Holistic Drug Rehab; Why Treating the Mind Body and Soul Offers More by Christian Shire

No one completely understands addiction. The complexities of the mind preclude our complete understanding and although we slowly chip away at the puzzle, scientists concede that they are a long way from any great solutions to the problems of substance abuse and addiction.
But even the most ardent of scientists would accept that there is a spiritual element to the bettering of an addiction, and although you can't quantify the impact of the soul, without addressing spirituality in addiction you offer an incomplete therapeutic experience.
At its best, drug or alcohol treatment recognizes that addiction affect us all on the physical, mental and spiritual planes, and to offer the best chance at recovery treatments need to recognize that interplay of mind body and soul.
When looking at some of the programs offered at better and holistic drug and alcohol treatment programs, the cynical might question the value of classes on yoga, karate and meditation, but these do offer therapeutic assistance, do better the problems of the soul, and do give recovering addicts a better chance at sobriety.
What types of programs are offer in a holistic drug and alcohol rehab?
By definition, a holistic drug or alcohol rehab offers a complete and comprehensive experience, and holistic should not imply that the conventional therapies and effective medications are abandoned in favor of alternative treatments. The best holistic drug and alcohol rehabs recognize the medical and treatment science has unearthed much of value, and that it would be foolish to abandon completely what has proven effective for so many.
But since conventional rehabs using clinical techniques of therapy and medication cannot yet offer impressive long term recovery statistics, holistic rehab advocates argue that more is obviously needed.
Meditation
Through courses in meditation, recovering addicts benefit from increased self awareness, greater personal control and discipline, and a sense of calm that can pervade a whole day after meditating. Learning how to deal with stressors effectively increases the odds of sobriety, and meditation is a very effective strategy to minimize the perceived challenges in life.
Yoga
Through a unification of mind and body, through intense concentration and an emphasis on proper breathing, yoga offers spiritual cleansing, greater self awareness, and an increased sense of well being and calm. Addicts actively using spend little time listening to the true messages of the body, and through yoga, recovering addicts reconnect the physical with the spiritual.
Karate
For many of the same reasons as yoga, training in martial arts increases focus, concentration, physical connection and transcendent peace.
It can be very difficult to measure the impact of alternative and peripheral therapies, but anecdotal reports of their effectiveness indicate a strong benefit, and clinical studies have found that meditation training is just as effective as group therapy for addiction recovery.
Choose a rehab that treats your whole
We abuse drugs and alcohol out of an imbalance or unhappiness from some part of our being, and unless we treat the symptoms of discontent in a holistic and pervasive manner, we risk allowing those basal problems to abuse to remain; and once again rear up, pulling us back to abuse and unhappiness.
Therapy works, 12 steps programs work, medications work; but none of these on their own or even in combination offers enough. Get treatment that offers you the best chance for sobriety, treatment that heals our spiritual selves as it treats the mental and the physical.