This Friday 1st March at 7.00pm GMT (British Time)
Session Three: Triggers & Cravings/Neural Transmitters/Chanting of The Sutra & Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.
Please read session three in the handbook before attending as this will be the basis if our discussion this week.
Handbook “Climbing The Mountain” available on Amazon.
Sun Lotus Recovery is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Sun Lotus Group Meeting
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83189357632
Meeting ID: 831 8935 7632
In this session we will continue in enhancing our understanding of the physical workings of the human brain and building on the awareness built during the first two sessions by looking at neural transmitters and how they work in the processes of addiction, the waves of dopamine that drive us towards using again and again.
Addiction includes a very strong compulsive property, so when people have been addicted to something for a period of time, the psychological processes move from impulse to compulsion and that involves, in part, neurological changes.
The parts of the brain that becomes activated when a craving is triggered by cues is our “Lizard Brain Addiction Monster.”
This Lizard Brain, the seat of our cravings, is highly sensitised to triggers through repeated exposure to cues, which builds up a synaptic network that provides a potent “meaning” for the drug of choice and a surge of dopamine that is triggered by these associations.
The part of the Lizard Brain called The Striatum has a component that forces your attention on the goal (getting & using.)
This is called the Ventral Striatum, which is the key player in cravings, but the Striatum also has a motor component called the Dorsal Striatum which realeases actions like bullets from a gun, it puts those actions into effect and there you go again, taking your drug of choice, even before you have thought about it!
It’s this Dorsal Striatum that is the culprit when it comes to compulsive behaviour, this is The Lizard Brain Addiction Monster at work.
So let us look at these learnt cues called triggers and the cravings they create because in our recovery it is fundamental we learn to recognise and manage both these physical and mental phenomena, thus avoiding relapse and until we master these skills we will continue to relapse and go around and around The Cycle of Change.
We will also look in more detail at the fundamental practice of the chanting meditation of The Nichiren Shoshu Tradition (Fuji School) called Shodai.
This can also be a valuable tool in managing your triggers and cravings in many ways, from a distraction techniques to changing low moods.
I know from personal experience how crucially important it is to be able to recognise and develop the skills needed to manage these phenomena called Triggers & Cravings, as it may be a question of life and death if you do not succeed.
This is where Buddhist Practice is very beneficial for dealing with your emotional well being and all the internal triggers that arise from difficult emotional experiences.