Recovery Basics

Introduction

This document is designed to offer essential tools for the early stages of recovery. Life creates stress, and a strong desire to find escapes.  These tools help address immediate issues that may arise from the events of life, and build resilience over time, by calming the emotions that may arise over time. The exercises below are a starting point on this journey. It’s important to have the support of accountability partners, coaches, and counselors—while adopting and maintaining these practices.

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Gratitude List 

Frequently (daily or several times a week)  list the things that you are grateful for.  It doesn’t have to be exhaustive.  Writing gratitude journals has a number of benefits.  Go to a quiet place near water, or in the mountains and sit and list all the things that you are thankful for. Click here for the list and research.

Breathing techniques

Breathing techniques help manage short-term emotional disturbances by directly influencing the autonomic nervous system (ANS), particularly the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), which is responsible for the body’s “rest and digest” response. During periods of stress or emotional distress, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS)—the “fight or flight” system—becomes dominant, leading to increased heart rate, rapid breathing, and heightened anxiety.

By consciously altering the breathing pattern, such as slowing down the breath or extending the exhale, these techniques activate the PNS. This helps to:

• Lower heart rate and blood pressure.
• Reduce cortisol levels (the stress hormone).
• Calm the mind and body.
• Interrupt the stress response, allowing for more rational thinking and emotional regulation.

In the short term, breathing exercises can quickly de-escalate intense emotions, such as anxiety, anger, or panic, and help regain control over one’s physiological state.

Long-Term Benefits and Building Resilience in the Autonomic Nervous System
Over time, regular practice of breathing techniques helps build resilience in the autonomic nervous system by improving the balance between the SNS and PNS. This long-term resilience is achieved through:

1. Increased Vagal Tone: The vagus nerve, a key component of the PNS, becomes more responsive with consistent practice, leading to quicker recovery from stress and a more balanced stress response.
   
   
   
2. Improved Heart Rate Variability (HRV): Breathing exercises increase HRV, which is a measure of the variation in time between heartbeats. Higher HRV is associated with better stress resilience and emotional regulation.
3. 
   Neuroplasticity: Regular breathing practice can help rewire the brain, making it easier to shift from stress responses to relaxation. This enhances emotional control and reduces the likelihood of being overwhelmed by stress.
4. 
   Emotional Regulation: Over time, breathing exercises enhance self-awareness and emotional intelligence, enabling individuals to respond to stressors with greater calm and clarity.

Common Breathing Techniques

4-7-8 Breathing:
How to Perform:

• Inhale quietly through the nose for a count of 4.
• Hold the breath for a count of 7.
• Exhale completely and audibly through the mouth for a count of 8.
• Repeat the cycle 4-8 times.

Diaphragmatic (Belly) Breathing:
How to Perform:
Place one hand on the chest and the other on the belly.  Inhale deeply through the nose, allowing the diaphragm (and belly) to expand, while the chest remains still. Exhale slowly through the mouth. Continue for several minutes.

Box Breathing (Square Breathing):
How to Perform:
Inhale for a count of 4, Hold the breath for a count of 4, Exhale for a count of 4, Hold the breath again for a count of 4, Repeat the cycle.

Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana):
How to Perform: Close the right nostril with the thumb, Inhale through the left nostril, Close the left nostril with the ring finger, release the thumb, and exhale through the right nostril, Inhale through the right nostril, then close it and exhale through the left nostril, Repeat the cycle.

Breathing techniques like 4-7-8, diaphragmatic breathing, and box breathing provide immediate relief from emotional disturbances by calming the nervous system and reducing the stress response. Long-term practice builds resilience in the autonomic nervous system by improving vagal tone, HRV, and emotional regulation, leading to better overall stress management and emotional health.

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Turning away from disturbing thoughts

Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz’s four-step approach is a cognitive-behavioral technique designed to help individuals manage and overcome deceptive brain messages, which are unhelpful or unhealthy thoughts, urges, or impulses that can lead to negative behaviors and emotional distress. This method is particularly effective for conditions like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) but can also be applied to other mental health challenges.
Four-Step Approach:

1. Relabel: In this step, individuals learn to recognize and identify the deceptive brain messages as what they are—false, intrusive thoughts or urges. Instead of accepting these messages as reality, they are labeled as symptoms of a brain process that doesn’t serve the person’s true intentions or goals.
2. Reattribute: This step involves understanding that these deceptive thoughts or urges are caused by faulty brain wiring, particularly in the brain circuits involved in habits and compulsions. By attributing the problem to the brain and not to oneself, individuals can detach from the distress these thoughts cause.
3. Refocus: Once deceptive brain messages are recognized and reattributed, the next step is to refocus attention on a positive, constructive activity. This might involve engaging in a hobby, exercise, or any other activity that shifts attention away from the intrusive thoughts and helps build new, healthier brain circuits.
4. Revalue: Over time, by consistently practicing the first three steps, individuals begin to change their relationship with the deceptive brain messages. The thoughts or urges lose their power and significance, as they are devalued in the person’s mind. This step solidifies the realization that these thoughts are not important and do not define the person’s true self or desires.

Why Schwartz Suggests This Technique Works:

Dr. Schwartz’s approach is rooted in the concept of neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to change and rewire itself in response to new experiences and behaviors. By consistently applying the four steps, individuals can weaken the old, unhealthy brain circuits that produce deceptive messages and strengthen new, healthier circuits that align with their true values and goals.

The technique works because it combines mindfulness with behavioral modification, helping individuals become more aware of their thoughts and take control of their responses. Through repetition and refocusing, the brain gradually rewires itself, reducing the impact of deceptive brain messages and promoting healthier thought patterns and behaviors.

In summary, Schwartz’s four-step approach helps individuals manage and ultimately overcome unhelpful brain processes by leveraging the brain’s natural capacity for change, promoting healing, and fostering a sense of control over one’s mental and emotional life.

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Mindfulness

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, is an evidence-based program designed to help individuals manage stress, pain, and various psychological challenges through mindfulness practices. MBSR integrates mindfulness meditation, body awareness, and yoga to cultivate a non-judgmental awareness of the present moment. It is widely used in healthcare, education, and corporate settings to promote mental and physical well-being.  The method offers a comprehensive approach to managing stress and improving well-being through mindfulness practices like meditation, body awareness, and mindful movement.

Mindfulness Meditation - Participants are guided to focus on their breath, bodily sensations, thoughts, or emotions with a non-judgmental awareness.

Types of Meditation:

• Breath Awareness: Paying attention to the breath as it flows in and out, helping to anchor the mind in the present moment.
• Body Scan: A guided meditation where attention is sequentially focused on different parts of the body, noticing sensations without judgment.
• Loving-Kindness Meditation: Cultivating compassion and kindness toward oneself and others through focused phrases or intentions.
• Body Awareness (Body Scan): Participants mentally scan their bodies from head to toe, noticing sensations, discomfort, or relaxation, without trying to change anything.
• Hatha Yoga - Involves slow, deliberate movements and stretches, combined with mindful breathing, to increase flexibility and reduce stress.
• Mindful Walking: Walking slowly and paying attention to each step, the contact of the feet with the ground, and the sensations in the body.
• Mindful Eating:Eating slowly and deliberately, focusing on each bite and the sensory experience.

Resources for MBSR


Guided Meditations: Available in audio or video formats to help with meditation, body scan, and mindful movement practices (many on youtube).
Books: Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn’s books, such as “Full Catastrophe Living” and “Wherever You Go, There You Are,” are foundational texts for MBSR practice.
Workshops and Retreats: In-person or online MBSR courses and retreats are available for immersive learning experiences.
Apps: Various mindfulness apps offer guided meditations and mindfulness practices based on MBSR principles.

There are both short term benefits including reduced stress, improved focus, better emotional regulation (critical in recovery), improved physical well being, and long term benefits including increased resilience, reduced anxiety, improved self awareness (critical for inner child work).  

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Feel the feelings ... it's ok!

One of the fundamental aspects of emotional well-being is acknowledging that it's perfectly okay to recognize, experience, express, and engage with feelings. Many have never been taught how to effectively acknowledge and process our emotions.  Our human experience is a gift from God, and it naturally involves a wide range of emotions. Suppressing, downplaying, denying, judging, criticizing, bottling up, avoiding, or medicating to cope with our emotions is counterproductive in both the short and long term. These practices only add to our stress and anxiety levels and lead to unhealthy responses and behaviors with alcohol, pornography, food and many other forms of relief.

To truly embrace the full life that God has intended for us, we must be willing to explore and experience the entire spectrum of human emotions. The secret to help arresting this cycle of behavior is - ‘just feel the feelings’. 
Here are simple steps to help you on this journey:

Step 1: Awareness - notice the feeling.
Take a deep breath in and out to center yourself. Then, turn inward and ask, "What feelings am I experiencing right now?"  Pay attention to any physical sensations that you're experiencing. For example, you might be able to discern anger due to a tight sensation in your chest, or notice fear because of a jittery feeling in your hands or legs. 

Step 2: Say it out loud.
Putting your emotions into words makes them easier to manage.  How would you describe your emotional experience right now: annoyance, anger, envy, fear, disgust, disappointment, sadness, grief or something else? The more specific, the better. Describe the feeling out loud with a phrase like, "I am experiencing disappointment right now and feel really sad, and am hurting”.

Step 3: Acceptance.
Growing up, many of us were taught to suppress, ignore or hide our emotions. So as an adult, your first instinct might still be to minimize, ignore or stuff them. You may think, "It's wrong to feel that emotion."  Research has found that suppressing our emotions can have negative consequences for both physical and mental well-being. Instead, we want to accept it.   This emotion is offering you the opportunity to make a different, healthier choice. Vocalizing the feeling is an important way to minimize the power over the emotion and release the ensuing stress or need for relief. 

Step 4: Be with the feeling.
Once you've acknowledged the emotion, embrace it and allow yourself to fully immerse in the feeling. Neurologists and experts propose that the physical sensation of an emotion typically endures for approximately 90 seconds. Make a commitment to remain with the emotion for this minute-and-a-half duration, providing it with your undivided focus. Otherwise, there is a risk of lingering emotions, such as enduring resentment and bitterness.

Step 5: Stay with the feeling until it changes.
At a certain point, you will notice that the feeling has changed. You might now feel calmer, like a storm has passed. You also might notice another feeling emerging in its place. This is a sign that you allowed yourself to fully experience the emotion.  If the emotions persist, you can use breathing techniques to the 5-4-3-2-1 technique (see appendix).

Step 6: Reflect on the belief.
Research has shown that we have thousands of thoughts per day and the majority of them are negative.  Being able to pause and reflect provides you the time to determine the source of the feeling.  For example you may feel like an interaction with a coworker was really troubling because s/he was overbearing, and as you reflect on it you recall that you were bullied as a child and this brings up hurt filled memories and contributes tot he potency of the feeling.  

Summary
Pivotal apps are provided as tools and techniques to help change the trajectory of negative and destructive thinking, habits, routines and behaviors.  We have afflictions that lead us to unhealthy behaviors as adults to overcome lingering emotional wounds that were forged in the crucible of childhood experience.  These apps are a resource to help you live life, grow and strengthen your emotional resilience, humility and vulnerability.  

The 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique
Have you ever experienced it? That constriction in your chest, a relentless loop of thoughts racing through your mind? This sensation, known as anxiety, is surprisingly common and can affect people from all walks of life. It can be disconcerting and uncomfortable, often striking without warning. So, why do so many of us grapple with this distressing feeling? The reality is that most people never acquire the skills to cope with it.
As discussed in the previous section, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can assist in understanding the root causes of anxiety, allowing for their gradual elimination. However, there are occasions when you require an immediate remedy for emotional overwhelm. In such instances, the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique emerges as a valuable tool. This approach aims to provide a diverting and playful distraction to reduce stress, anxiety, and manage intense emotions. Here's how it functions:

• See five items - Begin by identifying five objects around you—perhaps a lamp, a painting, a window frame, a rug, and a vase.
• Feel four feelings - Next, recognize four physical sensations, such as the firmness of the ground beneath your feet, the rhythm of your breath in your chest, the texture of a blanket against your skin, and the warmth of the sun on your face.
• Hear three things - Now, listen attentively. What three sounds can you perceive? Perhaps it's the melodious chirping of birds, the gentle rustle of the wind, and the murmur of someone engaged in conversation.
• Smell two things - Take note of two distinct smells. This could include the fragrance of your neighbor's garden flowers and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee.
• Taste one thing - Lastly, engage your sense of taste. It might be as simple as savoring a single cookie or a cup of tea, or perhaps the refreshing taste of just-brushed teeth.

After identifying each of these elements, observe how these sensations collaborate to diminish anxiety and encourage a sense of relaxation. When you find yourself trapped in overthinking, rumination, or stress, it's easy to lose touch with the present moment. Your mind becomes entangled with "what if" scenarios, and your presence wanes. Employing the 5-4-3-2-1 technique reawakens your senses while simultaneously calming your breathing and thoughts.