Drug addictions

July 22, 2001

Greetings,

I am currious to know when the book, "Healing Drug Abuse" will be published.

I am having trouble still with my addiction to cigarettes. I have gotten

advise from Gururattan on the SA TA NA MA mantra and I've worked with it

some, but have not made it through 40, no less, 90 days of continious

meditation. Travel, committments, demands seem to break my committment to

carry through, or perhaps it's myself working against myself. And, I just

received and am reading and learning about Breathwalk, which includes the SA

TA NA MA meditation while walking. Also, I have Ravi Singh videos, "Naval

Power" and "The Highest Step". Both are very good, but I don't always have

time to do them daily. I believe I have all the right tools, but will I

automatically cut down until I quit or should I set a date to quit, or should

I just say that's enough and grit my teeth to go through the withdrawals?

If you can give me some insights into the procedural techniques and have an

idea of what to anticipate and how I can get rid of this habit, I would

really appreciate it.

Smoking really contradicts everything I would like to be and yet I have a

weakness for it, or addiction, or seem to find some need to hang onto it.

Sat Nam,

Diane

July 22, 2001

Dear Diane:

There is a specific meditation, the medical meditation for

habituation or addiction, which is particularly recommended for

dealing with any form of addiction. This meditation can be found in

Gururattan's "Relax & Renew", "Sadhana Guidelines", and "Meditation

as Medicine".

My experience in coping with addiction, although it wasn't cigarettes

in my case, brings to mind a comment of YB's, which is that it is

hard to break a bad habit, but easy to replace a bad habit with a

good one. Developing a sadhana, a daily practice of yoga &

meditation, is certainly a key to this process, for it is the changes

that comes from developing these new habits that will replace the old

habits that don't serve us.

For example, addiction is strongly tied in to the secretions of the

upper glands (hypothalamus and pituitary) and synthesis and

regulation of neurotransmitters. The medical meditation acts

directly on these systems to change the balance of serotonin and

cortisol (among other things). Addictive behavior with psychoactive

drugs (including nicotine) is essentially an attempt by the body to

regulate these chemicals, so the practice of this meditation serves

as an effective substitute (not to mention safer) for the self-

medication we have developed over time.

I believe it is best not to focus on these old habits in any way, but

to put all the focus and energy on developing the new practices which

serve us well. Over time, my need to self-medicate simply started to

diminish, and eventually disappeared. I feel that this approach is

safer, gentler, and more loving than trying to force change that we

have not prepared ourself for. It is also very important to be

patient with ourselves and the changes we are going through. We took

many years, perhaps many lifetimes, creating the circumstances we are

in today. The powerful techniques of KY can helps us change our

circumstances much faster than we created them, but still they do

take time, patience, energy, and commitment.

With love & many blessings,

Sadhant

July 22, 2001

It often helps to ask yourself, "what is smoking doing for me?," and listen with

your heart. If you can acknowledge the underlying need, or the

emotion that it is covering up, then it is usually eaiser to let go of the

addiction during meditation.

Seva Simran Singh

Nettlelady wrote:

> Greetings,

>

> I am currious to know when the book, "Healing Drug Abuse" will be published.

> I am having trouble still with my addiction to cigarettes. I have gotten

> advise from Gururattan on the SA TA NA MA mantra and I've worked with it

> some, but have not made it through 40, no less, 90 days of continious

> meditation. Travel, committments, demands seem to break my committment to

> carry through, or perhaps it's myself working against myself. And, I just

> received and am reading and learning about Breathwalk, which includes the SA

> TA NA MA meditation while walking. Also, I have Ravi Singh videos, "Naval

> Power" and "The Highest Step". Both are very good, but I don't always have

> time to do them daily. I believe I have all the right tools, but will I

> automatically cut down until I quit or should I set a date to quit, or should

> I just say that's enough and grit my teeth to go through the withdrawals?

> If you can give me some insights into the procedural techniques and have an

> idea of what to anticipate and how I can get rid of this habit, I would

> really appreciate it.

> Smoking really contradicts everything I would like to be and yet I have a

> weakness for it, or addiction, or seem to find some need to hang onto it.

> Sat Nam,

> Diane

>

> "OUR DESTINY IS TO BE HAPPY"

> - Yogi Bhajan

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July 23, 2001

Hello,

I would like to share that before I started doing kundalini yoga I smoked a

pack of cigarrettes a day. I was 18. I underwent a major life change. I

have always changed pretty easily, perhaps it is the "mutable" quality of

pisces (my sun sign), but upon the meeting of my now husband and the

introduction to KY he provided me with, I found what I had always been

looking for. At that time I became very aware of my body. Paul and I used

to hug eachother for hours and just breathe together, and this was very

awakening for my consciousness. When I went to smoke a cigarette at work

with a friend, I remember feeling the smoke entering my lungs, feeling a

contraction and sort of deprivation of the oxygen I was coming to value and

try as I may I just couldn't finish the cigarette. I offered the rest of my

pack to a coworker who kept asking if I was "sure", and was happy to recieve

them. I know I hadn't been smoking that long and wasn't as addicted as some

people become, but I still think that doing a lot of yoga and breathing and

becoming more aware of one's body can really help. I did not experience any

withdrawl symptoms either. Another thing was that I changed my association.

Also the substitution of a negative addiction with a positive one can really

help.

I have read that metaphysically the lungs relate to our sense of freedom,

and often people who smoke feel it helps them to feel free, though it is

really an illusion.

I hope I helped a little

Love Always,

littlebird Leslie

AKA Guru Chiter Kaur

> Greetings,

>

> I am currious to know when the book, "Healing Drug Abuse" will be

> published.

> I am having trouble still with my addiction to cigarettes. I have gotten

> advise from Gururattan on the SA TA NA MA mantra and I've worked with it

> some, but have not made it through 40, no less, 90 days of continious

> meditation. Travel, committments, demands seem to break my

> committment to

> carry through, or perhaps it's myself working against myself.

> And, I just

> received and am reading and learning about Breathwalk, which

> includes the SA

> TA NA MA meditation while walking. Also, I have Ravi Singh

> videos, "Naval

> Power" and "The Highest Step". Both are very good, but I don't

> always have

> time to do them daily. I believe I have all the right tools, but will I

> automatically cut down until I quit or should I set a date to

> quit, or should

> I just say that's enough and grit my teeth to go through the

> withdrawals?

> If you can give me some insights into the procedural techniques

> and have an

> idea of what to anticipate and how I can get rid of this habit, I would

> really appreciate it.

> Smoking really contradicts everything I would like to be and yet I have a

> weakness for it, or addiction, or seem to find some need to hang

> onto it.

> Sat Nam,

> Diane

>

July 23, 2001

Sat Nam everyone, I thought I would add my piece to this topic as well. I

smoked for 24 years. I was an Air Traffic Controller for 7 of those years

and smoked up to 3 packs a day while I was in that profession. You might

say my addiction was about as severe as it gets, and it was extremely hard

for me to quit. I tried acupuncture, hypnosis, cold turkey, meditation, the

nicotine gum products....just about everything. I could feel that my body,

especially my lungs were beginning to suffer irreparable damage from this

habit, but I just couldn't seem to kick it. My Dad finally provided me with

the lesson I needed by having a lung removed from cancer. I spent a month

with him while he was in intensive care...it was a meditation I wouldn't

like to repeat and it gave me the strength I needed to finally quit. Of

course, this alone wouldn't have been enough had I not already been

receptive to the idea that I needed to quit and come to a point in my life

where the love of my self was becoming more powerful than my destructive

habits.

What I would like to say to others who are suffering from this addiction is

that in my experience 2 things seem to be paramount in importance. The first

is loving yourself, and realizing that smoking is slow suicide and the

antithesis of loving yourself. The second is knowing with complete and utter

certainty that you do not want to smoke anymore. Ever! Once those two

things are clear in your mind you will be able to quit and stay off.

Had I had the benefit of KY earlier (I've been smoke free for 15 years now

and a student of KY for 2 months) I think I would have been able to quit

more easily, but I still think those two elements have to be in place. I

hope this helps those of you who need it.

Many Blessings,

Bob Knight

"Blinded by Delight"....Jim Snyder

littlebird108 [littlebird108]

Monday, July 23, 2001 8:39 AM

Kundaliniyoga

RE: Drug addictions