Yoga is a practice which engages physical movement, meditation and spiritual practices. Yoga is a discipline that has been practiced since ancient times in India and has become a more widely practiced art in years since. Yoga teaches breathing methods, meditation and exercises to help improve health and mood. Yoga asks the practitioner to align both physical aspects, such as muscle and bone, with internal energies. Yoga, meaning union, is a spiritual quest to balance the mind. CIVIQ Health offers yoga for addiction recovery, along with a number of holistic approaches to provide clients with exposure and support to explore many aspects of healing.
Types of Yoga
Hatha yoga balances the energy in the body. It employs gentle physical postures. Sanskrit word for Ha-Sun and Tha- Moon. This yoga balances the energy in the body identifying them as the light and the dark, the active and rest, and other differing aspects of self. Hatha yoga teaches physical posture. Yoga is incorporated at higher levels of care to provide clients with a meditative experience that includes the body. It is the hope that the experience provided invites clients to attempt a new, or perhaps neglected, means to engage with their body as part of healing. Each week yoga is offered in a group setting. The guided group process serves to foster body self-awareness, mindfulness skills such as focus, concentration, attending, and maintaining present-moment awareness will be practiced in yoga. Patience, courage, compassion, forgiveness, self-acceptance, commitment and perseverance are integrated in this spiritual practice and related to the individual clients recovery.
Use of Yoga in Addiction Treatment
CIVIQ Health includes yoga for addiction treatment in ways to holistically support the client. Members are encouraged to engage in supports that they can continue to activate in an ongoing way in their recovery. The use of Hatha yoga and other mindful meditation techniques are incorporated into aspects of treatment in groups and individual sessions at all levels of care. The continued support is aimed to help clients engage in a spiritual and physical practice to help reduce stress and align their experiences in their body. The mind/body connection when introduced to clients gives them opportunities to center within themselves and, should they experience a benefit, continue to do so in their recovery.
Benefits of Yoga
Yoga is reported to increase flexibility, strength and muscle tone, as well as, balancing metabolism and circulatory health. Yoga has been cited as an exercise method that can aid with weight reduction. Yoga engages mental and meditative techniques through movement and mindfulness that are reported to help address stress and anxiety. When considering yoga’s role in holistic approaches to recovery, both the physical sensations of the body and the disordered thinking of the mind are engaged in a union to center and calm the entire person. When considering the benefits of yoga for addiction it is important to consider addiction as a behavioral, mental, emotional, and societal dysfunction. Yoga, in an attempt to engage all aspects of the person through Hatha yoga practices, helps the client align themselves in a meditative and mindful way to address triggers and stressors through spirituality and self-care.