Yoga & Juice Therapy For Addiction Recovery

Freshly home from a weekend training in the Superhealth approach to addiction recovery and self discovery, I realize that we all have addictions - or at the very least, deep ingrained patterns of being that don't always serve our highest purpose on Earth. Who of us couldn't benefit from a new lease on life, a re-writing of the brain, a clean slate to do with what we wish? Who of us couldn't benefit from a stronger nervous system, more patience, and the ability to make lasting changes that reflect the divine and amazing beings we truly are?

This long weekend of training was so experiential in nature - we got to deeply and fully experience a good handful of the techniques in the Superhealth model directly from its Executive Director, Mukta Kaur Khalsa (pic above, me far right, Mukta and her assistant Jocelyn on the left). So much of what we did was powerful and life changing. But I think I was personally most moved by my own re-discovery of Kundalini Yoga and Meditation in its capacity to heal. I've had a daily Kundalini Yoga practice for many years now, and though the shifts in my own life have been subtle, they've also completely shifted the way I live, deal with stress, and allow miracles to move through my existence.

Last night driving home with my dear friend Mahan Deva Singh, we had nearly 8 hours to talk about the effects of a weekend of Kundalini Yoga, of eating high nutrient dense foods, of drinking healing therapeutic juices, of meditating at 4:45 in the morning for two hours each day. And what came forward for me was my own habitual patterning around relationships. Around friendships, intimate relationships, marriage, parenthood. So many times I operate on autopilot, not really allowing my heart to dictate my actions but just going through the motions. When I feel overwhelmed I will reach for something to numb-out - a gadget, a book, food, sleep, sex. And in numbing out I close off my connection to God. My connection to my Soul.

It's amazing that I didn't even really realize this consciously a few days ago. I wouldn't consider myself someone with a life-threatening or debilitating addiction per se, but nonetheless, I still have those "fall back" substances and self-defeating actions that take me away from the pain of everyday challenges. That's the difficult news - the good news, I came to realize, was that there IS a way through these patterns, habits and addictions. There ARE ways to welcome the soul back into the body and to let go of all of the other gunk that takes up the room where our soul is supposed to sit.

I felt so moved by the work we did over this 3 and a half days that I volunteered to help the Superhealth organization in any way that I could. Mukta gave me - and Mahan Deva Singh - a wonderful project to work on and help bring to fruition. This project is one that will touch thousands of people with addictions, thousands of people who have lost hope of a way out. I feel so blessed to be able to work with her organization (www.super-health.net) and the Kundalini Research Institute (www.kri.org) on this work - which will be made public and available in the very near future.

For now, I will be going to do my own 11 minute Meditation on Habituation (you can find it on the Superhealth website) followed by a tall glass of fresh, raw beet-carrot-apple juice. It is my own prayer today that we all can be moved deeply by the incredible power of Courage. And I will thus leave you with this quote from Yogi Bhajan: "Consciousness has a husband. Consciousness is married to Courage." Go do the courageous thing; it will be the vehicle for your own awakening, your own consciousness revolution, your own life's enlightenment. Sat Nam!