There is a difference between traditional Buddhist drug and alcohol treatment offered at some rehabs and mindfulness recovery offered at Renewal Lodge.
This difference can make a huge difference when working on your own recovery. Recovery is personal and challenging. If you don’t get the program that best fits your needs and best treats your addiction, you can relapse and start the addictive process all over.
Buddhism Recovery and Mindfulness are Different
Mindfulness practices originated from Buddhism. All Buddhist teachings stem from Siddhartha Gautama, who was the original Buddha. Siddhartha taught in India 2,500 years ago. Buddhism is considered the world’s fourth-largest religion based on the Four Noble Truths.
Mindfulness and meditation are practices that came from Buddhism.
However today, mindfulness is being used as a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy.
We help people with addictions and substance use disorders recover. Get mindfulness training and learn the 12 Steps for deeper healing.
What is Mindfulness?
The goal of mindfulness is to become aware of your thoughts including your own reactions and emotions without getting attached to anything.
It’s essentially learning to be present within your own life.
It’s proven that adopting a mindful practice helps manage anxiety, by establishing a greater self-awareness, which helps us acknowledge and work through our emotions.
Buddhism and Alcoholics Anonymous Have Similarities
In one of these pamphlets from the 1940s Dr. Bob co-wrote:
Consider the eight-part program laid down in Buddhism: Right view, right aim, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindedness and right contemplation. The Buddhist philosophy, as exemplified by these eight points, could be literally adopted by AA as a substitute for or addition to the Twelve Steps. Generosity, universal love and welfare of others rather than considerations of self are basic to Buddhism.
(From the Akron Pamphlet; “Spiritual Milestones in Alcoholics Anonymous” edited by Dr. Bob, co-founder of AA)
Inclusive vs. Exclusive
Although Buddhist recovery states that you can come from any walk of life, their teachings are strictly from Buddhism. You can choose to incorporate the 12 Steps with Buddhism, but it is not necessary.
This is the major difference with Renewal Lodge. We believe that since the 12 Steps helped millions of people recover, we incorporate both mindfulness practices with the 12 Steps, which allows our clients to go deeper into the steps for deeper healing.
Belief in God
Mindfulness works with any background or belief that you might currently have and so does the 12 Steps with Alcoholics Anonymous.
However, the 12 Steps requires you to have a belief in a higher power. Mindfulness helps you deeply experience the things blocking you from connecting to something that is bigger than yourself.
Call Admissions
If you want help learning how to apply the 12 Steps and mindfulness to recover from addiction, call our admissions staff today.
