Today, more and more rehabs are including yoga as a therapy for treating addiction. Researchers are saying that yoga may actually help to break a person’s cycle of addiction. Yoga therapy helps to treat the mind and body, or the physical and mental addiction simultaneously. Yoga therapy can help a person change their unhealthy habits by restoring their body and their mind.
Research is showing that yoga is a very efficient therapy in treating addiction to drugs and alcohol. There are many forms of yoga, but each and every one helps bring a balance to a person’s life. Many people claim that yoga is meditation in motion. Using it as a therapy can help a person to control any compulsive behaviors that contributes to their drug or alcohol addiction. It can help rehabs in treating addiction and can help addicts live a long drug and alcohol free life.
The Benefits
Enhancing Health
Overcoming and recovering from an addiction can be extremely stressful. Most addicts already suffer from poor physical health, when they begin their recovery, the stress can worsen their health. Yoga therapy is a great way to release this stress and strengthen their physical health; this is why it is becoming in treating addiction.
Strengthens the Body
One of the greatest things about yoga therapy is, a person does not need to be physically strong to begin learning and practicing it. As a person practices yoga therapy on a regular basis, they will develop core muscles and improve their balance and posture.
One of the greatest benefits of this therapy is, the person learns about their body and develops better control over it. Building a physically strong body can help a person to combat the physical problems that addicts nay be having.
Finding a Balance
Yoga therapy helps the person find the perfect balance between the mind, body, and inner spirit. This balance is extremely beneficial to people who had a life that was chaotic and out of control.
Enhances Focus
Many people who go to rehab have worries and stresses, treating an addiction can be hard if the person is distracted by these. Yoga therapy can help a person to focus more on what is important, and block out these worries and stresses that are not beneficial to their recovery.
Self Awareness
One of the main points of yoga therapy is to increase a person’s self awareness on a physical and psychological level. When a person practices it on a regular basis, they will learn to self induce relaxation. The person is then able to apply this whenever they are feeling mental, emotional, or physical pain. This is can help the person to actively cope with their pain and avoid feelings that may potentially lead to a relapse.
Mental Performance
Studies are showing that many of the breathing exercises performed and taught to patients during yoga therapy can increase brain activity and improve communication between the right and left sides of the brain. These studies are also showing that the increased brain activity attributes to better cognitive performance.
Mood Changes
People who suffer from a drug or alcohol addiction often have unpleasant mood changes and lack vitality. This therapy will help people to gain a more positive outlook on life, and increase their vitality, and this helps rehabs when treating addictions to drugs or alcohol. Yoga therapy teaches certain breathing exercises that will help to decrease mood changes in a patient and improve their overall mood.
Connect with the Body and Mind
Yoga therapy is performed slowly and quietly with peaceful like movements. Yoga is said to be a form of mediation and the effects of it are often described as spiritual. This spirituality simply means that the person is able to connect with their body and mind. Please note that yoga therapy is not a religious practice and is not associated with any religion; therefore, everyone can enjoy it.
Important Therapy at The Cabin
Yoga therapy is extremely beneficial to all people, but especially those who have an addiction to drugs or alcohol. Here at The Cabin Chiang Mai, we feel that yoga is an extremely important therapy to include in our treatment program. All of our patients will be involved in weekly yoga sessions that will help them to overcome their addiction.
