Addiction is one of the leading diseases with a high percentage of recurrence in the United States. An estimated one out of 20 American adults above 12 years old battle with addiction. Addiction can affect any person, regardless of race, gender, sexual identity, and spiritual affiliation. Addiction is also a lifelong battle, while some people maintain long term sobriety, others struggling with relapse.
To help recovering addicts avoid relapse, rehab facilities, like Enlight Treatment Center, offer a more holistic approach to treating addiction. Holistic treatment options are geared towards healing the body and mind. At Enlight, we choose to incorporate yoga in our clients recovery because yoga can help heal the mind and body. We also feel it’s important to give our clients coping mechanisms to use in their life after they complete treatment with us. Yoga is something our clients can do years after they leave addiction treatment.
What Is Yoga?
Yoga: a word people often hear but may not truly know what it is. Yoga is an ancient discipline from India that uses exercise, breathing techniques, and meditation as individuals move from one pose (asana) to another. There are many types of yoga, the more common ones being vinyasa flow, kundalini, hatha, ashtanga, bikram, and yin.
The goal of yoga is to teach individuals skills, such as self-awareness and control, among others. These two skills are crucial components on a journey to sobriety. Yoga also offers other health benefits such as:
- Better digestion
- Improved muscular strength
- Higher cardiovascular endurance
- More flexibility and balance
- Weight control
- Better immune system
Yoga also is a way of coping with stress at a fundamental level that changes both your stress response and your perception of it. While these benefits may not directly affect or contribute to someone’s sobriety, maintaining long term sobriety is much more achievable when someone feels happy and healthy.
How Yoga Helps With Drug Addiction
While yoga is helpful when recovering from a drug addiction, please note that it’s best used when coupled with other forms of addiction treatment. There is no scientific evidence that yoga alone can treat addiction.
So, how does yoga for addiction recovery work? Yoga affects the brain that counteracts the pathways formed by addiction. When people abuse substances, they rewire the pathways in their brains that manage emotions, control impulses, lead to pleasure, and make good decisions.
When a person stops abusing drugs, their brain slowly begins to repair itself, and that might take a while. Yoga helps you rebuild by teaching the mind how to control itself, even under stress. Benefits of yoga as it concerns addiction treatment are:
- Encourages self-awareness and introspection
- Builds self-confidence and improves self-image
- Helps the client heal emotionally
- Provides an energy boost
- Relieves stress
Because addiction is a lifelong battle, it’s important to practice relapse prevention after you complete treatment. Yoga is a great tool and activity to take with you after you leave addiction treatment, as yoga helps your mind and body heal during recovery. Yoga helps teach a recovering addict how to train and strengthen their body and mind.
Stop Using Drugs and Alcohol With the Help of Enlight Treatment Center
Enlight Treatment Center is an affordable rehab located in Southern California. We offer detoxification, residential inpatient treatment, dual-diagnosis, and gambling addiction treatment at our facility. Aside from yoga, our clients participate in individual and group counseling, as well as eat meals prepared by our inhouse chef. We truly believe in the power of holistic treatments in combating substance abuse. Please contact us today if you or someone you know is struggling with addiction. We will go over our addiction treatment program with you and let you know all of the ways we can help you or your loved one!
