Really, holistic alcohol treatment is by far the most successful and the most promising.  Why is this?  Because holistic treatments for alcoholism treat the alcoholic as a whole–meaning that every part of that person’s life is considered.  This makes total sense when you think about it, because alcoholism and addiction do not just affect a person in one way, but instead they impact the individual on many different levels.

For example, one level is in the spiritual realm.  Any alcoholic can tell you that they as their disease progresses, they get more and more spiritually bankrupt.  That is why traditional treatments for alcoholism tend to focus on a spiritual solution.

But this is less than ideal.  The reason it falls short is because the disease of alcoholism affects us in many ways other than just spiritually.  The disease affects us physically, for example, and degrades our overall health.  Not only do we exercise less, but we tend to pick up bad habits such as smoking.  When we get into recovery, wouldn’t these physical aspects of the disease be important to address at some point?  Of course they would be.  Recovery goes far beyond mere abstinence.  We have to recreate our best life for ourselves from the ground up.  This may very well start in the physical realm with exercise, good nutrition, quitting smoking, and regular exercise.

This example is just the tip of the iceberg, showing you just one possible arm of the holistic approach.  What about the other arms?  Of course there are huge gains to be experienced there, too, in areas like mental health, emotional balance, spirituality, and so on.  Relationships are a huge area as well….not only in forming new healthy relationships, but also in eliminating the old toxic ones from our lives.

If you follow traditional recovery then you run the risk of possibly missing out on a lot of this growth.  You may grow spiritually, but be lacking in these other departments that can enhance your spiritual life as well.  For example, take the idea of exercise as a vehicle for exploring a new level of spiritual growth.  Most people do not really consider this connection at first, but those who work out hard on a regular basis know that it is a powerful form of meditation.  In fact, a master of meditation once said: “If you have to choose between exercise and meditation, choose the exercise every time.”  The reason for this is because it is a powerful form of meditation in its own right, and can have tremendous spiritual benefits that most people do not even recognize at first.

This is the power of the holistic approach to recovery.  It is expansive, powerful, and full of new discoveries.  It is not limiting in nature.