“Come back to center,” is a phrase often heard in yoga videos and from studio teachers alike.  Embodied in the phrase is the idea that practicing yoga, will help stabilize your life both mentally and physically.  Stability is a coveted asset for a person in recovery to help maintain their lifestyle change.  Here are some reasons to embrace yoga as part of your life moving forward.

Improved Immunity

As you practice yoga you will be strengthening your body’s natural defenses.  Increased circulation and better breathing habits will help your body, including organs, to function better.  If you are recovering from substance abuse your body has probably been through the ringer.  Yoga will help to restore and even progress your health beyond its pretreatment state.

Increased Energy

Any exercise program will increase your energy levels.  However, yoga’s effects are even more dramatic because it is a combined mind and body regiment.  Yoga practitioners report they sleep better, feel less stressed, and have more energy throughout their day.  Who wouldn’t want that for the rest of their life?  

Fight Cravings Easier

In recovery this is probably the most compelling reason to incorporate yoga into your lifestyle change.  Yoga incorporates meditation into its exercise regiment helping to develop a person’s mindfulness.  Many practitioners of yoga find that slowing down, breathing, and practicing the tricks they learned in yoga allows them to fend off cravings.  Recent studies back up their claims.

Inner Peace   

Addiction can feel like prison, and the road to recovery is not easy and feels very chaotic.  As you begin your re-entry phase it can feel like the chaos is everywhere.  Practicing yoga will give you long term inner peace.  Inner peace is a natural result of yoga’s combined benefits in your life.  Yoga helps you feel better about yourself, gives you confidence, and a sense of belonging.  The road to inner peace can be arduous, but embracing yoga can help you get there more quickly.   

One of the largest mountains to climb in recovery is the reformation of your identity.  There are many paths to help you get there.  Yoga is a practice that benefits so many areas that it almost seems foolish to not incorporate it into your new lifestyle.  Whatever you do, make lifestyle choices that will give you similar benefits to those of yoga.

 

The Springboard Center wants to change the way the Permian Basin and beyond approaches substance abuse. Our residential treatment programs offer an opportunity to restore the health and dignity of clients and their families. Call us today for information on our programs for addiction and alcoholism: (432) 620-0255