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What To Do (And Not To Do) When You Have Cravings

Written by Enlightened Recovery on . Posted in Addiction, Healthy Living, Recovery, Sober Living. No Comments on What To Do (And Not To Do) When You Have Cravings

Cravings are a natural part of recovery because they are such an intrinsic part of addiction. From day two to year twenty five, cravings can come on at any moment. It’s important to understand what your cravings are, where they are coming from, and how to handle them when they occur.

Don’t Panic

Cravings are normal. As recovery goes along and you earn more and more time sober, there will be a greater distance between episodes of cravings. It’s easy to fall into the false belief that experiencing cravings means you are somehow failing in recovery. Unfortunately, most people run with this fear and believe that cravings will never go away and mean they are going to relapse. Then, many people do. Cravings can come on subtly, happen like a flash of lightning, or appear through a using dream. When cravings come on, don’t panic. Remember that addiction is a disease that lives in the brain causing strange and irregular chemical reactions. Despite your hard work in recovery and the monumental changes you are making to your behaviors, the amount of time your brain has been sober compared to the amount of time it spent intoxicated is small. It’s like worrying a baby will never walk if they fall down once in awhile. Cravings are sometimes nothing more than the brain working out some kinks as you train it to live a recovery lifestyle.

To Investigate

Try not to hyper analyze the meaning of your cravings- leave that to your therapy sessions. In the moment your cravings hit, try to take a minute of mindfulness. Settle yourself down and connect yourself with a few deep breaths. After quickly doing a body scan to notice any tension, turn your attention inward. Is there anything happening in this moment, in the last few hours, or maybe the last few days that was particularly triggering? Remember, that your addictive behaviors were usually a response to challenging situations and painful emotions. Though you are learning to handle things differently the chemical responses in your brain are still catching up. Your cravings might be the result of enduring something you haven’t had to in a while.

Recovery is possible. It starts with you! Enlightened Recovery is here to provide an integrative approach to treatment which fuses clinically proven treatments with holistic healing modalities grounded in a spiritual 12 step philosophy. For more information, call us today at 833-801-5483

Beating Flu And Allergy Season With Essential Oils

Written by Enlightened Recovery on . Posted in Addiction, Healthy Living, Recovery. No Comments on Beating Flu And Allergy Season With Essential Oils

Getting sick during treatment for recovery from an addiction and dual diagnosis issues is common. Not only are there seasonal illnesses to which everyone falls vulnerable, but there are ongoing exchanges of colds and viruses within the program. During the treatment phase for addiction, the body is still fresh from the last interaction with drugs and alcohol. Typically, the last moments of using for someone seeking treatment were not light. Years of abuse leaves the body weakened in its immune system and natural ability to heal. Specific areas of the brain which are chemically compromised due to addiction can contribute to sickness as well. For example, the production of dopamine, serotonin, melatonin, and vitamin D. Living in tight quarters, sharing bathrooms, and sitting in the same room for group therapy can cause a cold or a virus to spread quite quickly from one weakened immune system to the next. Eating a healthy and organic diet, getting enough sleep, maintaining hydration, and using holistic remedies can help stave off symptoms and improve immunity function.

How Essential Oils Work

The oils are absorbed through the skin or breathed in through the nose. Taking medications requires digestion and metabolizing the chemical compounds and waiting for them to work through the bloodstream. Oils administer their properties quickly, creating instant effects. You can use a roll on oil stick, put oil into a diffuser, or just open the cap to a bottle of oil and breathe it in for immediate healing.

3 Essential Oils For Cold Symptoms

  • Peppermint: Peppermint oil naturally contains menthol which provides the cool, tingling sensation that peppermint gives off. You can use peppermint oil to soothe aching muscles, relieve tension from tight neck, and help release blockages in the chest.
  • Eucalyptus: Most menthol based remedies like Vick’s Vaporub have a bit of eucalyptus. Going straight to the source is healthier and easier. Use eucalyptus oil as a roll on around the sinus area. Both the skin absorption and breathing it in will clear a stuffy nose and provide relief for a crackling chest.
  • Lavender: The worst colds come along with sleepless nights due to fevers, aches, pains, and stuffiness. Lavender is a calming agent which helps the entire body relax. Spray lavender oil on a pillow, use a lavender infused eye pillow, put it in a diffuser, or just breathe it in after rubbing it on your hands for instant relaxation.

Enlightened Recovery provides an integrative treatment program to help clients learn healthy holistic ways to care for themselves and sustain their recovery after treatment. Our unique approach to treatment provides the solution to the problem of addiction. For more information on our dual diagnosis programs of treatment, call 833-801-5483 today.

3 Crystals You Need For Recovery

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Crystal healing is an ancient spiritual practice. Beautiful crystals, gemstones, and minerals live within the depths of our planet. Beneath the surface of the ground, hidden within caves and stones, are stunning, energy harnessing crystals. Using crystals for healing in recovery is a holistic treatment method which relies on energy. Eastern philosophies of the body believe that we store energy in specific areas of the body, which creates stress. Within our bodies are natural channels and pathways for the energy to flow. Emotions, pain, grief, trauma, stress, and other negative factors can block these meridians causing both psychological and physical side effects. Crystals, along with other holistic treatments like acupuncture and chiropractic, help move or release that energy. Crystals can also provide pain relief, enhance creativity, sharpen focus, or bring good social connections.

For Goop, certified shamanic energy medicine practitioner Colleen McCann shares some of her essential crystals and some of their properties for healing. We’ll include why they’re helpful during the recovery treatment process.

Black Obsidian
Good for: grounding
Chakra: first (root)
Recovery: Anxiety is a highly occurring dual diagnosis with substance use disorders and can commonly be a side effect of withdrawals, as well as coping with difficult emotional work. Anxiety sets off the fight or flight mode, causing us to feel disconnected. Grounding is an important practice for being rooted in the present moment.

Rose Quartz
Good for: positivity and love
Chakra: fourth (heart)
Recovery: McCann writes that rose quartz “enhances all types of love: self-love, love for others, and unconditional love.” Love and compassion are essential for recovery. Helping with self esteem, confidence, emotional regulation and more, rose quartz gives extra support in recovery.

Lapis Lazuli
Good for: communication
Chakra: fifth (throat)
Recovery: The first step in recovery is admitting we have a problem. Speaking our truth starts us on the path to recovery and carries us through as we learn to live by the suggestions of a program which “demands rigorous honesty” as The Big Book emphasizes. Maintaining honesty through open, healthy communication is an essential part of growth within recovery.

Enlightened Recovery offers a holistic treatment program which utilizes alternative eastern treatment methods in addition to evidence based proven western clinical modalities. For information on our partial care programs of treatment call 833-801-5483.

The Importance Of Honesty In Recovery

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Recovery begins with honesty. The Big Book Of Alcoholics Anonymous describes the first step this way: “We learned that we had to fully conceded to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.” To concede means to “admit something that is true or valid after first denying or resisting it.” It also means to “surrender or yield”. Honesty is part of the first step of recovery because we have to admit that we are struggling with addiction and/or alcoholism. Often, we have been back and forth with ourselves about this part of our lives. We denied it in many ways, sometimes for many years. We resisted coming to the truth because we knew once we did, we would have to stop drinking and using, being forced to reckon with ourselves. Yet, we learned that we had to make a concession to our efforts. Honesty regarding our addiction is not something that just comes naturally. If we were suddenly enlightened with the idea that all we had to do was tell the truth about our struggles, recovery would look much different. The truth is, we were probably given the lesson over and over again. To learn doesn’t mean to just know. Learning is a process of gaining information. Overtime, we learned that there was going to be no other way to go about it. We had to get honest. We had to face the consequences.

Honesty is an integral part of recovery. We have to be honest about how we feel every day in treatment, or we lose an opportunity to heal. We have to be honest about our cravings and obsessive thoughts about using or else we risk relapse. We have to be honest about our fears and insecurities or we might fall into false pride and become delusional once again.

Addiction, in and of itself, is a lie. Addiction tells us that another hit, another pill, another dose, another drink, will make everything better. Addiction never bothers to be honest, letting us know that the next one will never be enough, that there is always going to be a next one. Honesty puts an end to the madness. It creates sanity where sanity has been lost. Recovery is your opportunity to find yourself and be found.

Start with honesty. If you or a loved one are struggling with alcoholism and addiction and are ready for help, Enlightened Recovery has an answer. Call us today for information on our integrative treatment programs for men and women, 833-801-5483.

There’s A Healthy Way To Process Your Anger

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Anger gets a bad reputation. Much of how we identify with, understand, and process anger has to do with what we were taught about anger when we were younger. Watching our parents handle their own anger gave us some ideas about what anger means. For example, some people have parents who got angry about everything, including the weather. Other people had parents who never got angry and shunned the child for ever displaying anger. Anger is widely misunderstood, which is unfortunate because it is an essential reaction. Anger is born out of stress, rooted in two primary emotional experiences: fear and sadness. We developed anger as a reaction. Anger is survival. When we get angry, our adrenaline starts pumping and we release other stress hormones in order to get through what we are going through. Unfortunately, we can’t get through it unless we have a way of releasing our anger.

Anger can be released in healthy ways and anger can be released in unhealthy ways. Most often, anger comes out in a toxic, violent manner because that is what we have been shown about anger. However, anger can be processed in a more calm and rational way which acknowledges and validates the anger without letting it completely take over.

First, You Need To Reduce The Stress

Once those stress hormones start flowing, you cannot objectively assess your emotions until they have calmed down. Calming down during anger is not contradicting or condoning whatever it is you are angry about. Instead, it is giving you the space and opportunity to process your anger. Try a breathing technique, take a shower, or go for a walk.

Second, Understand Your Anger

You Have a right to be angry about whatever you are angry about, because you have a right to all of your emotional experiences. It’s important to identify what exactly it is you are angry about. Often, what seems like the perfect victim of your anger on the surface is not what is really going on underneath. Furthermore, you might be more angry about the fact that you’ve been caused to feel afraid or sad than what has actually happened.

Create Mindful Reality

Taking the time to identify the true source of your anger helps you separate rage from reality. We want anger to punish someone for our own pain. We often here that anger is the poison we drink, intending to hurt someone else. Being mindful of your emotions helps you to identify what is real from what is not real. From there you can move forward and heal.

Anger management is an important part of the recovery process. Enlightened Recovery has created a program that helps clients become integrated with their emotional, physical, and spiritual selves. For more information on our treatment programs for addiction and dual diagnosis issues, call 833-801-5483.

Essential Oils To Aid Brain Health During Recovery

Written by Enlightened Recovery on . Posted in Addiction, Alcoholism, Healthy Living, Recovery. No Comments on Essential Oils To Aid Brain Health During Recovery

Addiction and alcoholism are matters of the mind. Quite literally, the neuroscience model of addiction shows that mind altering substances take over the brain in such a way that all of the essential functions change, becoming focused on drugs and alcohol. Recovery and treatment for addiction includes varying practices which help the brain heal, learn, and grow. Approaching thoughts, behaviors, habits, are all scientific processes as much as they are emotional ones. Emotions are chemical responses in the brain. Using therapeutic methods from psychotherapy to alternative holistic therapies are all ways to reset the flow of the brain and help with holistic healing.

Healing the brain means working to replenish various neurotransmitters and important brain chemicals which contribute to daily functions as well as the functions critical to relapse prevention. Serotonin is a brain chemical which helps regulate emotion. Cortisol is a hormone which is produced in reaction to stress. GABA is a focus of addiction research as it is being found to regulate anxiety and reduce cravings. Various endorphins stimulate feelings of happiness and wellbeing.

According to Belief Net, “Scientific research has revealed that essential oils possesses myriad beneficial phytochemical properties such as anti-inflammatory, antidepressant, anti-stress, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and analgesic…” Certain essential oils can be used in aromatherapy to stimulate the production of brain chemicals and help the mind heal during recovery and treatment. The article lists these essential oils as helpful to the specific brain chemicals:

Serotonin: lavender, lemon, rosemary

Cortisol: lavender, ylang ylang, bergamot

GABA: citronella, lemongrass, white verbena

Endorphins: clary sage, clove, lemon

What Are Essential Oils?

Belief Net writes that “Essential oils are volatile molecules obtained from the seeds, leaves, bark, resins, and other materials of nature’s most generous botanicals.” Blended into a purified oil, there are many uses for the substance. Diffusers help put the aromatic essences into the air of a room. Many essential oils can be applied directly to the skin or scalp. Add essential oils to a bath, or pour a dilution into a spray bottle for your pillow. Essential oils can even be added into food or tea for flavor and holistic healing properties.

Enlightened Recovery believes in the healing power of alternative treatment methods when used in conjunction with traditional clinical and twelve step treatment. We have found a solution for addiction that works with clients to develop their own sense of recovery and self. For more information on our treatment programs, call 833-801-5483 today.

5 Things You’re Doing Wrong With Your Sleep

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5 Things You’re Doing Wrong With Your Sleep

Sleep is essential to healing. When you are recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, it is critical to get a deep sleep every night for at least 6-8 hours. Some doctors believe that 8-10 hours is better for recovery. During sleep your body and your mind are healing. Sleep is a time for the body to rejuvenate and mend itself back together. In the brain, all of the information from the day is being sorted out and organized. Addiction and alcoholism are disease of the mind, the body, and the spirit. Sleep has a great influence on spirit as well. Without a good night sleep during treatment, you will be less focused, less aware, less present, and likely very cranky. Enduring ongoing symptoms of withdrawal requires you to have energy and endurance, a great deal of which can be sourced from sleep.

  1. Your room is chronically messy: Most treatment centers with residential living, or sober livings where you stay while attending a partial care program, will ask you to keep your room clean and make your bed. This is for a few reasons. First, they are likely to conduct tours for other clients. Second, it is a good practice in discipline to keep your room clean and make your bed every day. Third, having an organized room helps maintain a calm energy in your room. If you go to sleep with a messy room, you’ll likely sleep without the deepness you need to be fully rested.
  2. Your sleeping environment has too much light: Some people like to sleep with the lights on. Others feel that they need total darkness. Certain kinds of light can be stimulating to the brain. Though you might sleep, you won’t be getting the deep states of sleep that you need.
  3. You eat a lot of sweets before bed: Sugar is a stimulant that not only keeps the brain awake, but causes cravings and dehydration. Though you might fall asleep after a bowl of ice cream, you’ll wake up in the night to drink some water, or you might have restless sleep. Try to drink a calming herbal tea before bed or have some sugar free dark chocolate, which will help your body digest and detoxify through the night.
  4. You are using your phone while in bed before going to sleep: Social media, email checking, and engaging with various apps on your phone all stimulate the brain in different ways. What is most problematic about using your phone during the time you are trying to fall asleep is the blue light. Ideally, you should put down your phone at least an hour before your bedtime to help your brain destimulate and prepare for rest.
  5. You don’t help yourself sleep: There are many luxuries for sleep which are actually helpful. Ear plugs, eye masks, weighted blankets, aromatherapy, sound machines- all of these small luxuries can greatly enhance your night’s sleep. Try investing in some of these items and your payoff will be ten times the reward.

Enlightened Recovery takes a holistic approach to addiction treatment by bringing together various disciplines to create an effective program for mind, body, and spirit. For more information on our partial care programs, call 833-801-5483 today.

6 Ways To Bring Spirituality Into Springtime

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Springtime is a great opportunity to be reminded of our spiritual practices in recovery. Here are six ways to bring spirituality and springtime together to create a special time of meaning and growth in your recovery.

  1. Stop To Smell The Roses: April showers bring May flowers, as the old saying goes. Springtime is the earth’s best showcase as it awakens from the dormant, rainy weather, to sunny skies, green grass, and beautiful flowers everywhere. It can be easy to miss the details of the beauty around us when we don’t pay attention. Stopping to smell the roses is a practice in mindfulness and awareness, bringing yourself to the majesty of the present moment.
  2. Treat Everyone Like A Cute Baby Animal: If there’s one good thing about the springtime, it’s all the baby animals! After spending a long winter hibernation (and mating) the springtime is usually filled with adorable baby animals. The little ducklings, lambs, and bunnies reminds us of the miracle of life, the freshness of renewal, and the magic of being able to start over. Your life in recovery is a daily reminder of that as well! With the same tenderness, adoration, and love you would treat a baby chick, put that kindness towards others- and yourself.
  3. Make Peace With The Weather: Before the May flowers come the April showers. Winter can still rear its head during the springtime months. As the earth makes its adjustments into the total seasonal shift, it has a few kinks and bumps to work out. Making peace with the weather is a practice in acceptance. There are things we can change and things we cannot change. It might be obvious that you cannot change the weather. There are plenty of “obvious” things in your life you cannot change, but that you spend a great deal of time and energy trying to change.
  4. Get Into Nature: Springtime is a great time to go hiking, go exploring, and immerse yourself in nature. The harsh weather conditions of winter are tapering off, giving you more opportunities. Find local nature reserves to see the new growths of spring.
  5. Contemplate Changing Seasons: Spring, too, shall pass. Once again there will be summer, which will turn into fall, and then into winter, and back to spring again. All things in life are temporary and passing. This reminds us to make the most of the good times and learn from the bad times, realizing that all of them occur in passing.
  6. Do Some Spring Cleaning: Spring cleaning is a great way to take time to freshen up your life in more areas than your closet. Now that the winter has commenced and a new year has begun, its an opportunity to take a look at what you want, what you need, and what you don’t. Apply Spring cleaning to areas of your life like habits, thoughts, friends, or relationships.

If you are having a problem with drug and alcohol addiction or a co-occurring disorder, we have the solution. Enlightened Recovery is an integrative treatment facility providing unique partial care programs which bring together traditional eastern, western, and modern methods of treatment. For more information, call us today at 833-801-5483.

Taking Yoga From Treatment To Life

Written by Enlightened Recovery on . Posted in Addiction, Alcoholism, Drugs & Alcohol, Healthy Living, Mental Health, Recovery, Sober Living. No Comments on Taking Yoga From Treatment To Life

Yoga is a scientifically proven treatment method for addiction and mental health recovery. Physical, spiritual, and psychological benefits can come from just 5-20 minutes of yoga a day.

Remove Judgment

Remember that you aren’t a yoga professional and your practice is in its youth. When you go do to your practices at home, don’t expect to be perfect! Approach yourself with the same non-judgment your teachers in treatment would have encouraged you to use. You’re doing yoga to help your body and your mind- not to impress anyone, including yourself.

Use Intention Setting For Each Practice

Routine is good and healthy which is why you’re bringing yoga home. Doing the same thing every day can get repetitive and boring, inspiring you to leave the mat behind instead of stick to your practice. Make each practice unique by setting a different intention. Intentions are the energy you put into your practice so you can focus.

Allow Yourself To Be Guided

Until you get your sequences down it will be helpful to have a guide. Thankfully, the internet is full of yoga teachers, gurus, and lovers who are happy to show you their favorite yoga sequences. Have a neck ache or a back problem? You can look up yoga sequences for almost every kind of benefit you need.

Modify, Modify, Modify

The simplest mistake people make in their at home yoga poses is trying to force themselves into positions their body is not prepared to be in. Modifying a pose helps your body ease into the position rather than crash into it. Modification isn’t about success or failure but about protection. Yoga is meant to help the body heal, not hurt itself.

Don’t Skip Savasana

Savasana, also called corpse pose, is the resting pose at the end of the yoga practice where you can finally rest and let the energy of the practice flow through your body. Savasana is a time for meditation and reflection as well as rest. Doing yoga at home can inspire you to skip this critical resting period and carry on with your day. Complete your practice in its entirety and don’t skip your chance to breathe deeply and rest.

Enlightened Recovery fuses the proven healing power of holistic and alternative treatments with evidence based clinical treatments to provide a transformative program for mind, body, and spirit. If you are in need of treatment for a mental health or substance use disorder, call us today at 833-801-5483.

5 Tips For Setting Goals

Written by Enlightened Recovery on . Posted in Addiction, Drugs & Alcohol, Healthy Living, Mental Health, Recovery, Relationships, Sober Living. No Comments on 5 Tips For Setting Goals

For those in recovery sometimes “what are your goals” only has one answer: staying sober. Living life sober gives you an opportunity to go after whatever you wnt in life. Here are some suggestions for getting started.

How Do You Want To Feel?

Most often, our goals come with a feeling. When we achieve that goal, we imagine feeling a certain way about ourselves and as ourselves. Perhaps more confident, more capable, or more accomplished. Envision your goal in mind. How do you imagine you will feel once you achieve it? Are there feelings assosciated with this goal that you think you can only have if you achieve it?

Keep Yourself Inspired

Goals, no matter how big or small, can seem impossible when we are in a negative mindset. Stay inspired about your goal by setting little reminders of why you’re working so hard for it. Focus on that moment where you achieve your goal and how good it will feel. Leave yourself encouraging notes. Read stories of others who have gone after a siilar thing. Everyone experiences feeling discouraged and afraid of failure.

Get A Goal Buddy!

Accountability is key to achieving your goals. Have some who is working on the same or a similar goal to help cheer you on and give inspiration to as well. Sometimes it is our pep talks to others that we personally need to hear the most. Your goal buddy will help you stay on track and keeping working toward what you want.

Set A Time Limit

Goals aren’t indefinite- they’re definite and finite things we want to accomplish. How much can you work toward your goal each day? Each month? In six months? You’re capable of accomplishing more than you know. Don’t make your goals indefinite. Set a reasonable amount of time to achieve it and you will.

Choose Something Realistic

We can’t change our body types, become millionaires in a day, or excel in a hobby we’ve never tired before when we try it for the first time. There are rare occurrencesof these things happening, but such miracles aren’t common. Make sure you know what you are going after is a realistic opportunity. It doesn’t mean you can’t dream big- dream as big as you want- but separate your dreams from fantasies.

Enlightened Soltuions is here to help s=you reach your goal of lifelong recovery. Our dual diagnosis problems serve those in need of treatment for mental health and substance use disorders. Call us today for inofrmaiton on how we can help you achieve your goals 833-801-5483.