It is an unusual set up at Prototypes this week because most of the women are away from the house on retreat in Big Bear. I was assigned to teach three groups in a row today for the women who remained back in the facility, including yoga. Usually I don't have an opportunity to teach the same women for more than one session in a day...so I took advantage of having them "all day" and did a mini 'yoga and recovery' workshop.
We started with a session called "Addiction: Disease of Perception". You hear this terminology in AA circles, so it was easy for them to begin to buy into. In treatment circles you hear 'Distorted Thinking'. It fits snugly into the teachings of the Yoga Sutras, particularly 1.2-1.4. I didn't overtly teach the sutras but I was able to present a yogic slant to AA and recovery terminology. We mapped out 8 psychological patterns of 'distorted thinking', and tuned to our personal tendencies. I was headed to the kleshas but didn't have enough time to get there.
The second session was titled "Brain and Addiction", which of course is a huge subject. This spring I spent 12 weeks building this section, so today I took only the highlights. We looked at how neurons communicate and how drug adversly effect the messaging of the endorphins across the synaptic gap. We then tuned into the CNS and examined the symapthetic and parasympathetic, with particular attention to the vagus nerve and suggested breathing as a vital recovery tool.
This set us up for the yoga portion, session 3. It was a beautiful day so we took our yoga mats out into the front lawn. We started with a guided meditation "Deer visiting from the woods", and then did pranayama practices: top down breathing, and four part breathing awareness. We adjorned back inside for a writing exercise asking the following questions:
How does breath affect emotions? (Feel free to express your opinion that the breath does NOT!)
Do you believe the breath is a useful tool for recovery? Why or why not?
After our sessions, I reviewed the writing assignments. It appears this format is effective, most peeps were able to grasp the basic elements. I was pleased to find some peeps said NO, they didn't believe the breath was a useful tool because I think it indicates that peeps can speak their truth. It also helps me know some of my presentations are not clear. For additional guideance and support, I wrote comments on each paper and returned their 'homework' to them.
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