How To Connect To The World Of Wellness?

Mind and Body: Powerful Allies

Your brain produces substances that can improve your health:

• Endorphins (natural painkillers) 
• Gamma globulins (they strengthen your immune system).

What your brain produces depends in part on your thoughts and feelings. 

• Positive thoughts will boost your body’s healing power.
• Negative thoughts and emotions can keep your brain from producing some of the chemicals that help your body heal. 

Some illnesses are beyond your control, but your thoughts and state of mind are resources you can use to get better.

To guarantee your mind and body’s wellness, there are many techniques that can be practiced:

• Deep breathing: in this case your body communicates with your brain in order to calm down and relax
• Acupuncture: a key component of traditional Chinese medicine that involves the insertion of very thin needles through your skin at strategic points on your body in order to “rebalance” your energy flow.
• Massage therapy: a certified medical professional manipulates the soft tissues of your body using multiple degrees of pressure and movement.
• Meditation: it helps you develop intentional focus and aids to minimize random thoughts about the past or the future. There are many forms of meditation (transformative, facilitative, and evaluative) but what most of them have in common is a quiet setting, a comfortable position, a focused attention and an open attitude.
• Relaxation techniques: in general, they involve refocusing your attention on something calming and increasing the awareness you have of your body. It doesn’t matter which relaxation technique you choose. What matters most is to practice relaxation regularly to get all the benefits.
• Spinal manipulation: It’s a technique where practitioners (chiropractors usually) use their hands or a device to apply a controlled thrust to a joint of your spine. 
• Tai chi: ancient Chinese tradition that is now practiced as a form of exercise. It involves a series of movements performed in a slow, focused manner and accompanied by deep breathing.
• Yoga: A set of specific exercises, called poses, combined with specific breathing techniques and meditation principles.

Mind-Body Wellness: Connecting To The World Of Wellness

Healing your body and mind using many techniques/practices will allow your body to stop producing hormones that create stress. The feeling of stress will then be reduced, and you will return to a state of calmness, and relaxation both physically and mentally.

Mind-body wellness is based on prioritizing the health, well-being and balance of your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs.

All the techniques previously mentioned can help your body reach a perfect mind and body balance:

Benefits they have on mental health:

• Improved overall wellness 
• Increased relaxation and inner peace
• Reduced stress
• Boosted confidence 
• Improved concentration and memory
• Reduced anger and confidence 

Benefits on physical health:

• Reduced pain (back, neck, knee, headaches…)
• Lessen muscle tension
• Improved immune function
• Lowered blood pressure
• Slowed heart and breathing rates
• Enhanced quality of sleep

According to the national center for complementary and integrative health, results show that:

• Acupuncture may help with withdrawals, cravings, and anxiety, but there is little evidence that it directly impacts actual substance use.
• Hypnotherapy may improve smoking cessation.
• Mindfulness-based interventions can reduce the use of substances including alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, cigarettes, opiates, and amphetamines on a greater scale than control therapies do, and are also associated with a reduction in cravings and the risk of relapse. But the data in several studies are not conclusive.

At where we stand, we require more evidence on the benefits of the mind-body approach to addiction recovery since the data are not so conclusive. A lot of studies are currently being conducted, showing impressive results.