As one well-known Alcoholics Anonymous aphorism says, “We’re sick people trying to get better, not bad people trying to be good.” ![]() However, nearly everyone agrees that recovery is not about simple willpower. The jury is still out on what causes addiction-most experts say it’s a combination of physiological susceptibility and environment. Alcohol, nicotine and illegal substances alone cost more than half a trillion dollars a year, in everything from health care costs to crime to accidents to special services in education. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), addictions impact nearly all American families in some way. Of course, destructive addictive behavior can have ramifications far beyond the individual addict. If you’re an addict, you often have to ignore your body, because you are, in essence, hurting your ‘house.’” Addicts often continue their destructive behavior by not checking in with their ‘home,’ or their body, she says. Our mind is our thinking brain, and our body houses this. She thinks of the connection this way: “The spirit is who we really are. Once you start considering a mind/body/spirit model, she explains, you have more treatment options. Schwehr says that most conventional therapy for recovery focuses on the mind. ![]() Maureen Schwehr, NMD, a naturopathic physician and craniosacral instructor who works at the integrative clinic at Sierra Tucson, an in-patient rehab facility near Tucson, Arizona, says bodywork offerings are invaluable to the rehab clients, most all of whom choose to participate in them.The massage offerings at Sierra Tucson include Swedish massage, myofascial release, zero balancing, shiatsu, SomatoEmotional Release, and Chi Nei Tsang, a type of Chinese abdomen massage. ![]() “Because massage is not a talk therapy, it can meet them wherever they are, even if they don’t have the skills to tell us.” “Often, the client cannot even articulate what is going on,” Broadwell says. Recovery is a process, and a difficult one. The center also offers acupuncture, chiropractic services, yoga, meditation and nutritional counseling. Through all of these modalities, but especially massage, “Clients can now feel what it’s like to be present in their own bodies,” says Broadwell. More and more, centers such as the Wellness Spot offer a host of non-talk therapies, including massage, as part of their recovery programs. In fact, massage is one of the most popular offerings at the Wellness Spot, with the six therapists doing approximately 200 massages a week. “We live in a culture that doesn’t do a good job teaching anyone how to relax, both physically and mentally,” says Jennifer Broadwell, DOM, ADS, an acupuncturist and director of the Wellness Spot, an integrative health center affiliated with the Florida House Experience, a rehab facility based in Deerfield Beach, Florida. This emotional disassociation can often be a double whammy for those struggling with addictions. “We don’t always know what’s going on with us.” “That’s the thing with addicts,” he says, wryly. Only then did his muscles begin to release. He realized he was finally feeling the stress fall-out of the recent break-up of a long-time relationship. As she did, Brendan began to feel profoundly sad. His therapist asked him what was going on. ![]() When Brendan C., a Chicago-based marathon runner and coach and recovering alcoholic with 20 years of sobriety under his belt, went for a recent massage with his regular therapist, the muscles in his calves and lower back were intractable.
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