Yoga & 12 Step
Recovery Leadership Certification
The Yoga of Recovery
What an unexpected gift the yoga of recovery has been. Over 2 years ago, I attended a weekend intensive out of curiosity and had no idea how this would bring such profound healing into my life. At the time, I had 13 years of recovery under my belt and had been doing yoga off and on again for a few years. I was content in my life but thankfully, I was not complacent. Showing up for this weekend opened me up to places within me that I didnt even know existed. Some were painful, ugly and scary and some were grace-filled, magnificent and nourishing. All of these wondrous experiences have served and I have continued to show up, trusting that shifts will occur, more will be revealed and barriers that I am not even conscious of will dissolve.
I can remember when Nikki Myers led us in a grounding practice where she had us working with a partner. She invited us to stand as we would normally stand. We picked up our partners and our partners picked us up. Standing as we would normally stand, it was easy to pick each other up. Then, she led us through rooting and grounding into Mountain Pose, inviting us to draw from the energy of Gaia, to plug into the Mother Earth, to grow roots that extended throughout the earth. Then, we tried to pick up our partners and our partners tried to pick us up but this wasnt possible. All of us were astonished truly in disbelief at the miracle that happened when we physically tapped into a power greater than ourselves. I wept because I fully understood with every fiber of my being what embodiment is and the difference between intellectually knowing the concept we root to rise and embodying this truth. I along with many in our group have shared time and again how we remember to come back to this space and hold our center in the midst of lifes chaos, understanding that alone in our limitations, we will easily be knocked over and overwhelmed; but tapping into this limitless power, we are held in a strength greater than the mind can fathom.
I have witnessed miracle after miracle in the sacred space of Cityoga as this weekend turned into a weekly recovery group/family. I have seen people with various addictions come for the first time most have never been on a yoga mat and most have never checked in to see how they are feeling in their bodies. Many enter closed off out of nervousness and vulnerability, skeptical of this hokey thing called yoga yet they show up. Something brings them to the yoga of recovery and it is a privilege to watch them experience healing that they cannot language. Many are moved to tears from places unknown and they hug Nikki in gratitude for this healing. Nikki takes no credit, she simply reminds them that they did the work and to keep showing up. They leave the studio more alive in their bodies with new energy that cleanses and restores them.
We dont have to study yoga or fully understand the yoga principles to benefit. All we must do is show up on the mat, wherever we are in that moment cynical, hopeful, defeated, pissed off, tired, content and begin to breathe and move. To me, the mystical practice of yoga is that the person who steps on the mat is not the one who steps off.
Yoga and 12-Step Recovery is an exploration of addiction and recovery within the mind/body continuum that weaves together the wisdom of yoga with the practical tools of 12 step programs.
This training, led by the creators of the Yoga of Recovery work featured in The New York Times, Yoga Journal Magazine and Conference, will equip you to create, facilitate and guide Yoga and 12 Step Recovery classes in your community.
This training is designed for yoga teachers wanting to work with the recovery population. It is also extremely relevant and helpful for therapists, counselors, social workers, probation officers and others with a desire to understand how the ancient philosophies and practices of yoga align with the 12-step program of recovery.
This program will give you the tools to:
1. Hold a safe space for deep healing
2. Facilitate from compassion and empowerment
3. Recognize traps that often prevent us from being fully present
4. Create self-sustaining groups
5. Build practices based on recovery themes for any one working with addictive patterns or affected by those patterns in others.
Friday-Sunday
August 28-30, 2009
10 a.m.- 6 p.m.
CITYOGA School of Yoga and Health
Indianapolis, IN
(317) 423.1730
www.cityoga.biz
info_cityoga.biz
