Positive Addiction

One day I was in conversation with Punya, and for some reason we got into the topic of addictions. Some of the things I said intrigued her and she asked me to write an article about it, so here goes….

Human beings are addictive by nature. So the question is not about stopping or refraining from addictions, but rather, to gravitate towards positive addictions.

The scientist Candice Pert, in her seminal book, The Molecules of Emotion, says,

I believe that happiness is what we feel when our bio-chemicals of emotion, the neuropeptides and their receptors are open and flowing freely throughout the psychosomatic network, integrating and coordinating our systems, organs and cells in a smooth and rhythmic movement.—I believe that happiness is our natural state, that bliss is hardwired.”

If bliss is hardwired within us, this means that if we are not feeling a state of bliss, we will definitely be searching for it. And if we cannot find it within ourselves, then the tendency will be to look for it on the outside, through various ways and means.

The interesting thing about using outside substances to find bliss, is that some outside substances are addictive, and if we use too much of this outside substance, our body will stop producing it inside, leading to dependence on the outside substance. This is why people experience withdrawal symptoms. They have stopped the drug, whatever it is, and their body has not yet began producing that drug again from the inside, so the person will feel intense craving. This craving can be so powerful as to be agonizing.

Before I knew how dangerous sugar is, I used to eat a piece of cake every day. My body was in bad shape, but I had no idea these symptoms were caused by sugar. How should I have known? I had, after all, been eating sugar all my life. I thought my chronic bronchitis; eczema and hypoglycemia were simply my lot in life.

Having been almost killed by doctors, I finally turned to Holistic Healing. During my explorations I found out that perhaps my eczema and lung problems could be cured after all and began intensive treatment with Color Light Therapy. After some time, my body gave me a clear message from deep inside the brain, “This sugar is killing you. Stop it immediately!”

In shock, I put down the sticky, creamy piece of cake I was eating and stared into the distance, wondering why my body had given that strange message. Within seconds of receiving the message, I spontaneously began to recall and relive being a baby, and receiving my first milk. My mother was unable to give the breast, and so I was given the typical bottled milk of those days, which of course had been well primed with sugar by the milk company.

The message was clear to the baby, “Drink this or die!” My whole body rebelled against this artificial milk substance, but finally had to accept that nothing else was available. And, finally, I had become another addicted consumer of sugar, all part of the grand plan of sugar barons of the world….

After this experience, I let go of sugar consumption with religious dedication, meaning I read all labels to make sure whatever I put into my mouth had no iota of processed sugar in it.

My body went into dramatic withdrawal symptoms. I felt if I didn’t have a piece of cake immediately I would simply die. I trembled uncontrollably, was weak in the knees, emotionally almost deranged. This state of affairs lasted for 3 weeks. And then, magically, my natural state of balance came into being for the first time in my life. Eczema and hypoglycemia both disappeared, never to return. My energy levels and emotions stabilized. I found it very interesting to read later on, that the scientist Candice Part says that sugar is as dangerous as heroin for the human body.

One thing many people are unaware of around the issue of addiction, is, that for the most part, an addictive personality is enhanced dramatically through the birth trauma. In the film, Birth as we know it, Elena Vladimirova, speaks about the effect birth has on our limbic system. Whatever we experience during the birth process and just after birth, the positive and the negative, are imprinted on the limbic system as: “This is what life and love is.”

Just imagine the phenomenon of the newborn chick. The chick is programmed by nature to believe that the first contact it has is its mother. So if the first contact it has is with the shoe of the farmer, it will faithfully follow the farmer around the farmyard with the devotional fervor of an infant with its mother.

Human beings are not so different from chicks as we may imagine. We are born into this world almost as a blank slate and are programmable by the environment we are born into. We carry a deep instinctual yearning to be born into love, be nurtured by love. Therefore, whatever our situation is around the time of birth, we will believe that this is love, and will seek this same situation over and over, even when grown up.

This means, birth done on drugs creates a drug-addicted culture. Circumcism creates sexual trauma and sexual dysfunction of all kinds. Caesarian will create motor deficiencies and other trauma in the physical system. And all of these traumas are interpreted by the limbic system as, “This is what love is.” The addict is most often addicted to the very thing that has created his or her problem in the first place.

Luckily, there are ways of curing the birth trauma and rewriting the script. Elena offers Limbic Re-Imprinting groups and sessions. And there are a series of sessions with Color Light Therapy called Prenatal, which can erase the birth trauma and rewrite the script in the limbic system.

Another aspect of addiction, which is very mysterious, is the addiction to the Lover. In the film Down The Rabbit Hole, this subject is covered by scientists in great detail, and is well worth watching.

We have receptors in the body for any substance, which can be ingested from the outside, and this includes the chemicals secreted by a lover. When we are close to a lover for a prolonged period, our own body will stop producing those chemicals, which the lover brings, thus making us addicted to the lover. If eventually, the lover goes, we experience withdrawal with all the agonies that can bring.

After seeing the film, I experimented with this to see what happened. Around that time, I happened to have a lover with whom I had a very powerful addiction. The relationship ended suddenly, and I was left alone. I was catapulted into extreme withdrawal symptoms. Luckily, I was able to go directly into a meditation retreat, where I simply sat for 10 days, witnessing the pain and agony. I knew that he was a drug, and simply waited for my body to begin producing those chemicals again on it’s own. It was worse than letting go of sugar! But amazingly, when I made it through to the other side of the addiction, what bliss was mine!

It is revolutionary to realize that all bliss and ecstasy components are already there inside of us. All that is needed is to find ways of tapping into them. This is where the subject of positive addiction comes into play. What will help us to draw our own bliss fiesta into our daily life? What will create our own inner orchestra?

As far as I know, the master key to open all bliss states, is meditation, and in particular, Tantra meditation being the quickest. Another close runner up is hanging out in nature. And a third aspect which helps immeasurably is right food, meaning using food as medicine. Asking the simple question to yourself, “Will this food support me to live or will it invite death?” is a good place to start. Hugging and massage are also very positive addictions to have, as is Tantric sexual union (it is heaven on earth!). Various forms of holistic healing can unleash tremendous bliss states, with no negative side effects. Creativity nurtures positive addiction, as it is through our creative spark that we give birth to ourselves in new ways again and again. I am remembering the Nataraj Meditaton, given to the world by Osho. As we dance in Nataraj, we become the creators of our own inner universe through the dance. In this dance of life, we have the power to invite bliss or suffering. The outcome is always in the way we choose to play the game.

Sarita met Osho in Mumbai in 1973 and shortly afterwards received sannyas. She spent the next 26 years in his communes where she worked cleaning Osho’s house, as a medium in energy darshan, in the PR department and as a holistic healer. Osho gave her the title ‘Mahasatvaa’ meaning ‘keeper of esoteric wisdom’. Since 1997 she has been teaching Tantra, holistic healing and meditation across the world. She lives in England and France. www.tantra-essence.com

Artwork by Bill Brouard from Visual Alchemy © Copyright 2013 – facebook.com/Visual-Alchemy