Holistic Healing For Recovering Addicts: 5 Tips For A Spiritual Life
The term holistic means `whole person`. With holistic healing, the goal is to rehabilitate the mind, body, and soul. Rather than just targeting the specific symptoms or behaviors that are causing immediate pain in the individual’s life, holistic treatment additionally addresses the environmental and behavioral factors that enabled one to develop an addiction in the first place. This method has proven to not only help patients progress quicker in their rehabilitation, but also improve their overall well being in their daily lives while developing sustainable habits and tools to prevent relapse. More specifically, holistic treatment can help with:
- Withdrawal symptoms
- Behavioural and emotional traumas that trigger substance abuse
- Chemical and emotional imbalances in the body
- Anxiety and depression
Rehabilitation centers that use traditional methods in conjunction with holistic methods have found higher success rates in recovery. For example, traditional detox methods for addiction have proven to be crucial for long term recovery. Incorporating holistic methods on top of traditional detox methods has been found to alleviate the severity of detox symptoms. Combining traditional and holistic treatment methods has become increasingly common, such as in rehabilitation centers in LA because it provides not only an increased immediate relief of side effects from long term substance abuse but also a foundation that recovering addicts can rely on for the remainder of their lives. It’s not just about recovering to prevent immediate risk associated with substance abuse, but lifestyle changes that bring a higher quality of life.
Here are 5 holistic methods you can incorporate into your life to support yourself during recovery:
1. Reiki energy work
A japanese relaxation and stress reduction treatment believed to help people struggling with energy blocks or imbalances caused by a low frequency of energy travelling throughout the body. Reiki healers tap into all chakras of the body to help create a balanced flow of energy. This can balance out any physical or emotional blockages causing chronic pain in the body, or any kind of emotional struggles like anxiety.
2. Crystals
Crystals are made of natural minerals. Their healing properties come from the vibrations that are created through a lattice structure with repeated atoms found throughout the crystal. Crystals can manipulate the vibrations within one’s body to restore balance, which is thrown off with substance abuse as it lowers the vibrations of the body.
3. Herbal medicine
Herbal medicine has proven to have neurochemical mechanisms that can reverse the effects of substance abuse and addiction. For example, Ginseng, a natural root has proven to help fight opioid dependency. As research continues to come out proving the benefits of crude extracts, active principles and plant associations with the treatment of addiction, herbal medicine is becoming more and more common in rehabilitation methods.
4. Massage therapy
Massage therapy can involve any number of treatments such as traditional massage and acupuncture. All methods are proven to help rid the body of toxins and therefore can be an extremely beneficial treatment method in support of other traditional rehabilitation methods such as medical detox.
5. Yoga
Yoga, meditation and prayer are all great tools to incorporate into your daily life to provide grounding and mindfulness. The reason these are beneficial is because it brings awareness to yourself and your surroundings. They all can give a sense of control over and within your life, which is something that is often lost in the midst of addiction. Just 5 minutes a day can have lifelong benefits.
As holistic treatment methods have not been heavily researched, it is still highly debated. However, there is research supporting the claim that those who are happier with their treatment are more likely to not only complete treatment but are less likely to relapse. Focusing on the mental and emotional benefits of holistic methods alone, there is essentially no reason not to incorporate these practices into a traditional rehabilitation program. It gives patients an additional set of tools that can help them cope with the emotional and physical challenges that come with overcoming addiction.
Most highest types of security is provided at drug rehab centers. Patients usually have to give a lot of personal information to doctors and therapists, including their social networks and their history of drug addiction.