Addiction Recovery
Do you feel like you may struggle with dependence or addiction? Does the behavior or substance disrupt your life externally as much as it seems to help internally? Have others expressed concern? Have you lost a sense of control or power in your life?
Let’s explore:
I approach our work towards your recovery from a body-mind-spirit perspective.
BODY: Within our intelligent, inherent design for health, our body is the window to our nervous system. Why is that important? Our nervous system regulation is fundamental to how we navigate our lives. We can become dysregulated in two ways - too much or not enough. When we experience too much dysregulation, we can experience symptoms like tension, anxiety, insomnia, restlessness, irritability, rage/anger, overwhelm, or panic, to name a few. When we do not experience enough regulation in our system, we can feel lethargic, sluggish, depressed, indifferent, or disconnected. You and I will look at how your nervous system seeks regulation. We often don’t know that we can regulate from within so we turn to external sources such as drugs, alcohol, food, sex, gambling, gaming or relationships. This is our body’s way of trying to create balance or regulation. While there is health and intelligence in this, sometimes those external sources, while helpful in the short-term, can become disruptive to our lives and drive us away from our own ability to heal. We can become further disconnected or dependent on them.
We will work to bring greater regulation into your nervous system, lessening the drive to seek outside of yourself.
MIND: Within our complex internal system, different parts of ourselves take on valuable roles. We may have a part of ourself that’s protective intent is to keep us from feeling powerless, vulnerable, or lonely. How it goes about that is unique to each of us. And in some of us, this part protects us from those feelings by numbing us through use of substances or escaping behaviors. Despite its helpful intention, this part can become overly strengthened and depended on, causing great pain or destruction. Let’s look at how this part of you is trying to help and actually befriend this internal-addict in order to clearly see the path of your recovery.
SPIRIT: Connecting to what is greater than we can know, but can feel, is cornerstone to addiction (and trauma) recovery. Regardless of your experience with spiritual or religious practice, this connection to a greater presence is available throughout the journey of recovery. People are often pleasantly surprised by this presence and feel comforted and empowered by it. I tune in to the experiences, sensations or feelings that may be of this nature, helping to guide you toward this connection.
"Though they used different words, all the esoteric traditions within the major religions – Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam – emphasized their same core belief: we are sparks of the eternal flame, manifestations of the absolute ground of being. It turns out that the divine within – what the Christians call the soul or Christ Consciousness, Buddhists call Buddha Nature, the Hindus Atman, the Taoists Tao, the Sufis the Beloved, the Quakers the Inner Light – often doesn’t take years of meditative practice to access because it exists in all of us, just below the surface of our extreme parts. Once they agree to separate from us, we suddenly have access to who we really are.”
-Richard Schwartz
What does YOUR RECOVERY look like?