People addicted to drugs or alcohol are often faced with many challenges, including the inability to get sober, stay sober, and enjoy life without drugs or alcohol. Transcendental meditation has been proven to help people overcome addictions and live more fulfilling lives by providing them with many powerful benefits.
Read on to find out how transcendental meditation can help you stay sober and lead a happy and fulfilling life without needing to take any substances.
- Brings Inner Peace
First, let’s take a closer look at the most common triggers of substance abuse. Our life is full of stressful moments and if we are unable to cope with stress on our own, we resort to other coping methods. The need to alleviate pain and stress is what drives drug usage. Mental issues are caused by stress, which leads to sleep difficulties, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Drugs and alcohol give a respite from unpleasant sentiments, but they only bring short-term relief, as the major cause of the problem remains and that is our inability to naturally resist stress.
Therefore, you should either learn to handle your anxiety on your own or bear the hazardous consequences of substance misuse and addiction that gradually ruins your life making your problems unmanageable. Even though it sometimes seems like there’s no way out, Transcendental Meditation is a plausible long-term remedy. It doesn’t make your problems disappear, but it brings you a sense of inner peace making you more capable of dealing with whatever is bothering you.
- Triggers the Production of Hormones of Happiness
A scientific study published in a 1991 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine found that TM practise also reduces blood levels of the stress hormone cortisol while increasing levels of serotonin, endorphin, and dopamine—brain chemicals associated with pleasure, calmness, and happiness. This decrease in substance abuse is very well documented; according to a 2005 meta-analysis published in Addiction, TM practise was found to be as effective for reducing alcohol use as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). As a bonus, meditation can help addicts cope with cravings by providing a stress relief mechanism or a way to escape drug-related thoughts.
- Works Well in Combination with Conventional Rehabilitation Programmes
Clinical research has shown that Transcendental Meditation works well in combination with traditional addiction treatment programmes, and incorporating TM into AA and NA 12-step programmes as well as traditional counselling programmes dramatically improved their success.
Transcendental Meditation allows individuals to release their inner potential and find their true purpose in life. It also encourages individuals to maintain conscious contact with a supreme power – God that brings happiness and inner peace. Combined therapy leads to more abstinent days per month than traditional substance abuse treatment programmes alone.
Michael Pierce has been a teacher of Transcendental Meditation since 1980. Besides teaching TM, he has been a Director of a Housing Trust and Assistant Principal of a College of Further Education. He lives with his partner, Claire, a psychotherapist, and their daughter, Gabriella, and is the author of Bland Ambition and Other Poems (David Paul Press).
Learn more about Michael or to book a consultation here