Yoga for Addiction Recovery: Transformative Wellness Practices

Holistic wellness programs are catching on to the benefits practicing yoga can bring to recovery from SUD and AUD. This ancient Eastern practice evolved over millennia, lead by spiritual and community leaders called “yogi’s.”

The practice found its way to the Western world in the 1960s and grew in popularity with “hippie” culture over the next few decades. With more Westerners taking up the practice of yoga every year it became a popular pastime in the 1990s. Today, you can find yoga studios on every second block in downtown LA.

Over the last few decades, we saw yoga introduced into addiction recovery programs as part of holistic wellness practices taught to recovering addicts. There are a few different types of yoga for addiction treatment, but most rehab centers focus on two or three styles of yoga in their wellness programs.

Hatha is the most popular style of yoga practiced in America today. It involves a system of “postures” and meditation practices designed to heal the practitioner’s mind, body, and soul from the chaos of addiction.

Many treatment centers revolve their yoga sessions around Hatha, along with elements of Ashtanga and Asana yoga. The programs may also include mudras that promote mental clarity by optimizing the flow of life force through the body and Pranayama breathing techniques to initiate a state of stillness, calmness, and focus.

The aim of these yoga classes is to release physical tension in the body and mind and support the addict to prevent them from relapsing in moments of weakness. A yoga session could last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the practitioner’s skill and experience.

Yoga can change your life, and millions of people swear by its positive influence on their life. Let’s look at how yoga can improve your chances of making a full recovery from SUD or AUD.

What are the Benefits of Practicing Yoga During Recovery?

Carrara rehabilitation and wellness center has talented, professional yoga instructors ready to lead you on your journey to unlocking your “Prana.” Yoga therapy for addiction recovery is highly effective, and it’s a practice you can take with you when you leave Carrara and return to your life outside our facility. Let’s unpack the benefits you can expect from practicing yoga daily.

The Physical Benefits of Yoga for Addiction Recovery

Yoga therapy strengthens the muscular system and balances the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. The practice gives you the tools you need to rebuild your body and restore your health.

Stretching to Build the Muscular System: Yoga poses might look easy to pull off, but they’re actually quite demanding on your body, requiring a decent level of strength, balance, and coordination to execute them properly. The poses stretch several muscle groups at a time, driving toxins and stress out of the muscular system, allowing it to undo the damage muscle atrophy has done to your physiology, posture, and organ function. While stretching is the primary form of exercise in yoga sessions, the poses also place demand on the muscular system, forcing it to recover and rebuild.

Breathing to Remove Toxins: Pranayama breathing techniques in yoga are essential during the posing routine and in meditation sessions. The breath is the source of all life, and learning how to breathe correctly pays off with better circulation and brain function. Every exhalation forces the negative emotions out of your mind and releases toxins from your bloodstream, cleansing your mind and body.

Yoga – A Tool for Overcoming Mental Health Disorders

A wellness and rehab center like Carrara understands the value of yoga for mental health during recovery. Almost every client we see walk through our doors has a co-occurring mental health disorder, with the most common afflictions being chronic anxiety and depression.

Yoga can address these issues when incorporated into a comprehensive wellness program involving medical detox and therapy. Yoga teaches you meditation and mindfulness strategies that go a long way to helping you deal with cravings and urges to relapse when you leave your inpatient program with us.

Build Self-Awareness: Practicing yoga tunes you into your body and mind, increasing your awareness about what’s going on with your physiology and thought processes. You get a greater understanding of yourself and your capabilities through regular practice, and your self-awareness grows.

Alleviate Feelings of Anxiety and Stress: The postures in yoga stretch the muscular system and drive oxygen into every cell in your body. It activates the “parasympathetic nervous system,” the branch of the central nervous system responsible for initiating a calm state where you feel relaxed.

Restore Your Inner Peace: Yoga connects you with your authentic self and helps you restore balance to your chaotic mind. Every session gets you closer to mastering your physiology and psychology.

Take Control and Prevent Relapse: Practicing yoga makes you comfortable in your own skin, giving you more control over how you think and act. It reduces compulsive thinking and prevents you from acting on these compulsions.

Embrace the Spiritual Side of Yoga

Unlike other forms of exercise, which focus solely on the physical benefits of the practice, yoga has a spiritual side to it. Your instructor at Carrara teaches you bhajans and prayers, spiritual practices that reinforce your mind and strengthen your will to get clean from drugs and alcohol. You’ll chant mantras during your sessions and the vibrations created through these chants resonate in the brain and throughout your physiology, clearing and cleansing your mental state.

Many people who dive deep into yoga find it changes their lives. It gives them a new appreciation for their place in the world and puts them in touch with their authentic self. You’ll feel more grateful for your chance at making a lasting recovery and start to live your life based on the principles of yoga’s holistic healing effect on your body and mind as you progress with your practice.

Understanding the Impact of Yoga on the Brain

Using yoga for recovery from addiction has a powerful effect on every aspect of your physiology, including your brain. The poses, chanting, and meditation don’t just heal your body, they cleanse your mind, making it easier to cope with thoughts of relapse.

Studies show that practicing yoga releases large amounts of the neurotransmitters GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) and serotonin which modulate the stress response known as the “fight-or-flight” state. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is responsible for initiating the fight-or-flight response, and addiction can ramp up the effects it has on your mind and body, prolonging your exposure to stress.

By practicing yoga you regain control over your nervous system response to external and internal stimuli, and you dampen the SNS response, reducing feelings of stress and anxiety. Less stress means less anxiety and less depression, helping you manage the effects of mental health disorders brought on by addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Meditation, chanting, breathwork – these are all beneficial practices that elevate your health and improve your mental state. Your anxiety disappears, and your depression lifts, giving you the springboard you need to commit to making a lasting recovery from AUD or SUD.

Carrara – Professional Yoga Instructors to Guide You Through Moving Meditation

Carrara’s holistic wellness program includes morning yoga sessions on the deck led by a professional instructor with years of experience in teaching the artform to others. Imagine going through your poses on the deck at our Malibu beach house with the Pacific Ocean in front of you and the fresh air around you.

It’s a group session, but you’ll get personalized attention during the session, giving you the chance to master yoga poses for addiction recovery. They’ll help you correct your posture in your poses and teach you the skills you need to carry your practice into your daily routine when you leave treatment.

Your yoga sessions are a big part of your rehab and wellness program at Carrara. Our instructors guide you through the system of poses, and they’ll end the session with guided meditation and breathing to help your body and mind settle into the demands of the day ahead.

Yoga At Carrara – What to Expect from Your First Lesson

Carrara’s yoga therapy for addiction treatment isn’t as physically taxing on your body as taking a 10-mile run, but it’s not a walk in the park either. When you arrive at our facility, you’re probably in pretty bad shape, and chances are you haven’t done any exercise in months or maybe even years.

So, the first few sessions will leave you feeling stiff and sore as the stretching and posing wakes up your muscular system. Your instructor knows how your body will react to the session and the stiffness it can cause. They ease you into the practice to make it as comfortable as possible. With the right nutrition provided by your private chef you’ll recover from the initial stiffness fast, and be ready for your next session in no time.

You’ll get a guided lesson in the morning, but there’s nothing stopping you from carrying on your practice in your spare time if you feel like it. You can’t really overdo it with your yoga practice and the more time you put into it, the more benefit you receive from your practice.

Skills that Last a Lifetime

At Carrara rehab and wellness center, our goal is to provide you with tangible skills you can use in your everyday life to keep you on-track to staying sober. Our recovery program gives you tools to master your headspace that you can use in your outpatient program. You get psychological strategies like mindfulness techniques to build up your mind and yoga and exercise techniques to strengthen your body.

The beautiful thing about the skills you learn at Carrara is that you can take them with you when you transition from your inpatient treatment to your outpatient program. By the time you leave us, you’ll be adapted to daily exercise, and you’ll find it easy to keep your training and yoga practice going when you get back to your life.

Yoga – It’s Easy to Fit into Your Day

There’s definitely a relationship between yoga and addiction recovery, and now you know why it’s a key component of our holistic wellness program. Don’t assume that you’re too busy to practice yoga. All it takes is 20 to 30 minutes a day, and you’ll see massive benefits in your life from maintaining this ancient practice of moving meditation.