Yoga for Addiction Recovery: Healthy Habits to Practice Outside of Class

Pursuing and maintaining sobriety can be an arduous journey which is why many look for complementary habits to aid recovery. Among the dozens of different approaches and science-backed methods to recover from addiction today is the practice of yoga. According to www.americanaddictioncenters.org, around 21 million Americans practice yoga — the number has doubled in the past ten years. Yoga is used in substance abuse treatment programs to help prevent relapses and reduce withdrawal symptoms and substance cravings. It’s also become a healthy outlet to cope with potential triggers and daily life stressors throughout recovery. Below, we’ll look at some healthy habits to complement your recovery outside of your yoga sessions:

Maintaining Good Posture

Practicing better posture can help you practice yoga poses more easily while improving your balance. While practicing yoga regularly can help improve posture over time, there are other things you can do to enhance your yoga classes for a more effective recovery. Investing in ergonomic furniture is a great way to take care of your posture in your daily life. As illustrated in www.painfreeworking.com, ergonomic chairs promote good posture by prioritizing their users’ comfort and back support. Models like Steelcase’s Gesture Chair may look simple on the outside but are highly customizable to meet diverse needs. Offering optimal support for a wide range of postures and sizes, the Gesture Chair was designed to meet the needs of 2,000 participants of a global posture study.

Aside from ergonomic chairs, www.openpr.com shares that adjustable standing desks have also risen in popularity alongside the global shift towards remote and hybrid work. For example, Haworth Company’s standing desks offer users height-adjustable desks and tables designed to enhance employee productivity. For those practicing yoga, having such furniture can help you retain the posture you’ve learned and keep away aches that may trigger you.

Practicing Daily Meditation

Often mistaken as each other, yoga and meditation differ in how they are practiced. Where yoga is a more physical exercise, meditation is a mindfulness practice focusing on the relationship between your mind and your body. That said, they do overlap in the sense that they value self-awareness and breathwork. While they are different, practicing meditation can help boost your focus and concentration for more effective yoga sessions. Today, more studies and research support like those on recovery.org note meditation’s effectiveness for addiction recovery and relapse prevention. Increasing self-awareness and boosting mental functions, meditation can help you detach from thoughts and impulses to reduce cravings and prevent relapse.

Meditation offers numerous physical health benefits, such as decreasing blood pressure for those at risk of hypertension and enhancing your immune system against common illnesses. Meditating can also improve insomniacs’ sleep while relieving pain, anxiety, and stress. To further improve your recovery journey, you can start daily meditation practice with simple breathing exercises to keep you calm and grounded in the present even in your yoga practice.

Fostering Healthy Relationships

Lastly, while you play the biggest role in your addiction recovery, relying on your friends, family, and loved ones can further improve your journey to recovery and lasting sobriety. In our previous post on codependency and addiction at www.bridgingthegaps.com, we emphasize that your family will often need as much help as you do. Fostering healthy relationships in your journey to recovery doesn’t just mean being close to your loved ones, however. In particular, you want to make sure your loved ones aren’t enabling you in ways that can be harmful to your recovery.

Educating those close to you on your addiction and recovery will be helpful to both you and them. For your friends and family, having a better understanding of your addiction can help them support and be there for you in ways that won’t threaten your sobriety. Honest and transparent communication can help get rid of shame and guilt for a more positive approach to your recovery. With the right support system, you can continue your recovery and yoga practice with a feeling of assurance that will empower and inspire you.

Specially penned for bridgingthegaps.com by Rylee Kate Bexley