The Wisdom of Addiction + Cultivating Relationship to Place

One of the biggest reasons I feel called to support others in the journey home to the body of Self and the body of Earth is because I know firsthand what it feels like to live in a deeply disembodied way. Drug addiction and eating disorders claimed an entire chapter of my life and kept me in exile from my sense of safety and belonging for many years. By the time I was 21, I was unhoused, in full blown addiction, and convinced that I would not make it out of that situation alive.

When I finally quit using drugs and began my self-healing journey, I never could have imagined how inspiring and nourishing the path back to Wholeness could be. That is not to say that this walk has not also been painful—it most certainly has been. The joy I feel for the freedom that colors my life today is present in equal measure with the depths of pain that inevitably accompany such a profound journey of self-remembering. Still, I would not trade this for anything . . .

Addiction is a warning light and a call to action . . .

I stayed silent about my journey through addiction for many years, for fear of the judgment that could come my way. It has taken years to unfold the wisdom of addiction and to come to a place of humble reverence for the teachings bestowed by patterns of compulsion, addiction, and escapism. I know today that my Soul was called into the experience of addiction, in part, so that I could shine a light in the darkest of places and be a beacon of hope for others to know that recovery is absolutely possible. Yes, even for IV drug users. Yes, even if you have been trying to get sober for many years. Yes, even if you feel completely hopeless. This journey is why I believe in miracles and why I know that the potential for healing is latent in every human heart. No exceptions.

Addiction is a sign from our innermost selves that something is deeply imbalanced. Something is crying out from the depth of our being, asking for our recognition and courage as we approach the realities of how the echoes of our disembodied culture makes itself known in our patterns, behaviors, and habits. Addiction is both deeply personal and a collective burden we share. Its wisdom leads us towards greater self-honesty in the hopes that we might choose to listen and—through our listening—become better stewards of the Earth and of Life as a whole.

What does it mean to be truly embodied?

Over the years, I have found that symptoms of physical, mental, and emotional distress have one thing in common—disembodiment. This disembodiment stems not only from a disconnection with our own bodies but also from a disconnection with the larger body of Earth.

In Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind, Amanda Morrison shares, “It is through our own flesh that we may begin to reawaken sentience—that innate capacity for sensation and feeling that lives in our body and naturally connects us to other beings on the planet.” Truly embodied, sentient creatures move from a place that serves and sustains life. The more fully we can experience resonance with and residency within the Earth body, the more fully we can inhabit our own bodies and release the behaviors, habits, and energetic contracts that keep us from living in an embodied way.

I feel called to the work of re-embodiment because it has been essential to my own journey. I know that I came here to work with the inner manifestations of a cultural imbalance rooted in our disconnection from the Earth. Forging reconnection between our own bodies and the body of Earth is a primary doorway to lasting recovery. I am committed to embodying this understanding within my own life as well as within my practice and work with others.

How wise, the old trees, rooted in place . . .

If the process of remediating addiction is both an awakening to our innate wisdom and a process of re-embodying into the Earth, then we may look to the natural world—to the Earth’s intelligent rhythms, cycles, still points, and seasons—to find a greater embodied sensibility. Cultivating a relationship to place allows us the opportunity to make contact with the yearning for connection that often underlies our addictive patterns, thus setting the foundation for a more embodied life.

In the book, Globalism and Localization: Emergent Solutions to Ecological and Social Crises, my former professor Jeanine Canty explains, “Rooting deeply in one’s immediate natural environment promotes radical healing and connection, moving one from the smaller notion of ego to interconnectedness with all of life, both visible and unseen.” Place-based healing allows for re-embodiment precisely because it provides us with the opportunity to locate our individual bodies within the larger body of Earth. This facilitates deeper connection to aspects of our own wise, essence nature mirrored back to us by the Earth’s innate intelligence.

In my addiction alchemy work with others, I incorporate nature-based ritual practice as a focal point of the journey. Nature-based ritual helps to facilitate a movement from a sense of exile to a sense of belonging, allowing for a gentle maturity and ecological consciousness to emerge within those who are navigating the landscape of addiction. As this maturation and greater ecological awareness begins to take shape, a natural return to our essential embodiment also emerges.

True addiction alchemy happens through the Earth body . . .

When we honor Life through nature-based ritual—moving our bodies intuitively and in consort with the vibrancy of the Earth—we become vessels for Wholeness to reach out through our bodies and touch the Earth body in prayerful reunion. When we dance upon the Earth, sing within the Earth, and embody our gifts while inhabiting the Earth, a reciprocal process begins to occur, whereby both human body and Earth body experience somatic resolution.

Through mutually reciprocal gestures of healing, we begin to reawaken to the primary realities of our co-existence with the planet that nurtures our very survival—blueprints encoded in our DNA and woven through ancestral memory that carry us to the shores of a more healthy, joyful, and wholly embodied life. This is the promise of real and lasting recovery, and it is possible for all of us.

Each path is holy, each path is unique . . .

As I approach 10 years of abstinence from IV drug use, I am celebrating the gift of embodiment that I have received from the Earth and from the ongoing conversation with my Soul that has led me through Life’s darkest valleys and into the Light. I feel honored to greet the world with a growing embodied literacy, gifted to me by ongoing relationships with my earthen kin. I continue to cultivate a deep sense of devotion to the collective body that pulses and vibrates Songs of Remembrance in the plants, the stars, the mountains, the oceans, and—yes—in you and in me.

Wherever you are in your journey, know that you are worthy of remembering the medicine that is already within you, awaiting your recognition. Addiction recovery is not a one-size-fits-all process. For some people, moderation with certain mind-altering substances is possible while moderation with others is not possible. For others, total abstinence from all mind-altering substances is necessary to provide space for a life where true flourishing can occur.

There are as many paths to lasting recovery as there are trees in the forest. Each of our paths are unique, and no path is superior to any other. You are your own authority on what makes sense for you in your journey of remembering your innate Wholeness—the journey into which the experience of addiction is ultimately attempting to initiate you.

If you are curious about how conscious work with healing herbs, flower essences, and nature-based ritual can play a role in supporting your recovery journey, I invite you to schedule an introductory call and to learn more about Rewoven: Addiction Alchemy.

Thank you for being here. I see you. I am rooting for you. Your life is sacred. You are not alone ♡