Yoga and Recovery

A Gift Bag Of Puke

2012-02-26T07:32:00.000-08:00

First let me say that lessons can be found anywhere, in any form. I choose to actively look for my lessons; life speaks to me. There is a window above my kitchen sink. I can watch kids going to and from school, people on their daily runs, or walking their dogs as I wash my dishes, pare my fruits and cut my vegetables or run cool water to drink. Sometimes a car will park under the curbside tree to make or receive a cell phone call. I look out with curiosity, hoping to recognize the occupant as a visitor and not just someone using the shade for convenience. A few days ago a car stopped and the passenger door opened. I gazed out anticipating recognition. Someone was dropping by! Instead the passenger leaned out and, partially hidden by the butterfly iris bush, began to heave. She spasmed over the curb several times, began to withdraw back into the car and lurched out again to wretch some more. I am standing at my sink watching this - feeling I should run a glass of water and bring it to her. But my mind kicks in and overrules my heart with thoughts. I start thinking; embarrassment on her part, intrusion on my part, the front door sticks so I won't get out there on time, and so on. I waste vital minutes on prevarication eventually talking myself out of this basic act of human kindness. It is too late. She has drawn back into the car one final time, the door closes and they pull away. I gaze back to the curb mildly concerned about what I would see - and there is it! A gaily, brightly colored gift bag in the gutter. I can't believe my eyes. She had found a container in her car to catch her effluvia. She had done what she could to contain the mess. I am astounded. I pause, drink the glass of water I had started for her and felt shame. Shame that I had not overcome my reticence and offered this suffering traveler a git of comfort; and yet she had done her best to reduce the impact of HER discomfort to me, and unknown homeowner. She had tried to mitigate the problem her pain had caused me. I had another lesson; follow your heart, your instinct for kindness. A walker trips in front of you- instinctively you reach to assist her. Someone drops a parcel - without thinking you reach down to retrieve it for them. Don't think: do. Don't let your head - which is NOT always wise - over rule your humanity. Rather than delaying a kindness due to some pre-sensed prejudice - such as the inconvenience of sick in the gutter - go with compassion and offer to ease a traveler's discomfort. This is what I have learned from a gift bag of puke.

My GPS Takes Time To Load

2012-02-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

I have a new GPS unit. It takes some of the fear out of going to new places - particularly if is it dark or visibility is poor. I like it.However, my GPS takes time to load! I plug it in and it takes time to crank and churn. At first I was frustrated by the amount of time it took to "wake up". Even in my driveway it pauses and dots and displays messages such as "looking for a valid signal". "Looking for a valid signal"? Are lots of bogus signals bouncing around? Evidently. While waiting for the signal to be identified and approved I took time to think. Do I get bogus signals? Are my signals valid? Do I jump in my truck swooshing out of the driveway (looking both ways, of course, for people and traffic), but still, I jump into my vehicle and drive pell mell without consideration? Have I taken stock of where I am - where I REALLY am (emotionally, intellectually, spiritually)before leaving to invade someone else's space? Whether I am headed to the post office or a friends's house; where am I NOW? Can I pause and wait for a valid signal to identify where I am?After finding a valid signal the unit waits and waits and waits until I let it know where I wish to go. It doesn't assume I am going to my prior end point, or the first I ever programmed. It waits until I select my destination. I intentionally state where I am planning to go. Even then, time is taken to choose the most direct route - not always the one I would have chosen - but, so far, a route that has gotten me to my destination. In determining my path have I considered traffic and intentions, route and motivation, speed and expectations? Have I found the clear path and taken my higher power with me? I may need to be re-routed if the unexpected pops up - some accident or road repair that was not foreseen or predicted. I may need to "recalculate my route". Mindfully selecting my destination is not a bad idea.So taking these few moments to let the gizmo figure out where we are, I figure out where I am. Waiting patiently while it plans the direction, I set my route with intention. I breath (it calculates) and I prepare myself for moving into the world with my total self in alignment. I reform these moments of possible frustration into moments of reflection. Where am I, where am I going, how will I get there, and HOW will I get there. Not just route but integrated me. Such useful moments. Mindfulness taught by Tom Tom.I could learn from this card sized device.

Setting Intentions Can Be Scary!

2012-02-03T09:35:00.000-08:00

It is one thing to step securely on the sand and let your feet be lapped by the waves- it is another thing entirely to be in the water, toes touching nothing, being part of the vastness, lifted by the waves.Setting intentions and aligning them with purpose has been like that for me. After having taken Rolf Gate's "Living on Purpose" workshop I have been writing and noting (scribing and observing). I made a list of opportunities I am ready for. I really thought about what my purpose, service and mission are. I sat with my eyes closed and my mind focused to FEEL how I wanted them to manifest. Much is the same: intent is different. My vision has become more precise as "the universe has difficulty supporting ambivalence". So integration and unification has been the path of the last few weeks. Reviewing choices about my activities, selecting them wisely and putting them in concert with my intentions has created a powerful energy flow in my life. This has been the toes on the shore portion of the process.In the sea: the opportunities have undulated towards me. I have had people come to me, unbidden, to help me out with facets of my dreams. I have had calls and contacts from across the country in Maryland to invite me to come and play; to teach and to remember by community. I was able to find an error in an important piece of work and, with grace and support, was able to get it fixed. I am, again, ok with mistakes - they do not drown me. I can relax and re-work, repair and restore. So... Beware and rejoice! The bounty of the universe may be yours, too!

Ethics and My Daily Practice

2012-01-14T06:22:00.000-08:00

It was suggested to me that I think about how I live my ethics; is my practice "hot, medium or cool". My first internal response to this was - I am rigorous about my attention to my ethics. I am a practicing member of my recovery fellowship, AA, and I am a practicing yogi. I work the steps, and practice the principles in "all of my affairs". I have a daily spiritual practice of listening to my inner stillness and honoring the 8 limbs of Raja Yoga. On more reflection I realized why it is called a PRACTICE (and not a perfection). Some days may approach is lukewarm if not totally "cool". I sit in stillness only to make note of all my thoughts of things to do. The stillness is merely organized inactivity in preparation for wild activity. There are days my personal yoga practice is so perfunctory as to be merely extended stretching while putting on my socks and pulling on my sweater. I may stop at a sink or wall to extend my back and experience the tightness in my hamstrings or calves, push my palm against the hallway wall and linger for thirty seconds to open my tight shoulders but that is it. It is the practice of yoga while I am on my way to doing something else. Certainly not a mindful mat practice. My engagement with my ethics is another part of the journey. First, what are they? I embrace the Yamas and the Niyamas (and the corollary of some of them in avoiding the 7 Deadly Sins) and they do form the basis of my ethical behavior. That includes the practices of forgiveness and compassion - so critical for me to be able to express and act in these ethical manners. When do I fall short? I fall short when I am feeling less about myself. I fall short when I feel I need something that with my own current skill or resource level, I am unable to earn on my own. This can apply to the material; but more often now it occurs when I feel I need or want something non-material. This can be ability on the mat, this can be artistic and technical skills in the pottery studio, this can be wisdom to navigate difficult situations in life. When I am feeling badly about myself I have more opportunity to "regret the past", I have more need to control the outcomes of situations, I am unwise in my speech and attitude and am more likely to cause harm. When I am angry at myself I am much more likely to find occasion to be angry at others. This may sound simplistic - but is IS all about me! It is my "stinkin thinkin" that gets me into difficulties. Compassion with myself begets compassion with others, acceptance of myself as I am "leaks out" to manifest in acceptance of people, places and things as they are. And this causes a wave; a smile given is a smile returned. Listening quietly with an open heart allows the speaker to be in there moment unfettered to expectations. Employing Tapas, discipline, to acquire the skills I need to be better at what I do will remove the need to yearn for others' abilities. When it comes to things - examine why I need then, what it is I really "want" and then, work and save for it if that thing is necessary. So how am I with my ethics? Better in this moment, better when I consider them in what I think, say and do. Will I ever think I am "hot" or 80 to 100% attentive? I don't know. I am concerned that when I feel "hot" I am really "cool". Today, however, I am going to reinvigorate my attention to this question; I will remind myself again and again (I have an over active "forget-er") to come back to the question and then, to come back to compassion.

Learning how to receive

2012-01-04T08:12:00.000-08:00

Over this holiday I received a gift of money. I was astounded, surprised and very grateful. This was un-budgeted, unexpected cash. Over the last several years my "wanting" has decreased. We live close to the bone, within our means and it suits me. I have no pressing need for any material goods. I am of an age where I have collected all I want and have all I need. My kitchen has pots and pans, my closet has clothes that fit, and I have ceased craving the next new design or color for my towels and sheets. I have it all! I am totally grateful and aware, deeply aware, that not all people can say even a fraction of that.
But this was a surprise and it opened up the door on wanting, the revisiting of craving. Was I going to toss this money into the "bill" maw and allow it to be part of the PGE, the water, the insatiable gas needs of my truck? It could certainly go there. It could provide some measure of security, some "prepaid" assurance against some unforeseen need like tires, or a house repair. But I didn't want to do that with all of this bounty. I did feel like I needed to practice receiving. This was a gift to me, an opportunity to do or have for myself something that I wouldn't permit myself otherwise. I don't often see the gray, but this time I did. What if I used some for myself and some against a rainy day?
So I did. I registered for on online course on intention and self care. I am taking: Living on Purpose; Group Coaching on Deliberate Creation - with Rolf Gates. I have been thinking for a while that I would like some time for self development: development that has, at its end purpose, my own self care. I have a habit, an unfortunate focus of intent, of signing up to learn things SO I can teach. Take a sculpture class so I can better explain it to others, take a training so I can lead and so on. It is important that I be in service; but just now, while I face a lot of new and unknown things I need to, I want to, take care of myself. So this wonderful gift of surprise money allowed me to take advantage of this idea I had; taking care of myself, without having to purloin funds from the family fund.
First step in self care... learning how to receive. I guess that is the second part of the present.

Growing and Changing

2011-12-28T16:05:00.000-08:00

A new class is being formed for Yoga and Recovery - Y12Sr - starting Monday, January 9, 2011 from 7 pm to 9 pm at the Gyalwa Gyatso Buddhist Center in Campbell. I am excited and feeling a little anxious. It is the kind of anxious I feel when I have invited folks over and the table is set, the food is all but finished, the house is clean, the towels arranged just so in the "necessary". I am ready and it is only four hours until the guests arrive! Not really, but it feels like that. The preparedness and the forward looking combine to being both in the past (preparation) and the future (arrival). The present looms large with the sensation of no NOW. Really, the NOW is all there is and being really there, in the moment, in each moment without the distraction of things to do, or conversations to begin, or projects to start, is very uncomfortable. This is actually the perfect time to practice now-ness.
While I experience anticipation and excitement I will make these days about being where I am; practicing the fullness of karma yoga. I do all that I can and let go of the results. Sounds almost like the program, doesn't it! Ha - tricked again into practicing the principles in all my affairs.
Happy New Year!

Security, serenity and the sensation of sacred

2011-11-21T06:45:00.000-08:00

The experiences of this year's conference at Esalen are still will me. I have some healing to do; and that is good. I have learned a lot from being vulnerable. I also found security, serenity and the sensation of being sacred just as I am. Could I have found that without feeling the tenderness of pain? I am not sure. The healing part came as I practiced all the tools I have in self care. I wrote, I meditated, I took time for myself away from activity, I read and I rested. I have found security in my ability to care for myself. I also had the grace and good fortune to have people around me who care a great deal for me and were content just to be there for me as I worked things through. They didn't have to know the details - they were there in support. It really doesn't matter if the negative sensations were from a current event or a memory; it was there, it hurt and it would pass.
Being in that unique situation; having nearly 70 people all on a similar path sharing meals, satsang, asana practice, free time and sleepy time accelerated healing. There was a serenity to be found in BEING, allowing the feelings to come and go. As it happens in a pose where at one moment the arms call your attention and then it is your hips or the muscles of your thighs; so too the pain of becoming moves around; nothing permanent, always changing.
Then there was the last day - a wonderful asana practice led in turn by Tommy Rosen, Rolf Gates and Nikki Myers. Words were said that I so needed to hear - that I was sacred. My poses were an expression of my sacred being. Never had I experienced such acceptance and joy in my poses. I am not the strongest, most flexible, or most expressive yoga practitioner. When my eyes and mind traveled off my own mat and looked around to others this time, however, I saw only other people. I did not "see a mountain as a comment on myself" - I saw other people. That is all. My yoga practice felt just right, I felt complete in my experience of the poses. I felt sacred and I felt whole. Luckily I cannot shake that memory. I come back to it and I feel just right. The right size, the right place on this earth, and right now. In actuality, the memory is just a memory, it passes. Having the point of reference, though, I can identify this feeling of being sacred from time to time in any day. I am grateful.

Monarchs, migration and metamorphosis

2011-11-11T07:06:00.000-08:00

Scheduling Esalen for a conference during the monarch migration... is that an accident or a wonderful coincidence? The Yoga and Addiction Recovery Conference held its second annual get together late October this year; and for the second time it was held during the butterfly migration.
Last year it was so cold the poor insects were literally grounded - on the paths and in the dirt. We stepped carefully to avoid them. First year at the conference I was feeling the same way about my having come, about my participation and my feelings. On a path I was compelled to take but tentative - unable to soar with my revelations; I was there but staying low waiting for the temperature to rise so I could continue on my journey.
This year - warm air and a more evolved internal landscape - flitting from bush to bush: or from new found friendship group to friendship group I was "active in my own recovery". Now these may seem strange words from a person who has been on this road to happy destiny for a few 24 hours - but new is new I have come to accept this and not to deny the sensations. I remind myself time and time again that there is no "should" in terms of recovery, comfort or metamorphosis. I can only harm myself by thinking that I "should" be comfortable with all people at all times, that I "should not" feel anxious in a new situation or discomforted with new revelations about myself and my journey. That is not useful. This year was a time to be able to be where I am, to openly relate to what was being taught, both in the workshops and in the dining hall, walking with friends and talking at night in the cabin; sitting in the tubs or standing at the fence gazing at the ocean. The teachings were available everywhere and I was ready to absorb (investigate and integrate). So like the sun soaked monarchs I flitted from cluster to cluster of generous yogis who shared themselves, their metamorphosis with me - in the warm, sometimes windy sunshine of the week.

A Heart Cracked Open

2011-11-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

I Love It - For Real, for real.

I am going to take several days to integrate what I discovered and learned (which are quite different things) at the Yoga and Addiction Recovery Conference at Esalen this past week. Nikki Myers, Rolf Gates, Vinnie Marino, Noah Levine, Carrie Coppola and Tommy Rosen all shared with a generosity of spirit, an authenticity and availability that touched me deeply. Among the intense experience of somatic release, meditation, 12 Step sharing and dharma talks my mind, body, spirit and emotions found corners of my heart. These areas had been long protected. I let them emerge without having to analyze or explain why they had been hidden. This abrupt awakening left me with a heart cracked open. I felt this with my body in the form of tears, in my emotions as a sense of increased vulnerability followed by a sense of alertness and aliveness, and in my spirit with renewed love and affection for both myself and others. Yes, for myself and others. Both. What a gift.

Stay tuned for more.

In the meantime my article on the breath was published in the Dynamic Living Magazine. Click here for more!

Preparing for November Workshop

2011-10-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

I am so delighted to be able to present my workshop on Yoga and the 12 Step Path November 13th at the Gyalwa Gyatso Buddhist Center in Campbell. I am going to focus on the Yamas and the Niyamas as well as lead a gentle yoga class. I am still contemplating and meditating on the actual content of each section and that gives me an opportunity to listen to and reflect upon the truth of these tenets in my everyday life. That is where the yoga lives in me - in the truth of my thoughts, speech and behavior in everyday life. These concepts are not just to be part of reading and discussion (although that is a starting point). These concepts come alive as I practice them - not only out and about with people I don't know, but with my family and friends, as well as in my heart and mind when conversing with myself. The addict lives strongest in my brain and the practices of yoga need to winkle themselves in there to soften my heart, calm my mind and bring the actions of self tenderness into the day. So here is to my practice and I look forward to sharing it with you. Come join me Sunday 11/13/12. More information will be forthcoming.

Y12SR - back from Leadership training and "my heart is full"

2011-09-30T12:20:00.000-07:00

I have been back from the Y12SR Leadership training for several days now. It has taken me awhile to assimilate and absorb the information. Y12SR is a meeting format that includes both an all recovery path 12 Step based meeting followed by a one hour yoga practice. The focus or theme of this yoga practice comes out of the energies discovered during the meeting. How to lead and read the meeting, and how to bring this understanding to the mat were the foci of the training.

The training began with developing an understanding addiction and recovery. The importance of self knowledge as well as "felt sense" as keys to relapse prevention were discussed. The workshop went into the somatics of trauma. It also led us to an awareness of the issues of pre-judgement and understanding how our life experiences can impact unconscious inclusion or dis-inclusion of others. She also described how these experiences can affect the processes of leadership. Our "short comings" and personal triggers can have an impact our effectiveness. Exercises were practiced to experience the pitfalls that can arise in group situations.

It was challenging and affirming, educational and emotional, informative and inspiring. Nikki Myers presented amazing material. Most importantly she led us into ourselves to help us FEEL how this information both affects us and affects how we impact our environment.

The process of being in recovery profoundly informs how we are in the world. How we are in the world has a big impact on how we are in groups. How well we know ourselves and our own behaviors and discernment can have a big impact on how effectively we can lead groups. Effective leadership in this setting means creating a safe sacred space and leaving room for others to find their way to healing.

This was a mind - wide opening workshop, led with skill and grace by Nikki with an amazing group of yogis. While this training is not gender restrictive - this particular class was exclusively female and we made the most of this constellation of goddess energy. Sharing freely and deeply I feel a deep sense of closeness and bonding with all the women who were there. Thank you all for your contributions, empathy and love. Namaste

Yoga and the Release of Trauma

2011-09-18T13:56:00.000-07:00

I wrote and article for this month's issue of Dynamic Living magazine and it is now out. Give it a read! http://dynamiclivingmagazine.com/issue/2011-SepOct/yoga.html

If you have any questions please let me know - I am glad to respond or give additional resources if you are interested. Be well.

Good Grief! More to process!!!

2011-09-04T11:33:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was given the opportunity to contribute to a curriculum for teen girls. The focus of this 6 week course for these incarcerated young women is co-dependence and other fall out from living in a house with addiction. Like the turtle in the Mr Wizard cartoon - I have been time traveling back to my childhood. In order to write words and present ideas in the form acceptable to a teenager - I have been thinking back to what would have made sense to me. Well - as a young girl in my occasional moments of clarity when yearning for my life to have order there were some words of advise and care. But they were as scarce as my occasion to hear and comprehend them. I didn't have a lot of mentors or adults who were able to permeate the shell of misery that I had created being a child of an alcoholic. I don't know if we can be such a voice for them, but I want to try. OK - now we have established that I am going back through time with the express purpose of being the teenager in that situation so I can come up with guidance for them. Time travel without boundaries- feeling like I felt back then.
I have also been adding somatic exercises to my yoga practice. Over half an hour a day, each and every day for several weeks. Intellectually I know that these are designed to release held emotions. But I have already PROCESSED my past, I say. I have been to alateen meetings, alanon meetings, CODA meetings, ACOA meetings and I continue my active membership in my recovery program. So I only expected to gain additional flexibility and pain relief in my back and hips. Oh ho ho. Guess what?
There is more to process - I don't have visions of events, I am not remembering specifics but I feel like I am detoxing, physically and emotionally. My sleep patterns are strange - wide awake at night and desiring nothing but naps during the day. In fact, I can curl up on my office floor any afternoon and float into a nourishing yoga nidra (not sleep) for a half hour without any preparation what so ever!I am a little cranky and feel alternately unloved and then totally connected to the world. I have hunger but no appetite. All signs that I am off balance emotionally, spiritually, physically and emotionally. So - I redouble my efforts in all the self care I know and look for ways I don't yet know.
As I finally figured out this whole stream of occurrences: the somatics, the research, the writing, the confusion and the pain... I say "silly ol' bear" "OF COURSE" I am release even more from my tissues as I explore my teenage self - hoping to be able to some valuable content and a present a path to these young girls so they can hurt less and grow more.
Good Grief - "drizzle, drazzle, druzzle, drome - time for this one to come home": home to health and the true spirit of authentic self.

New friends - old souls

2011-08-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

The Y12SR and Sunday night yoga classes have new students. I am enriched with knowledge, insights and struggles brought by each new person who comes to class.
I have had the delight of getting to know a young person who is the friend of one of my kids. An "old soul" who has wisdom and kindness, yet has experienced so much pain from the journey to wholeness. Coming back to the class week after week I get to hear the serenity being developed, the healthy solutions being sought and the tenacity that grows out of living a life in recovery one day at a time.
I have met people further along their path of recovery who want or need to expand their tools of coping and soothing. Yoga coupled with the tools of recovery do fit that bill: yoga philosophy giving an additional framework in which to discuss our recovery ethics and what it true to us. Yoga movement helping to release the tensions that have built over time. Pain in the spirit, the body, and the mind can be lovingly addressed and let go.
I have met people who are not sure what the problem is: self or another, personal behavior or the "unacceptable" behavior of a loved one. Sitting in the discussion circle, hearing what is read and said, can help unravel the confusion. Taking it to the mat can assist working things out; as the body moves through the poses - the subconscious mind can move through what has been said. Sivasana can then integrate the activity of the body and the enlightenment of the mind.
So new folks are arriving each week; some stay , some drift in and out, but I am always left with the honor of having been in their presence. I am grateful.

There is a publisher for my book!

2011-08-12T17:23:00.000-07:00

"Yoga and the 12 Step Path" may well soon see the light of day! I am so excited, I am savoring every moment of this process of becoming published. A year to write, four months to edit, five weeks in the hands of an able agent and a decade to experience, research and live.
It is exciting to experience this stage of the journey and I am in each moment OF the experience. At this time my healthy brain is allowing me to be in the gratitude and joy of the moment. Rather than anticipating what may come, or being anxious about my choices up until now I am bathing in the beauty of now. Gratitude and the breath make the miracle of each minute real.

Dream of mom, mothers needed and mothers becoming

2011-07-27T06:45:00.000-07:00

I woke up about an hour after falling asleep. About the third or fourth night in a row with dreams about my family. Last few nights also included dad.. dad in unlikely situations and with an unlikely role. Tonight’s dream went like this – with a strange unsettling message and question at the end.

There were a number of times mom came home from drying out place (in real life just twice; from Stepping Stones in SF). Dad, thin and like a tv dad, rather than the robustly shaped and disinterested man he had been. I was a young teen, with a brother, not a sister a few years younger than I, and there were only the 2 of us.

Mom would come home from rehab, get drunk and get sent back. In my dream the last time the cops (?) held her elbow to lead her from the house, she was told that next time it would be the looney bin and she would be subject to ECT.

So there it was – the day of her first furlough from this most recent time in lock up and I am desperate to get the house cleaned up – brother and dad not really helping, dad looking exhausted and long suffering and not really engaged - brother is dis-interested and distant. It is late – evening to dark, I am rushing around, the house is picked up but not clean. I am going around to the many houseplants and trying to pick off the dead leaves and fronds- the dry brown blades of the pygmy palm aren’t dead enough yet to be removed easily and they turn stringy in their resistance and frustrate me. I look over my shoulder and there are blue and red lights strobe-ing outside of the apartment window, following a car to the curb in front of the building. Up they come, the cement stairs with the iron railings reverberating with each step. The door is opened and police officers come in with mom between them. She is holding a wide mouth beer bottle and smiles. “Do you know this woman?” one asks and I fly toward her, knocking her on the ground and slap her with all my might “Do you know what they are going to do now, mom, DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY ARE GOING TO DO??? They are going to lock you up and shock you and we might not ever see you again!” I am so angry and disappointed – she couldn’t even make it home without getting drunk. And I had spent all day working in a thousand ways to make her feel welcome and…

(the mother’s voice takes up the tale) and all I saw was a thousand ways they didn’t need me. It would be six months and a car accident plowing me into the delta before I would step into these rooms (remembrance of mom driving into the reservoir on Dewey in SF when I was 15?). It was as if the mom were reciting the story from the podium at a meeting.

Then later…
I woke up and was asking myself why I was having a mom dream tonight. Yesterday I had spent all day with Shasta and just felt so full of love for her, watching our relationship change, leaving her alone, trusting her to her own way, in my mind and not just in my speech and action. Getting better at it each time I see her. And then thinking about how it is for her to be with me as I change direction in my life . I was also wondering if mom experienced not knowing how to deal with me as I grew up and grew in sobriety- so she shrank to make room for me to seem grown. Even later in life when she was sober she retreated into illness. The more competent I became the less so she. Was mom just making room for the only dynamic that she knew : Big person / Little person – giving up her sense of self so that I could grow? There is this sense of a teeter totter – where the perceived gift is not at all what was to be given – that never would what has been received have been the givers choosing. Is this the only choice my mom saw?

In the light of day I know it is not MY choice: developing a new relationship with my daughter, one of equality and respect, has no model. It is blooming on its own and I miss, with all my heart, having had a similar one with my mom.

Daily Meditation

2011-07-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

For the past 10 days I have been using a guided meditation to refresh my morning practice. I located a lovely intention setting meditation. For some reason it really has had an impact on my days. I try guided meditations from time to time; and while I benefit from all moments in meditation some experiences linger. This practice has been one of those. I have been struggling with a challenge and the guidance provided here, along with my desire to face my barriers and boundaries, is the perfect union with my practice right now. Sitting quietly, becoming conscious of my safety, my willingness to grow and feel different than I do (practicing satya and aparigraha) and allowing, without constraint or control, to let the truth unfold slowly, I found my intention. I did not come to the cushion with a specific intention in mind. I came to the cushion with an openness to the possibilities; the possibility of change.

This is really what the journey into a sober life has been for me. I did have an intention at first - to STOP IT! I wasn't sure what it was; I did know that it would entail putting down the drink and drugs, but I had no idea what would come next. I just showed up. I found safety in the rooms, I became honest, and I became willing. I learned to let go: to let go of who I was and let go of what I thought was "going to happen". And my life got better; the future opened up and while all situations have not been rosy - they have led to rosy moments and a life I could never have imagined.

So - being open to the intention is kind of like being a new comer to my life. I have jerks and pauses, and then cruise along with the smooth deep breath of moments that allow my days to be beautiful.
If you are interested try it! I am posting it here for your listening pleasure!

Summer Cold and Taking Things as They Are

2011-05-31T09:33:00.000-07:00

I have been madly preparing for an art show and sale that takes place on the 18th of June. With pottery you have to get all revved up weeks before the event so that the 3 to 6 week process from bringing pieces from the clay bag to the table can be completed. This is planning and living in the future. That vibrant activity has come to a close. I have also been writing a book (yes! A REAL book.) The process of writing and re-writing, re-reading and re-assessing is now on hold. The book is now off my desk and in the hands of the editor who has been giving me kind encouragement and wise feedback.
What does this have to do with my cold? I have cleared my desk and my potters wheel of projects - I have only a few things to do before the sale, and I cannot do them I am so exhausted! I don't' have a "next step" to do on the book - it is out of my hands for a while. I can't take the yoga classes I finally have time for; in fact I have had to cancel some classes I teach. I have to take the advice I so freely give others; to take care of one's self (yes, I mean that, the self that is in the care taking of one). So I am in a chair, not DOING anything, (except now, writing this to clear my head). I am struggling with pranayama due to my congestion and taking meditation as I can find it.
Yes, taking things as they are, not being too disappointed at the change from expectations concerning my "free" time. Perhaps this is just what I should be doing. Resting and contemplating; and coming in touch again with my activity oriented sense of self. I am still my Self - at rest and taking care. Will I listen? I am trying!

Wonderful World of Recovering Seekers (and trackers)

2011-02-01T17:31:00.000-08:00

A little over a week ago I was in Oregon at Breitenbush Hot Springs with a group of amazing people. Darren Littlejohn had organized a group of 12 Step Buddhists (all fans of his book of the same name). The concepts for discussion were Boundaries, Self Care and Community. Darren led us through meditations and visualizations, helping each of us reflect on and discover more about each of these ideas. There was good food, there was community, there were the springs, and wonderful blue skies and clear nights. Cherie Epstein brought lots and lots of wonderful pictures for us to make collages. She brought paper, watercolors and straws (YES!) for us to create paintings. This we did by blowing the paint across the paper in beautiful free forms and shapes. We were led in daily morning Zen meditations and yoga was offered by yours truly. I also gave a talk about yoga and recovery (what else) to a group of post prandial somnolent troupers who tried valiantly to stay awake in a warm room after lunch. Thank you all who came!
This was a wonderful experience. Darren topped off the presentations on Sunday leading us through an exploration of sorrow and her sister: Joy. We closed with images of joy and sorrow; the first the sun and the latter the moon - the story being that the moon can eclipse the sun - but the absence of the sun (joy) is an illusion. The sun exists, even at night, when we are tipped away from it, it never wavers, is never gone.
I had great room-mates and a wonderful car pool experience. My car mate took me on a detour to the Columbia River Gorge for a fabulous view before being dropped off at the airport for my trip home.

Anne Lamott - Imperfect Birds

2011-01-03T10:11:00.000-08:00

While cuddling up with a book is not a classical yoga position - taking time to take care of yourself, self study, contentment, and contemplation are all yogic practices. So "cuddle up" was the pose I assumed for an hour each day last week as I read Anne Lamott's recent book _Imperfect Birds_.
How painful, how sweet; how tragic and and how real - Lamott takes the reader through the challenges of sobriety, of balance, of being a parent and being one's self. This book chronicles a few months in the lives of a North Bay (SF Bay, of COURSE) family. _Imperfect Birds_ tells the story of the deep dive addiction takes the individual, the family,the friends and the impact it has on the community. For those of us who were the teenager - going from "experimentation" through escape to addiction,and for those of us who are or were parent's of "future fellows" (of the rooms of NA or AA) this book lends its bald, honest and authentic voice to that journey. No one comes out unscathed / unchanged. The annealing process of finding yourself is forged of pain, letting go, and waking up; Lamott guides the reader through the twists and turns, hopes and denials, the false starts and the re-starts that occur along the way. Lamott adds enough sweet humor and tender insights into one's human-ness as to make the process bearable and in the end - you find your self in each one of the characters, the addict and the co-addict, the healer and the helper. This is one book that really brought me back to the basics. It brought me to the basics of my AA program, my recovery from being a child of an alcoholic and my recovery as an alanon - the disease of over helping. It also brought me to the basics of self care - that sometimes a dose of couch cuddling with a fabulous book is just what the body ordered. Thank you, Anne.

Chair Yoga at BREATHE in Los Gatos

2010-12-21T13:31:00.000-08:00

A scrumptious new studio is opening up in Los Gatos. BREATHE is a feast for the eyes and the talented staff offers a buffet for the body - all types, practices and lineages of yoga are there from which to choose. Yours truly will be joining the staff in February - teaching a chair yoga class each Thursday afternoon. This one hour class will combine all the integral elements of a yoga practice; breath work, stretching, strengthening, twists and some challenge followed by full-body seated pose relaxation. I will have a "sample" benefit class on January 1, 2011 at 3pm - so please come by, see the studio and try a Chair Yoga experience. Once you try it might be able to recommend a friend and loved one to the class in February. See you there!

Yoga and Recovery - 12 Steps and Yoga - Y12SR

2010-12-06T06:42:00.000-08:00

Last Friday I held my first Y12SR class at Willow Glen Yoga. Yoga and 12 Step Recovery is a class that begins with a one hour topic / discussion all recovery meeting and concludes with a one hour yoga class. We were few this first time -but the meeting was awesome. Sometimes having a small group brings deep sharing and this was such a time. While we each got to share fully - kind of introducing ourselves to the group, we did have a shorter meeting which let to a longer practice. YAHOO! I was able to include some restorative poses at the end which were received with (quiet) enthusiasm. Of course this last section of relaxation is always more yummy when preceded by some warming strengthening stretching work; and it was. We brought "acceptance" in as our sankalpa. Acceptance of where we are on our recovery journeys, where we are in life with all its challenges, where we are in our physical bodies, and where we are on our spiritual paths. We spoke of it during the meeting, we experienced it during the active practice and we integrated it during final relaxation. What a wonderful class.
I look forward to the next two Fridays and hope we can continue after that. Come one come all!

If you want to practice a few sun salutations at home in between classes try this one page description of the sequence: Sun Salutations

Yoga and Recovery - Finding contentment today

2010-10-24T17:06:00.000-07:00

Being enough, having enough, living in gratitude for what is and for who I am; what a blissful feeling. Unfortunately I can loose this feeling so often. It slips through my fingers in a trice. I can begin the day with contentment, living in the moment and finding the abundance, the sufficiency in the NOW, then, like a breeze from nowhere dissatisfaction arises. When speaking with someone I hear a tone of voice, I see an expression and (because my ego mind is so strong and self absorbed) I react. I react to a perceived response to ME (because it is all about me). I find that belly gripping, shortness of breath, the constriction of the heart and chest and ... STOP the foolishness and
relax the shoulders
soften the face
bring the breath into the belly
take inventory - physical and emotional
Am I ok pysically? Yes - relax
Am I ok emotionally - why not? What is the source - illusion? grasping? avoidance? Find out what is going on and attend to it. Self sooth - make a list of doing doing and get it out of the head, let go of holding and expectation, ask for help if needed and then notice that I am OK.
What happens when I pull gratitude back into my heart? Ease. I am complete in the moment. And after the frantic searching and dis-ease I am, once again, content.

Ask Kyczy about Yoga and Recovery; Karma Yoga and 12 Step Work

2010-09-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

To participate in the joy and honor of being in service are crucial to my well being. This activity brings me closer to people and to their divinity. It accesses the divine in me. I address being of service in my morning meditation by including a prelude which asks that all obstacles be removed in order that I be able to be of maximum service to others. I then contemplate the fact that if, indeed, I am of service – I am not the doer. I am a channel, I am a conduit but I am not the beginning of the service action and I am not the end. This helps me to remember that I am not the outcome either. I am not the result and I am not responsible for the result.
In service in the 12 step program or on the mat, whatever I do needs to be approached with the right attitude, perhaps employing the quality of saucha, purity. Whatever I do needs to be with the right motive (selfless service), do it honestly within my capacity at this moment in my life, do it to the best of my ability, and learn from the activity all it has to offer. This is a tall order!
The possibility of being of service occurs almost every moment in life, smiling at a stranger you pass on the street, picking up a fallen object for someone, preparing a delicious and colorful meal for your family or housemates – there are opportunities to be of service. Embrace them all!
So when I step into a classroom or studio, when I step into a meeting or cup of tea with a sponsee I must remember all these practices. Don’t overstep, be where I am and be honest, and do not attach my ego self to the results. Good class? Good meeting? I want to contribute, as a teacher I must lead, but in no case am I the message – I am really just the messenger.
Karma Yoga and 12 Step work invite us into the very best be have to offer – to ourselves and each other.

Ask Kyczy about Yoga and Recovery; Samskara - negative habits of the mind

2010-08-29T09:02:00.000-07:00

Moving out of negative ways of thinking is so important for an addict. It is a challenge for all humans, but we addicts have the additional concern of jumping into the rut of negative thinking and sliding right into addictive behavior. Thought patterns or habits of the mind – referred to as samskaras – become more entrenched the more we follow them. These patterns emanate from impressions of the subconscious mind reinforced by later decisions we had made as the result of upbringing, social adaptation, responses to negative experiences and plain wrong thinking. Later we increase the grooves of unskilled thinking as the result of actions and habits we ourselves had taken up to "take care" of ourselves or to get high. For example the self protective behavior we might have had in childhood of withdrawing from social interaction to avoid toxic actions in a household filled with verbal or physical violence, may lead to an attraction for an reclusive addiction like on line gaming, or alcoholism. That activity reinforces this samskara of isolation and withdrawal. Addiction can increase the samskara to constant feelings of being “apart from” or “alienated”. These patterns still exist in sobriety /abstinence and, without remedy, can further hamper wise and healthy personal relations. What can you do to overcome this habitual rut of negative samskara?
You can overcome this pattern by building new habits of the mind, healthy ways of looking at things, and healthy activities. In the example of isolation and alienation in the example above, the samskaras can be remedied by finding meetings of recovery that reinforce pursuing solutions, working with others and being “a part of”; the healthy satsang of WE (a group of like minded recovery oriented, spiritual people). They can help by example, demonstrating their abilities in overcoming isolation and alienation. Yoga classes that stress the positive, the being in the moment, the paying attention to the internal landscape and the breath, can also help develop positive habits of the mind. The philosophy of yoga, along with the practice of the recovery principles, can lead to uncovering the source of these samskaras and help to overcome and replace them with positive habits of the mind. A lifelong practice – but well worth it.

Ask Kyczy about Yoga and Recovery; Aparigraha - Non-attachment

2010-08-26T13:32:00.000-07:00

You have heard it in the rooms of recovery, and it is in the ether – “Let Go and Let God”. Holding on to the result of actions, feelings, events; trying to control outcomes or to predict the unfolding of events all cause suffering. These attributes of clinging, gripping, even greed can remove one from the moment and catapult one into a dissatisfying future. Yoga advises adopting the restraint of Aparigraha – or non attachment.
My journey with not practicing Aparigraha, whether it has been in holding on to future outcomes or to past experiences, has always resulted in pain and dissatisfaction. Not living in the moment and not living with gratitude; just suffering. This exercise in attachment can include
• Desires about the lives of my children
• Desires to recreate a first time experience for events from the past
o Food / taste of a dish I had a long time ago
o Music / the first time I heard a song
o Feelings / first love or first time of experience
• Holding on
o to a present moment
o to things
o being fearful of change
The only things I am assured of are with this possessiveness are… pain and failure. By failure I mean that grabbing on to these trying to “ grab a hold of a fistful of rain” like Warren Zevon puts it. It can’t be done.
On the other side of the coin is the fear that by NOT holding on, that I am uncaring or acting in a non-caring way. Somehow attachment and gripping had come to “connection” or even “love”. I can love and can care without being possessive – attached to the out come, to the process, to the manner, or the event. When I let compassion and care, gratitude and trust be in my heart, when I do find union with and reliance on my higher power there is no need to grasp or hold. Life events, like a breeze or a gentle wave, move in and out a proper rate and duration. I need do nothing but breath.

Ask Kyczy about Yoga and Recovery; Brahmacharya - Non-excess

2010-08-19T13:55:00.000-07:00

Brahmacharya used to be translated as celibacy but now is more accurately defined as non-excess as it refers to all facets and characteristics of our being. It refers to all our passions and our desires. In our current economy we may have become aware of the excesses we had in which we had indulged in previous years – consumerism, acquisitions; new things and purchases We got so wound up in GETTING that a new store was even developed and opened based purely on the idea of storage containers! Can you imagine! We have so much that we have to find new ways of storing it all!
We are now also officially an obese nation – we consume in excess of our energy needs. The whole issue of the unhealthy properties of the food we tend to over consume is another subject for another day. We now eat more than we need to.
Doing- doing doing doing – we are always doing something. The more we have to do the “better” we are. The more impossible our schedules the more valuable we are in this over indulging society. Free time is not only a fantasy for most – we don’t know what NOT to do with it when we have it.
And sex… - sex has become a watered down sport that is talked about as freely as gum care – and maybe more attended to. Over indulging and under appreciated sex is a recreation rather than a re-creation. So Celibacy is out.
Another danger of excess it that overindulgence can be a mask, a thick goo of someTHING that covers a true need and blocks the spirit.
Food, things, sex, time; we find a way to over use and justify our excesses. Then to top it all off – I am an ADDICT! As an addict (and in my less than healthy state) there is NEVER such as thing as too much – so non-excess doesn’t make sense to me. Then there is my recovering self; that self that does not want ever to return to the madness of “too much of a good thing is a good thing” where good is relative. With that desire for recovery Brahmacharya become one of my restraints. I work with it daily as my addictive behavior can slip so quietly from one thing to another. A friend of mine wrote an article about being a “Teflon Addict”. When one addiction was identified and dealt with – sliding into the background – another one replaced it. I struggle hard with this. So I keep Brahmacharya in mind when I work with my recovery and work with my yoga practice and when I work with my life.
As we move to abstinence and to moderation; feelings can evolve that had been hidden by excess. With the help of others and with a sponsor / mentor the core of the issue can be revealed and resolved. This is the core of step work.
Finding the point of enough, the grace of sufficiency , the divine in needing what I have and having what I need – that is my practice. That is my struggle and it is my reward.

Ask Kyczy about Yoga and Recovery; Asteya - Non-stealing

2010-08-17T16:10:00.000-07:00

Non-stealing is so much more complex than the idea of avoiding being a bonefide thief. It is the idea of “not taking that which is not freely given”. Again – using the subtleties of thought word and deed – what could one steal? I stole my own adolescence and young adulthood from myself by my addictive behavior. I stole the experience of being a mother from both myself and from my children. I stole people’s love and concern for me in my resolute tenacity to putting my addiction first. Well, to tell the truth, I did the thief thing, too, stealing from others to feed my own habits.
Then I got sober and started the path of recovery. But, as they say, when you have a lying, cheating, drunken horse thief and sober him (or her) up – you get a lying, cheating horse thief. More had to change than abstinence from drugs and alcohol.
Asteya asks us to refrain from all forms of stealing, it ask us to consider all manners of stealing and WHY we might be compelled to steal. Manners of stealing include things, of course, but also time, concern, attention, another’s opportunity, and the future of our planet among any other nuance that you can bring to mind. If I finish your sentence, solve your problem, ask your advise with no consideration to taking it, if I over buy and over trash, I am taking what is not freely given. Sometimes theft can be of things we covet –someone’s things or life style. We might want someone else’s capability on the mat and we over do – hurting ourselves. We might feel entitled to more than the money we make at work and steal time or accolades or office supplies. We might steal from the moment by living in the past or the future.
In recovery we are encouraged to dig into ourselves – finding the “exact nature of our wrongs” and to make a start on remedying them, making amends, and leaving our shortcomings behind us. We engage the help of our higher power, making use of our growing spirituality, to help us in dealing with what we know about ourselves. Asteya is another tool we can use to look at the finer aspect of stealing, at thievery, and circle back – using our HP, the help of our sponsor, and the steps to figure out WHY. Do I feel less than – so I have to ask for “advise” when I really want attention? Do I steal the limelight to take focus from someone else? Do I desire your pose or practice because I feel bad about my own? The growth away from stealing, the growth towards asteya comes from finding gratitude in one’s own thoughts, feelings, actions, and ideals. If I want for something more – I should work for it! Whether it is a deeper practice, more grounding in the steps and literature of my 12 Step area, or if it is STUFF. I will feel better about myself if I “work for it”. Just like the promises suggest (see www.AA.org for a copy).
Regarding the stealing of solving another’s promises, stealing their right and obligation to find their own path, is so tricky. It is a balancing act – between offering advise and providing asked for advise. A balance between speaking your truth and taking action which rightly is the other’s. I myself struggle with this with my family. When is helping my children “over-helping”? My gut knows. I have to slow down and listen, but my gut knows when I am overstepping. Solutions don’t go together easily – and in fact I am more invested in a positive outcome that the other person! But this is always an area ripe for investigation. I must not steal ownership of my children’s future from them.
Finally – consider asteya in regards to the future of our planet. Be wise in what you do and use, be wise in what you buy, be wise in what your waste is and how you dispose of it. Practicing asteya can wake you up to your own true values and the opportunities you have to grow.

Ask Kyczy about Yoga and Recovery; Satya; Truthfulness

2010-08-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

Ask Kyczy about Yoga and Recovery – The Yamas – weaving yoga philosophy and the 12 Step programs – Satya; Truthfulness
According to the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous we can recover from our addiction by “being rigorously honest”, bearing in mind the caution “except when to do so would injure them or others”. So, too, in yoga philosophy the restraint of “Non-Lying” comes right after “Non-harming” so that we should be mindful of hurting others or ourselves when being honest. Is this carte blanche to “white lie” heaven or is this really a caution for wise speech?
So we look at ourselves and at our actions and try to be truthful in what we do. On the mat we are to be truthful about our intention, our attention and our abilities in our practice. In the world it is to be truthful about our intention, our attention and our abilities in our actions and speech. Oooh, that sounds really familiar! Reading in one of my favorite books, The Yamas and the Niyamas, by Deborah Adele, I find that not only must I not be harmful – but I must look at being honest with myself, avoiding being nicey nice, or too nice with others, and look to taking the time to find my own boundaries and my own truth. What does this mean in sobriety? This means working the steps to find out who you are, making direct, personal amends when appropriate (engage the feedback and advise of a sponsor to determine appropriate action), and become real – your real, authentic self.
All of the Yamas and Niyamas are practiced in thought, word and deed so again the nuance it to first be honest with yourself in your thoughts. Once we can figure out what our limits, ethics and intentions are we can then speak of them, and ultimately act on them.
As an example; I have the habit of over committing. In order to avoid this I need to look in myself and ask myself if I can really do this thing. Is my agreement because I don’t’ want to hurt someone’s feelings by saying no? (Too Nicey nice). I want to be seen as being capable of anything and everything (my ego talking, feeling like I am not ENOUGH unless I am DOING)? Or are one of my other character defects coming up; laziness, fear, the desire to isolate, or any of the others I still cherish? If it is the last – I know I have to do it – to overcome the inertia of my shortcomings. If it is one of the former two I need to examine myself further before I make a commitment. If I don’t do this examination I could either come up with a lie at the last minute to excuse myself, or behave less than well when I participate due to resentment or another defect. I now wait before I commit. I look at my reasons and my motives, for doing and for not doing, so that I can find a balance and be honest with all involved. This helps my recovery and it helps my yoga.

Ask Kyczy about Yoga and Recovery; The Yamas – weaving yoga and the 12 Steps

2010-08-13T07:54:00.000-07:00

The first rung of the Raja Yoga 8 step ladder are the Yamas. The Yamas are “restraints” - 5 actions that, when avoided, will bring you closer to your true self.
The five Yamas are: non violence, non-lying, non- stealing, non- excess and non-possessiveness. Like the 12 Steps the restraints, along with other rungs on the yoga path, can become part of the principles you practice every day to improve your relations with yourself and with others. The Yamas are practiced in thought, word and deed – so there are subtle aspects that can be investigated when incorporating them into your life.

The first Yama, “Non-Violence” sounds pretty straight forward. As an addict (alcoholic, gambler, consumer, or other) stepping away from the object of our over-affection is non-violence to ourselves and others. In abstinence we are practicing non violence. We are not harming ourselves, the ones we love, our pocket book, our sanity, our safety, nor our health through the use of or attachment to our form of addiction. However we may still have character defects that are still causing harm.
Next, using the steps, we can find these more subtle characteristics in ourselves that had become harmful – anger, distrust, impatience, perfectionism, resentment or being judgmental. These aspects of ourselves can influence unwise or harmful speech even if there is no actual harmful physical action. It is part of our journey to uncover and identify these harmful character traits. For this we must strengthen our relationship with and engage the help of our higher power. Our higher power has the compassion to see us as we really are, to love us as we really are, and give us the strength to remove all characteristics that prevent us from being who we really are.

Then comes thought – the privacy of our own minds that can torture us and tear down semblances of self esteem that we might have developed in our recovery. One of the addict’s most prevalent character traits, a lack of esteem, is a form of self punishment and harm that has no purpose in a recovering life. So even in our thoughts we must learn to be kind, to think, as well as act, with forbearance and compassion. This non harming can have a foundation in language – the words we use when mentally referring to ourselves. When making a mistake no longer can we refer to ourselves as “stupid” or a “total *–up”. Phrases like “good try” or “better luck next time” would be far more helpful. We may still have little kid brains – treat yourself as you would a favorite niece or nephew, as beloved child - with words of encouragement and kindness. Why not? If nothing else it could amuse you. And there would be no harm done.

So – for today – try non-harming. In thought, word and deed, work on your character defects in this loving way. Just for today.

Ask Kyczy about Yoga and Recovery; People in Recovery Benefit from Yoga

2010-08-12T12:18:00.000-07:00

Ok – you have stopped indulging in your addiction. Now what? You go to meetings, are meeting with a sponsor and working the steps. How do you find out who this NEW YOU is? How do you get to know yourself? How do you get physically well and stay well? One of the paths to knowing your self and to getting and maintaining health is through yoga. Yoga and her sister science Ayruveda (a complimentary and alternative medical system for keeping the body in balance) . Today I will begin to address the benefits of yoga. Later I will draw attention to the similarities between Yoga and the 12 Step programs. I will also being to introduce some of the Ayurvedic concepts that can be incorporated with yoga and your recovery program to bring about total constitutional health.

The word yoga means “yoke”. It signifies the pulling together of the body, mind and spirit. Just what we need to find our selves – to gather ourselves together in one moment – for the moment. Yoga starts and ends with the breath – the breath is an amazing link between the body and the mind, and breath control can ease physical stress and relax the mind. Control of the breath leads to control of the mind – and through that control we can better master our actions and responses. A useful yoga class will teach a variety of breath practices over time. You will be able to practice and become skilled at them – and they will lead to a rich 11th step meditation practice. Finally yoga classes teach you how to relax. The majority of classes will end with final relaxation in the conventional savansana (corpse) pose. In this pose all the physical activity will be integrated into your body and your mind will savor the relaxation that results from being in your body and in the moment.

There are many paths of yoga and many traditions of yoga practice. The yoga that is most commonly known is hatha yoga – the physical asana, or practice of postures. Practicing yoga is a wonderful way to step into the body. A good yoga studio will have lots of offerings so that you will be able to find a yoga style that works for you. Some yoga styles are therapeutic yoga, integral yoga, ashtanga yoga, Iyengar yoga, Bikhram hot room yoga, Shadow yoga, restorative yoga, Yin and Vini yogas and on and on. What kind of yoga you choose is sort of reflective of where you are spiritually and athletically. Some yoga classes emphasize the spiritual; others the physical.

Just like meetings – you may need to “shop around” and find the class and style, and even teacher, who suits you and your needs. Just like meetings, sometimes you have to return a few times in order to really find out what the meeting / class is like. Just like meetings you have to participate in the class to make it worthwhile – the more you put in to it the more you get out of it.

So – give yourself a treat and try a class. Move into your body and find ways to move into your self.
To find out more visit http://www.yogarecovery.com