Learning to meditate can completely change your life and once in recovery is a good time to start. Get yourself a meditation tape or a book, or find a teacher. You could find your nearest center for Transcendental Meditation at your local library.
Reduction in anxiety can be achieved very quickly and a new sense of inner peace will reduce your need to return to addiction for solace. Relaxation, meditation and work on your root chakra will help ground you and build up your sense of self.
Insecurities can be dealt with in psychotherapy where you can also learn to deal with peer pressure. The recovery from an addictive disorder can take a very long time and the fellowships, (AA, NA, etc.), talk in terms of you never being cured but always being in recovery. Whether the latter is true or not is debatable, but don’t expect the road to be shorter than 2 years, and it may be a good deal longer. Learning to have a whole new lifestyle based on peace rather than drama and chaos with healthy relationships and activities is important. As recovery from addiction progresses you can expect better health physically, emotionally and spiritually, with more financial security and peace of mind.
Acupuncture can be very useful. A small pin inserted in your ear will help with cravings. Ayurvedic medicine could help rebalance your energy, detoxify, and reduce cravings while promoting healthy sleep and calming agitation. Homeopathy can be beneficial and sauna and massage are useful to help you detoxify. Vaporize some calming oils such as lavender or ylang-ylang in your home.
An Integrated Approach
1. Start by accepting you have a problem of addiction.
2. Identify the reasons why this may have come about.
3. Consider other methods of tackling these problems rather than running from them.
4. Reflect on how your addiction is harming your social and working life.
5. Reflect on how your addiction is damaging your health.
6. Think about how serious things could become if your addiction continues.
7. Resolve and promise yourself to act now before it is too late.
8. Seek advice and have a full physical check-up.
9. Include partners or relatives in your decision and determination.
10. Obtain help in dealing with underlying insecurities, poor self-esteem or lack of confidence.
11. Be realistic and remember that success takes time.
12. Stick to a healthy diet and exercise regularly.
13. Join a self-help group.
14. Strive to avoid relapses in ‘using’ but don’t despair if this happens.
15. Try relaxation, meditation and other complementary therapies.
16. Obtain a suitable detoxification regime from your therapist.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’][/author_image] [author_info]Sarah writes about addiction and depression on the BioBalance website.[/author_info] [/author]
