Active addiction blew my mind. It blew out my nervous system in much the same way as it disconnected me from others, my spirit, and my core. This is a true fact. Whether you have been addicted to a substance or a behavior addiction hijacks your nervous system and can bring real harm to how
Kyczy Hawk RYT E-500 is a yoga instructor and author. She teaches in treatment centers as well as yoga studios in her hometown of San Jose, CA. Her volunteer time includes teaching yoga in Elmwood Women’s Jail and The Recovery Cafe San Jose. She has been a space holder for the internationally known Y12SR (Yoga
I was on vacation with my family last week. We went to Texas – where it is all country music all the time. I LOVE country music – it is a secret vice of mine. Cruising in a van that could accommodate the seven of us – we were singing to the radio
There are lots of articles being published this month about recovery. It is, after all, National Recovery Month. I am pleased to note that this is called National Recovery Month and not something like National Addiction Awareness Month- which focuses on the illness, not on the healing. And so to my topic. Do we
For several years I had been addressing my fear with reasons why I shouldn’t feel that way. I had been looking for the underlying “reason” (read excuses, or judgement, or rationalizations), and then addressing each of these by talking myself out of them. Find a fear and smash it had been my approach. I
Clean and sober: now what? 90 meetings in 90 days, read the book, get a sponsor, write out your steps longhand, read the Morning Reflections, change everything and did I mention;” Go to meetings”? I thought that getting sober was going to be a long slog from one recovery oriented duty to another. Sure,
If you remember the famous Tina Turner song, you remember the refrain: “What’s love but a second hand emotion.” That is the way it used to be. I loved you if my needs, thrills, cravings, or wants were being met. I didn’t see YOU, I saw my desires. I was loving the “if…then” experience, not
I just achieved a recovery milestone. I kind of feel like I am “aging out” of relatability. I have been around for so long that nothing should go wrong, I have amassed a trunk load of tools, I have practiced the principles for a while and, face it, I’m old! What could possibly be
I treasure my recovery. I love the calm and finding moments of serenity in each day. In early recovery I used to think that a life without chaos would be boring. I was worried that without the ups and downs of crises and resolution, relationships that were no longer based on F&F (you know
This has been a tough winter. Fall was rough but winter took the cake. The weather in all realms of my being was turbulent and stormy. There were changes in my psyche, in my profession, within my family, in society and in the meteorological atmosphere. Rebalancing was a constant practice and I have really exercised