Recovery as a Road to Enlightenment

 "Recovery as a road to enlightenment" - words chosen carefully to express what the journey has been for me.  Just as I am not a proponent of the word "recovered" when used to describe my status in regards to my disease of addiction, I also don't use the word "enlightened" when referring to my path through life.  Neither of these actions is complete or stays  constant. I am always in the process of becoming.

You may have expected

that enlightenment would

come Zap! instantaneous

and permanent.  This is

unlikely. After the first

"ah-ha" experience,

it can be thought of

as the thinning of

a layer of clouds.

Ram Dass

Just as recovery began with a spiritual experience; the ability to ask for help, so does enlightenment begin with a moment of opening, of curiosity, of willingness. And like recovery, it is a exploration of self, of life, of opportunities and choices.  Both set the stage in life for things to be different than they are, yet a future unknown.  With courage, bit by bit, the future unfolds and the occasion for things to alter, to shift, to morph arrises.

There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination.  Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.

Anais Nin  

For those of us in recovery quotes about enlightenment sound as if they had been written about the exploration and acceptance of addiction recovery.  We experience a "thinning of the clouds" and a healthy life reveals itself "fragment by fragment, on a small scale". The first burgeoning experience may have been big,wild, a shock. There has been the occasional person who has had an initial sudden awakening, a burning bush, but mainly we are more familiar with the "educational variety" of spiritual experience.  These awakenings have come slowly, "mini miracles" that have marked my way.  Inearly recovery I had felt like my life was a 5,000 piece puzzle without the lid, I am now comfortable with it being a "laborious mosaic".

There are many paths to enlightenment.  Be sure to take one with a heart.

and

Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.

Lao Tzu

I am on a quest: this quest is without end.  There is no goal.  The destination is each moment, the desire is to come to now.  I do that in learning to know myself; in doing that I am practicing recovery, in disovering, uncovering my self. 

This is good news for an addict and alcoholic like myself, for a woman who is working her way out of co-addiction and the challenges of that life.  Days or decades - recovery for me is an active verb- much like enlightenment- it happens in the present.

Kyczy Hawk E-RYT200, RTY500 is the author of "Yoga and the Twelve Step Path" .

She leads two Y12SR classes a week for the public at Willow Glen Yoga in San Jose..

Kyczy is the creator of SOAR(tm) (Success Over Addiction and Relapse). This certification training now available in an ONLINE study course.  http://www.yogarecovery.com/SOAR__tm__Cert_all.html 

Scroll to the end of the page and sign up now.

Check out her ONLINE RECOVERY INFUSED YOGA CLASSES: 

http://yogarecovery.studiolivetv.com/MemberRegistrationYR.aspx

Weekend of Recovery and Community

Many Paths One Destination 2013

This weekend was filled with companionship. It began with the Many Roads One Destination event on the 14th and on the 15th a play "Our Experience Has Taught Us", a play about how the 12 Traditions came to be.  What a rich and fabulous life I get to lead.

Speakers on Saturday the 14th told us about their experiences with the 12 Step programs and how they incorporated recovery into their daily lives. Step work, sweat lodges, sharing circles, heart stories, pain release, changes in perspective, and rising like a phoenix from the from the ashes of shame and guilt; there are many ways to embrace and manifest recovery.

The opening ceremony set the tone for the inclusiveness of the Many Paths One Destination event. Come next year and connect with so many facets of our recovery communities.

The next day hearts, minds and spirits were opened and enriched with a play in San Francisco. Amid many errors in organization and some confusion; the day set off on time and with three friends to see "Our Experience Has Taught Us" - a play (docu-play-amentary) about how the A.A. Traditions were crafted.  From the fire of discontent, through the annealing process of discussion, resistance and more discussion; over three years in the crafting the Traditions were created because "without them we would die".  Using extensive interviews, research, reading biographies, news articles and stories, Jackie B. created a poignant piece that brought the viewer right into the moment- to FEEL the critical importance of the traditions. There is a lot to consider, reflect upon, and be grateful for.   The growing pains of this "simple program" were graphically depicted so there was no doubt that this simplicity was hard won.

Made even more wonderful was the companionship of my peeps, a lovely lunch in a splendid San Francisco day, and seeing a friend on stage donating her many talents to this production.

There were discussions of the traditions of membership, the role of the individual group to the whole of the program as well as the functional purpose of anonymity.  See "Our Experience Has Taught Us" and consider the role of anonymity.  Compare and contrast it to the discussions in "The Anonymous People" and really open the floor to in depth conversations.

A Heart Cracked Open

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!