Addiction is a state of mind and body in which a person forgets to feel at ease without the use of external stimulants. If you ask anyone who is suffering this problem, they will say that they consume a substance to feel at ease. It is this lack of ease which compels people to reach for a drug so they can feel better. There was a time when my severe drug addiction was taking the best of me.
I was a dire need of a mind-body practice that could bring peace to me and prove to be constructive rather than destructive. I wanted to recover badly. It was at this time when someone recommended yoga to me. I went ahead and joined the yoga teacher training in Rishikesh and I can proudly say that it has changed my life completely. The physical practice of yoga in combination with the breathing exercises and meditation cleared my mind and body.
It improved my blood circulation, stretched the muscles and helped in working out the organs to improve the digestion and regulate the nervous and endocrine systems. Just after a week of my course, I started to feel increasingly comfortable with my mind and body. It was a central and important part of my recovery from the addiction process.
As a person who suffered from addiction, I carried a deep sense of lack in my personality. I always felt like something was missing and that particular feeling went away because of yoga. Acute addiction forced me to get caught up in the web of fulfilling my needs. This web stayed even when I was fighting with my addictions.
However, with the help of regular yoga practice, I was able to drive this behavior out in every possible manner.
The breathing pattern affects the emotional state in a major way. Anytime I felt anxious or stressed because of addiction, my breath used to get shallow.
This further affects all the systems of the body and increasingly makes the person feel weak. It used to keep reinforcing a sense of lack which increased the tension and stress even more.
This behavior is dangerous for all the addicts because it keeps reinforcing the fact that without our habits we will always be incomplete.
Fortunately, with the help of yoga practiced I was able to get out of this. During the yoga teacher training India, I was able to coordinate my breath with my movements in a coordinated way which helped me focus much more on my breathing. Dedicated and strenuous practice of yoga helped me in developing a deep relationship with my breath. I understood that by focusing on my breath and controlling it, I can change how I think and feel. This helped to shift my thinking positively.
I was also taught to use my breath and enter into meditation which again empowered me to manage my stress and emotional state. I was made to practice long and deep breathing. My trainer explained that this breathing pattern sent a message of everything being well. It allowed my mind and my body to relax and move towards feeling whole and recovered.
Breathing well countered that sense of feeling incomplete that plagued me as an addict. That feeling was a precursor to leading a healthy life free from any type of addiction and I was able to get rid of it only because of yoga.
All in all, yoga true to its name helped me in bringing my heart, mind and body into a complete union.
I learned to connect with my body and this practice of reconnecting with myself helped me in feeling liberated as a whole. Due to my active addiction, I lost control and connection with my body. It was so bad that my instinct to survive began to get countered.
After indulging in the yoga practice, I was able to bring my mind back into contact with my physical body which further helped me to move in a state of the union and uplift my soul as a whole.
I can proudly say that deciding to go for yoga teacher training in Rishikesh was the best decision of my life. It changed my life entirely and helped me attain all the good that I was missing out on.
