Meditation Mondays: Upgrade Habits & Heal Addiction

If there's a habit or thought pattern you'd like to change, or you're struggling with some form of addiction, then this week's meditation is for you. Honestly, I think it's for all of us.

You don't have to be addicted to drugs, booze, or cigarettes to experience addiction. You could be addicted to judgment, fear based thoughts, drama, food, procrastination, relationships, or your phone. Maybe you're addicted to NOT doing something, like working out, taking better care of yourself, or your daily meditation. We all have habitual tendencies, thought forms, ways of being, or compulsions that sometimes feel really difficult to change.

Many people use a new year, new month, or new week as a time to adopt new habits and a healthier lifestyle, but once the momentum and excitement of the "new thing" wears off, the majority goes back to their old ways. We declare, "I'm not going to eat sugar anymore," but then we're eating an entire cake a week later. Or we want to start waking up earlier yet we press snooze for an hour. I'm sure at least one example of your own just came to mind.

So how do we create lasting change, heal addictions, and consciously adopt new patterns and habits without all the pressure or "white-knuckling?" We need to go directly into our central brain, where our habits neurologically originate from and create a new rhythm.

This week's meditation is the called the Medical Meditation for Habituation, also referred to as the Meditation to Heal Addiction. Essentially by balancing the pineal gland, it fixes subconscious, self destructive behavior.

Either sit on the floor in a cross legged position (easy pose) or if that's uncomfortable for you simply sit in a chair with both feet on the floor and straighten your spine.

Rub the palms of your hands together vigorously for a few moments, eyes closed, rolled up and in, focusing on your third eye (your pineal gland), place your palms together in a prayer pose at your heart's center, elbows out.

Tuning in: for this, and most meditations I'll be sharing, we tune in first with the Adi Mantra, the mantra for protection. It is usually chanted but it can be said or read to yourself or out loud. Perhaps I will feel confident enough to make a video to teach the chanting in an upcoming newsletter.

Take a deep breath in, hold for a moment, then release it. Take another deep breath in for the Adi Mantra. You'll say it (or think it) 3x, each time taking in another deep breath: "Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo" which means I bow to the inner wisdom within.

Curl your fingers into the pads of your hands so your fingertips are resting on the tops of the pads at the base of each finger. Leave your thumbs extended out and place them on your temples.

Breathe normally in out of your nose. Mentally repeat the mantra "Sa Ta Na Ma" and on each sound press your back molars together. Not forcefully, just enough that you feel movement under your thumbs at your temples. Keep your eyes closed and focused on your brow point. Do this for 3 minutes. At the end take a deep breath in and hold it (even set an intention of the habit you'd like to adopt or break), exhale and relax.

Note: If you feel yourself getting distracted or trailing into other thoughts, no big deal. Just go back to Sa Ta Na Ma and trust that any time you spend doing the meditation "correctly" is going to be enough; just keep showing up.

If you're interested in going on a journey with me, I'm attempting to do this meditation for 3 minutes a day, every day for 40 days in a row. If that seems too intense (which is probably a reason to do it), try doing it consistently and see what happens.

Happy Meditating!

With Love & Gratitude,

Melody