Throughout the recovery journey, it is important to establish a sense of balance within your therapeutic practices. Engaging in mind-body interventions is a great way to create this point of stability to build on your recovery success.
The mind and body each need their own forms of care. Reviewing these practices, you can find techniques that benefit both simultaneously. These practices can be a great resource if you are struggling to find self-care practices that resonate with you.
Connecting With the Body and Calming the Mind Through Yoga
The art of yoga is a very useful mind-body intervention to apply in recovery. Yoga can be exceptionally beneficial to those who are dealing with co-occurring disorders. For example, those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may find yoga helps alleviate trauma responses. In your recovery from substance use disorder (SUD), you can use yoga to engage in physical exercise and calm the emotions running through your mind.
It is important to find activities that can calm strong emotions during your recovery journey. It is normal to feel heightened emotions through this process, as you are going through the stages of change. Using yoga to your benefit can help you push the negative energy out of your system and rejuvenate your mind and body to move forward.
Grounding the Body and Mind Through Mindfulness
The use of grounding techniques can be another way to achieve a state of calmness. Sensory grounding methods are a mind-body intervention that may help you stay connected to your body through your recovery journey.
By using your five senses, you can develop a sense of mindfulness toward your current state. The following reflections engage each of your senses and connect you deeply to the present moment.
#1. Scent
Deeply inhale through your nose. What do you smell? You may smell something distinctive, or it may be a common smell such as your shampoo. Pay close attention to these smells and try to describe them the best you can.
#2. Touch
Feel your surroundings. As you run your fingers along the fabric of the chair you are sitting on or the cold wood floor under your feet, what do you feel?
#3. Touch
Look around you. What do you see? Be descriptive in your answers and try to pinpoint different color schemes, depth perception, and clarity within your viewpoint.
#4. Hearing
Close your eyes and listen. What do you hear within your surroundings? If it is quiet, it may be difficult to pinpoint what you are hearing. Listen closely and find the small sounds you would typically overlook.
#5. Taste
For the final question, you may choose to sip some tea or take a bite of your favorite snack. What do you taste? Think beyond what you would regularly use to describe the flavor. Find a new way of tasting and experience how the flavor and feel in your mouth changes with each chew.
These questions may seem like a waste of time, but they can be extremely beneficial. While we use our senses regularly, we often fail to deeply perceive the qualities they each contribute. Engaging in this exercise can help you develop a further understanding of the world around you and keep you grounded through moments of high stress.
Aligning the Body and Mind Through Tai Chi
The traditional Chinese martial art style, tai chi, is another great method for healing the mind and body. This technique incorporates breathing, focus, and movement in a flowing manner. These movements are designed to facilitate self-defense and therefore require a high level of attention.
Bringing your focus onto one thing, aligning with the movements of your body, can be a great way to allow room for healing. Taking your focus off of your recovery needs momentarily and allowing your body and mind to move in a synchronized manner is a unique form of self-care that may benefit you.
Relaxing the Body and Mind
The act of relaxation is not often considered to be a benefit to the body. We tend to think of exercise and movement as the best options, but it is important to allow space for your body to relax as well.
Engaging in deep relaxation techniques, your mind can become still, and your body can be at ease. Simply laying down and counting backward or taking deep breaths may be enough to get you into a state of relaxation. Experiment with the levels of relaxation you can encounter and see how much better your mind and body feel afterward.
Creatively Engaging the Body and Mind
There are many forms of creative engagement that can be considered mind-body interventions as well. If you enjoy painting, dancing, stretching, playing a musical instrument, drawing, or other similar activities, you are on track to fulfilling your needs for these interventions.
Any creative practice that requires concentration and thought that also involves body movement is considered to be a mind-body intervention. Having this perspective can open you up to a world of possibilities on how to engage in these interventions and apply them to your recovery journey.
Mind-body interventions are techniques that require activation or focus from both your body and your mind. These interventions are a great way to create a sense of balance in your recovery journey. Self-care is often easy to overlook. However, these skills can help you to accomplish more within each engagement. It may take some experimentation to find which practice resonates most with your needs. Learn more about yoga, sensory grounding techniques, tai chi, relaxation methods, and forms of creative engagement that can be applied as a mind-body intervention for you. To learn more about these interventions and how these practices can benefit you, reach out to Dream Recovery at (657) 216-7218.
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