A holistic approach to substance abuse treatment often employs a number of approaches and tools to aid in the need to achieve, strengthen, and sustain recovery. In this article, learn the benefits of yoga and how it is used as a tool intended to connect you with your body.
Starting and staying in recovery is a demanding journey that can be aided by holistic practices such as yoga. Beyond its impact on you physically, yoga can help the brain by improving cognitive function, helping with emotional regulation, reducing stress, and providing a calming effect. The physical benefits of yoga include better sleep, more energy, and increased physical stamina and strength. Headwaters provides one-on-one yoga instruction as part of our private treatment programs for executives with a substance use disorder or someone needing dual diagnosis treatment for a co-occurring mental health disorder.
If you or a loved one need help, call our admissions team today at 561-270-1753.Benefits of Yoga
Regular yoga practice has numerous potential benefits for your physical health and overall well-being. Stress alleviation, greater physical stamina and strength, self-reflection, and self-awareness are among them. You may notice an improvement in your health and eating habits. As a result, you may have more self-confidence and a better self-image. Pain relief, increased vitality, and improved sleep are all additional benefits of yoga. Your energy levels may increase as your exhaustion decreases. As you connect more with your mind and body, it can be an emotionally healing experience, too.
How Yoga Affects the Brain
Yoga is a practice that has been shown to provide several advantages for the brain. It can reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which can help to lessen feelings of stress and worry. It has the potential to improve cognitive function and general brain health. It can help improve parts of the brain dealing with attention, memory, and emotional control. Yoga sessions can also have a calming effect on the brain and improve your mood, which can be especially helpful for anyone with anxiety or depression.
Yoga’s Purpose in Recovery
Recovery is not limited to avoiding alcohol or drug use. To stay sober, you’re going to be working on a complete lifestyle change to replace self-destructive behaviors, and yoga can be a fundamental element of that change. Yoga practice can help you naturally balance various regions of the brain and body that get disrupted by drug use. People who practice yoga become more aware of their bodies, learn to control their breathing, and truly listen to their bodies. This can increase self-awareness of how things can make you feel in a nonjudgmental way. You can learn to take ownership of your feelings and achieve a sense of control over yourself and your past destructive behaviors by directing your energy inward. You may also become more self-reliant and self-confident as a result of doing yoga regularly. Yoga can also boost energy levels, encourage people to eat healthier, and improve sleep quality, which may be disturbed by drug or alcohol withdrawal symptoms. When you feel better physically, you are better able to deal with stress and other issues that may arise during treatment. Physical exercise can also boost your self-image, as healthy behaviors can improve how you look.
Yoga and Opioid Use Disorders
Study results published by the National Library of Medicine show promise in using yoga as part of a comprehensive treatment plan for some substance use disorders. One study on 75 female opioid clients found that clients in the yoga group improved considerably more in mood state and quality of life than clients in the normal hospital care group after a 6-month follow-up. A separate study focused on cocaine users showed significant improvement in perceived stress levels in people who were practicing yoga for two months. Even self-reporting results for alcohol users in one study showed lower levels of depression. While results are not always conclusive, they point to the potential aid in healing people with substance use disorders as one of yoga’s many benefits.
Treatment for Executives at Headwaters
Headwaters provides a holistic approach to healing for the executive at our confidential location. With our programs, you can expect privacy in a luxury setting and personal attention that is customized to your specific needs. Yoga is an excellent way for a high-profile person with a substance use disorder to get in touch with their mind and body while in treatment. Unlike group settings, an expert yoga instructor works one-on-one with a client like you in using this centuries-old form of exercise. In these sessions, they can help you identify and practice specific poses to enhance your flexibility, balance, endurance, and strength. This kind of wellness service is also supplemented by opportunities to explore the benefits of acupuncture, meditation, aqua therapy, traditional massage, and more.
Tour Headwaters
Hanley Foundation’s Headwaters is a non-profit addiction treatment program for executives, public figures, other affluent individuals, and their loved ones. Headwaters offers leading-edge, personalized clinical care for mental health and substance use disorders, and our professional and compassionate staff can help you achieve holistic wellness. To start your healing journey, call 561-270-1753 today.
