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Yes, You’re Going To Do Yoga In Rehab: Here’s What You Need To Know

Yes, You’re Going To Do Yoga In Rehab: Here’s What You Need To Know

Yoga has become a staple of treatment for recovery from addiction, alcoholism, and mental health. Used as an integrative, preventative, and therapeutic practice, yoga is an essential tool for early recovery.

You’re Not Going To Do Yoga Every Day

For many people, their experience with yoga during their stay in a treatment facility for addiction will be their first. Trained yoga teachers, especially those versed in addiction treatment, will be skilled in working with the newcomer and slowly introducing them to the practice. After a few weeks you might find yourself working up to a daily practice. As it is said in recovery, “easy does it”. Take it one day at a time. Yoga is not about competition, judgment, or even achievement. The true practice of yoga lies in meeting yourself exactly where you are and embracing yourself there.

You Are Going To Notice A Change Every Day

You may not touch your toes in a forward bend after just a few therapeutic yoga sessions, but you might notice other positive benefits. Innumerable scientific research studies have been dedicated to analyzing the positive benefits of yoga. For addicts and alcoholics in recovery, there are specific benefits of yoga that are especially helpful. Yoga has been proven to reduce the intensity or presence of symptoms for mental health disorders like depression and anxiety.

Addiction and alcoholism affect the brain, body, and spirit. Yoga helps rejuvenate the body by making it stronger and more flexible. Stress is greatly reduced through yoga practice which helps the heart become more healthy and function better.

Each day of yoga helps us open up. Yoga is about finding union between the mind, body, and the spirit. Starting a journey of spirituality through recovery where you are also working on healing the mind and body is challenging. Drugs and alcohol shut our minds off and leave us at dis-ease with ourselves. Yoga gently helps us to settle back into who we are as a holistic whole.

Enlightened Solutions provides spiritual and holistic healing and therapeutic treatment modalities as part of an integrative treatment program. As a certified and licensed dual diagnosis treatment center, Enlightened is able to serve the needs of those suffering from addiction, alcoholism, and co-occurring mental health diagnoses. Combining the philosophy of the 12 steps with evidence based treatment methods, the program at Enlightened is a soulful approach to starting life long sobriety. For more information on our programs please call 833-801-5483.

When You Start Meditating

Meditation is a helpful spiritual tool for recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. People associate all kinds of images and ideas with meditation without knowing just what will happen when they start meditating. Here are some of the things you might have to endure when you start meditating.

You Sleep Better

Meditation before bed is as good as medicine. Slowing down the nervous system and helping the brains settle down, meditation encourages the body to reset after all the chaotic happenings of the day. Focusing on the breath helps the body and brain get that extra bit of oxygen it needs before going to sleep. When oxygen reaches the muscles, it helps them relax. Some people find that their mind races before going to sleep. Meditation helps to quiet the mind. Practicing some mindfulness with meditation will train the brain to let go of the stress from the day and focus only on the present moment, which is thankfully bedtime.

You Notice Your Thoughts More

Mindful meditation asks you to pay attention to the thoughts that come up as you try to settle your mind into not thinking much. You acknowledge the thoughts which arise, notice them, actively try not to label or judge them, then practice just letting them go. In doing so, you start to recognize patterns of what you’re thinking and why you’re thinking it. When adverse situations arise which would usually call for a particular reaction, you find yourself stopping to think about that reaction before acting on it. Where you might have once reacted adversely, you find yourself able to pause, notice your thoughts, and take a moment to choose how you would rather react.

You Become More Compassionate

Learning to recognize patterns of your own suffering through noticing your thoughts and observing how they effect you helps you to be more compassionate toward yourself. Compassion is about recognizing that someone experiences suffering of their own, then developing a kind and loving sympathy for them. It is harder to be kind toward ourselves than it is to be kind toward others. When we meditate and foster that self-compassion, our kindness toward others changes. It deepens and widens in our hearts. We feel a whole-heartedness toward the world we never noticed before.

You Want To Meditate When You Can

Connecting to the breath is like connecting to the source of life. Even if you can’t engage in a full twenty minute or hour long meditation during the day, you find yourself searching for every opportunity you can to take a deep breath. Just taking one moment to mindfully take a deep breath in and let a deep breath out is a moment of meditation. Overtime, you’ll notice that when you are in need of receiving, your inhale will lengthen. Likewise, when you are in need of letting go, you will be able to exhale for longer without hardly taking a breath in.

Enlightened Solutions teaches our patients meditation as part of a spiritual skill set for overcoming the power of addiction to drugs and alcohol. We offer multiple levels of care to men and women seeking compassionate change in their lives regarding addiction and dual-diagnosis issues. For more information call 833-801-5483.

4 Physical Benefits of Yoga Practice

Why:

Yoga can be customized to focus on certain areas of the body, especially in Westernized athletic or aerobic yoga style classes. No matter the yoga class, though, the entire body will benefit. Each yoga pose has benefit for the whole body, strengthening, conditioning, and developing muscles, including small and unseen ones.

Strengthen Your Core.

Having a strong core as a human is like having a strong trunk as a tree. Arms and legs are the branches of the human body, as well is the spine and all the other muscles. A weak core makes everything loose and disconnected, allowing injury. Core strength is a focus of yoga as it is seen to be an energetic powerhouse of the body in need of building. The core is built of three layers which all need to be worked on. Yoga works to strengthen all three layers

Why:

A strong core changes walking, sitting, and even sleeping posture to protect the back and other important joints. Yoga poses keep focus on activating the core to allow the rest of the body to lengthen, expand, and strengthen.

Helping Your Muscles Recover.

Muscle recovery is often overlooked. After a particularly strenuous workout or physical activity, most turn straight to relaxation. Few people engage in the physical activity which matters most- stretching and recovery. If there is a fitness goal in mind, it will be better reached by actively practicing yoga as muscle recovery. Even though energy is low and muscles are tired, the day after hard physical engagement, practice yoga.

Why:

Using muscles detoxifies the body and releases lactic acids, which can cause that stiff soreness as well as immobility. Drinking lots of water is helpful for clearing out toxins released by the body. Yoga, however, amplifies the recovery process through stretching and releasing the muscles. Additionally, yoga is focused on the breath, which brings more air to the muscles.

Preventing Muscular Injury.

Muscular injuries are painful. Treating muscular injury can end up taking months of careful and challenging physical therapy. Some injuries to muscles require surgeries for which there is an intensive recovery period. Muscle injury results from not properly taking care of muscles before, after, and during physical activity. Physical activity doesn’t have to mean working out, playing sports, or being active. Without proper muscle care, it is easy to twist, pull, strain, tear, and bruise muscles just in every day activities. For example, not strengthening and conditioning the core can contribute to back injury.

Why:

Yoga is a simultaneous practice of strength building, stretching, and muscle lengthening. Similar to the way a cut is treated with a bandaid to heal and endure ongoing activity, yoga treats the muscles to help them endure and heal.

Develop Underused Muscles.

Not enough exercises focus on the underlying muscles. Many people who regularly workout at the gym are happy with the physical strength and endurance they gain. Most people exercise for artificial purposes such as muscle sculpting and body shape. By constantly doing bicep curls to gain bicep muscles, many other important muscles in the arms and shoulders are ignored. Mistaking bicep strength for over all arm strength, it is easy to damage or injure the body. Yoga as a strength building practice will prevent hyper focused strength.

Common Questions About Meditation and Mindfulness

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is a practice of noticing. Many of us just go with the motions of our days without really noticing what is going on. Bringing awareness to our surroundings assists us in becoming present and enjoying life fully in each moment. Mindfulness is proven to help relax, sharpen focus, and regulate mood.

Is mindfulness different from meditation?

Yes and no. Mindfulness is a form of meditation but not all meditation is necessarily mindful. However, practicing meditation does tend to increase one’s sense of mindfulness. Meditation, like mindfulness, is a practice that helps develop a sense of awareness. Though mindfulness is a thought process, meditation can be practiced in different ways.

What if your mind is too busy?

Most meditation and mindfulness practitioners would argue that there is no such thing as a mind too busy to practice. They might even emphasize that the mind which thinks itself too busy for mindfulness and meditation is in the most need! Practicing mindfulness and meditation is a way to quiet the mind and calm the chaos internally. It may take time and meditation sessions of no more than five minutes at a time to start.

Is the goal to stop all thoughts?

Some disciplines of religion like Zen Buddhism include meditation in which the goal is to empty the mind completely. Not all meditation is about nothingness. Mindfulness, arguably, is about everythingness by noticing the world around you. Practicing meditation and mindfulness is about coming to terms with your thoughts.

Do I have to be spiritual to practice mindfulness and meditation?

No. Though mindfulness and meditation are spiritually founded practices, religion or spirituality does not have to be part of your life. It is important to note, however, that many people will have spiritual experiences or spiritual shifts. Meditation and mindfulness are proven to enhance feelings of connectedness and universality.

How do I practice mindfulness and meditation?

The simplest way to practice is to just breath and notice your thoughts. Meditation can be sitting, quiet, music, guided, etc. Choose what works best for you.

Enlightened Solutions combines holistic health and spiritual practices with both evidence-based treatment as well as 12 step philosophy. Our integrated approach to recovery creates a unique program of treatment for men and women overcoming addiction. For more information on our programs of treatment, call 833-801-5483.

Nature: It Does a Body (Image) Good

“The soul expands in response to what it sees”  – Anonymous

We see thousands of media advertisements every day. Digitally altered, these images are selling us on an unrealistic idea of perfection. Perfection according to mainstream media comes in different forms: perfect body, perfect partner, perfect hair, perfect clothes, perfect relationship, perfect smile, perfect home, perfect car, perfect kitchen, even perfect laundry. In regards to man made items, there is no such thing as perfect. Some philosophers romanticize the beauty of nature as being the only perfect creations in the world. Roses are remarked as being such a perfect creation, they are protected by thorns. Alice Walker once wrote, “in nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful.” Nature reminds us of our perfect imperfections. When we gaze at a landscape, it is doubtful we spend our time criticizing each imperfect detail of what we see. Instead, we marvel at the magnificence of nature’s whole- a respect we rarely pay to ourselves.

Spending time in nature is good for the mind, body, and spirit. We find ourselves relaxed when we disconnect from those relentless and rigorous demands of daily life and inundating media. Our blood pressure drops and our brain actually expands. New findings from Body Image journal suggest that spending time in nature helps us see ourselves in that very same broad acceptance. Nature enhances our perception of our own bodies.

Adults who spent more time in nature had higher scores in an evaluation of body appreciation. The evaluation included the level of respect one has for their body as well as their level of willingness to reject cultural norms and unreachable ideals perpetuated by the media. High self-esteem, connectedness, and feelings of “oneness” were also common in the adults with high exposure to nature. Positive body image directly correlated with the higher senses of self-esteem and connection.

Being in nature allows us to focus on what our body is capable of versus what is wrong with it- as dictated by daily media messages. As a result, we develop a greater sense of respect for our bodies, feeling physically empowered.

Enlightened Solutions sees the divine transformation of the spirit, mind, and body, that can take place through recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. Our treatment programs for men and women offer a foundation in holistic practices, encouraging complete healing. There is hope. We have a solution. If you or a loved one are suffering, please call 833-801-5483 for more information.

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