Understanding How Breathwork Helps in Recovery

There are many different ways to treat mental health and addiction struggles. When someone thinks about treatment, they may think solely about medication or meeting with doctors. It is important to know that there are different forms of treatment available that can work with each client. Oftentimes, the struggles associated with mental health and addiction are physical, mental, and even spiritual. When you lose yourself to addiction, it may be difficult to know who you are in recovery or what you want out of your life. Learning mindfulness techniques like breathwork helps aid the healing process. At West Coast Recovery Centers, we offer traditional and holistic treatments like breathwork for clients to embrace whole-person wellness in recovery. 

Many people find that centering treatments like yoga, meditation, and breath work, can make a large difference in their treatment. Our clinical approach allows our clients to feel that they are getting the best treatment possible for themselves. Breathwork is an effective tool that fosters healthy emotional regulation by focusing on your breath and physical sensations in the present moment. This can help individuals better manage their feelings and work through triggers and cravings. Learning to manage your breathing will help you to regulate your body and work through the difficulties of mental health. Mindfulness strategies like breathwork are effective tools for maintaining recovery and staying healthy. 

What Is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the practice of sitting with your thoughts and feelings and learning to exist with them. It is an integral tool for learning to manage your emotions and work through difficult times and triggers on your own. Noticing your thoughts and feelings and accepting them without judgment can help to let your brain cycle through the thoughts. Not acting on a thought or a craving can be difficult, but as you learn how to sit with your emotions and thoughts, you will be more in control of how you respond to them. 

Mindfulness works because it helps you learn how to be present without being overly reactive. Oftentimes, we can not control the things that happen in life or the thoughts or feelings that come up. What we can control is how we respond to any given circumstance. Learning to sit with your thoughts and feelings without judgment or action will allow you to manage your mental health better. 

According to the journal Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation, mindfulness can help to prevent relapse in addiction recovery. Most times people who have struggled with addiction will deal with cravings and triggers once they become sober. Mindfulness encourages people to learn how to notice these thoughts and feelings without judgment rather than resist them. Sometimes, people who struggle with addiction will feel ashamed or frustrated about their desire to use. Mindfulness teaches clients to accept this desire as it surfaces without giving in to it.  

What Is Breathwork?

Breathwork is the process of breathing intentionally or in set patterns. As you work to control your breath, you will gain control over your body's physical function. With breathwork, the idea is to release stress through the breath to nourish your body and mind properly. While there are different patterns of breathwork that you can follow, it is important to understand that breathwork helps no matter what sort of pattern you follow. Learning to control your breathing and work through regulated breathing will help you enter a mindful state and stay there.

How Breathwork Helps in Holistic and Traditional Recovery Treatment

Addiction and mental health can cause heightened states of stress. Stress can have physical responses in the body, including hyperventilation and difficulty breathing. Working with your breath allows you to lower your body's stress response and get yourself to calm down. When you are hyperventilating or feeling anxious, you become short of breath. This lack of oxygen adds to the feelings of anxiety or distress. If you can practice breathwork, you can help your internal processes slow down, which will promote relaxation and stress relief. Over time, consistent breathwork practice can be effectively used in response to a variety of complex emotional experiences that surface throughout the healing journey. 

In recovery, breathwork helps to give our clients control back in moments of panic or being triggered. Working with a therapist trained in mindfulness practices like breathwork will allow our clients to break down the barriers to treatment and get into recovery. Breathwork can be combined with traditional treatments such as therapy and medication management, to give our clients different types of tools. West Coast Recovery Centers offers both traditional and holistic treatment options to our clients, including yoga, spiritual groups, and more. This combination of care allows our clients to work toward recovery in the way that suits them best. 

Traditional treatment programs can be combined with holistic ones to give our clients a form of care that will work best for them. This may include things like yoga, therapy, and breathwork. Learning about breathwork and how to control the breath allows our clients to understand the best way to manage their body's physical reaction to stress or triggers. Breathwork is an effective form of mindfulness that helps you work physically with your breathing to get yourself into a centered state of mind. Using breathwork in your treatment will teach you how to manage your triggers and handle your emotions. Call West Coast Recoveries today at (760) 492-6509 to learn more about our mindfulness and holistic treatment options like breathwork.