Book Review on Mindful Recovery
Book Review
Mindful Recovery A Spiritual Path to Healing from Addiction
By Thomas Bien PhD and Beverly Bien, M.Ed. John Wiley & Sons, 2002
“Addiction is at its core a way of avoiding life rather than being aware of it”.
Mindful Recovery, with a foreword by noted addiction researcher, G. Alan Marlatt, offers helpful information and practical exercises to anyone interested in combining a mindful practice, based on Buddhist philosophy, with cognitive behavioural elements. “10 Doorways” are detailed, to help a person cultivate a more peaceful happy life, these include; meditation, life story awareness, journaling, harmony with nature, working with dreams, love, work, the transformation of negative emotions, and living with present moment awareness.
Mindful Recovery offers a helpful guide to recovery from addictions, by helping to create more, ‘moment to moment’ awareness. We are encouraged to be observers of ourselves, to watch our thoughts and body sensations from a detached and non-judgemental perspective. In this way, it is possible, to learn to tolerate emotional discomfort, as well as cravings, and urges as impermanent conditions or as a passing wave. A new life-style created in mindfulness, discourages addiction/relapse.
Information from this book, more specifically, material from the “10 Doorways” has been adapted to create a series of new workshops in our residential treatment programs to help clients understand and practice the concepts of mindfulness. Conscious awareness and inner understanding form a basis from which to free ourselves from unconscious and destructive behaviour patterns. By bringing breath and awareness to what ails us, we can transform ourselves and our relationships, and find purpose, meaning and fulfillment in ordinary life.
Written by Monica Kraft
