Many individuals experience changes in mood and anxiety upon quitting using drugs and alcohol. It can be difficult to find sober coping mechanisms, especially ones that are healthy alternatives. One beneficial choice is yoga, a practice which involves physical exercise through poses and flows, various breathing techniques, the concept of mindfulness, meditation, and philosophy. Through meditation, one can learn to observe and receive the world around them.

Yoga, Meditation, and the Twelve Steps

In 1939, Alcoholics Anonymous first noted the importance of prayer and meditation within their Big Book’s transcript. The text fails to discuss the important connection between body and mind within the healing process. When a person is engaged in active addiction, they focus all their energy on drugs or alcohol. They are absent to the present moment, as the substances aid in their ability to dissociate from the real world. On the other hand, yoga allows an individual to be present within the world around them. This skill of being “in the moment” translates off the mat as well as on it. By grounding yourself, you can evaluate what is real versus the story your mind is telling you.

Yoga is based upon Buddhist philosophy. One facet of this is the Four Noble Truths. The first truth states that our reality leads to suffering. The second noble truth explores how this suffering happens in response to a craving or desire for something. The third truth explains that there is a way to stop this suffering from occurring. Finally, the fourth truth provides the method of ceasing your suffering, which is through meditation on the Eightfold Path. Thankfully, meditation can aid with understanding your suffering, cravings, and what you are clinging to. Once you have that insight, it is much easier to figure out ways in which to handle these issues. When a person works to unite the body and mind within a healing process, self-acceptance can be obtained. This budding self-acceptance plays upon that which is gained through the Twelve Steps.

In fact, the correlation between yoga and the Twelves Steps was discovered to be so strong that an individual named Nikki Myers helped found Yoga of 12 Step Recovery. Nikki came to an understanding that, while there are recovery addicts interested in yoga, there are also individuals who do not subscribe to the traditional Twelve Steps alone. She noted that, while Twelve-Step programs think of recovery on a cognitive level, yoga includes a somatic approach. By creating a method that includes both the Twelve Steps and yoga, Nikki states she can work with others on a physical, mental, and spiritual realm collectively. To aid her students to find more insight from yoga within their recovery, she incorporates texts, including the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita, into her classes.

A Wonderful Recovery Journey

It is important to gain insight into your disease. This will aid you in finding healthy coping strategies to maintain your recovery from illicit substances and alcohol. Join others who have gained their lives back. To begin your journey of sobriety from alcohol, opiates, or cannabis, Discovery Place of Burns, Tennessee is just a phone call away. Previous clients have testified to how well our treatment alternative works. Contact us at 1-800-725-0922 today.

Testimonials

  • Discovery Place was the answer for my son. He did the 90 day and then the step down program and sober living. We give this organization 10 stars. They met my son where he was …emotionally, mentally, physically. They helped him put his life back on track. Discovery Place employees care about their guests. If your son, brother, nephew, grandson or husband needs excellent supportive care THIS is indeed the facility.

    Kim Morton
    Alumni Parent
  • I have remained sober and it is because of DP. DP is the best place there is, hands down. I keep everyone there in my prayers, and I encourage everyone there to take what they are practicing and do it in their lives, after.

    Roy Mantelli
    Alumni
  • Over the past year, I’ve been putting into actin what Discovery Place taught me, and I have experienced a complete perspective change of the world, and the people in it. I get to be a man of service and love today, and for that I am grateful to Discovery Place.

    Matt Kassay
    Alumni
  • Discovery Place means the world to me. They showed me the tools that I’ve tried to use everyday in my life to think less often of myself, and more frequently of others. I am learning to lend a hand when I am able and to have a honest and humble relationship with God and the people around me. Not only am I clean and sober, but also I am happy and fulfilled.

    Tommy Parker
    Alumni
  • Discovery Place and the men who work there made recovery attractive, and more importantly, fun. There is strength in the struggle. I am forever grateful for my time at Discovery Place.

    Creed McClellan
    Alumni
  • When I got to Discovery Place my whole life was in shambles, but I didn’t know it. I spent 6 months in their programs, participating in all three phases, and was met with kindness and love all along the way. It is unbelievable to me, where I am now relative to where I was when I arrived at DP.

    Lance Duke
    Alumni
  • I can never say enough good things about Discovery Place and the people who work there. Before checking in to DP, I was out of options and out of answers. Fortunately, Discovery Place has a solution. Taking suggestions from the staff at DP saved my life, and as a result, I’m now more content and hopeful about life. I’m grateful for Discovery Place showing me how to live a healthy life so that I can become a better man and help the next guy.”

    Tyler Buckingham
    Alumni

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