Taking a Holistic Approach To Your RECOvery

Taking a holistic approach to addiction recovery means treating the whole person. It means working on the physical symptoms as well as the mental, spiritual, and social, with the understanding that they are all interconnected in the healing process. When this is applied to addiction recovery, it allows the individual to heal and improve all of these aspects to maintain and enjoy sobriety. Its goal is to help individuals develop a deeper understanding of themselves.

The Benefits of Holistic Therapy

When you take a holistic approach to addiction treatment, you uncover the reason for your addiction. When you understand that there is a problem in one or more of these areas (physical, mental, spiritual, or social), there are direct issues in the others. For example, someone with physical pain becomes addicted to opiates may then start to suffer from depression, stop taking care of themselves, and the process continues and worsens. Holistic treatment offers many different ways to improve all of these areas. By utilizing this approach, patients can find and maintain a balance in their life which helps with sobriety.

Practice Yoga

From the Sanskrit word “yuj,” which is interpreted to mean “union,” yoga is an ancient technique designed to bring mind and body closer together with exercise, meditation, and breathing. Yoga is a complementary, or adjunct, health practice that is often considered a natural form of medicine. It is often beneficial when used in tandem with other traditional substance use treatment methods. 

The practice of yoga can help naturally balance some parts of the brain and body impacted by drug use. In addition to the physical aspects of yoga, there are also many emotional benefits. When practicing yoga, people are attuned to their bodies, learn to regulate their breathing, and listen to their bodies. By focusing their energy inward, individuals can learn to take ownership of how they feel and gain control over themselves and their subsequent actions. They may also become more self-reliant and self-confident. For example, by recognizing cravings when they occur and not attempting to avoid them or giving in to them, a person may be more able to cope with and manage these feelings if they are more physically aware.

Yoga can also increase energy levels, encourage people to eat better, and improve sleep quality. When people feel better physically, they can better handle stress and anything that may come up during the day. 

One of the great things about yoga is that it doesn’t require expensive equipment or a particular location; it can be practiced pretty much anywhere, at any time, as needed. When used in conjunction with other traditional therapy practices, yoga can be an excellent therapy that individuals can practice throughout their lifetime to calm themselves and improve their clarity whenever needed.

Nutrition and Exercise

For individuals in recovery from addiction, diet and exercise play crucial roles in restoring health and balance in their lives. They do more than create healthy habits that can benefit anyone; they help those suffering from addiction to overcome challenges that could derail them throughout their recovery.

Exercise provides multiple benefits for recovery. One of its most important roles is creating a structure to the day. When you are rebuilding your life, having set times for specific activities serves a critically important function. Exercise also helps mentally, as it replaces damaging habits with healthy ones. Regular repetition of activity and incorporation of exercise throughout the day allows you to think about something other than using substances.  

Eating a healthy diet helps restore necessary vitamins and minerals. Those with addiction may have nutritional deficiencies from using drugs or alcohol that can impede brain function, suppress growth, damage teeth, and prematurely age internal organs. Together, a supervised exercise program with a nutritious diet and ongoing therapy establish the groundwork for a stable, lasting recovery and good long-term health. 

Art Therapy

Art therapy honors the transformational capacity of creative expression and healing through artful connection. It has been used for hundreds of years to help with addiction recovery, anxiety, eating disorders, cancer treatment, and more challenging mental health conditions like schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and bipolar disorder. It allows people to paint, draw, take pictures, sketch, sculpt, or doodle into improved emotional and spiritual states.

Art therapy can restore someone’s identity by strengthening one’s self-esteem. Because someone is constructively working through painful emotions, they can feel proud of being creative through challenging times. You can even develop the confidence to express yourself without words. As you bring emotions to the surface, you can feel safe being expressive and understood.

Participants can activate pleasant emotions and resolve trauma during art therapy. Individuals can feel empowered by controlling emotions and their connection to trauma. This allows them to feel pride in making something meaningful and creating a different relationship with their trauma or pain.

Taking a holistic approach to addiction recovery means treating the whole person. Not only are you healing physically from substance use, but you can also now heal emotionally, spiritually, and socially with a holistic approach. There are many types of holistic therapies and the benefits are endless. Using practices such as yoga, nutrition, exercise, and art therapy alongside traditional treatment approaches can help your healing process. You can reduce stress levels, improve sleep, and fight against relapse. If you are struggling after leaving treatment, reach out to RECO Intensive today. At RECO, we believe that recovery is a lifelong journey. We have developed an incredible community of support through our alumni program, aiming to introduce clients to the limitless possibilities that life in recovery can create. We want to ensure your success in sobriety. Together, we will remain committed to your personal journey, no matter where your path post-RECO has led. To find help, call us today at (561) 464-6533.