THE FREEDOM OF YOGA
People who struggle with dependencies may find new hope through calming and centering effects of yoga.
Hope Zvara  RYT500, CPT
            A welling of emotions a deep rooted feeling of guilt and rage constantly suppressed only to exploded or implode at a seconds notice.  A rejection of your identity leading you to a path of hopelessness and depression only to use addiction to cope: alcohol, drugs, food, abuse, cigarettes, and sex.  A constant cycle never knowing when it will stop or how to make it stop; a feeling that you are out of body screaming at yourself to make a move or walk away, but a of lack of inner will overcomes and destruction steps in. 
            When someone has an addiction there is no mind-body connection and even if there is it may be sporadic and very weak.  So when an addict wants to start recovery or kick the habit it’s like a blind person trying to find the exit in the dark.  The initial response is clueless and fear, but then they realize that with no one there it will be hard but once they start the process and make it through the appreciate the journey.  I know from experience an addiction is never an addiction at first, but then all of a sudden it’s ruling your life.
            Addicts are out of control internally, they have lost all will, all determination; they constantly allow the mind to over power the inner voice of truth over and over and over again, wanting many a times to be strong but not sure where to draw the strength from and how to stick with the feelings. 
            Yoga is a practice of commitment, like going to work every day even when you don’t want to go this commitment encourages growth.  Yoga helps the addict create a will, an inner power.  A yoga practice is a tool for self motivation; the outlet when craving hit; in yoga we learn the value of the breath as a tool to calm the mind and if we can, to go pull out your mat and hop on instead of reaching for the frig door, the bottle of booze, that cigarette or acting on that self-destructive impulse.  Yoga teaches us to stay in the moment, learn to enjoy the journey, in yoga the final pose isn’t nearly important as the process of getting there.   
            The drugs, food, alcohol or self-violence is a pacifier for pent up emotions, an alternative to self-expression, a type of comfort that they don’t feel they can get anywhere else safely.  So when it comes time to get on the mat and feel or stick with the emotions arising the feeling of anxiety and fear surface with that and you are forced to stick with the pose, ride it out.  I tell my students in class that no matter what the feeling will pass, eventually the pose will shift into a new one, with that  the well of emotions you felt will pass.  Yoga philosophy teaches you to stick with the feelings and experience them, not to be a judge but just observe; when you do that you are creating the body-mind connection needed in order to break an addictive cycle.  The physical aspects of yoga allow people to feel, see and move towards a healthier body image and when a person feels strong they grow stronger emotionally and spiritually.  I know now that when I do yoga I feel empowered and when a pose is challenging I remind myself that a strong body is a healthy body and a healthy body has a healthy mind.  The strength I get from yoga helps me to refrain from addictive cravings and behaviors and every time I choose yoga and not the addiction it gets easier.
            Could yoga be an alternative therapy to prescription anti-depressants or other sedative drugs?  Yoga forces you to feel and experience what is going on inside of you at that very moment and to sick with it, letting your emotions surface, to just observe, being a watcher and not a judge.  Most anti-depressants merely mask the feelings leaving you dead to your inner self the root to your issue.
            Addiction is the ultimate disconnection from the body, where you feel you are a body without a soul.  And unless you learn to fill that void and not mask it you may never recover from the addiction or feel relief.
            Yoga compliments conventional therapy, it aids in the process.  I know from experience that I could have never gotten over my own addictions without yoga hand in hand.  I found that yoga tapped into new perspectives and gave me different approaches to a healthy image; in yoga I could take what I was told to do in therapy and try it out on the mat first, in my safe place.  As with eating disorders, you need to reveal the emotions and stay calm through the storms, riding out the waves.  I found that if you are an emotional eater that eating if its lunch time and you feel anxious that eating is just reconfirming that you should use food to soothe your anxiety.  Yoga philosophy teaches that you need to be in a place of contentment and rest especially when eating.  Because when you eat with emotion you don’t stop and then the guilt and shame set in and the cycle is hard to break.  Like in a yoga pose, staying calm and holding on, the feeling will pass and peace will come, then do we feel content and grateful to eat a meal conscious and aware, enjoying the food and not fearing it.     
            I encourage all my students to use their yoga practice as a mirror for their lives, working on and out issues here in yoga where you are safe and have the time and space to cope effectively.  I found that when I was dealing with addictive behavior I get on my mat and let myself be me, allowing myself to feel again.  Yoga is a chance for you to feel good in your own skin; we come to our yoga mat raw, exposed and ready to do the necessary work to move forward and become a stronger being.