Stress is a major cause of relapse in early recovery. Stress relief through meditation and prayer has been practiced successfully for thousands of years. At The Arbor we introduce approximately a dozen meditation and prayer techniques during our three-month inpatient treatment program. We begin each day with 30 minutes set aside for individual practice of meditation and prayer.
Meditation is, at the root, practicing being comfortable in the present moment with whatever life is presenting (pleasant or unpleasant). Regular meditation practice frees us from the obsession of our past conditioning and reconnects us with our deeper selves. Regular practice exposes negative thinking, obsessions, and our separation from each other. Once we recognize these habitual patterns, they cease to control us, freeing us up to welcome and be grateful for whatever life presents.
Ultimately regular meditation in the spirit of emptying oneself leads to a loss of self concern, which in turn leads to the experience of the awesome perfection of all things just as they are right now.
Robert Flegal
Robert Flegal has been a resident of Austin, Texas since 1991. He has practiced meditation and prayer for the past 34 years and has lead meditation groups for the past 22 years. He has studied a number of meditation practices including: Buddhist, Christian, Vendanta Adviata, Zen Buddhist and Islamic. With a formal education in Mathematics, Robert taught math early in his career while in the Peace Corp in Ghana, West Africa. He is retired from a career in computer science corporate research labs, and continues to spend his leisure time in research related endeavors.
