Sunshine and summertime are excellent for improving holistic wellness. Copious amounts of Vitamin C and D, outdoor exercise, immersion into nature and water, spending time with friends, and enjoying the freedom of summer are good for the mind, body, and spirit. Holistic wellness doesn’t end with treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. Part of relapse prevention is learning how to maintain care for mind, body, and spirit at home. Every day, through every season, we have new opportunities to treat ourselves as a whole, rather than encourage ourselves to be compartmentalized. Taking care of our holistic health is one of the best forms of self-care. Providing ourselves self-care is essential for making sure our needs, as well as our wants, are met. Encouraging independence and confidence, we maintain balance in our lives of recovery.
Here are some of our favorite suggestions for making the most out of summer to support holistic wellness in recovery.
Physical Wellness
Summertime is the perfect opportunity to try a new physical wellness activity or regiment. For example, you can take your yoga classes out of the studio and into the sunshine. Research has shown that exercising outside in natural environments has better health improvement than exercising in urban areas or gym environments. There are other facets of physical wellness to take into consideration during the summer. For example hydration, skin care, and diet. Summertime is full of heat which dries out the body and can burn the skin. If you’ve ever wanted to drink more water, summer is the time to create the challenge. The hot sun of summer also produces some of the year’s most delicious produce. Refresh the diet and nutrition plan you created with your private nutritionist during treatment by introducing delicious fruits and vegetables into your meal plans.
Spiritual Wellness
Taking a book to the beach, the lake, the river, the lodge, or the boat- any summer vacation destination- is an opportunity to increase your spiritual knowledge. Choose books which are inspiring and educational about spirituality, spiritual wellness, or spiritual living. Spirituality can also be enhanced by reading by taking adventures of the mind. Spirituality doesn’t have to be focused on spirituality. Summer was made for adventures. Take adventures through reading, planning trips, and acting on the different desires of your soul.
Mental Wellness
All of the happy vitamins and nutrients you’re getting from the extra summer sun, long hours of being outside, and deep rest due to so much exercise is good for the brain. The short months of summer are the perfect amount of time to work on a meditation practice or building new skills for mental wellness. Try practicing positive affirmations in the mirror all summer and see how you feel about yourself and your self-image as fall returns.
Cypress Lake Recovery seeks to restore clients with balance, confidence, and rejuvenation. Our programs focus on healing in three phases of mind, body, and spirit. Providing excellence in addiction treatment, our programs create the necessary skills for lifetime recovery. Call us today for more information at 866-217-2636.
