What are some methods for recovering addicts to stay clean and sober in recovery? There are a number of ways that drug addicts might choose to live their life in recovery, but one method sort of rises above all the others in my opinion, and that is the pursuit of holistic health.
What exactly is holistic health? Holistic just means “whole,” as in the “whole person.”
So take 12 step programs, for example. They do not take an holistic approach to recovery, instead they use a spiritual approach. They belief in AA is that if you work exclusively on your spiritual growth in recovery, that this will keep you sober.
Some addicts in recovery think that a broader approach makes more sense. Why focus on just the spiritual aspect, when you could also consider your:
* Emotional health
* Social life
* Physical fitness
* Nutrition
* Spirituality
* Relationships
And so on. All of these aspects and more deserve your attention in recovery.
I have seen more than one person in recovery who has died quite young because they neglected this holistic approach. They did not think that fitness, nutrition, or quitting smoking was important enough, and they paid the consequences for it. The spiritual approach kept them sober, but it did not really serve them well.
Some people hear the term “holistic health” and they think it refers to things like acupuncture or meditation practices. But in reality, holistic is just about treating the whole person, rather than focusing on one narrow aspect of that person.
When you treat all areas of your health, a couple of things start to happen. One of them is the synergistic effect, which basically says that “the sum of all parts is greater than the whole.” In other words, when you try to grow and improve in every area of your life, the total effect that this has on your life is multiplied greatly.
If you just push for spiritual growth that is one thing. You may recover and do well with such an approach. But it is limited in many ways.
An holistic approach includes spirituality. But it also seeks to go beyond spiritual growth. And, you will discover that many other things have a spiritual side to them that you never realized in the past.
For example, take vigorous exercise. If you get into the habit of exercising every day, and really pushing yourself to have a vigorous workout, then you will come to realize that exercise has spiritual benefits. Some gurus think that exercise is actually superior to meditation in every way. And if you find your zone in working out on a regular basis, you will find that exercise does have a meditative quality to it.
So seek to grow in your life on many different levels. It is not enough to seek only spiritual growth, and think that is good enough to keep you sober. It may be, but it will not give you the best life possible. And, it may not keep you sober either.
Consider the fact that some recovery programs isolate one aspect of holistic health, and use that as a basis for recovery. For example, the people who recovery from addiction strictly through exercise. If that is strong enough to keep them sober, then would it not make sense to incorporate exercise into your recovery plan? It is not a trivial thing, as it is powerful enough to keep many people sober all by itself.
So seek a path of holistic growth and try different things. Seek emotional balance, spiritual growth, and physical health. Seek to keep learning. And keep what works while discarding the rest. Do not limit yourself to spiritual growth only.
