Yoga and Drug Rehab
I was fortunate to be able to substitute for a friend at a drug rehab clinic in Florida who teaches yoga there. The response from the class was wonderful. The breathing, yoga and meditation helped people to turn inside but what I think is nice with this practice is that you experience something outside your own melodramas, concerns and daily problems. It is the experience of this that shows someone that one’s own mental tape loops aren’t ultimate.
When you slow down your breath, you slow down racing thoughts, repetitive thoughts and this gives you a space to get beyond yourself. Many drug rehab and alcohol detox programs are adding in yoga and meditation as part of the recovery process. You still have to process underlying issues, family of origin events and the roots of the need for addiction, but when you have more room inside yourself, this makes you less defensive and you don’t shut down. It is good to feel the pain, loneliness and difficulties and I find a practice like yoga, meditation, tai-chi or even swimming can give you a sense of life that is larger than your own personal history and ease the worried heart.
When you revolve around and around in the same thoughts you can bring yourself down, dampen your spirit and forget who you truly are. Take some slow breaths and tune into yourself. Take ten minutes to do this and even if your mind is a jumping bean watch it. The Buddhists talk about the mind being a drunken monkey bitten by a scorpio. That seems so true but you are the one watching it which helps in the drug rehab process. You don’t believe in it to the same extent and that makes a huge difference.