MOVE FOR RECOVERY

author of Recovering You, shares his recovery journey and how movement was the key to success.

-  STEVEN WASHINGTON

FOR MANY, the body is uncharted territory. Especially for those of us in recovery. We have long histories of not setting our health and wellbeing as a top priority. In recovery, we have a blessed opportunity to change that.

When we become ready to make important changes in life, we often start with approaches to abstinence and sobriety that focus on the practical aspects of recovery. These approaches can arrest the use of substances or addictive behaviors through some sort of intervention, such as rehab, medical detox, 12-step programs, or other addiction-recovery methods. They tend to place more focus on the mind.

Through years of experience, I feel strongly that the mind-body connection also needs to be acknowledged and explored. After all, it’s the body that keeps the score. It stores the trauma we have endured in life, and without focus and support, we will never be able to fully unearth the causes and conditions of our addictions and ultimately find freedom.

Some of my earliest memories are of me dancing in our family’s Connecticut apartment or twirling over and over until I was dizzy, just like Lynda Carter did on television as Wonder Woman.

For some reason, movement seemed to transport me to a magical place in my body and mind. Rhythmically moving my body would cast a spell on me that somehow would regulate my extremely sensitive and disregulated nervous system. I suppose I was doing energy work on myself long before I knew what it was.

"Then the Universe gave me a great gift. It gave me back the gift of movement when qigong was incorporated into the school’s curriculum."