Famous Meditation Teacher on Addictions

My own notes based on Shinzen Young, a well known buddhist teacher, about overcoming addictions:

He himself was heavily addicted to marijuana for over 10 years.

"The person with a compulsion is fortunate." Nature is forcing that person to have a transcendent experience.

If you can deal with that one highlighted issue, your addiction, and be able to penetrate to the source of it, this could be your transcendent moment. Your suffering has been concentrated, knotted in that one addictive tendency, and here lies your liberation as well.

He advocates meditation method such as Vedana Vipasanna Meditation. It is different from popular mindfulness meditation. Vedana meditation is transcendence through feelings. This is key. Working from the mind and breath awareness has its benefit, but to get to the root of the impulses lies by delving through the body. Meditation on the sensations.

He also recommends U Ba Khin style meditation, also known as body sweeping meditation.

While meditation, commitment and consistency is key, you should work on your concentration and focusing power.

Stages of Addiction:

1. You are at the mercy of the compulsion, a slave to your insatiable cravings.
   
   
2. By following the meditation practice, you are able to associate some feelings to the situation. Feeling is primordial, the focus is to get in contact with the body sensation. At the beginning, you might notice vague sensation of pleasure / pain. This is the tip of the iceberg. You are not trying to force anything here, You are simply bringing awareness to how you feel.
   
   
3. By not indulging in the impulses, you start to notice the pain of the deprivation. Now you have a clear contact with the sensations. Again, you are not trying to get rid of anything here. It's important to be gentle, just bring the light of awareness, as the addiction will dissolve by itself.
   
   
4. As you stayed with the sensations long enough, you might notice that there is a shift, something starts to open up. That opening (don't try to intellectualize this) is where the compulsion fades away. That movement is nature's way of dissolving the hard spot.
   

As with everything in life, you need to be consistent with the practice.

By doing such meditative practices, be aware that sensations can become avalanches, where primitive and powerful feelings emerge. For some people, it might be useful to have an external support while going through that phase.

"Suffering = Pain x Resistance." - Shinzen Young