Recover From Addiction with the Power of Nature

Nature & Addiction Recovery

Pleasure and Pain

Addicts are faced with many challenges when facing how to recover from addiction. Among them, one of the greatest difficulties is contending with a strong desire for sensory pleasure. On one level, addiction is a disease of feelings. Addicts and alcoholics smoke, drink, gamble, and engage in other compulsive behavior because it feels good. Many others seek pleasure to avoid the pain of guilt, shame, sadness, loss, anger, remorse, repression, etc.

Surprisingly, this desire for pleasure isn't exclusive to addicts. Many people in the general population, wanting to escape discomfort, will turn to junk food or television. While others turn to more healthy stress-relieving stimulus such as reading, talking with friends over coffee or tea, exercise, or solitude.The common thread is the desire to exchange negative feelings with pleasant ones.

The difference with addiction however, is that the pursuit of these experiences, however pleasant, are usually accompanied by substances or activities which are ultimately extremely unhealthy to both mind and body. While it feels pleasurable in the moment, it always comes at a painful price in the longer term. It is nothing more than delayed pain disguised as pleasure.

What is Good Pleasure?

Spending time in nature, conversely, is both pleasant and healthy. Consider the studies done in Japan, where they have been studying the effect of Shinrin-yoku (a walk in the forest) for years. They measured participants’ body chemistry, neural activity, and behavior. Every study so far has shown lowered stress, anger, anxiety, depression, and better sleep in participants who did nothing more than simply walk in the woods.

These studies reveal the powerful cleansing effect that nature has on anyone immersed in it. It shows how our stress chemical levels - often major triggers in addiction and relapse - are lowered when we're in nature.Nature purifies our bodies and balances our minds and prepares us for and nurtures recovery. It readies our entire being for the fully immersive, whole-person transformation that is the hallmark of Serenity Vista’s affordable private-pay drug and alcohol rehab.

In tropical Panama, the setting is perfect for recovering from addiction. Here, we're surrounded by warm sunlight, and fresh, fragrant air. Compared that to the harsh lighting and cold grey concrete of the city - the same polluted, congested, and stressful cities where many of today’s most well-known recovery centers are located or near.

Instead, in nature, we're soothed and surrounded by immeasurable beauty. We step out and feel the soft earth yield beneath our feet. Morning birds sing from high and out-of-reach branches. Leaves on the trees rustle in easy afternoon breezes. And in the purple dusk of picture-perfect evenings, we're serenaded by the happy chirping of a thousand tiny tree frogs.

Recover From Addiction in Pure Paradise

Specifically at Serenity Vista, our private-pay addiction recovery retreat boasts some of the most astonishingly beautiful natural settings available anywhere. At anytime, under the warmth of golden sun or the blue glow of a tropical full moon, our guests are invited to take in all that Boquete, Panama has to offer. Mountains, a sparkling blue ocean, soft sandy beaches, luscious tropical jungles, green hilly pastures, and a host of exquisite local flora and fauna are all but some of what our guests enjoy while here. In every sense of the word, our drug and alcohol recovery programs are sheer paradise.

Complementing the incredible setting here at Serenity Vista, our outdoor recreation activities are unparalleled. Outdoor activity is a cornerstone of our treatment philosophy, and we go to extreme lengths to ensure guests are able to take full advantage of this magical land. Do you prefer horseback riding or hiking in the mountains? Lucky for you and all of our guests, you can experience a little of each. Our 70 and 90 day program holistic rehabilitation programs ensure you have plenty of time to enjoy all that paradise has to offer.

Awaken to Possibility!

We chose this particular setting for Serenity Vista partly because we know of few other environments as conducive to helping guests totally recover from addiction. A place to foster development of the right perspective necessary for deep healing. When we're dedicated to drug or alcohol addiction recovery while in beautiful and natural settings, we are instantly connected to countless helpful energies.

What better place for holistic treatment? In a pure and natural environment such as this, with all of our senses open and attuned, we are alert and awakened to possibilities. A spiritual retreat of renewal basked in nature.I