Practicing mindfulness can be a crucial part of managing one’s sobriety and emotional state. Being able to distance oneself from immediate, impulsive reactions while being cognizant of one’s body, feelings, and thoughts provides a powerful foundation. This foundation can bolster one’s ability to create and employ any number of coping strategies for maintaining recovery.
When an individual is spending time in a curated recovery environment, safe spaces and curated calmness can make engaging in mindfulness practices more accessible. Learning to incorporate these mindfulness practices in one’s own home can continue an individual’s recovery efforts and create a more robust resiliency. It can also help build a healthier lifestyle for one’s recovery journey outside of the recovery sphere.
What Is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the practice of being aware of oneself. Whether this means being physically in tune with one’s body or mentally and emotionally aware of one’s current psychological state, mindfulness has a significant purpose.
This practice comes from being able to focus wholly on oneself in the current moment. This allows the individual to acknowledge their physical and psychological responses to stressors and helps them gain better control and agency over their actions and reactions.
Due to its ability to help individuals process stressors and emotions in a safe reflective manner, mindfulness has become a cornerstone of many therapeutic techniques. Geared towards helping an individual remain in control of their own responses, mindfulness gives each person the ability to employ other therapies, escape plans, or stay focused on their sober goals.
Incorporating Mindfulness at Home
Practicing mindfulness can help a person be aware of what is going on with their body and mind. It can also help enable them to employ other coping strategies or engage in necessary self-care. This practice may even help an individual better identify any physical or mental symptoms of anxiety, depression, or stress.
Learning to regularly practice mindfulness at home can be a great tool for maintaining sobriety. Adopting this practice can help build a healthy, recovery-focused mindset. Incorporating a healthy lifestyle alongside regular and routine mindfulness practices can aid in the continued success of each individual.
Practicing Breathing Techniques
Breathing techniques can be a great way for an individual to take a few seconds to be mindful of their body and emotional state. Taking time to take deep breaths while moderating one’s breathing in a steady rhythm can help an individual be more aware of how their breathing can affect their physical and mental state.
Focusing on breathing techniques forces an individual to be aware of their body by making them pay attention to their heart rate, shaking in their bodies, or any other physical responses one may have. This practice is also a great tool to provide an individual with a few seconds of precious time to stop and think about how they are going to react to any given situation.
Anxiety, depression, or any other complex emotional state can cause an individual to react on impulse, whether or not their actions are aligned with their sober recovery goals. Having a few extra seconds to calm down and think before acting can be instrumental in preventing self-destructive behaviors, or even relapse, in one’s sobriety.
A Morning Hygiene Routine
Hygiene is important throughout the recovery process, but one’s morning routine can also be a way for an individual to start off the day being mindful of their current state. The feeling of brushing one’s teeth or the feeling of their feet on the floor can be a way for each individual to ground themselves each morning before tackling the responsibilities and stress of the day.
This morning routine can also provide an individual with an opportunity to focus on taking care of themselves. They may also have more time to think about how they are feeling regarding any looming stresses or feelings of anxiety, depression, or stress. This can provide an individual with time to prepare and plan.
Reiterate Goals Regularly
Having clear goals can help each individual maintain focus on their actions. It can be helpful to have goals written down or rehearsed each morning, or even have reminders of goals in common spaces like the office, car, or bedroom.
These can all help an individual remain mindful of their current physical and mental state while also helping them make decisions based on these established goals. Keeping written goals or mantras in one’s purse or wallet can continue to reinforce mindfulness while staying focused on a person’s progress in their recovery.
Embrace Creativity
Having a creative outlet can help an individual be more aware and expressive about their feelings throughout each day in recovery. Some may want to engage in writing therapy and can benefit from regular journaling. However, others may want to set aside time to engage in other artistic modalities, such as drawing, painting, or music.
Creative outlets are inherently an emotional expression and demand a mindful approach in their practice. Individuals may focus on how they are holding a pencil, any shaking in their hand, moderating their breathing, and acknowledging the emotional backbone of a creative piece.
Practicing mindfulness is an essential strategy to effectively address the physical and emotional state of each person while allowing them to create an informed reaction. At Everlast Recovery Centers, we understand the need for regular mindfulness practices and are ready to help you incorporate mindfulness routines in your life in a way that is personal to you. We are prepared to meet you wherever you are in your recovery journey, and your time with us can be personalized to fit your unique needs and goals in regards to addiction recovery, mental health disorders, or dual diagnosis. A supportive community of professionals and peers, backed with individual and group therapy, family programs, medication-assisted therapy, and a personalized approach to each individual can help you better understand your own journey to a transformed, sober lifestyle. For more information on how we can help you ingratiate mindfulness into your daily life, call us today at (866) 388-6925.
