Welcome to this guided meditation to help with addiction and obsessive compulsive disorders.
Please find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed,
Turning off or silence any distractions and find a comfortable seated position,
Softly closing down your eyes if that's comfortable.
We will begin by relaxing the mind and the body by taking three deep cleansing breaths.
So on your next inhale,
Take a long slow deep inhale,
Notice the air filling up your body and a complete full exhale,
Pushing all of the air out of your body.
Taking another long slow deep inhale,
Your stomach expands,
Your chest and shoulders rise and a complete full exhale,
Your chest and shoulders lower,
Your stomach contracts.
Taking one more full deep inhale and a complete exhale,
Allowing any stress and tension to drift away and return back to your natural rhythm of breathing.
Breathing in and out of your nose naturally,
Taking your attention to the top of your head.
As you begin to relax the top of your head,
Continuing that relaxation down into your forehead,
Into your eyebrows and your eyes,
Softening into your cheeks,
Your nose,
Unclenching your jaw and allowing your tongue to rest naturally.
Relaxing into your throat and your neck,
Into your shoulders as they become heavy and rest away from your ears.
Relaxing into your upper arms,
Your lower arms,
Your hands and your fingers.
Relaxing into your chest and your upper back,
Your middle back and your lower back.
Softening into your stomach,
Allowing it to become heavy and just rest naturally,
Releasing any tension you are holding there.
Continuing that relaxation down into your upper legs,
Your lower legs,
Your feet and your toes.
As your body is now completely relaxed,
Just return your attention back to your breath as you breathe in and out of your nose naturally.
If at any point during this meditation you get distracted,
That is okay,
Just be kind to yourself and return your attention back to the meditation.
I invite you to focus on your breath,
Wherever it is most comfortable for you,
Whether that is observing the breath as it enters and leaves your nose,
Noticing the temperature changes,
Any sensations of twitching and tingling,
Or you are welcome to observe your stomach as it expands and contracts on each inhale and each exhale,
Or you can focus on your shoulders and your chest as they rise on the inhale and lower on the exhale.
Whatever is most comfortable for you,
Focus on this area of your body and just simply observe the breath as it moves in and out of your body.
Just notice whatever sensations are there,
Any movements,
Temperature changes,
And if you get distracted at any point,
Just be kind to yourself and return your attention back to your breath.
It can be one of many things,
Such as smoking,
Drinking,
Taking drugs,
Overeating,
Binge-watching TV,
Internet addiction,
Shopping addiction,
And these addictions or compulsive behaviours,
They can be conscious or unconscious.
Sometimes you may have thoughts in your head and you may say to yourself that you've had a bad day and you deserve a treat,
Whatever treat that is,
So whether that is overeating food,
Drinking,
Smoking,
Taking drugs.
You may tell yourself that you deserve some pleasure after having a bad day or a bad week or a bad time in your life and your mind will justify your actions and behaviours.
At other times,
Addictions or compulsive behaviours might happen unconsciously.
You may only become aware during the action or even afterwards.
You may find yourself with a drink in your hand,
Or with a cigarette in your hand,
Or after an hour of just aimlessly searching the internet,
Do you realise that you have lost your attention in these actions and you have performed them completely unconsciously?
Whatever compulsive behaviours or addictions you have,
It is okay,
You don't need to beat yourself or pay for it,
You don't need to judge yourself,
Just be kind and compassionate towards yourself to help encourage you navigate a way through this.
If you feel an urge to act out your compulsive behaviour,
Or you are having the thoughts in your head to justify your actions,
At that point all you need to do is bring awareness.
Just pause and stop,
Close your eyes if that's possible,
And just take three long slow deep breaths,
Just following the breath in and out of your body.
And as you do that just try and sit,
Sit with your breath,
You can return your breath back to its natural rhythm.
And at this point you can observe the urge,
You can notice this energy in your body,
You will feel a strong urge to consume a certain substance,
Or to perform a certain action.
And this may be challenging,
You might want to take the certain substance or you may want to act out your compulsive behaviour,
But just try and sit with the feeling and keep breathing,
Notice what it feels like in your body,
Where the feeling is,
Does it have a shape,
Does it have a size,
Is it large,
Is it small,
Does it move around your body,
Does it change your temperature,
Does it make you fidgety,
Do you have thoughts associated with it.
At this point it is best just to observe,
Try not to judge or go into any stories about it,
Just simply observe the feeling and observe any thoughts that come up.
This will not be easy,
But it is just a practice,
And the more you practice observing your breath,
Observing your feelings and observing your thoughts,
Whether it lasts for a few seconds,
Or a few minutes,
Or whether you are able to observe the thoughts and feelings pass and you don't act out your compulsive behaviour.
This is all a practice,
And whether it's a few seconds,
Or you are able to avoid your compulsive behaviour,
What you are doing is creating space,
Space between you and your addiction or compulsive behaviour,
Space between your thoughts and your feelings controlling you and making you take a certain substance or acting out in a certain way.
And initially this may only be a few seconds or a few minutes,
But each time you practice this the time will increase,
And the more that the time increases,
The less control your urges,
Your feelings,
Your thoughts have over you,
And you will start to gain more control back.
And eventually you will be able to say no,
You will be able to say no to taking the substance or acting out your compulsive behaviour.
But whatever happens,
Just don't make it into a problem,
Make it into a practice,
And notice that each time you practice,
It is a good practice,
You are giving yourself time,
You are giving yourself love and compassion.
And if your urges become too strong,
And your thoughts and your feelings become too strong,
And you act out your compulsive behaviour or take your substance,
Please don't be hard on yourself,
Don't beat yourself up,
Be kind to yourself and show yourself compassion that you are trying.
And it is just a practice like any practice,
It won't happen first time,
But the more you practice the better you become,
The stronger you become,
And the more power and control you will have back over your life.
And as you continue to practice this,
To practice sitting with your breath,
With your urges,
Your feelings and your thoughts,
Your awareness will grow,
Your consciousness will evolve,
And these addictive patterns that you have will weaken,
And they eventually will dissolve.
Your mind will try to play tricks on you,
It will try to justify your addictive patterns,
But as you keep practicing and you keep breathing and you keep observing,
You will become more and more aware of how your mind works,
Of how your body works,
Of how emotions work,
And each time you will create more and more space between you and your urges,
Your feelings and your thoughts,
More space between you and your addictions.
So I invite you any time that you are having urges to act out any addictive patterns,
To pause,
To take a seat,
Take a few deep breaths,
And just observe what is going on.
Because before any change can happen,
There must be awareness,
And sometimes all that it takes is awareness,
Because awareness is the basis of change.
Just remember to be kind and compassionate to yourself and give yourself love no matter what.
I invite you now to take three deep breaths,
And with each inhale and exhale,
I welcome you to breathe in and out love,
Kindness,
Compassion and peace,
Strength and courage,
To help guide you on this practice and this journey.
Know that you are supported and that you are cared for and that you are loved.
You can return back to your natural breathing now and just sit in the stillness around you.
You can begin to listen to the sounds that are around you,
Starting to get a sense of your surroundings.
Keeping your eyes closed,
You can begin to move your body and stretch out into the space around you,
Slowly waking up your body,
And you can slowly open your eyes,
Starting off gazing down at the floor,
Taking your time coming back around.
Thank you for meditating with me.
