Addictions are harmful and highly destructive, and treatment options involving the use of medications and behavioural therapies are necessary to be taken in order to prevent worsening. People struggling with different kinds of addictions or currently undergoing treatment for addiction can reap added benefits from alternative practices of meditation and yoga in order to rediscover meaningful, healthy and happy lives.
Yoga is a health practice that is generally considered as a natural form of medicine. It is recommended as a treatment to be used complementarily and in addition to medical treatment and not as a replacement for it. Yoga is often beneficial when it is used to complement other scientific methods of treatment for substance abuse.
Professional addiction counsellors such as Addiction Helper agree that recovering addicts need to gain control over the mental aspects of recovery as they deal with the physical effects of detoxification and withdrawal. Starting a yoga and meditation program helps tame substance dependency effects during the treatment process. Other benefits of yoga include preventing relapse, reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms, and provide a healthier means of coping with potential triggers.
Importance of Meditation for Recovery
People struggling to break free from destructive addictions to alcohol, smoking, sex, exercise, food, drugs and other substances spend huge amounts of money in the process. However, meditation can provide simple and free relief, without any side effects. Even though no study has shown that meditation alone will cure addiction, it has been proved to be an effective supplement to medical treatment.
Meditation helps to lower the cravings which trigger a relapse. A recovering addict can engage techniques of meditation when he finds himself in unavoidable situations where triggers are present. Knowledge of the art of meditation will be useful to calm the mind and body and help the addict to choose a more healthy approach to handling the triggers.
Meditation holds two primary benefits for recovery from addiction: it is not restricted to one particular place and it is easy to learn.
One of the most important aspects of meditation as a means for recovery is that there is no particular place where meditation must be carried out to gain the best results. This means meditative techniques can be used whenever and wherever for treatment. Most addicts who go into relapse from stress will find that because they can practice meditation anytime they feel stressed, whether at home or at work, the frequency of stress triggers for addiction is significantly lowered.
No professional training or certification of any kind is needed before one can practice meditation. Any addict on the journey to recovery can learn methods of calming the mind and body through meditation. The techniques of meditation are easy to learn and put into effect. Counselling sessions, wellness centres and treatment centres offer lessons in meditation techniques.
Long term recovery is achievable through the use of meditation. If you are an addict in recovery, consider yoga and meditation techniques as an excellent way to boost the effects of your treatment. Your addiction counsellor or local wellness centre can provide the useful knowledge you need to maintain your recovery.