International Day of Yoga: How Finding Your Center Can Enhance Your Recovery

In 2015, the United Nations designated International Day of Yoga each June. If you don’t already have a yoga routine, now is an excellent time to start discovering the many benefits of this venerable practice. While yoga is an ideal way to build strength and flexibility, these seemingly simple poses go far beyond physical benefits. Should you think about adding yoga to your addiction recovery program? Here are some advantages you might wish to consider.

1. Enhances the Mind-Body-Spirit Connection

The word yoga comes from a Sanskrit term meaning “union.” A typical yoga class combines a flow of poses, or asanas, with controlled breathing, and closes with a meditative period in which aspiring yogis seek to reach deeper within themselves. A regular yoga practice can bring you spiritual growth as you learn to quiet your mind and bring your body into balance.

2. Helps Heal Your Brain

Long-term substance abuse alters your brain chemistry, adversely affecting the pathways regulating decision-making, emotions and memory. Though drugs have lasting impacts on the brain, it’s not impossible to rebuild this organ once you start recovery. As you begin to heal yourself from the disease of addiction, yoga may act like a “reset button” for your brain’s chemistry and neural network.

3. Reduced Stress and Anxiety

Stress and anxiety are genuine threats in recovery because they can serve as significant relapse triggers. If you don’t learn healthy coping mechanisms such as yoga, a family argument or stressful day at work can cause intense cravings for your former substance of use. As one study by researchers at the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine found, the regular practice of yoga may enhance gray matter and the areas of the brain that play an active role in stress relief, like the hippocampus.

4. Better Overall Health

Addiction takes a toll on your overall physical, mental and emotional health. When you make yoga part of your recovery routine, you can enjoy more energy, an improved mood and better quality of sleep. You’ll also start feeling stronger every day, and will notice a boost in your self-esteem because of the changes yoga will make to your body.

5. More Self-Discipline

Walking away from the temptation to use drugs and alcohol is one of the most challenging things you’ll ever do, but committing to a regular yoga practice can give you the discipline you’ll need to keep saying “no” for the rest of your life. When you notice how much better you feel overall, it will help keep you motivated to continue with your yoga routine.

Begin the Journey to Healing at Complete Harmony

If you are seeking help for a drug or alcohol addiction or dual diagnosis, but wish to explore alternatives to traditional 12-step recovery, find your home at Complete Harmony. We offer a holistic treatment program that includes comfortable, non-pharmaceutical detox and cognitive behavioral therapy alongside therapies such as yoga, meditation and acupuncture to give our clients the best chance of lifelong recovery. Contact us today to learn more.

5 Ways Yoga Helps Recovery

A regular yoga practice may not be for everyone – but everyone can give it a try. Here are five ways this ancient practice can help you on the road to recovery: 

1. You’ll feel calmer. Perhaps the most widely known benefit of yoga is its ability to reduce stress and anxiety, which can interfere with your recovery and even trigger relapse.

2. You’ll have greater self-awareness. Yoga can put you in a state of calm and focus so you can reflect on where you are and where you want to be in your recovery. It also teaches you to be more self-aware – but without judgment or reaction – and this can certainly help you better manage any negative feelings you’re having.

3. You’ll handle cravings better. Again, this greater self-awareness brought on by yoga can give you an edge when it comes to identifying and managing any drug or alcohol cravings. 

4. You’ll be in a better mood. The deep breathing exercises taught in yoga have been found to boost mood (lowering stress hormones) and lessen depressive symptoms. In fact, one study found that a specialized set of breathing exercises called Sudarshana Kriya Yoga (SKY) helped people during detox for alcohol dependence. SKY uses three types of seated breathing: victorious breath (a slow deep breathing), bellows breath (a forced inhalation and exhalation) for 12 to 15 minutes, and cyclical breathing of slow, medium and fast cycles for 30 minutes, according Psychology Today.

5. You’ll become more confident. Yoga challenges you mentally and physically and can help build confidence in your body and your ability to set and reach recovery goals. 

Making Yoga Part of Your Addiction Treatment

Stepping out of the confines of traditional rehab programs, Complete Harmony empowers clients to achieve and maintain sobriety through the use of holistic therapies and non-12-step alternative approaches. To learn more about our complementary therapy approaches, including yoga, call us today: 866-930-4673.

New Study on Yoga and Depression

Yoga and deep (yogic) breathing may be the perfect Rx for major depression disorder (MDD), according to a new study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Perhaps the best part: You don't need to become a yogi to reap the mental health benefits. 

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine found that people with MDD who participate in just two, 90-minute yoga classes per week (plus at-home practice) showed a significant decrease in depressive symptoms. And adding an additional class didn’t make a substantial difference. Many types of yoga likely fit the bill, but study participants took Iyengar yoga, a technique emphasizing various postures and yogic breathing exercises.

“While most pharmacologic treatment for depression target monoamine systems, such as serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, this intervention targets the parasympathetic and gamma aminobutyric acid system and provides a new avenue for treatment,” explained corresponding author Chris Streeter, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and neurology at Boston University School of Medicine and a psychiatrist at Boston Medical Center.

Yoga for Addiction Recovery

If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction and depression, yoga is an excellent complement to traditional treatment. And it can be performed by all ages at all exercise levels. Some of the many benefits include: 

• You’ll find inner peace by aligning the mind, body and spirit
• You’ll reduce stress and anxiety in a healthy way
• You’ll redirect harmful and negative thoughts
• You’ll identify and release cravings
• You’ll clear mental fog, especially common in early recovery 
• You’ll experience a sense of community

Finding Inner and Outer Peace

At Complete Harmony, our yoga practitioners enhance addiction recovery by guiding clients in this ancient healing art. Yoga, along with other alternative treatment methods, is also used to ease the symptoms of a dual diagnosis like depression and addiction. To learn more about our program, call 866-930-4673.

More Reasons to Add Yoga to Your Recovery

If you’re still reluctant to step on that mat and make yoga an integral part of your addiction recovery, you may want to read on. We’ve highlighted a few of the many ways that this ancient practice can strengthen your mind, body, and spirit.

Emotional: Yoga helps develop internal resiliency and cultivates mindfulness — both useful skills to help you resist cravings or social pressure and stay steadfast in your recovery.

Research even shows that it can change your brain — people who practice yoga have more gray matter in the areas of the brain responsible for self-awareness, compassion, and memory.

Physical: Regular yoga practice gets you moving and burns calories — and it can also help you become a more conscious eater and address any eating or weight problems on a deeper level. Another benefit of regular yoga practice, studies say, is better sleep — which means you’ll be less tired and less stressed.

Spiritual: As a spiritual practice, yoga can help you deepen the connection to your higher power. And finding inner strength and faith can help you find an inner sense of peace, even when life feels like it’s spiraling out of control.

Social: Practicing yoga in a group setting can help you develop new friendships and support with people who share similar values. Practicing yoga together can also help with stress management, too, say researchers, slowing down the mental loops of frustration, regret, anger, and fear.

Yoga Is for Everyone
Yoga is a holistic addiction treatment practice ideal for all ages, all exercise levels, and all rehab stages, and it is an excellent complement to traditional and non-traditional recovery programs. To learn more about our yoga program at Complete Harmony, call 866-930-4673.