Meditation For a Healing Soul

By TK Haynes

Are you caught in a slump, not sure where your life is headed? Or even if it's headed anywhere at all?

Life is noisy. It's all too easy to go on autopilot, getting done what we think we have to get done, day after day. Then, one day, we wake up and realize that we've been doing that month after month, even year after year.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Company
• Release date: Nov 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781088072639

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Introduction

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.

― Thich Nhat Hang

With roots in ancient eastern and Buddhist philosophy, mindfulness dates back about 2500 years. When Jon Kabat-Zinn, an American professor, experienced mindfulness when practicing with Zen Buddhist meditation teachers, he passionately sought to bring the practice to the Western world. With a thirst for knowledge, Kabat-Zinn sought to expand his mindful practices and studied various yogic traditions. He understood, however, that the intricacies of secular historical Buddhis mindfulness would need to be orientated towards the Western mind. Untangling the intricate, interwoven, concepts of culture, ideology, and religion was no easy feat, but through persistence and development, the first formalized mindful Western practices were formed. These are called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and are also known as mindfulness-based intervention (MBI).

But what is mindfulness and why is it a sacred, essential practice within eastern traditions? Mindfulness is first and foremost a practice; it is an activity that requires conscious thought. Formal definitions of mindfulness include:

The awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment. (Kabat-Zinn. 2006)

Intentionally directing attention to present moment experiences with an attitude of curiosity and acceptance. (Dunning et al., 2018)

"Mindful awareness is fundamentally a way of being - a way of inhabiting our bodies, our minds, our moment-to-moment experience… it is a way of relating

...to all experience - positive, negative, and neutral - in an open, receptive way...it simply knows and accepts what is here now. (Shapiro, PhD., et al 2021)

Mindfulness is made up of two essential constituents; the self-regulation of attention and orientation of acceptance, openness, and curiosity to the experiences in a specific moment. Self-regulation allows the individual to remain present, while acceptance permits the person to understand that everything happens for a reason. Simplified, mindfulness is a person’s ability to recognize their own thought patterns and react in a way that is controlled and appropriate.

To become mindful, a person can seek formal and informal practices to assist them. Where formal mindful practices require a more structured and traditional approach to mindfulness, informal mindfulness that is simplified can be just as effective in helping a person to become more in tune with their body and their thoughts. Formal mindfulness includes meditation, breathing exercises, visualization techniques, and mindful movement. Informal practices, on the other hand, are incorporated into everyday life. Once an individual is more experienced, informal mindfulness can be much easier to incorporate into normal routines. By becoming mindful, a person is switching their subconscious autopilot switch off and training their mind to pay attention to what it is doing in the moment. The goal, of course, is to become informally mindful, allowing healing and abundance in a person’s life. Being less reactive to life events, and far less judgemental of oneself and others helps to create inner peace and acceptance.

Mindfulness is multifaceted. The key elements of being mindful include observation, labeling, and non-judgment. When a person can cycle through these three steps, seeking to remain calm, present, and still, mindfulness is achieved. Being mindful is a key principle to being able to meditate successfully, it allows a person to guide their attention back to the present moment and reason for meditating.

While mindfulness is a disciplined practice, meditation is about exploration with the intent to reach a destination or intention. No person’s head is devoid of thought. Nor will anyone remain undistracted for long periods; no matter how good a person’s ability to focus may be. Meditation allows a person to explore the inner workings of their thoughts and seek to resolve their emotions and thoughts. It is important not to confuse mindfulness and meditation. The two may be practiced together, but mindfulness does not necessarily need to be incorporated into meditation and vice versa.

By mindfully meditating, a person can suspend judgment of their thoughts and emotions. This allows them to dive deeper into their psyche to heal themselves from past traumas and embrace future abundance.

The concept of meditation may seem like a simple one, but meditation’s true art is deeply rooted in its ancient cultural roots. Where meditation was once synonymous with religious concepts, it has now become more of a spiritual awakening and a way for people to take control of their own healing processes. For newcomers to the practice, meditation and mindfulness are no longer intimidating processes, and, in the United States, many gyms and studios have dedicated meditation spaces. Some airlines offer in-flight meditation options and mobile phones are equipped with meditation apps and meditation room finders.

In the past, if someone wanted to explore the concept of mindfulness and meditation they needed to travel to a country specializing in the practice, but with meditation becoming a more mainstream practice, everyone now has the opportunity to utilize these ancient practices to heal their soul.

The history of meditation is a fascinating one, with roots dating back as early as 5,000 BC (Puff. 2013). Most believe that meditation originates from the east and, while China does feature prominently in its history, the practice of meditation has ties in Egypt. Religiously, meditation is associated with Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, and even Judaism. Around the sixth century BC, meditation spread throughout Asia, and Euro Asia, via the Silk Road. Each new area that the practice touched, transformed meditation slightly to fit the religion and the culture of the region. By the 20th century, meditation practices moved out of the religious and spiritual contexts it was tied to and entered into the realm of science.

When B.K. Anand, an Indian researcher delved into the practice of meditation among yogis, he found that some could focus so deeply that physical pain was not felt. This was the dawn of science’s fascination with meditation for medicinal purposes and, while meditation may still be on the fringe of medical science, scientists cannot deny the benefits of meditation. In the 1960s, Dr. Herbert Benson from Harvard Medical School began studies on the effects of meditation on the human body. These studies showed that when meditating subjects used less oxygen, had lower heart rates, and mimicked brain waves that assisted in quality sleep. While Benson’s findings were lauded as revolutionary, the professor remained humble, stating he had simply given a biological explanation for a practice that had been used for centuries.

But, Benson wasn’t the only professional exploring the effects of meditation on a person’s health. With others pushing the benefits of the practice, by the late sixties meditation gained celebrity status. With celebrities like the Beatles and Mia Farrow pushing meditation as a way to heal from everything from stress to divorce, the world began to sit up and take notice of the practice.

By the 1990s, meditation had shed its celebrity hippie and elitist status, and the general population began to embrace the health benefits of the practice. While studies are ongoing into the psychological, medical, and physical benefits of meditation, more focus has been placed on the benefits of reversing the effects of specific diseases. With studies emphasizing the reversal of neurodegeneration, the reduction of pain, and stress management, it seems the benefits of meditation and mindfulness are limitless. As the world enters a new era with new sets of stress and limitations, meditation and mindfulness are now being touted by Western physicians as a way to heal from mental and physical illness.

Chapter 1: Meditation for Substance Abuse Recovery

Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising up every time we fall.

-Oliver Goldsmith

Once a person has made the decision to quit a substance like drugs or alcohol, or are in the throes of early recovery, they often believe that the only success tool is abstinence. Most feel that they will be fine mentally and physically if they resist the urge to use again. While this may be true to a certain extent, many addicts, and those in recovery, often neglect their mental wellbeing and their mind. For addicts in recovery, a balanced and calm mind is essential; it is the very foundation of continued abstinence. This is especially true for the first year of recovery from substance abuse, and many former addicts will find themselves facing some common obstacles that can be made easier with the use of mindfulness and meditation.

For most entering into or new to sobriety, difficult emotions surface. Because almost all addiction is rooted in emotion in some way, shape, or form, a person needs to have the ability to confront those emotions and heal from them. The bottom line is that life can sometimes be tough; things happen and feelings of insecurity and stress sometimes overtake our thoughts. One of the biggest culprits of relapse is stress which is often associated with feelings of shame, sadness, grief, or anger. These feelings, if left unchecked, can spiral out of control into depression, anxiety, and eventually relapse. Learning strategies that help a person to cope with and manage their stress and emotions helps to overcome the challenges that come with early sobriety.

But emotions are not the only challenges that present themselves when recovering from substance abuse. Substance addictions are physical addictions which means that often the body and brain will insist on their previous coping mechanism. Many newly recovering addicts will tell you that sometimes this craving is