Mindfulness & Why We Practice It

You might begin to notice that here at Reframe, we spend a lot of time talking about mindfulness, meditation, and breathing. That’s because these practices are abundantly supportive for living alcohol-free and have proven scientific efficacy. These practices can help rewire our brains and soothe our nervous systems, and are a powerful piece of the neuroscience approach to removing alcohol from our lives.

Mindful.org defines mindfulness as:

“the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us”

In other words, mindfulness is the practice of reconnecting to our bodies, environment, and the present moment. When we come to the decision to remove alcohol from our lives, we’ve likely spent a lot of time disconnecting ourselves from those things; it can be easier to numb out and not have to fully feel the complexities of life. That is why it’s so important to bring our awareness and care back to the present and to our physical being, and part of the reason that there is so much work to do in changing our relationship with alcohol outside of actually removing booze.