Drug abuse recovery is not a simple process. There are no defined stages and no standard procedure: each recovery process is different, depending on the variables associated with the condition of the person seeking treatment.
The levels of care that are usually acknowledged by the public are medicine-assisted detoxification and counseling sessions, administered both individually and in groups. Aside from these stages of the recovery process, there are several other programs integrated into a treatment plan. These programs have their individual benefits that complement the recovery process. Yoga is one of these complementary therapies.
In using a combination of breathing, flow, and meditation, yoga has proven to be a highly effective technique for relieving stress in individuals who are recovering from substance abuse. It is one of the holistic therapies carried alongside the core procedures of an addiction treatment program.
Yoga, an eastern practice, serves in enhancing physical health and emotional well-being. Its therapeutic benefits are not restricted by location, time, or equipment: you can practice yoga anywhere at anytime.
Drug and alcohol abuse damages your body physically, and can also cause substantial damage to your mind and spirit. Your mind and body coordination can be affected, along with your ability to sense emotion and concentrate on a particular task.
During recovery, you will be subjected to the tremendous challenge of regaining control of your thoughts and mental process. Yoga, in such circumstances, is proven to be highly effective.
Yoga can help your body recover and cope with the emotional turmoil you are going through. To better understand the positive impact of yoga in drug abuse recovery, we have gathered information on some of the important benefits of this practice:
Easily Integrated Into Your Routine
As mentioned, yoga does not require any equipment or particular setting to practice. All you need is a space to sit and learn some poses. You can master yoga without excessive effort, and it can easily be integrated it into your daily routine.
You can consult with any of the yoga instructors at your center to learn more about basic posing and stretches. Making the effort to devote some time in your daily schedule to practicing yoga on a routine basis is a huge step in the right direction: creating a habit out of yoga helps in creating more positive outlooks and alleviating stress.
Curtails Your Withdrawal Symptoms
Drug and alcohol recovery can be extremely painful and uncomfortable. Especially during the introductory stages, rehab is a very trying process: there is nothing simple about learning to live without a substance that you have been addicted to for years on end.
Practicing yoga at this stage can help ease withdrawal symptoms. It gets you into a stronger frame of mind, allowing you to carry on with the rest of the recovery process. Yoga promotes a sense of well-being, and can make you feel better as your body readjusts to life without the harmful toxins that were fed to it.
Promotes Positive Effects
One of the main reasons that people indulge in drug use is the effect caused by the substance. These highs and euphoric feelings contribute to addiction, as they cause a person to become dependent on the substance and how it makes them feel.
Yoga tends to generate a similar effect in your body in a natural, harmless way. When you practice yoga, it relaxes your mind and helps you detach from external stimuli, allowing you to concentrate on your spiritual needs. It helps you become more content with what you have, and generates a sense of peace within your being.
Improves Your Focus
Drugs have a mind-numbing capacity. They can influence your brain’s functioning and keep you trapped in thoughts pertinent to the failures of your past or worries about your future. These thoughts are cyclic and generally lead back towards engaging in drug use.
Yoga, on the contrary, helps your mind relax and give up control on things that cannot be manipulated. It helps you focus on what you are being subjected to right now. Yoga narrows down your focus down to the absolute present, compelling you to invest your energy in what you are experiencing at that moment.
When you are able to focus on the present, your ability to connect with the things around you increases. This encourages you to learn more about yourself, and think about the areas that you can improve by simply changing your mindset. Rather than delving into past (which is gone), or future (that is yet to come), yoga helps divert your gratitude to what you have in your current state of existence. This helps heal the body, both mentally and spiritually.
Teaches You Coping Mechanisms
In drug abuse recovery, the most important thing to ensure sobriety is to develop coping mechanisms. Without them, you will always be struggling with how to handle your thoughts and emotions. As a matter of fact, the core purpose of the recovery process is to help you formulate coping mechanisms that will assist you in dealing with life’s stressors and challenges.
Yoga teaches you how to control your breathing. This may seem obvious and simple, but in doing so you are also teaching yourself how to calmly control your thoughts and emotions. These two facets play an integral role in determining how well you are going to cope with future situations that may not be the easiest to confront.
Allows for Self-Discipline
Self-discipline is an important component in drug abuse recovery and yoga can be very helpful in mastering it. When you undergo a drug abuse recovery process, the first thing you need to battle is any negative impulsivity.
Yoga can become an effective way of countering your negative impulses by promoting positive practices instead. It teaches you about how to control your thoughts and emotions, and divert them towards positive outlets. This helps you achieve a certain level of self-discipline as you learn how to properly deal with your feelings.
Despite yoga being a practice that was formed thousands of years ago, its efficiency remains the same. However, only recently has it been integrated into the drug and alcohol recovery process. Yoga is highly acclaimed by the people who have successfully recovered from their addictions, and has been praised for its effectiveness in recovery and relapse prevention.
Scottsdale Recovery Center offers yoga as a complementary therapy to its patients. We aim to provide our customers with the best possible treatments, as your complete recovery is always our top priority. Contact our customer service today at 602.346.9142 to learn more on the wide range of treatments that we offer to battle against drug addiction.
