Honoring Our Roots: Tradition as Medicine in Recovery

When my godmother lit candles each morning, whispering the prayers she learned from her mother and grandmother, she was doing more than following routine. With weathered hands holding a steaming café con leche, she created a sacred pause a moment that honored both past and present.

Years later, I worked with Sandra, a woman who had lost connection to her Mexican and Colombian roots during her struggle with addiction. She told me: "I stopped speaking Spanish at the same time I started drinking. It was as if each drink took me further away from who I really was."

Her words brought me back to those mornings with my godmother the quiet lessons she gave without ever naming them. In the way she lit her candles, moved through the kitchen, made her coffee, and told stories as breakfast came together, she was showing me how culture grounds us. Long before I had the language for it, she embodied what it means to stay connected: that our traditions carry wisdom, identity, and belonging in ways we may not recognize until later.

The Price of Cultural Disconnection

Addiction rarely arrives alone. It often appears when we are already disconnected  from family, culture, and our true selves. For many in the Latino community, cultural disconnection is both a cause and a consequence of substance use.

I think of Javier, who put away the guitar his grandfather taught him because it "didn't fit" his corporate world. Or Carmen, who stopped cooking her mother's dishes because they carried too much pain. Piece by piece, they lost their language, their music, their prayers.

Research shows that people who remain connected to their cultural and linguistic roots are more likely to complete treatment and sustain recovery (Guerrero et al., 2012; Rowan et al., 2014). This is no coincidence. Culture gives us identity, belonging, and purpose all essential for healing.

But disconnection cuts deep. It's the ache of being "neither from here, nor from there." Not "Mexican enough" for family, nor "American enough" for work. The fatigue of switching identities depending on where you are. For many, substances become a way to silence that constant tension.

Sandra once said: "I started drinking at family gatherings because I felt like a stranger. I didn't speak Spanish perfectly, didn't get all the jokes. Alcohol gave me courage to pretend I belonged."

This disconnection doesn't just affect individuals - it interrupts the transmission of traditions, language, and wisdom for future generations.

Our Traditions as Healing Tools

Here's the beautiful truth: many of our traditions already hold the practices therapists now use for healing and recovery. We just need to recognize them.

Morning Prayers as Mindfulness: Lighting candles, sipping coffee, whispering prayers these are acts of presence and grounding. When cravings hit, the familiar rhythm of making coffee like abuela did can ground you in the present moment.

Sobremesa as Group Therapy: The conversations that linger after meals are our cultural version of processing emotions, sharing burdens, and celebrating joys. These natural check-ins can replace the isolation patterns that often fuel addiction.

Food as Medicine: Cooking a grandmother's mole or tamales is memory, identity, and therapy wrapped in one. The intentional preparation becomes a meditation on connection and care.

Music and Dance as Healing: Rancheras, cumbias, and rock songs invite us to move, release, and reconnect with joy. Movement helps process emotions that words cannot reach.

Stories as Narrative Therapy: The tales of "cuando yo era niño" or "tu bisabuelo siempre decía" anchor us in something larger than ourselves, providing perspective and resilience.

Reclaiming the Sacred

Reconnecting with tradition doesn't mean returning to the past exactly as it was. It means noticing what nourishes us and adapting it to support life now.

First steps:

Identify a tradition you mis: maybe a holiday, maybe just the way coffee was made. Ask what you loved most about it.

Adapt, don't abandon: if gatherings always involve alcohol, try a Sunday lunch, a family walk, or a music night that honors connection without substances.

Start small: play a childhood song while cleaning or call a relative for a recipe.

Seek community: find spaces where your whole self, culture included, belongs.

Celebrate complexity: if you come from multiple traditions, hold them all as gifts, not contradictions.

Create new traditions: rituals of gratitude, monthly offerings, family art nights, or new ways to mark milestones in sobriety and beyond.

The Path Forward

This week, explore one tradition that can support your sense of connection. It might be making coffee the way your family did, listening to childhood music, or creating a small altar at home.

Questions for reflection:

• What tradition once gave me peace or joy?

• How can I adapt it for recovery and wholeness?

• What part of my culture do I want to pass on?

• How can I honor my heritage while building a new life?

Your practice this week: Choose one tradition to reclaim:

• Prepare a traditional dish with intention and care

• Play music from your childhood while doing something ordinary

• Call an elder for a family story

• Create a small sacred space with photos, plants, or objects that root you in your heritage

Remember: you are not betraying your culture by changing. You are honoring it by choosing life, health, and authentic presence. Our ancestors carried these traditions so we would have choices and now, we get to carry them forward.

Next week, we'll explore how art and creativity can help us build recovery offerings sacred spaces that honor both past and future.

What tradition will you reclaim this week?

Try one thing:

• Make your family's coffee ritual mindfully

• Call someone to ask about a recipe or story

• Play one song that connects you to your roots

Share what you discover in the comments below. Together, our voices create a symphony of healing.

Until next time,
Marie

References:

• Guerrero, E. G., Cepeda, A., Duan, L., & Kim, T. (2012). Disparities in completion of substance abuse treatment among Latino subgroups in Los Angeles County, CA. Addictive Behaviors, 37(10), 1162-1166.

• Rowan, M., Poole, N., Shea, B., Gone, J. P., Mykota, D., Farag, M., Hopkins, C., Hall, L., Mushquash, C., & Dell, C. (2014). Cultural interventions to treat addictions in Indigenous populations: findings from a scoping study. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, 9, 34.

Additional Resources:

• Look for Latino Recovery groups in your area

• Explore local libraries for books about family traditions

• Connect with cultural centers that offer sober activities

• Consider therapy with a culturally aware counselor