Kick that Addiction. Naturally.

Like to kick that addiction, naturally?

If you’re here and reading this review, you might know how it feels to be addicted. But you desperately want to get rid of that addiction. Possibly you have an addictive personality and cannot stop the intake of a substance, liquid or food. You may have a dependency on pharmaceuticals to keep you going. Or you may know someone who does. This handbook, Addiction Free Naturally, is your introduction to healing* by natural means. One or more of the therapies, new habits, herbs, essential oils, flower essences, and supplements can ease the pain of withdrawal from an obsession, or help someone you know who is suffering.

Addicition Free Naturally. Free Yourself from Opioids, Pharmaceuticals, Alcohol, Tobacco, Caffeine, Sugar and More. By Brigitte Mars, 2020. Published by Healing Arts Press, a Division of Inner Traditions International.

In Addiction Free Naturally, a collection of nature-based cures is focused on reducing dependence on pharmaceutical authority. Because natural substances have more affinity for the body than artificial ones, they may be able to help us through withdrawal. And we see how many ways there are to shake off a passion for substances that keep us down.

Incorporate Healing

Author Brigitte Mars covers over 20 natural therapies and things you can do with others in this reprint of the 2001 edition of Addiction Free Naturally. From therapy to support groups to exercise, massage, and more, she says there are myriad ways to incorporate healing into your life, to help erase the addictive behaviors that keep you enslaved to a substance.

She suggests habits you could acquire that may facilitate your healing, like journaling, positive affirmation, prayer, and therapies with light, color gems and crystals, and your choices of food. What you eat on a daily basis can make a difference. In short, there is probably nothing you’ve heard of that cannot be applied to addiction for positive results.

An Herbal Materia Medica

This materia medica—list of herbs in alphabetical order—is an impressive range of herbs from Alfalfa to Yerba Santa. These herbs have a particular affinity for stages of withdrawing from an addiction.

Mars’ materia medica includes 100 herbs. Their profiles are brief and comprehensive. Not limited to the Western herbs we think of as medicinal, Mars includes a number of Chinese herbs, kitchen spices, and adaptogenic herbs. If you prefer, herbs and supplements could be suggested by an herbalist. Yet in this book you can read how they are matched to particular addictions and other facts which make you that much more aware of the available medicine in herbs.

Mars’ 100 herbs give you the common names, scientific names, plant parts used, and description of what the plant can do for you regarding any aspect of withdrawal. Consider for your withdrawal the calming property, relief from pain, insomnia, anxiety and restlessness, stress. Other actions are quite possible, such as toxin-removal, appetite suppression, relief from mental and physical exhaustion, and tonifying the organs of the body.

What about vitamins and minerals?

Included for your reference are the supplements, vitamins and minerals, along with their functions and which foods are sources of these substances. It’s all about becoming informed and at least a little knowledgeable about you and your body. Also, you should add the knowledge of foods that are helpful in keeping blood sugar low while you’re trying to kick a nasty habit. As Mars advises, blood sugar is affected in the withdrawal stages.

After viewing such a rich panel of benefits, it’s hard to put the book down. My favorite chapter is entitled “On Your Own Terms”, a phrase which appeals to me because it is empowering. The very concept of my own terms is welcome at a point where I want to take control of my life. “On Your Own Terms” is where Mars has packaged together an herbalist’s bounty of curated therapies to choose from. Ways of shoring yourself up in times of need include getting your digestion on the right track, then progressing to herbs, homeopathy or flower essences, extending to vitamins, minerals and supplements, and therapies you take with a practitioner’s support.

You may be able to envision how natural substances, changes in behavior and therapies can support a person at any point in their withdrawal from an addicting substance. And yet, that person must believe that these ways and means will help them.

Who doesn’t have an addiction of some kind?

Rich foods and desserts, especially sugary ones, caffeine in coffees and teas are just as addictive as cannabis, nicotine, stimulants, opioids, and sedatives. As well behavioral addictions count, too. Trying a substance for fun or entertainment, and along the way becoming addicted leaves you without the power to make your own decisions. Finally, the addiction makes us give up, relinquish our power. We don’t have to do that.

To wit, consider Emotional Freedom Technique, EFT, a way of uncovering your resolve through strengthening your knowledge about yourself. Or Homeopathy, such as using Nux Vomica for addictions typical of Type A personality, for example. Or Aromatherapy, in which essential oils offer deep communication with the inner self. Bergamot essential oil is “effective for sugar, food, alcohol, stimulant and sedative addictions”, for example. Or Flower Essences, of which “Angelica strengthens resolve” and “Chrysanthemum for people using drugs and alcohol to escape pain, loss and fear of death”.

Mars has all the basics covered in this book

Mars wants you to “replace the addictive habits” with habits that are non-addictive. Know how your body works, its nerve impulses and physical needs. Most of all, know what is bugging you in the first place… what is it that drove you to hide behind an addiction to cover up the source of your pain?

Find the Source… And Look Deeper

To find the source, you begin by understanding how an addictive substance works to ensnare you. What is it that led you to accept this substance as a pain-killer? For each type of addiction—sugar, caffeine, cannabis, food, nicotine, alcoholism, stimulants, sedatives, opioids, overwork and sex—Mars sketches out the basics of what each type of addiction entails and why you experience trouble in getting off it.

You’re right. It’s not simple, or easy.

Healing* by natural means is a choice you make. Healing by any means is not as simple as swapping this remedy for that one. And you’re right—kicking addiction is not the same as smelling an essential oil, drinking a tea, or taking homeopathic remedies.

Instead—kicking addiction—or withdrawing from an addiction is a complex process where you take steps to become self-aware. You become honest with yourself about your behaviors and what they are doing to you.

Addiction Free Naturally does not seek to diminish the agony of person who undertakes the process. However, it could inform you about your addiction as well as all the ways and means you can use to put it aside. Mars’ book could be helpful in suggesting the possibilities for self-care that you may not find anywhere else.

See Brigitte Mars’ website, here.

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