relapsed on cigarttes after stopping meditation

BlackFlag

I am well aware of the fact that correlation does not equal causation, however I've noticed that since I stopped meditating about a week ago, I picked up the habit of smoking cigarettes again. Not only that, but I have begun to be more depressed and have more thoughts of drinking and doing drugs again.

Is this normal for someone who stops meditation for a period of time, after being in recovery for these things?

patbb

BlackFlag wrote: »

Is this normal for someone who stops meditation for a period of time, after being in recovery for these things?

Are you looking for comfort in "normalcy"?

You can justify any negative behaviors as much as you want to; it's not going to help you overcome them.

May i suggest that perhaps a potentially more helpful activity could be to take a look inside and see the cravings for what they are... trying to remain mindful of what is actually happening inside your body...

Perhaps you could ask yourself "If I want to quit smoking and live a healthy lifestyle, what is preventing me from doing it?"
Don't answer this with words but go see inside and observe what is.

BlackFlag

Looking for comfort in normalcy wasn't my intent, I was merely trying to promote a discussion wherin someone might post something that could intentionally or unintentionally help me.

aMatt

Black Flag,

If you stopped working out, would you be surprised if you gained weight?

Sometimes, stopping meditating can be a cause for the collapse of the space that it provides, and sometimes we turn away from it back into old habits when we have an experience so joyful or painful that we try to deal with it in 'the old way'... which in your case sounds like patterns of negative thinking and body destruction. So, what happened?

For instance, we might eat a bunch of cake and be ashamed at the indulgence, so we shy away from the gym because it reminds us of our cravings. Its ironic, because we already know how to lose the extra calories from the relapse into sensual indulgence...

Why did you stop meditating?

With warmth,

Matt

bart1964

If you are doing a breath based meditation it certainly helps getting over smoking and dope.I guess that as a beginner you stopped because you didnt see any progress,.............go and do a 10 day sit with Goenka or one of the other centres and get established in a technique.I used to relapse into smoking and drinking like you many times and always had to go back and sit another 10 day retreat to get back into it.Years of this pattern and now i seem finally free of the booze (1 year ) and the fags/pot (3 years )Havent done the silly drugs for a lot longer.Stick with the meditation its well worth it.