>>9936174 (PB)
The mind and the body are not separate organisms. The best way to think of the human body is as a collection of symbiotic organisms -- right down to the level of individual cells ... separate in one sense, but absolutely dependent upon each other.
Exercise feeds the brain just as information and meditation does (meditation = "focused thought," not a religious ritual). The physical exercise leaves the brain in a better position to benefit from the mental exercise. The mental exercise provides the motivations to get a reasonable amount of physical exercise so that the mental acuity is not lost.
As far as addictions go - and speaking from wide experience as well as from personal - that's a matter of changing the externals of your life (bad friends lead to bad habits) and the internals of your thinking and morality.
We all serve something greater than ourselves. The way to keep the drug from being that "higher power" is to consciously choose to put something else in that position.
Spiritual yearnings can be intensely disturbing. It's been my observation that often drug use and obsessive behaviors (sexual excesses and the external rituals of religious piety, for instance) are doomed attempts to fill those yearnings.
If you haven't yet read "Pilgrims Progress" by John Bunyan, allow me to recommend it. The spiritual man is on a journey through life just as the physical one is. Actually, those journeys tend to mirror each other. Let Bunyan describe that journey for you. Read it as a student intent on learning its principles.
I wish you well. Peace be with you.