Journey to Wholeness: Return to BE
Ayurveda
Using Ayurveda (defined below) as a basis, Victoria created Journey to Wholeness: Return to BE, a program tailored for those recovering from substance use disorders that brings vitality, healing, and wholeness into their lives with tools for achieving the optimal balance of mind, body, spirit, and soul. Victoria weaves spiritual components with mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy, and 12 Step facilitation into a seven-session format that revolutionizes current care models.
Ayurveda is a 5,000-year-old system of healing from ancient India. Its name is derived from the Sanskrit words “ayus” meaning life and “veda” meaning wisdom. Ayurveda views human beings as dynamic fields of intelligence, far more than thinking physical machines. Ayurvedic thought is that when born, our lives are in a perfect state of balance; and, that as we age we become out of balance physically, mentally, and spiritually, creating disease that results in addiction and common disorders of the body and mind.
A common symptom of unbalanced health is stress, which doctors are increasingly citing as a major contributing factor to most illnesses. Other well-known factors to unbalanced health are anxiety, inflammation, sleep disturbances, toxic food, and emotional unrest. To combat these unhealthy factors and develop a foundation for healthful living, participants in Journey to Wholeness learn and practice proper breathing, yoga, and meditation.
Meditation
Research shows that meditation – mindfulness meditation specifically – can promote substance abuse disorder recovery and help prevent relapse in multiple ways. Practicing mindfulness meditation has been shown to affect actual physiological changes, thus potentially reducing stress, offering individuals in early recovery a calmer, clearer state of mind so they can more fully participate in and complete their recovery program.
When used with therapy, mindfulness meditation can help victims of trauma and those with PTSD to examine past their experiences, recognize the destructive emotions these events have created, and build awareness of the unique sensations that revive one’s traumatic memories. The combination of meditation and therapy can help individuals break from using addictive substances to cope with their past. Additionally, the ongoing practice of mindfulness meditation can build skills key to preventing relapse such as coping with stress, reducing negative outlook and depression, and recognizing triggers.
Dosha Evaluation
Through a dosha evaluation, participants will determine the body-mind type with which they were born and take a current body-mind test to determine how to reach optimal homeostasis and return to whole being. They are also guided in nutritional practices to help maintain vibrant health, appropriate weight, optimized digestion, and restful sleep, often without the need for medication.
Two other important components of Journey to Wholeness are the tools and practices of rejuvenation and renewal, which serve to rid the body of toxic emotions and transform relationship to self and others in healthy, kind, nurturing, and nourishing ways. These valuable approaches teach self-love and respect that is often missing due to the shame, self-loathing, and hatred instilled by the throes of addiction and environmental influences. By learning to love and respect self a participant is then able to extend these feelings to their families and others. This is an excellent program for families and children as well, providing the means to stop the cycle of addiction for generations to come.
More Information
- Alterations in Resting-State Functional Connectivity Link Mindfulness Meditation With Reduced Interleukin-6: A Randomized Controlled Trial
- Cardiovascular and nervous system changes during meditation
- Harvard MRI Study Shows Meditation Rebuilds Brain’s Grey Matter in 8 Weeks
- Meditation and vacation effects have an impact on disease-associated molecular phenotypes
- Meditation + Whole Body Health Research Program