The Power of YOGA for Your Recovery: 15 Reasons to Start Practicing (Part 3)

Are you ready to trade in your negative addiction in for something more positive?

Running, meditation and the practice of yoga are three powerful ways to replace addiction with something that will enrich your life. Running is for our bodies, meditation is for our minds and yoga is a combination of both. Dr. William Glasser, explains in his book Positive Addiction, how these three activities and others like them can fill the void of our addiction when we make the decision to seek recovery. Even though Dr. Glasser’s book was written in the 70’s, addiction continues to devastate lives.

Yoga is an ancient 5,000 year old practice. It can no longer be called a trend, as currently millions of Americans are enjoying it’s health benefits. Yoga connects the mind, body and spirit through body poses, controlled breathing and meditation.

I started practicing yoga about five years ago. It was about the same time I realized we had the disease of addiction in our family.  I wanted to make some positive changes in my life, and practicing yoga was a good place to start, as it made me feel better.

On and off the mat, it has influenced my life and brought me to an amazing calm that I had never felt before.

From downward Dog to the quiet of shavasana, my mind became focused during practice as I moved from pose to pose. I look forward to my practice as well as to the final relaxation pose when my mind and body are blissful and calm. I can’t imagine not experiencing the sensations of yoga.

We live in a time of uncertainty, now more than ever and we all yearn for clarity and direction. Yoga is one path out of the haze of our confusion to a better understanding.

Yoga can bring so much to your life if you allow the goodness of the practice to surround you and lead you forward. The aches and pains begin to slowly disappear. You may start to feel happier and find your life is more manageable.

The real payoff of a yoga practice, I came to see, is not a perfect handstand or a deeper forward bend – it is the newly born self that each days steps off the yoga mat and back into life. ~ Rolf Gates

What yogis know is that once you start, and you begin to internalize the yoga philosophy, you want more and the mat beckons for your return.

There are many benefits to yoga which can be helpful to anyone, but it can also be another activity to enhance your long term recovery. This journey inward will give you a better understanding of yourself, your life and your relationships.

Apart from all the medical benefits such as decreased blood pressure, lower cholesterol and general prevention of disease, here are 15 benefits of practicing yoga. Some may surprise you.

1. Self-acceptance. You focus on yourself during yoga practice and realize that perfect pose is not the goal. The goal is the practice, you accept your strengths, as well as your limitations.

2. Self-control. When you control yourself through the movements, it begins to transfer to all aspects of your life.

 3. Body Mind Connection. With controlled breathing as the body moves, your mind quiets to a place of calm and peace. You mind connects with your body for each pose.

 4. Positive Outlook. The longer you practice, you begin to develop a more stable, positive approach to life. Practicing yoga helps you to feel happier and realize that all things are possible.

5. Better Concentration. With regular practice, concentration and motivation improve. As you concentrate on each pose, your focus improves.

6. Reduces Stress. Yoga practice encourages less stress and more calm. You learn to focus on the what’s happening at the present moment and let go of the stressful feelings.

7. Find Calm. Your mind quiets as you concentrate completely on each pose during practice. Yoga pratice encourages noticing your breath and  letting go of your thoughts which helps to calm your mind.

8. Discover Patience. As you practice each pose, you realize it takes patience to build your practice and to master each pose. Some are easier for different body types than others and some will never be mastered in this lifetime. We learn patience with ourselves as we practice.

9. Rely on Ourselves. Most of Yoga is a solitary practice. We don’t need anyone else to practice. Learning to rely on ourselves is a gold life lesson that we can take from the mat.

10. Letting go of Depression. When we practice many of the negative feelings that you may be repressing will surface and be released. You have now let go of the negative energy which may ease any depression you might be feeling.

11. Ease your Anxiety. Yoga breathing is calming. As you practice your anxiety will begin to ease. Off the mat, you will have access to this breathing technique whenever you need it.

12. Better Memory. As your blood circulates in the brain, your stress is reduced, your focus is improved which leads to a better memory.

13. Find Balance. Not only do you practice physical balance during yoga, but emotional and spiritual balance as well. Our bodies have a stronger and weaker side which we discover when practicing. We work to improve both so that our balance in all areas is improved.

14. Flexibility. You can improve the flexibility of your body and any time or any age. When you stretch your muscles, you release stiffness, tension, pain and fatigue. Your range of motion improves.  Continued practice will enhance your flexibility.

15. This Too Shall Pass. We learn from yoga that the poses just as life, continue to change. As we finish one pose and are on to the next, we learn that nothing in life is permanent. Our life is in a constant state of change.

The beauty is that people often come here for the stretch, and leave with a lot more. ~Liza Ciano 

Try the practice of yoga, you may discover the benefits suit you as well.

Be Well,

Cathy

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