Creative Arts Therapies Are Beneficial For Wellbeing

Few things, if any at all, in treatment are planned without a copious amount of research behind them. Every didactic lecture, experiential activity, physical exercise, holistic healing, and creative arts therapy is integrated into a treatment program for a very specific reason. Most often, they are for two specific reasons. First, they are proven to reduce the symptoms of addiction, alcoholism, and many of the mental health disorders which are often co-occurring. They relieve stress, enhance relaxation, as well as encourage physical, spiritual, and mental wellbeing. Second, they provide priceless instruction in “relapse prevention”, which is a general term for the collection of tools and skills those in recovery take with them after treatment. Though it can feel like it, treatment doesn’t last forever. One day, the structure and routine are gone. When difficult moments of triggers and cravings arise, it is up to those in recovery to utilize the tools they’ve picked up to get themselves through.

Creative arts therapies are an important practice and skill set in recovery. Treatment programs contain such an array of modalities because not one individual will recover in the same way. No two people experience their alcoholism or mental health disorder in the precisely same fashion. As a result, treatment programs have to be flexible enough to be tailored to the unique needs of each individual. Some people express themselves and work best in an academic setting while others find their best communication through art. Creative art therapies help create a bridge for grasping wide concepts in recovery, learning to communicate with others, finding ways to express emotions, and creating tools for self-care in the future.

According to Mindful, new research from New Zealand has found that “creative acts” in every day life can contribute to a greater sense of wellbeing. “Results showed that people who were engaged in more creative activities than usual on one day reported increased positive emotion and flourishing the next day, while negative emotions didn’t change,” the article explains. Interestingly, the opposite response did not occur. “People who experienced higher positive emotions on day one weren’t more involved in creative activities on day two, suggesting that everyday creativity leads to more well-being rather than the other way around.” Specifically and directly, the researcher behind the project explained that there was no sham around the effect of creativity and well being. “Research often yields complex, murky, or weak findings,” she expressed, “But these patterns were strong and straightforward: Doing creative things today predicts improvements in well-being tomorrow. Full stop.”

Integrative treatment is what we believe to be the solution to the problem of drug addiction and alcoholism. Our programs at Enlightened Solutions bring together a balance of clinical, holistic, spiritual, and twelve step approaches. For more information on our partial care programs, call 844-234-LIVE.

Are You A Good Listener? Ways You Can Improve

Listening isn’t always as easy as it seems. We say we want to listen to our loved ones, that we are available to them whenever they need us. We want them to know that when they are struggling and need an ear to reach out to, ours are worthy to volunteer and listen. Are we truly prepared to hear what they have to say? Do we listen to them with an open heart and truly validate their experiences? Or might we still have residual pain due to the wreckage they caused in the past with their drinking and using? If we do, its likely we only listen to what we want to hear. We look for opportunities to prove ourselves right, to assert our authority, or to defend our positions. Perhaps we are filled with guilt and shame for not knowing when our loved one was asking for help- all those times when we should have been listening, but we weren’t.

Recovery and all of the work our loved ones are doing in treatment is teaching them many important lessons. One of them is to let go of the past and live as fully in the present moment as possible. Without holding onto anxiety about the future or worry about the past, our loved ones are finding themselves capable of being authentic and present in each moment of their lives. Listening is a practical way to apply present moment mindfulness to our new relationships building with loved ones in recovery.

Encourage Introspection Rather Than Investigate

We can be incredibly nosy and suspicious as the trusted family members of a loved one in treatment. Instead of truly searching for what is going on with our loved ones, we start to investigate them for what might be going on. For listening it is best to apply “innocent until proven guilty”. Ask them what is happening inside instead of accusatory statements like “what’s going on with you” or “what’s wrong”.

Remember That You’re Human, Too

Nobody is perfect. Consequently, we are all prone to being imperfect. If you find you want to fix, advise, control, or prevent something your loved one is talking about you are heading in the wrong direction. Now more than ever your loved one needs to know they are not deserving of the shame and guilt which comes with addiction and alcoholism or any co-occurring mental health disorders. Give subtle cues like head nods and non-verbal sounds which indicate you understand their struggle, even if you don’t get the details.

Enlightened Solutions believes it is possible for the family to heal. Our treatment programs include opportunities for family therapy and intensive family programming weekends in which loved ones come together in recovery. For more information on our partial care programs, call us today at 844-234-LIVE.

Sleep And Mental Health: There’s More To The Relationship

Sleep is a vital part of the recovery process. Rest is essential for the body, mind, and spirit to heal effectively. Without rest, clients run the risk of exhaustion and fatigue which can interfere with their ability to receive the information, participate ing groups, and make the most out of their treatment experience. Getting enough sleep is a practice which begins in early recovery and and must be carried out regularly throughout one’s lifetime for ongoing recovery.

Not getting enough sleep, struggling with restlessness, and even having to cope with night terrors or nightmares can be symptoms of poor mental health. Likewise, poor mental health can be caused by a lack of sleep. Anyone who has gone days on end with poor sleep feels the effect of mental and physical exhaustion symptomized by moodiness, irritability, and general discontent. For the addict or alcoholic in recovery this can have a devastating effect.

Huffington Post reports that sleep and mental health are intimately connected. “Nearly one in five Americans suffers from some kind of mental illness,” the website cites from the NIMH, National Institute of Mental Health. “Even more surprising, a whopping 50 to 80 percent of people living with typical psychiatric illnesses also report chronic sleep problems, compared to less than 20 percent of the general population.”

According to the article, post traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety can all interfere with sleep. In contrast, depression and anxiety can be triggered by a lack of sleep.

In early recovery treatment days, your loved one will likely be prescribed a sleep additive which is either pharmaceutical or natural. Non-narcotic sleep medications can be used to help reset the sleep cycle and make sure each client is getting enough rest. Natural remedies like melatonin, tryptophan, and/or valerian root could be used as well. Many other practices can contribute to better sleep, such as:

• • • Limiting the use of social media before bed time

    • Limiting the use of technological devices before bed time

    • Not taking a nap after 4p.m.

    • Cutting off intake of caffeine or high amounts of sugar after 5p.m.

    • Practicing mindfulness meditation before bed

Balance, health, and wellness are invaluable components of recovery. At Enlightened solutions, we provide integrative partial care programs for addiction and dual diagnosis mental health issues. Bringing together twelve step philosophy, clinically proven care, and spiritual holistic healing, we strive to help clients start their recovery the right way. For more information, call 844-234-LIVE.

4 Ways To Spark Growth And Development Without Spirituality

Whether in a faith based program or a program that utilizes numerous holistic health and spiritually based practices, recovery goes hand in hand with spirituality. Proven treatment methods are called evidence based because they are demonstrated to reduce the severity of harmful symptoms which can cause stress, emotional distress, and eventually lead to relapse. Mindfulness based practices are proven to help recovering addicts and alcoholics find a center in their lives from which they can operate successfully without abusing drugs or alcohol. Mindfulness based stress reduction and mindfulness based cognitive behavioral therapy are both proven methods in addition to meditation practices.

Spirituality isn’t for everyone. Today, it is an integral part of most treatment programs for addiction recovery treatment. Unfortunately, despite high levels of customization and creating individualized programs for each person who enters a treatment facility, there is still a likelihood that someone who doesn’t like spiritual ‘stuff’ will still have to endure multiple hours a week of just that. One of the most important things to learn in recovery is a simple lesson which is often regarded in this way: take what you want and leave the rest. To their own disadvantage, many who are in recovery become quickly discouraged by spirituality and forget to look for the many other ways they can relate to recovery and engage in their personal growth. Another recovery saying, look for the similarities, not the differences also applies. In need of a few non-spiritual ways to have one of those break through transformations everyone seems to have? Here are a few suggestions:

• Learn The Languages Of Emotions: There is nothing spiritual about emotional articulation. Emotions are immensely scientific in addition to being somewhat spiritual. Learning how to identify your emotions, regulate them, articulate them, and express them in a healthy way is a science and an art.

• Read Books Which Are Inspiring To You: You don’t have to read the same books as everyone else with spiritual subjects you don’t relate to. Thankfully, plenty of people in recovery have taken to scientific research in addition to their own personal journeys of sobriety to create compelling and informative stories.

• Utilize The Practical Stuff: Diet and nutrition, health and wellness, exercise and regular sleep- these are all tools for recovery and for life. Put focus into practicing these guides to transformative change. A good night's sleep every night for a week might just change your life.

• Challenge Yourself To Get Uncomfortable: An ultimate demise of each recovering addict and alcoholic is being uncomfortable. Spirituality and spiritual talk can be uncomfortable. Averting it entirely will make your recovery remarkably isolated. Open-mindedness is often regarded as a spiritual tenet but can be a truly life-changing practical application. Take into consideration what works for others by maintaining an element of curiosity rather than indignation.

Enlightened Solutions offers a practical approach to integrating holistic and clinical elements into a life changing program. For information on our partial care programs for addiction and dual diagnosis issues, call 844-234-LIVE today.

Could Mindfulness Help With Cravings?

We often talk about cravings in recovery like a monster under the bed- if you let them grab a hold of you, you’re a goner. Cravings are, but also are not, that serious. Cravings are a reaction of the brain. Chemical reactions, cravings occur for different reasons. For example, the brain might be processing some residual toxins, memories, and associations which lead to cravings. On the other hand, there might be a circumstantial event which triggers some kind of pain or discomfort in the brain, causing it to want to produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter for pleasure. Long Term substance abuse damages the brain’s ability to produce enough of its own dopamine, at least not to a level that creates the same effect as drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately, the brain becomes accustomed to such levels and when it cannot achieve them, especially in response to pain or a perceived threat, it produces cravings. Cravings happen because during addiction drugs and alcohol are the answer to everything. Thus, in order to cope with everything, the brain learns to rely on drugs and alcohol. Without mind altering substances, the brain experiences cravings.

Sometimes cravings are a passing experience. Other times, they are an indicator of spending too much thinking time in euphoric recall. Being mindful of your cravings can help you notice what is going on with them: where they are coming from, what triggered them, and what you need to do to calm them down.

According to Mindful, “Mindfulness could be the key to cutting the link between conditioned cues of desired objects and the craving that leads to addictive behavior.” The article emphasizes that just trying to cut off the thoughts where they are is a futile attempt. Instead, mindfulness helps you “build flexibility into how you relate to your own desirous thoughts...what you need is a heaping helping of mindful awareness of thinking-- of observing your own thoughts without buying into them as absolute truth or trying to force them away.”

Running away from your thoughts and creating a negative association only perpetuates the problem. You conditioned your brain to reward satisfying cravings to cope with negativity of any kind. Giving into cravings for drugs and alcohol doesn’t work either. “What’s more helpful,” the article emphasizes, “is to build your capacity to serve as a witness to your own thoughts.” “Typically, when we think about something we crave, that thought feels very close, as if it’s inside us, part of who we are.” People often take their cravings as serious signs that they are going to relapse. Mindfulness helps create distance between the mechanics of cravings and reality. As the article explains, “Mindfulness helps us see the thought as merely a moment of information.” Practicing mindfulness with your moments of cravings helps you gain the information you need to make an adjustment to your recovery program and move through the moment.

Cravings are a natural part of recovery. Learning how to live and cope with cravings is an essential part of treatment. Lifelong recovery is possible. Let the compassionate care at Enlightened Solutions show you the way. For information on our programs, call 844-234-LIVE.

Do You Know The Truth About Codependency?

Codependency is defined in many different ways. One of the leading definitions was coined by Melody Beattie who is a leader in codependency work. She defines codependency as letting someone else’s behavior impact you in an extreme way. Codependency takes on many different forms from care taking to manipulating to neediness to destructive behaviors. People criticize and characterize codependency in negative ways to try to make sense out of it. When codependency arises in someone, it is hard to understand. For example, when an alcoholic husband finally goes to treatment and gets sober, his angry wife seems to worsen in her moods, attitudes, and behaviors. The husband heals yet the wife remains something resembling mental illness. Doctors tried to understand the phenomena of codependency for years until they figured out something basic. A person who becomes codependent essentially loses themselves and their life to someone with a problem.

Codependency Takes People-Pleasing To The Extreme

Caretaking, people-pleasing, and serving others isn’t just a behavior of codependents but a compulsive behavior. Similar to the way an alcoholic reaches for a drink or a drug addict reaches for a drug, codependents reach for other people- to take care of them, control them, please them, and serve them, to the point of losing themselves. It isn’t about being overly nice and extra helpful, but feeling a deep and insatiable need to give to other people in order to feel wanted, appreciated, and not abandoned.

Codependency Has Many Gray Areas

Being codependent is not a matter of being codependent. The behaviors which accompany codependency can range from clinginess to avoidance. Everyone has some kind of boundary lacking which causes them to act codependent in some kind of way. The length to which someone get lost in their codependent behavior is what differs.

Codependency Is A Sign Of Weakness

Low self-esteem? Yes. Low self-worth? Yes. Needing to feel wanted, needed, useful, in order to feel validated? Yes. All of these things are part of codependency. However, they are not a sign of weakness. Instead, they are sign that someone has had to work extra hard in their lives to feel wanted. Often, people who develop codependency have carried a tremendous emotional burden on their backs for many years.

Codependency is not a shortcoming, a character defect, or a weakness. It is a coping mechanism and a means for survival. Many addicts and alcoholics develop codependency as the result of growing up in a dysfunctional home. We know the pain of codependency and addiction is real. If you are ready to heal and transform your life, call Enlightened Solutions today for information on our treatment programs. 844-234-LIVE.

The Benefits Of Boundaries

Boundaries are lines which mark the limit of an area. In relationships with other people, we don’t exactly go around drawing imaginary lines and struggling to make sure nobody crosses them. If everyone displayed their boundaries with each person they interact with on a visual plane, we would live in a criss crossed tangled world of millions upon millions of lines. One’s person's boundaries will differ from another’s. Everyone has to spend time learning what their boundaries are, how to make their boundaries work for them, and how to ask others to respect them. Similarly, we have to learn how to respect other people’s boundaries when they set them with us.

What Is The Purpose Of A Boundary?

The purpose of a boundary is to create a definitive place where you end and someone else begins. Boundaries are what help us keep our personal space mentally, emotionally, and physically. It’s the place where we feel safe and comfortable. Boundaries can be rigid, which might be problematic, and they can be loose, which can also be problematic. Working to create balanced boundaries is a way to make sure you have balanced, happy relationships in every area of your life.

Why Are Boundaries Important?

Simply stated, you can’t let someone walk all over you for the rest of your life. Likewise, you can’t walk all over other people in any way either. Boundaries are the way to make sure everyone is treated fairly, with respect. According to one Huffington Post article, boundaries can help:

• Make you more self-aware

• Be a better friend

• Be a better partner

• Take better care of yourself

• Reduce stress

• Improve communication

• Help you trust people

• Limit your anger

• Say “no”

• Be more understanding

Recovery from drug addiction, alcoholism, and co-occurring mental health conditions is about learning to “live life on life’s terms”. Boundaries are a way you can make the way you live life on life’s terms a little more flexibly. You get to live in relationships on your terms as you learn to be flexible and make room for compromise.

Promises of better relationships and better tomorrows are just the beginning of recovery. If you are ready to recover and enter treatment, call Enlightened Solutions today. Our integrative and holistic programs are designed to heal mind, body, and spirit, for lifelong recovery. For more information call 844-234-LIVE.

Do Natural Remedies For ADHD Work?

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is common in young people and adults. ADHD which goes untreated throughout adolescence can become problematic in adulthood leading to difficulties in school, work performance, and handling life’s responsibility. Impulsivity, lack of control, and acting without consequence are character traits shared by both addiction and ADHD. Addiction is frequently co-occurring with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Often, people find it necessary to cope with their fast-moving thoughts due to ADHD with external substances. They find relief in getting, high or getting drunk because it helps disconnect them from their own minds.

Treating ADHD has been a source of controversy for some time. Studies have shown that children who are prescribed ADHD stimulant medications like Ritalin and Adderall have a higher risk of addiction later in life. However, early treatment of ADHD is supposed to limit the liability of addiction. Stimulant medications are powerful and often become addictions of their own. For example, college students are known to abuse drugs like Adderall and become addicted. Some studies have suggested that taking stimulant amphetamine drugs like Adderall is no different from taking cocaine or methamphetamine.

Outside of medication, there are plenty of other ways to manage ADHD. Holistic health supporters believe that a variety of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients can give the brain the power it needs to find a sense of calm and focus. Yoga and meditation can increase focus and concentration. Many behavioral and organizational tools can help keep someone’s life with ADHD in better order.

Though there isn’t a magical “cure” for ADHD, creating a comprehensive routine including a balanced diet, exercise, vitamins, meditation, and medication can be helpful. For those who have addiction and co-occurring ADHD, stimulant medication usually isn’t prescribed any longer during and after treatment. Non-stimulant medications exist which still help with ADHD symptoms, especially in combination with other methods.

Managing recovery with ADHD requires a holistic approach of mind, body, and spirit. The integrative programs at Enlightened Solutions can help you find balance and healing in your life. For more information, call 844-234-LIVE.

Nama’stick To Yoga Because It Helps With Depression

According to Bustle, Boston University recently released information from their study on the efficacy of yoga in treating depression. Published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, the study followed thirty people of varying ages who were clinically depressed. Within the group, the participants were either medication-free or had been consistently taking medication for three full months or more.

One half of the participants were instructed to take a ninety minute yoga class in addition to four yoga sessions of thirty minutes on their own at home. In the other half of the group, participants took two yoga classes and three sessions at home each week.

The study lasted for three months. At the end of the three months, researchers evaluated the participants’ depression with the use of clinical depression questionnaires. For the half of the participants who had more yoga in their schedule- two group classes a week and three at home yoga sessions a week- there was a better improvement in score. Overall, the majority of participants in either grow saw a 50% more positive increase on their scores regarding their depression.

Yoga has been found to be helpful in alleviating the symptoms of many mental health conditions including anxiety, addiction, alcoholism, and post traumatic stress disorder. Skeptics of holistic healing arts and their effectiveness in treating mental health disorders have combatted years of reasearch proving that yoga is helpful. THis new study from Boston University shows that yoga is undeniably effective in alleviating symptoms of depression. A fifty percent increase is an astonishing and impressive advancement for those struggling with clinical depression.

Practicing yoga today is easier than ever. Many apps exist which can be downloaded to smart technological devices, full of yoga sequences and classes. Yoga instructions can be found online through streaming video services like YouTube. Yoga studios are plentiful and most major commercial gyms offer numerous yoga classes throughout the day.

For treatment of addiction, alcoholism, and co-occurring mental health conditions, yoga is becoming a primary practice. Regular practice of yoga helps increase blood circulation, improves heart health, reduces inflammation, and improves mood. Those who practice yoga find that they feel a greater sense of wellbeing, universality, and connectivity to the world around them.

Yoga is often a life-transofmring practice. Recovery is about healing and transformation. Are you ready to make a change in your life? Enlightened Solutions is an integrative and holistic treatment program which draws on clinical and evidence based practices. For information on our treatment programs for men and women, call us today at 844-234-LIVE.

10 Tips For Moving Into Sober Living After Treatment

1. Create a routine of meetings: Treatment has a daily schedule to keep you occupied and moving through the day. Sober living can present a suddenly open schedule. Sitting around bored is usually a recipe for disaster in early recovery. Learning how to structure your day and create a healthy schedule can be a challenge after spending so much time in a place where that was being done for you. An easy way to create a backbone for your schedule is with recovery meetings. Until you have a job, go back to school, you have a lot of time. Spending that time in meetings will help you stay busy and help your recovery.

2. Fill your schedule with friends and fellowship: Many people continue to take time off of work and school after moving into sober living. Some might get a part time job as a way to fill their time and create a bit of income. In between, fill your schedule with friends and fellowshipping. The first year of recovery is doing everything “sober”. Going to the movies, going shopping, taking road trips, having an adventure- they’re all things people do all the time. For you and your friends in recovery they are brand new experiences. Find out what living sober in recovery is all about together.

3. Maintain healthy boundaries: The growing doesn’t stop with treatment. You’ll meet many more new people, start dating, and forming new relationships. As you make amends and reconnect with people from your past you rebirth old relationships. Relationships require healthy boundaries. Remember to make time to take care of you and clearly define when that time is.

4. Stay honest with your house manager: Outpatient, intensive outpatient, or aftercare are all partial care programs you might continue to do when you’re in sober living. Sober living is also where people choose to live once they've completed all levels of treatment they need and start to live life again. Staying honest with your treatment team and your house manager is important. THroughout the first year to first eighteen months you will continue to experience cravings, obsessive thinking, and struggles. Just because you’re in sober living doesn’t mean you’re expected to do recovery perfectly.

5. Continue seeing your therapist: If you aren’t in continuing levels of care, it is important to continue seeing your therapist or find a new therapist to see if you can’t see your treatment therapist. Ongoing therapy will help you stay connected to your recovery and work on underlying issues.

6. Practice Self-Care: Your life is going to become full more quickly than you realize once you’re in sober living. Between the meetings, work, after care, therapy, and adventure, it's important to slow down and take time for yourself. Create your routine of self-care and take time to nourish your soul in the way i needs to be nourished.

Enlightened Solutions provides partial care programs for those who have completed residential inpatient and are looking to continue their treatment. Our integrative and holistic programs are designed to create transformative healing in mind, body, and spirit. For more information on sober living, treatment, and how you can recover from addiction, call 844-234-LIVE.

What It Means (And Doesn’t Mean) To Live With A Mental Illness

Mental health and mental illness are becoming more well understood, but continue to face harmful shame and stigma.

Living With A Mental Illness Means You’re A Human Being

Humans develop mental illnesses. You have a mental illness. Chances are, you’re a human being. Living with a mental illness simply means you’re a human with a certain set of circumstances to live with. Mental illness does not make you sub-human or any kind of different breed of person. You still have the same heart, same brain, and same chemical makeup as everyone else. A few special variations have given you some particular challenges to work with. These don’t make you abnormal, they make you unique.

Living With A Mental Illness Does Not Mean You’re Crazy, Dangerous, Or A Monster

There are severe psychiatric mental health disorders which can completely cut someone off from their own humanity. Extreme cases of mental illness without any kind of treatment or intervention can cause someone to head down a troubled path. Such pathology is often sensationalized in the movies and books by villains, “psychos” and other harmful people. Mental illness is treatable more often than not. WIthout treatment and the use of tools to regulate your emotions, balance your moods, and help yourself stay centered, you can start to act “abnormal”. However, the damaging stigma and characterizations of mental illness do not apply to you. You’re not crazy, you’re not dangerous, and you’re not a monster. You are not a bad person who needs to be transformed into a good person. You live with an illness which needs to be healed so you can live well again.

Living With A Mental Illness Means You Have To Work Extra Hard

You feel things, experience things, and process things differently than your peers. When you have ADHD, you have to put in extra effort to create an environment in which you can focus, organize yourself, and manage your attention. Living with depression means being sensitive to your sensitivities and practicing self-care. Those who live with addiction and alcoholism work hard to create lifestyle changes which keep them away from using drugs and alcohol.

Living With A Mental Illness Does Not Mean You’re Weak

Quite the opposite. Going to greater lengths to take care of yourself, create a healthy environment, participate in good communication, and continue to work on yourself is courageous. It takes bravery and courage to look yourself in the mirror and confront your mental illness. Coming to a place of loving-kindness, compassion, and healing with yourself is something many people will spend their lifetimes avoiding. You are not weak, deficient, or a victim because of your mental illness. You are a recovery warrior! Be proud of the work you do for yourself.
 

Recovery is something to celebrate, not to be ashamed of. Making the decision to seek treatment and work towards a better you is a tremendous moment in your life. If you are in need of treatment for addiction, alcoholism, and/or a co-occurring mental health disorder, call Enlightened Solutions today for more information on our integrative, holistic healing programs of treatment. 844-234-LIVE.

Can Eating Disorders Be Predicted?

A recent study found that there are three primary categories that disordered eating behaviors can either develop from or not develop from, starting in adolescence:

• Asymptomatic: those who have no symptoms of disordered eating behaviors

• Dieting Group: those who were actively pursuing weightloss

• Disordered eating group: those who engaged in disordered eating behaviors symptomatic of diagnosable eating disorders such as binging and purging

Most eating disorders begin to develop at the young, pre-pubescent age and develop into adulthood. The study sought to investigate the patterns of adolescent behaviors and how they transitioned into adulthood. What the researchers found is revealing to the evolution of eating disorders and how early intervention could be essential for long term recovery.

For the asymptomatic group, those who had no symptoms at all, the researchers found that only a little over half (about 60%) stayed asymptomatic and did not develop an eating disorder later on in life. Adolescents who are not preoccupied with dieting or begin to participate in disordered eating behaviors in their critical developmental years are less likely to develop an eating disorder later in life. The remaining 40% might experience trauma, another mental health condition, or other extreme circumstances in life which lead to developing an eating disorder.

75% of those who belonged to one of the disordered eating behaviors groups, either dieting or disordered eating, continued to be in one of those two categories later on in life. Eating disorders have been discovered to thrive in the habit-forming part of the brain. Deeply rooted in in the brain, changing disordered thinking about eating habits, and disordered behaviors for eating habits, is hard to do. When eating disorder habits and thinking develops at an adolescent age, it can be difficult to stop later on in life.

Interestingly, the study found that a critical component in the development of an eating disorder was self-esteem. “Those with higher self-esteem in adolescence tended to have a decreased chance of transitioning from the asymptomatic group to the disordered eating group in adulthood.” In contrast, those who struggled with depression, dysfunctional family systems, family weight issues, or other circumstances, had lower self-esteem in adolescence and were more likely to develop an eating disorder through to adulthood.

Eating disorders are challenging to overcome but it is not possible. Addiction and alcoholism are commonly co-occurring with eating disorders. If you are struggling with both, recovery is possible and help is available. Call Enlightened Solutions today for information on our integrative treatment programs for healing mind, body, and spirit, as you make your journey to recovery. Healing is waiting. 844-234-LIVE.

How To Change A Behavior In 5 Simple Steps

Addiction and alcoholism are often referred to as behavioral disorders, along with many disorders which can be co-occurring. Behaviors are not permanent defects of character but challenges to be changed and overcome.

1. Become Aware Of What Needs To Change: Our behaviors are multifaceted and multilayered. Few things about human beings, what they do, how they feel, and the ways they behave, are surface level. We are complex beings who are being imprinted upon from the moment they are conceived. You can probably recognize on the surface what needs to change in your life. Frustratingly, you try to change it time and again to no avail. Trying to change a tree by cutting off its leaves will never work. You have to uproot the tree and plant an entirely new one. Such is the case with changing a behavior. Simply trimming around the surface of the behavior won’t get to the root of the problem where the true change can take place. Take time to investigate what this behavior is, where you think it came from, and why you’ve held onto it for so long. Often, behaviors, even negative ones, have some kind of a reward. Despite the fact that these behaviors cause us harm and hurt in some way, we persist in continuing to execute them. Working with a therapist can help you identify these behaviors and conduct a thorough investigation into them.

2. Challenge The Behavior As It Is: Using the example of the tree, without heavy machinery, it is hard to uproot an entire tree. Before you start digging, take a look at the tree as it is and start to challenge it. Though you’ll have to get to the roots, pulling the tree apart will be effective in changing it entirely, as a step by step process. Start with the words you use, the reactions you have, the feelings you notice before, during, and after this behavior. One branch at a time, you’ll dissect the behavior and begin to change.

3. Synthesize Your Intentions With Your Actions: Unbeknownst to most who engage in self-help or life-changing books, programs, and even recovery, is that intentions are equally important to change as the actions. Without an authentic and concise intention, you’ll be doing all this work for the wrong reasons. When there isn’t a solid connection between intention and action, the action tends to fall short of its potential. What are your intentions about changing this behavior? Is it self-centered or is it for the better good of everyone in your life? Are you making this change for yourself or are you making it for someone else? Do you feel you need to change because someone told you or because you recognize a fault in your character?

4. Make The Change: Change doesn’t happen all at once, but action does. You can spend months, even years, talking about making a change, investigating a behavior, and lamenting about how badly this behavioral change needs to occur. It will only start to change once you start to change it.

5. Reflect On What Happens When You Take Action: The results will commence immediately once you start to take action with your behaviors. Remember how resistant you were to change? How hard you thought it might be? Your fears about never really changing? Reflect on how drastically you have seen changes in yourself and keep in mind that you have the capacity to grow, change, and evolve.

Are you ready to make a change in your life? Addiction and alcoholism can become dangerous behaviors if they continue to grow. It is possible to make this change. Enlightened Solutions has the way. For information on our partial care programs for men and women, call us today at 844-234-LIVE.

Changing The Inner Narrative

Adopting an inner narrative means that we learn to say things to ourselves which we pick up from other people. Mostly, these statements come from an “I” point of view. For example, “I can’t do anything right,” or, “I am not loveable anyway,” or, “I am worthless.” Though we may not hear these statements directly, we might hear them indirectly. However we are saying them to ourselves, they are always an “I” statement. If other people were to say the things to us we say to ourselves, they would likely hurt a lot more. Part of the reason we say negative statements to ourselves is because we were hurt so deeply when someone said them to us.

An important part of change is awareness. Awareness means noticing and paying attention. In the case of negative inner narrative statements, awareness would mean becoming aware of these statements when they arise and noticing how they sound, who they sound like, and how they make you feel.It might be challenging to catch them at first. Every now and then when you do catch a negative narrative statement, quickly change it to a “you” statement. Pretend you are someone on the outside directing that statement towards you. Is that something you would want to hear from someone else? Notice how uncomfortable that situation feels. Pay attention to the shift in energy and your feelings. Next, take the exercise a step further and imagine turning that “you” statement toward someone else, like your dearest friend or favorite family member. Imagine their face as you would say that to them. They would likely be hurt and you would feel guilty for putting such toxic energy on them.

This exercise isn’t about creating guilt or making you feel guilty for what is going on inside your head. Everyone has an inner voice and everyone experiences it negatively until they learn to change it.

Identifying the origin of the narrative

Negative behaviors like a punishing inner narrative can quickly become habit. Habits become so routine that we adopt them as normal. Until we start to become aware of our negative inner narrative, we assume them to be normal. As you start to notice more about your negative thoughts and become more familiar with them, pay attention to anything that sounds familiar. You might notice a tone of voice- yes, our inner narratives have a tone of voice!- that sounds eerily like one of your parents, a schoolteacher, or maybe even a bully from the past. Quickly, you’ll find that these negative perspectives were not of your own making, but originate from a negative experience in life. Unraveling the mystery of your inner narrative, you can let go of them piece by piece to create a more compassionate, kind, and loving, voice.

There is a way to love yourself again. Enlightened Solutions has a way. Bringing together proven clinical therapy methods with holistic healing and a twelve step philosophy, the partial care programs at Enlightened Solutions are ideal for healing mind, body, and spirit. For more information, call 844-234-LIVE.

10 Relaxation Techniques To Get You Through A Difficult Time

1. Breathing: Breath is the source of life. Connecting the breath is an immediate way to calm down. It’s little coincidence that when we’re having an anxiety attack, getting all out of sorts and hyperventilating, someone tells us to breathe. Trying to take deep breaths on your own can be difficult when your head is running a hundred miles a minute. Look to an anxiety management, meditation, or mindfulness app to help you with breathing techniques. Pacifica even has a track that breathes with you.

2. Meditation: Meditation will settle down any difficulty in as little as two minutes. Headspace has a great “SOS” series of 2-3 minute meditations designed to help you get situated. Focus on the breath, quiet your thoughts, scan your thoughts and your body. You’ll feel more relaxed.

3. Mindfulness: Mindfulness is a practice that can be applied anywhere. Mindfulness can be practiced through a meditation, through an activity, or just in your own thoughts. Bringing your attention and awareness to specific things will help you to stop obsessing over whatever difficulties you are facing and connect to peacefulness.

4. Take A Walk: Movement is good for the soul. If you can take a walk, swinging your arms back and forth across your body, you’re engaging your brain in active bilateral stimulation which helps the nervous system calm down when it is activated.

5. Stand In The Sunshine: The sun gives an energy that only the sun can. Mindfully notice it’s warmth, the way it glows through your eyelids when they’re shut, and how it makes you feel. Let the cozy heat envelop you like a blanket, soothing your fears and anxieties.

6. Dance Around: Dancing is an ancient practice. Make light of a heavy situation by turning on your favorite song, or even just dancing to yourself. Five to ten minutes of non stop movement will help get the blood pumping and focus your energy somewhere other than your emotions.

7. Color: Grab a notepad, a sketchbook, a canvas,a  coloring book, and your favorite medium. Connecting to the strokes of painting, drawing, or sketching is like an instant meditation and form of relaxation.

8. Go For A Run: Running helps produce endorphins, which are good for positive feelings and clearing the mind. Tie up your favorite runners and hit a path. You don’t have to run for very long to feel more relaxed.

9. Call A Friend: Sometimes you just need to talk. Call up a friend who you know has a willing ear and just let it all out.

10. Journal: When a friend isn’t available, the next best place is a journal. If you can’t talk it out, write it out. You might discover things you weren’t aware of before.

Enlightened Solutions is a dual diagnosis treatment facility offering partial care programs to men and women who want to experience healing transformation in mind, body, and spirit. For more information, call 844-234-LIVE.

Eating For Your Chakras?

Eating For Your Chakras?

The chakras are seven spiritual portals or centers in the body which interact with different emotions and functions. Aligning the chakras in a healthy and balanced way is said to help the body optimize energy flow, bringing someone fully into the present, as well as to enlightenment. Spiritual work, therapeutic work, yoga, meditation and diet, can all help support the chakras.

Root Chakra

Location: Base of spine

Connected to: Security, feeling grounded, feeling safe

Eating for the Root Chakra: Collective Evolution explains that the root chakra’s symbolic color is red. Red foods or foods with a  strong red pigment will help recharge and balance your root chakra. Avoid red dyes and artificially colored foods. Instead, opt for whole foods like red fruits (think strawberries, raspberries, pomegranate, and cherry) and red vegetables (red bell pepper, beets). Red meat is a powerful protein that can help with healing in this area.

Sacral Chakra

Location: Below the naval

Connected to: Creativity, Passion, Commitment, Lower Back

Eating for the Sacral Chakra: The color for the sacral chakra is orange. Deeply orange fruits like oranges, tangerines, and most citrus as well as mangoes will be good for bringing balance to the sacral chakra. Vegetables like carrot, squashes, yams, and pumpkins will help as well.

Solar Plexus Chakra

Location: Above the naval

Connected to: Self-Esteem

Eating for the Solar Plexus Chakra: The solar plexus embodies your personal power and sense of self. Eating for this chakra helps you feel strong and connected to who you are. Yellow is the color for this chakra. Look for bananas, pineapple, yellow bell peppers, lemons, yellow lentils, and even oats.

Heart Chakra

Location: Center of the chest

Connected to: Love, Gratitude, Joy, Compassion

Eating for the Heart Chakra: A balanced heart chakra is the difference between jealousy and contentment, codependency, and healthy boundaries. To balance and heal the heart chakra, opt for green foods, the color of the chakra. All of your leafy greens, green vegetables, and green fruits like apples and kiwis will help.

Throat Chakra

Location: Center of the throat

Connected to: Speaking, Expression, Voice

Eating for the Throat Chakra: Ever get a lump in your throat? When you can’t express yourself or speak your truth, you lose your voice- literally! Supporting the throat chakra with food can help open that channel and help you express yourself. The color for this chakra is light blue. Blueberries are a powerful antioxidant and great food for this chakra. Try the ancient fig as well.

Third Eye Chakra

Location: Between your eyes, above your brow line

Connected to: Critical thinking, Clarity, Seeing the Truth

Eating for the Third Eye Chakra: Being disillusioned by lies can block the third eye. In recovery, you are gaining wisdom each day by learning to discern between what is real and what is not real, what can be controlled or changed and what cannot. To support your third eye chakra, eat darker blue foods that are almost purple like purple versions of normally other color vegetables (broccoli, kale, carrots, green beans), eggplant, plums, and grapes.

Crown Chakra

Location: Top of the head

Connected to: Enlightenment

Eating for the Crown Chakra: Having a balanced crown chakra is a culmination of personal recovery. You are able to recognize your true inner self and view the world in an enlightened way. Collective Evolution suggests light fruits and vegetables that are connected to roots for the crown. To truly nourish your crown chakra, spend time outside, drink lots of water, and get plenty of sunshine.

Enlightened Solutions believes that holistic healing therapies can be a key to success in healing mental health and addiction disorders. Our program combines spiritual healing modalities with clinical therapy and twelve step philosophy to provide total transformation. For more information, call 844-234-LIVE.

Sounds Are Healing For Recovery

Sounds and noises influence us from the moment we start developing in the womb. There is a reason mothers put headphones over their stomach bumps for the baby to hear. Parents start talking to their baby months before birth is due because the growing child will hear what is happening outside. Inside the womb there are all kinds of noises- the beating heart, the swoosh and gush of fluids, the movement in organs. Outside the womb there are all the noises of life, voices, music, and more.

Certain vibrations and collections of notes or sounds are calming while others induce anxiety. Metal rock, for example, has been proven to actually relax people, as has classical music and other forms of music. Our bodies react naturally to vibrations and sounds. Naturally, then, music or sound therapy makes sense as a healing modality.

What is Sound Therapy?

According to MNN, the Mother Nature Network, sound therapy is a form of holistic healing which “...can benefit the well-being of our bodies and minds, helping the body heal from mental stress and even physical pain.” The article explains that sound therapy is helpful for mind, spirit, and body. “Various studies have shown that the use of low-frequency sounds can lessen the pain and anxiety associated with fibromyalgia…”

How Is Sound Therapy Conducted?

All sound therapy needs to happen is sound. Sound therapy could include the use of specific instruments like acoustic guitar, violin, or Tibetan singing bowls, as well as the soundtrack to various natural sounds like birds, gurgling creeks, or the wind. “White noise” apps have a soundboard available to mixx all kinds of sounds to create the most perfect combination. Sound therapy is about helping clients get lost into a relaxing sensation of sound. Sometimes, clients can participate in creating that sound. Bringing treatment into the process can look like a sound therapy practitioner asking the clients about how they feel before and after the sound therapy, what kinds of feelings the sound therapy produces, and more. Sound can help balance the brain and the mind-body connection, bringing someone more into the present with themselves.

Why Is Relaxation Important For Addiction Treatment?

Cravings are high during the treatment phase of addiction recovery. Nerves and anxiety are usually coupled with cravings, as can depression. Relaxation is helpful for detaching the association between relief and one’s substance of choice. The more one relaxes, the more they can go with the flow of their feelings and experiences in treatment, without returning to old coping behaviors like substance abuse.

Enlightened Solutions has created a holistic healing program of treatment which utilizes spiritual modalities with proven clinical treatment. Start your recovery with us. 844-234-LIVE.

Changing Your Approach To Body Image

Body image is important for recovery. Anyone can struggle with poor body image. Having a low sense of self and self-perception can damage the way you have relationships and engage in intimacy throughout your life. Here are a few suggestions for changing your approach to your body image.

Make Sure Your Beliefs Are Consistent

You think you might see some kind of flaw in the mirror. Oh no, you think to yourself, I cannot have this! This makes me unattractive. Yet, you see it in a friend and think they’re so beautiful it doesn’t matter. Or, even more problematically you might think they aren’t very beautiful anyway, so it doesn’t matter. Your beliefs about yourself and about others have to be consistent. Most importantly, they consistently need to look something like this:

Everyone is beautiful.

All bodies are beautiful.

It’s okay to be okay with yourself and how  you look

Take A Healthy Look At Your Eating Behaviors

Paying attention to eating behaviors might sound like the opposite thing you need to do to shift body image from negative to positive. Food shouldn’t be assigned labels or emotions. There shouldn’t be “bad” foods and “good” foods which you either feel okay about or completely guilty about. Identifying the way you label and judge your food, as well as yourself when you eat, is important. What you eat directly influences how you feel. You either have to change the food you’re eating in a healthy and balanced way or change the way you feel about the food you’re eating.

Embrace the “All Food” and “All Exercise” Philosophy

What if there was a world where you didn’t have to do a certain workout for a certain number of time followed by a certain protein shake with certain ingredients? Imagine a life where you just ate, in a healthy and balanced way, and got at least 20 minutes of exercise, in a healthy and balanced way. That world is possible and you can create it. Obsessing over doing everything right in regards to diet and exercise can drive you crazy, cause you to be sick, and thwart your positive body image. Let the reins loose a little bit and enjoy the way you live your life, not punish yourself for it.

Give Yourself The Same Love You Give Others

When you compliment and admire someone for the way they look, turn those sentiments back toward yourself. Positive affirmations are a powerful tool for helping you build a more positive self-image and higher sense of self-esteem.

Enlightened Solutions offers holistic partial care programs designed to treat issues of body image and eating disorders in addition to any dual diagnosis issues with substance abuse. We have a solution. It starts with you. Start by calling us today for more information at 844-234-LIVE.

Bringing Arts, Crafts, And Self-Care Together: The Self-Care Box

Designing a regimen for self-care could be too much. Trying to pick from all the many different options which help you to feel nourished, relaxed, and rejuvenated can be overwhelming. Self-care isn’t meant to be overwhelming. Quite the opposite, self-care is a time to drop out of the world outside and drop into the world inside. Tending to your needs, helping yourself feel taken care of, this is the point of self-care. If only you could just pull self-care off a shelf and put it on like a fuzzy robe. Psychotherapist Jennifer Rollin suggests creating a self-care box as a compact way to create a go-to source for all your self-care needs. Rollins points out that a self-care box can be relatively inconspicuous, meaning you can have one at home or at work. Storing a few quick self-care items in a small caddy for the car isn’t a terrible idea either.

Here are some of the things Rollins suggests, mixed in with some of our favorites:

• Essential Oils Room Spray: you can store this at home, at work, and in your car. Look for a soothing blend using lavender and bergamot or chamomile to create a sense of purifying calm immediately in your space. You can even buy an oil diffuser which attaches to your air vents.

• A small bottle of thick hand lotion: don’t over-lotion your hands, because they will dry out. In a moment of self-care, giving yourself a little reflexology massage that is also moisturizing can be quite the treat. Get in between your fingers, rub around your wrists, and release some tension

• Inspirational Books: You can buy cute little versions of book sin additions to regular size books. Keep your favorite self-help, spiritual, or inspirational book in your kit for a moment of encouragement when you need it.

• A Busy Toy: silly putty, play dough, kinetic sand, or this fidget cube is a good way to keep your hand busy and your brain focused during self-care. Self-care isn’t always all “ooo's” and “aahh's”. Sometimes it can be really hard to let go and relax.

• Calming Music: on your phone, your computer, or a playlist on Spotify, load up on all that yoga studio, massage room, spa music that gets you feeling zen and relaxed.

Enlightened Recovery Solutions wants to help you learn how to take care of yourself in a healthy, holistic way for the rest of your life. Lifetime recovery is possible. We have the solution. Call us today for more information, at 844-234-LIVE.

Laughing Yoga? Using The Breath And Humor For A Good (Healing) Time

Laughter yoga has a simple goal: to make you laugh. Laughter is good for the soul. According to research, it’s also good for the heart, the body, and the mind. Voluntary laughter is a practice of getting yourself to laugh for an extended period of time. For laughter yoga sessions, the goal is usually about an hour. Laughter requires a lot of air intake, either in short spurts or long breaths. In between hysterics there are usually pauses of taking a deep breath, to replenish the lungs. This is the hidden benefit of laughter yoga: oxygen.

One certified laughter yoga practitioner explains that “laughter leads to deep breathing, which sends ample oxygen to the brain When the brain has obtained proper oxygen levels, it functions at peak capacity.” The breath is critically important. Basic physiological science teaches us that breath is a matter of life or death. Once we stop breathing, oxygen stops flowing to the brain. The brain needs oxygen to survive. The brain needs to survive so that it can tell other organs to keep working- like the heart. When we are sad, depressed, or not focused, we breathe in a very shallow manner. Short, shallow breaths cut off oxygen to the brain. It’s because of the amount of oxygen we take in during laughter that makes us feel so good. After a good laugh we might as well say “I need all that oxygen!” rather than say “I needed a good laugh”. A healthy brain is an oxygenated brain. An oxygenated brain is one that feels more positivity and releases higher levels of dopamine, serotonin, and influences production of endorphins.

The Spiritual Undertones Of Laughter Yoga

Forced or voluntary laughter is a way to create more authentic laughter. Laughter can be uncomfortable when we are taking life very seriously. Breaking through the ice is what laughter yoga does. Through a series of exercises, the laughter yoga coach creates forced laughter. Soon, everyone bursts out into real laughter and can’t stop laughing. The philosophy behind this exercise is about letting go, surrendering, and realizing that sometimes you have to laugh. There is a famous saying in recovery “don’t take yourself too seriously”.

Recovery starts with you. Start your recovery with Enlightened Solutions. We know that addiction is no laughing matter. Recovery will bring a smile to your face again. If you are ready to heal, call us today for more information on our partial care programs at 844-234-LIVE.