Justin Brewer PhD, at Yale Medical School, studied how meditation can be used to deal with addictions. His premise is that meditation
quiets the default mode network. "Modes" are the evolutionary parts of our brain that work independently, concurrently, and sometimes in opposition. That is why at times it feels as if there is an internal struggle with one part of the mind wanting something and another part of the mind wanting something else. In fact, that is what evolutionary psychology proposes: different parts of the brain developed at different time points in evolution, were geared to respond to different environmental demands, and thus, some of the brain modes end up in conflict. Nevertheless, these conflicts overall
worked (the proof is that we survived) in supporting the core and ultimate reason for evolution-- which is survival of the species and the passing of the genes to the next generation.
The default mode network is a primitive one. It is founded on raw, primitive emotion, it is impulsive, and quick to take action. Addictions are often created and maintained in the default mode. Even the person with the most hard-core addiction will admit, when clear of the substance, that the substance is not logically helping them to live a good life. Nevertheless, the person with an addiction, when he is fully in the substance, can only feel controlled by it, directed by it, and almost as if he or she had no power over it. That is the power of the default mode.
Mindfulness meditation is a way to deal with the default network. In order to step out of the default mode, one must find a way to quiet that mode of the mind. Think of your own experience when dealing with a powerful, primitive urge or impulse. There is a great deal going on in the default mode of thinking, it is loud and commanding an urgent. In order for change to occur, in order for one to step outside of the default mode and create a new behavioral pattern, the mind must be quieted and that is what the practice of mindfulness meditation is able to do.
The acronym R.A.I.N. is what Justin Brewster, PHD uses to describe his technique to use mindfulness meditation to overcome addictions:
R: Recognize the feeling.
A: Accept the feeling rather than try to drive it away.
I: Investigate the feeling and its relationship to your body.
N: Non-attachment or non-identification-- as you look closely at the feeling you gain a critical
distance from the urge and the grip loosens. If it loosens enough, it is no longer a part of you.
From:
Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright
