Yoga For Addiction Recovery

Discover how yoga and the twelve steps can help you find freedom from addiction, exist peacefully in your body, and create a truly joyful life. If you’re in recovery from alcohol or substance abuse—or if you’re thinking of seeking help—you should know that there are many resources available to you. Traditional twelve step programs have become the standard in substance abuse treatment; however, these programs often lack one crucial ingredient for lasting recovery from addiction: a way to relate to the body so you can live comfortably in it—without the need to numb it. This is where yoga comes in. In Yoga for Addiction, yoga teacher Katy Cryer offers a gentle yoga practice that supports and complements the twelve steps, so you can manage emotions, stay present with your body, and stay firmly on the path to recovery. You’ll also find breathing and relaxation techniques to help you manage stress, and tips for dealing with cravings when they seem overwhelming. Whether you’re already in recovery from addiction and are interested in using yoga to support your journey; or practice yoga and think you may have a problem with alcohol, substances, or compulsive behaviors—this book has everything you need to harness the power of yogic wisdom for a full recovery of both body and mind.

By offering an empowering personal program of self-care in recovery, this book provides guidance for everyone affected by widespread modern 'addictiveness'. The book explores Ayurveda's understanding of both the problem of our 'one addiction process' and its solution. It offers holistic techniques that enhance any of the traditional recovery pathways and beyond any of the common diet/exercise dogma from mainstream media. It covers the stress/addictive tendencies of the doshic types, and links this to how stress affects metabolism, the main determinant of health. The program offered in the book is an integration of the philosophy, psychology and physical practices of Yoga and Ayurveda to help people shift their life trajectory. With Yoga of Recovery, author Durga Leela presents a complete resource for working with individuals recovering from addiction.

"The feeling was electric-energy humming through my body. I felt like blood was pouring into areas of my tissues that it had not been able to reach for some time. It was relieving and healing, subtler than the feeling from getting off on drugs, but it was detectable and lovely, and of course, there was no hangover, just a feeling of more ease than I could remember. I felt a warmth come over me similar to what I felt when I had done heroin, but far from the darkness of that insanity, this was pure light-a way through." - Tommy Rosen, on his first yoga experience Most of us deal with addiction in some form. While you may not be a fall-down drunk, anorexic, or a gambling addict, you likely struggle with addiction in other ways. Workaholism, overeating, and compulsively engaging with technology like video games, texting, and Facebook are also highly common examples. And if you don't suffer from addiction, chances are you know someone who does. Through more than 20 years of recovery and in working professionally with others, Tommy Rosen has uncovered core elements of recovery and healing, what he refers to as Recovery 2.0. In the book, he shares his own past struggles with addiction, and powerful, tested tools for breaking free from the obstacles that stand in the way of a holistic and lasting recovery. Building off the key tenets of the 12-Step program, he has developed an innovative approach that includes • Looking at the roots of addiction; your family history and "Addiction Story" • Daily breathing practices, meditation, yoga, and body awareness • A healthy, alkaline-based diet to aid with detox, boost immunity, increase vitality, support your entire recovery, and help prevent relapse • Discovering your mission, living on purpose, and being of service to others Recovery 2.0 will help readers not only release their addictions, but thrive in their recovery.

Perfect for people in recovery who want to strengthen and deepen their Eleventh-Step practice while honoring their bodily need for healing and nurturance.

Deeply personal essays and daily prompts for self-reflection while healing from addiction and walking the road of recovery from the author of Meditations from the Mat and Meditations on Intention and Being. You are a process that has called forth a teaching for this day. This teaching will not be new to you; rather it will be reminding you of what you already know. Reminding you of who you already are. Rolf Gates, author of Meditations from the Mat, has walked the walk of the 12-step method of recovery while traveling down the Buddhist eightfold way and practicing the Eight Limbs of Classical Yoga. His integrated approach has been the key to his understanding of sobriety for over 25 years. In his series of 365 essays, Gates explores the lessons and experiences from his own practice and study, classical teachings, and his career as a teacher and coach. Each eloquent and brief essay is accompanied by a self-reflection prompt to help guide you on your journey of introspection and change. As the co-founder of the Yoga + Recovery Conference at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health and Esalen Institute, Gates has made a significant contribution to understanding the role that yoga can play in recovery from addiction. With his personalized approach to both the modern and classic teachings and by embedding it within the space of the human heart and everyday life, Gates is a solid guide to finding and living the freedom that lives within each of us.

​​Drawn from yoga philosophy and mindfulness, this collection of 30 potent, supportive tools will bolster, inspire, and assist those in addiction recovery. ​ ​This collection of 30 yoga and mindfulness tools will help support those in recovery from addiction of all kinds. Thirty accessible, pointed teachings offer inspiration, comfort, and solidarity in the moment, helping us cultivate a powerful and purposeful life in recovery and to create a new design for living. Each chapter focuses on a quality—such as vigilance, acceptance, accountability, among others—and delves into how to manifest it in your recovery journey. Brian Hyman, a yoga teacher and recovery activist, understands deeply what people need to maintain sobriety and strengthen recovery—and knows that those who struggle with addiction also often need support with other mental health challenges, like obsession, anxiety, depression. The practices—which include inquiry questions, meditations, awareness exercises, breathing practices, yoga nidra, among others—will quiet the mind in difficult moments, support us as we establish meaningful relationships, and reinforce the power that recovery offers us. He offers resources and additional reading suggestions in the back matter. ​​Hyman uses yogic philosophy, mindfulness teachings, personal anecdotes, and secular wisdom to illuminate each quality and the role it plays in helping us create the life we want.

In 2014, following a breakdown, Esther Nagle entered Yoga teacher training, thinking it was going to give her a different way to earn money. She emerged a year later having freed herself from the depression and alcoholism she barely realised she was suffering from, a wiser, happier, healthier and stronger woman. This inspirational and transformative book tells the journey of Esther's addiction and recovery, and the ancient wisdom of Yoga that helped her find inner peace, sobriety and herself. If you think Yoga is just an exercise class, or sitting cross legged chanting OM, then you are in for a surprise when you learn of its true power. "There is a common misconception amongst the general public that living a life free of alcohol is to live a life with something missing. A life where every day is struggle against the demon drink. Esther Nagle puts these myths firmly to bed with her exploration of addiction and recovery and the power of yoga to both bring joy and to still 'the whirlpools of the subconscious mind'. Some books are called life-changing. This one really is." Michaela Jones, in2recovery.org.uk "A very brave and truthful account I can relate to. Thought provoking, informative, a must read for anyone wanting to find spirituality and learn about the use of yoga in addiction recovery" Charlotte Harding, Recovery Mummy