If there is something you want to change in your life, you can. You might not be able to see a way or hell, you might not even recognize there is something you want to change yet.
For many years people hoped for me. They hoped I would not drive home drunk again. They hoped I’d not show up that drunk again. They hoped I wouldn’t say that to their guests. They hoped I didn’t drink myself to death. I hoped the whiskey didn’t run out.
None of their hope seem to matter then because I didn’t see a problem. But maybe it did. Maybe the collective hopes, prayers of sorts, screamed out to the universe and set things in motion.
I”ll be the first to tell you there is a great deal of serendipity in my journey. Enough to challenge my every notion of what is scientifically probable. Honestly I doubt I’ll ever have the capacity to understand how it all went down. The explanation that resonates with me is from the Gita where Krishna describes how we are all reborn and instinctively drawn to Brahman over many lifetimes.
Hope is powerful, but hope alone is not enough. Action is required. Not by others but by you and me, the addict.
People ask me about how to help loved ones all the time. I ask them to never give up hope or hold their love as ransom, but DO set strong boundaries. The action is not theirs to take. It is the addicts alone.
There are a lot of paths one can take. I can only share my experience. I did not start doing yoga to because I wanted to quit drinking. I did not replace one addiction for another. I dedicated myself to regular yoga practice because I found a loving community.
I knew nothing about it. I simply thought it exercise. I hoped it might change my body. It has changed everything.
It is my experience that Ashtanga yoga is a valid method of action that will bring about change.
My hope is that my sharing and retelling puts this gift back out the the universe for someone to receive.
