methods," teach you to let go of thoughts directly so that the mind abandons layers of thoughts and eventually enters into a state free from mental disturbances entirely.

Because thinking and breathing are related, breathing practices (called pranayama) are often cultivated with thought-free meditation in order to calm the breath. The idea is that both breath and consciousness (thoughts) both calm and become one. In this way, breathing and consciousness can unify to produce a state of metal peace, emptiness and clarity.

Another meditation practice, called "cessation-contemplation" practice or "shamatha-vipassana" (vipassana) practice, works by having the meditator watch their thoughts without getting involved with them. In time, the continued watching without following the thoughts and giving them energy will cause them to die down. Eventually a silent mental gap between thoughts will be noticed that, with further cultivation, can expand and ultimately burst to reveal the true empty nature of the mind.

In another type of meditation method, a practitioner strongly concentrates one-pointedly on a thought so that all wandering thoughts surrounding that selected thought/image subside into silence. Meditators who succeed with this method also produce a true mental realm of peace and quiet.

Yet other methods, such as Zen, have a meditation practitioner looking within (through introspective observation, investigation and watching) to try and find the true nature of the mind itself. By abandoning everything that isn't the mind, Zen practitioners find that thoughts are not the mind but fleeting images that appear in the the true empty mind for just an instant, and then pass away. Because they are not real, one learns to abandon them and all states of consciousness to arrive at the real nature of the mind and reality.

Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Rehab Meditation Tips and Lessons

One of the best web sources to explain the details of meditation and how to reach these states of peacefulness and bliss can be found at www.MeditationExpert.com. The sites contains science and non-denominational teachings that explain the very deepest states of meditation from all the world's traditions, as well as how to cultivate them and the various stages of meditative achievement. A 36-page meditation ebook from the site, adopted for people struggling with alcohol, is available as a free download here by clicking the following link:

>>>   Click here for a free 36-page ebook on How to Meditate

Of particular interest to the recovering alcoholic would also be the book on the site, White Fat Cow: How to Change Your Life, Destiny and Fortune Through merit and Meditation, which explains how to change one's fortune by detaching from the thoughts and impulses that might normally impel you -- an example being alcohol cravings. It's a commonly known fact that it is difficult to get rid of a habit unless you replace it with another activity, especially one more life-afirming, and this book also explains how to do that.

Another relevant book on the site (ignore the title but appreciate the contents) is Meditation for Beautiful Skin, which not only teaches a variety of practical meditation techniques, but detoxification regimes for the body, and the correct diet for alcoholism. Just ignore the title because the contents of this book go into all sorts of ways to meditate and transform your body, which end up showing in the skin as just one of the positive side-effects.

One last meditation method that would be of great interest to individuals suffering from alcoholism is the Holosync method set of cassette tapes. The Holosync method and subliminal affirmations are both positive techniques that help you free yourself from the grips of alcohol addiction.