5 Ways to Get High -- Without Drugs or Booze

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1. Heart-pounding workouts: Studies show that exercise boosts your mood, but not just any exercise. Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology  found that the “fleeting sense of euphoria and calm” known as the ‘runner’s high’  requires 50 minutes of hard running on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike. The kind of exercise that alters your brain chemistry varies from person to person, but intensity seems to induce that magic combination of “analgesia and sedation” we associate with the runner’s high. For Ann, a friend and fellow recovering alcoholic, it meant the difference between a 30 and 60 minute run. “I ran 30 minutes each day for several years and never felt a thing other than tired,” she says. “When a friend suggested I double my running time, I finally felt that euphoria she was always talking about. It’s amazing.”

Before a shoulder injury a few years ago, I experienced the same high with Bikram Yoga (also known as “hot yoga”), an intense 90-minute workout in a 100 degree room that detoxes the body and increases the heart rate, all while kicking your ass. At the end of each workout, I felt renewed and rejuvenated. 

2. Limelight a little: “Where else can you get applause for achieving one day of sobriety?” asks William Berry, teacher and  Psychology Today contributor. “Sharing our stories with each other and experiencing true human connection gives us a huge positive boost.” And it’s a point well made. Most people outside of recovery never experience the transformation of their shameful past into a story worth sharing —from a podium in front of a large audience. Berry teaches addicts and alcoholics methods to achieve happiness and believes not only that we have a greater potential for joy than the average non-user but also that sharing your story with an audience of fellow addicts and alcoholics provides a limelight jolt of joy like none other.

3. Kundalini Yoga: Tommy Rosen, a Kundalini yoga instructor and recovering addict who’s been sober for over 20 years, reached a point in sobriety where “going to meetings and working the steps wasn’t enough. I had overcome acute drug and alcoholism but I was unhappy. It was a tough place to be.” It was at that point that Rosen discovered the benefits of Kundalini Yoga, a yoga practice that combines meditation, breathing, and postures to bring the nervous system and body into alignment with the mind. With Kundalini Yoga, “I felt like I was changing my blood chemistry from the inside out,” he says. “I had another anchor I could turn to every day to get high and it’s a high with both long- and short-term gain.”