Photo of Tommy Rosen and Recovery 2.0 Community by DJ Pierce

How we create our community, choose our circles, and cultivate our connections impacts our mental, emotional, and spiritual health. This is particularly true for people whose lives have been affected by addiction. An addiction can impact all levels of our being: mind, body, and spirit. It also impacts our relationships with other people as well as our relationship with time. Addiction keeps us separated from the present moment so that we cannot access the very space where healing can actually take place. Instead, we seek solace in the creature comforts of the material world in order to avoid pain and re-create pleasure.

The mental component of the patterns of addiction can lead to increased feelings of anxiety, stress, loneliness, separation, and disconnection. This is part of the reason addiction is described as a disease of isolation. This also factors into why developing positive connections with other human beings is a central element to recovery and a remedy for isolation.

Addiction weakens our spirit and builds upon our illusion of separateness from each other: from our environment and from the essence of our existence. It is perhaps this separateness that drives us harder than anything else. We feel so alone and cut off that it becomes easy to identify with our disordered thoughts. We think we are our scattered minds rather than our infinite selves. Our vision narrows. We lose our intuitive capabilities and are in a state of disharmony with our own hearts. We try to manipulate our outer experience rather than living it. This is another layer of the web of addiction, in which we are addicted to patterns of thinking and belief systems that are built on our basic misunderstanding of separateness and isolation.

Because of the ways in which addiction affects brain function as well as all of the other systems of the body, the physical aspect of addiction necessitates a physical process of detoxification, rebalancing, and strengthening. The protocols of recovery require that we seek out teachers, sponsors, mentors, healers and guides as support. It is important to have good counseling from people who understand the path of recovery and who can stand as examples of victory. Establishing relationships with these people makes it possible to call upon them in those moments when our faith in the process wanes.

Both the mental and physical aspects of addiction require daily re-patterning in order to form new habits, patterns, and practices that recondition us to remain present and respond to life in a way that supports our health and well-being. Yoga and meditation are healing practices that facilitate our ability to remain centered in the present moment. The one day at a time concept from 12-Step philosophy emphasizes this important reality.

From this holistic viewpoint on addiction, it is no wonder that connection, support, and love from other people are so critical to the process of recovery. This brings up the question of how we find community through recovery in today’s world. There are really three main structures that are available to accomplish this: therapy, meetings, and treatment programs.

Therapy

Individual therapy involves a one-on-one connection with a therapist who helps you to understand yourself and the story that led to your maladaptive behavior. Numerous therapeutic modalities are available; one’s experience will vary depending on the therapist, the modality, and the unique connection or relationship. Recognize when seeking out and developing this relationship that different people need different things at different times. I have known many people to find recovery and healing through therapy, and quite often, their therapists were the ones who referred them to 12-Step (or other) recovery programs.

Meetings

Recovery programs or meetings are the second way that people can find community and therapeutic relationships in recovery. While 12-Step programs are the most widespread option in this category, there are several others that have found success in supporting people toward healing. These include Refuge Recovery (a Buddhist approach), Yoga of 12-Step Recovery (Y12SR), and Smart Recovery (a more cognitive, non-theistic approach).

In all these modalities, community and connection are critical components of healing. Doing the 12 Steps, for example, includes connecting with a sponsor who guides you through work associated with the process based on their own experience in recovery and working the steps. The sponsor-sponsee relationship is one of the most powerful teacher-student relationships in modern society. It is important to note: the outcome of one’s experience with the 12 steps will be influenced by the ability of a sponsor to present the steps in a way that is accessible and meaningful to the sponsee. Outcomes can also be affected by the quality of the relationships sought out by the person in recovery with other people they encounter, and, of course, their openness and willingness to see their life and even their thoughts in a new light. Service is another key component of these programs; service helps people develop perspectives beyond their individual lives to include community.

Treatment Programs

A third option to start or maintain recovery in our society is choosing is an in-patient or out-patient treatment program for more intensive experiences. community once again plays a significant role as a person is interacting in group settings, along with participating in one-on-one counseling to review all aspects of their life which led to the blossoming of addiction.

Photo of Tommy Rosen and Recovery 2.0 Community by DJ Pierce

Recovery 2.0

A challenge of treatment is the incorporation of a sustainable continuance of care after release. When a person’s treatment experience comes to an end, the onus lays upon the addict to continue to connect with others and to build community that is conducive to maintaining recovery. It is simply too easy to fall back into “alone-ness” and familiar behaviors when a person returns to what they may perceive as the extraordinary and unbearable pressure of everyday life. This is why participating in meetings and other recovery programs are essential. It is also why being grounded in daily practices (such as yoga and meditation) that maintain focus on the present moment essential.

Recovery from addiction is possible. People can change and heal at all levels of their being. It requires the development of new habits – a willingness to ask for help whenever you need it, to be in regular connection with others who are on a path of recovery, and to develop the capacity to be of service to others. An ongoing connection to positive, supportive community is the key element throughout every aspect of this process. In 26 years of recovery from severe addiction, and while working with tens of thousands of people in initiatives like Recovery 2.0, I have never seen anyone recover sustainably without a regular connection to others on a path toward wholeness. We really do need each other.

Tommy Rosen

Tommy Rosen is the author of Recovery 2.0, published by Hay House. In 2013, Tommy founded Recovery 2.0, a global community of more than 100,000 people who embrace a holistic approach to addiction that includes the power of connection: recovery2point0.com

www.recovery2point0.com

The post The Importance of Community in Recovery from Addiction appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Guru Prem Singh Khalsa: Alignment Of The Heart

Seven years ago, after a history of intermittent back pain, I hit a brick wall which manifested as debilitating pain in my low back that left me unable to walk or do much of anything. This continued every second of every day for six months. My thoughts, actions and behaviors had created a state of dis-ease.

Each morning, my ritual was the same: Open my eyes and sit there at the mercy of the terrible tales my mind crafted about how I would never be able to move well again. I knew the moment my feet hit the ground, the pain would escalate and for the rest of the day, I would be fighting against myself. It was one of the low points of my life.

Determined to find a solution, I visited every kind of healer one might find in Los Angeles (and that is every kind of healer), but nothing had any lasting positive effect. I became increasingly more fearful and somewhat depressed. Finally, I decided to see what an MRI would reveal. I had degenerative disk disease and two herniated disks. The prognosis was grim.

“This is a progressive disease,” I was told. “It only gets worse. We will have to manage your pain for the rest of your life and eventually look to surgery.” How dark it is before the dawn.

A friend suggested I see a Sikh man named Guru Prem. I was so fed up with the situation that I thought cynically to myself, “Oh that’s just what I need…a Guru!” I nodded politely, but was clear that “Guru Prem” was not going to be my next move. That same evening, I went to dinner with my wife, Kia, and we struck up a conversation with a woman at the next table. Out of the blue, she mentioned she had just gotten through some severe back trouble “thanks to a man named Guru Prem.”

Guru Prem Singh Khalsa was born on March 31, 1954, at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. At age six, he began a lifelong love affair with gymnastics. In high school, he was Los Angeles City Champion and second in State of California at the horizontal bar. He attended USC on a gymnastic athletic scholarship and for decades, Guru Prem has been part of the Muscle Beach gymnastic community. Now, fifty years since his first tumbling class, people still walk up to him and ask, “How do you do that?”

To fully understand Guru Prem and the path he walks, one must take into consideration his Sadhana (daily practice). Guru Prem begins most days around 3:30 A.M. by chanting the beautiful Sikh poem Japji. Next, he practices Kundalini Yoga for about an hour. Then, he will chant six mantras before heading over to Gurdwara (The Sikh Temple) to continue singing and chanting until about 7:00 A.M., this last part being one of the purest forms of Yoga to Guru Prem.

On Sundays, instead of this routine, he washes the floors and walls of the Gurdwara from 4:00 to 6:00 A.M.. After morning practice, Guru Prem proceeds to teach, study and/or practice Yoga all over town. He is fond of many teachers and styles of Yoga, Ashtanga in particular. If you are an avid Ashtanga practitioner or teacher, chances are you have seen Guru Prem in your class at some point. For about eight years, Guru Prem practiced Ashtanga Yoga six days a week. His first teacher was Jorgen Christianson, and others too numerous to name (aside from Sri K. Pattabhi Jois). At his peak, he was practicing the third series. When asked what prompted his devotion to Ashtanga, he cites two reasons: He truly loves the physicality of the Ashtanga practice and he decided that it would be a great way to spend his mid-life crisis. (I believe that remark was intended seriously.)

From watching this yogic family, who meditate, practice and discuss their mind, destiny and connection to God, I have learned much.

Guru Prem took his first Yoga class, a Kundalini one, in 1976 at a private home; soon after he began studying Kundalini Yoga in earnest. He met Yogi Bhajan during a UCLA extension class in 1977. Yogi Bhajan’s first words in that class were “You’re only as old as your spine.” Important words which, when passed on to me, were instrumental in my healing process.

As Guru Prem was not raised as a Sikh, he did not have his current bana (one’s outward appearance) until his mid-twenties. A circuitous journey of personal discovery led to the tying of his first turban in 1978. At the time, he had a bit of a beard and his hair was growing. He tied his turban on and stood before the mirror and realized, “This is going to be the first time I will be out in the world naked. This is truly me. God, I hope I have the courage to be this.”

Guru Prem is married to Simran Kaur Khalsa, also an exceptional teacher. They have two children, fourteen-year-old Hare Simran and eleven-year-old Siri Guru Dev, both of whom live nine months a year in India at a Sikh School. From watching this yogic family, who meditate, practice, think and discuss their mind, destiny, path, connection to God and place in the world, I have learned much.

In 1995, Yogi Bhajan recognized Guru Prem as “The Posture Master of Yoga” and charged him with the duty of writing a book on the topic. Guru Prem wrote Divine Alignment, which has sold thousands of copies worldwide and has been translated into five languages. Later, in 2009, Guru Prem released his second book, The Heart Rules, which holds a special place in my life because it captures Guru Prem’s spirit while communicating important yogic teachings on the heart.

If you are an avid Ashtanga practitioner or teacher, chances are you have seen Guru Prem in your class.

Guru Prem teaches worldwide; I like to say that he is the most famous teacher whose name few know, aside from those who have had the pleasure of learning from him. He has a gamut of regular private clients from billionaires to celebrities to everyday folks. And every Thursday, he teaches a joyful 12:30 P.M. class at Yoga West focusing primarily on alignment and the heart.

Three months after I started studying with Guru Prem, my back pain disappeared – without surgery or drugs. I still experience the occasional spasm if I ask too much of myself, but that horrible nervy pain has never returned. I recovered from what doctors called “a progressive disease that only gets worse;” healing as the direct result of learning how to breathe, how to move and how to align. Most importantly, I learned how to live. Guru Prem has given me tangible frameworks and systems for addressing the most complex problems of my life that seemed insurmountable for so long. For that, I am forever grateful.

Guru Prem teaches  at Yoga West, 1535 South Robertson Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90035: yogawestla.com. To find out more information and schedule (and to view a video of Guru Prem’s Muscle Beach gymnastics), visit:
divinealignment.com.

Tommy Rosen

Tommy Rosen is the author of Recovery 2.0, published by Hay House. In 2013, Tommy founded Recovery 2.0, a global community of more than 100,000 people who embrace a holistic approach to addiction that includes the power of connection: recovery2point0.com

www.recovery2point0.com

The post Teacher Profile: Guru Prem Singh Khalsa appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

The Tantric Shelter

Back in 2003, my then-girlfriend Kia and I decided to go to Maui to celebrate my thirty-sixth birthday. We had been together for three years, long enough to know we had something special. We had spoken about the possibility of getting married someday, but I was quite happy to continue on as things were. The convention of marriage, as I had witnessed from my parents and most of the adults I had known, was fraught with difficulty and challenge. It was painful and in some cases, ruinous. When occasionally I would meet two people who seemed to be doing well together, I relegated them to a special group of human beings who were blessed, but whose lives I could not understand.

Our week in Hawai’i was magical and blissful, unusually so for me. I could not remember a time where I had felt so free of concern. On one of the last days of the trip, I was overcome by a profound sense of love for Kia and I suddenly asked her if she would marry me. Our wedding would take place only two weeks later in Yosemite Valley. At the beginning of the ceremony, Kia walked radiant and smiling through a beautiful meadow toward a life with me. My heart cracked open.

For that day and many days thereafter, I knew no fear, no worry and no concern. Then, sometime later, when life returned to normal and things were not feeling quite so clear and carefree, I remembered the old adage, “Any fool can have a successful wedding.” Kia and I had taken a big leap of faith and would certainly support each other, but I didn’t yet know how to have a successful marriage. We were going to need help to make it work.

Two years later, I am facing Kia seated on the floor of a structure known as “The Tantric Shelter” on a piece of land known as Ram Das Puri in New Mexico. I am dressed in white clothing and my head is wrapped in a white turban that is so poorly conceived that the word turban really does not apply. From the past several days of early morning sadhana (spiritual practice), I am appallingly tired. I am in a line of men, also seated and dressed similarly, who are facing a line of women. Across from me, I see the smiling face of my wife Kia. Our knees are almost touching. Our eyes are about three feet apart. This is our first day of White Tantric Yoga.

The Promise of White Tantric Yoga

For the next 10 hours we will be engaged in a series of 31 and 62 minute meditations that are physically and mentally challenging. The main questions running through my head are: “What are we going to be asked to do?” “Will I be able to keep up?” “How did it come to this?”

The promise of White Tantric Yoga is compelling. It would have to be. Simply put, through this extremely powerful and difficult practice you cleanse your subconscious at the deepest level of ALL insecurity and childhood trauma. Who doesn’t need a little bit of that?

Staring into your partner’s eyes for hours on end as you perform difficult kriyas (practice sets) is an intense experience. Whatever comes up for either of you becomes a part of the experience for both of you. Many times throughout the day, I would nod off during a set. I was trying so hard to stay awake, but after a certain point I just couldn’t help it. My eyes would roll back for a few seconds and when I came around, Kia would be glaring at me with frustration. With her eyes she kept telling me to pull it together, but the harder I tried the worse it got.

Finally, we came to this particular kriya where we placed our palms against our partner’s palms and alternately pushed one hand forward and one hand back. I was now getting frustrated with Kia because I thought she was pushing too hard. Of course, she was frustrated with me because I was not pushing the way she wanted me to push. So there we were one minute into a 62 minute kriya and I am thinking, “This could be the longest hour of my life.” And it was. We were yelling at each other using only our eyes and facial expressions. It must have been quite a sight.

When the kriya was over, Kia and I noticed that we were not the only couple for whom this exercise had been challenging. In fact, several couples were riled up.

What had happened? Issues such as power, control, compassion, patience and tolerance all came up in this kriya. You might say it was made to bring up those issues. Some were affected by it, others less so. I had never seen Kia demonstrate intolerance or a lack of compassion toward me. And Kia had never heard me call her a “stubborn goat” before either. I remember looking at the enormous photo of Yogi Bhajan and feeling like he was laughing at me.

When the kriya was finished, we had completed something that had previously seemed impossible. The power of achieving something that you think you cannot do is transformative. That very experience lies at the heart of White Tantric Yoga.

Kia and I came through our first day of White Tantric Yoga feeling like two embattled pugilists. We apologized to each other and committed to do better. The next day, Kia was much warmer, more understanding. I was more patient and more present. One kriya, in particular, had us interlocking fingers with our partner with our arms up at a forty-five degree angle toward each other. I felt that to make it all the way through without lowering our arms would be impossible, but was determined to give it a try. I would support Kia’s arms and she would support mine.

As sixty-two minutes passed, a plethora of internal voices rose up and demanded that I lower my arms, but I would not. Kia was right there with me! When the kriya was finished, we had completed something that had previously seemed impossible. The power of achieving something that you think you cannot do is transformative. That very experience lies at the heart of White Tantric Yoga.

The Lasting Effect of White Tantric Yoga

Many people have asked me what effect White Tantric Yoga has had on my life. I explain it like this…

Have you ever been in a place where there was some kind of background white noise, such as from an air conditioner or fan, which was suddenly turned off? You might have spent days or months or years living in that noise, but you barely even noticed it. Now that it is gone, however, the relief you experience is just huge. It feels as if you have taken your first deep breath in a very long time. A terrible annoyance has been removed. You remark, “My God, I’m glad that stopped! How could I possibly have endured living with that horrible noise for all that time?”

The garbage of my subconscious, which used to drive so many thoughts and decisions, was removed so that I could have better thoughts and make better decisions. My marriage with Kia has gotten better every year because my relationship with my highest self has been able to develop. White Tantric Yoga was a main catalyst in making that happen. Wahe Guru!

This article was first published in Aquarian Times and is offered here with permission of the author. For more information about Aquarian Times, visit: aquariantimes.com.

Tommy Rosen

Tommy Rosen is the author of Recovery 2.0, published by Hay House. In 2013, Tommy founded Recovery 2.0, a global community of more than 100,000 people who embrace a holistic approach to addiction that includes the power of connection: recovery2point0.com

www.recovery2point0.com

The post The Strange Alchemy of White Tantric Yoga appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.