How Does the 4th Step Vary from the 10th Step?

What tools can you use to look and the dark and find the light?

I have been musing about self examination, self inquiry, the process of moving through the "unlovely" to discover what needs repair, remediation and remodeling.

I went to a retreat this last long weekend. We were discussing archetypes- those symbols and myths that embrace the difficult and harsh as well as the sweet and compassionate. The invitation is to look at the unpleasant, to bring these actions, behaviors, attitudes and feelings to the front. Bring them into the open so we can SEE them, in the right size for their purpose and their reason. Because there is a reason, they served a purpose.  That usefulness may be long gone, so we may need to let go of that attribute or action.  That is a DEEP DIVE.  That is 4th Step stuff.  Maybe just a little 4th step, but it is more historical than the inventory of the 10th Step.

If my 10th Step behaviors repeat, when my character "defenses" crop up over and over it is a sign to me that I have some 4th Step stuff to do (which includes a 5th, 6th 7th possibly an 8th and 9th as well.) There may be more to the story hanging out behind the curtain. I have to look at the dark to bring it to the light. When I bring it to the fore; I have a chance to change.

"As long as our habit patterns are hidden backstage, they will remain unchanged. As soon as we bring them up onto the stage of our mind and shine the spotlight of awareness on them, they will inevitably change.”

~ Jan Chozen Bays

Kyczy Hawk RYT E-500

Author “Yoga and the Twelve Step Path” and “Life in Bite-Sized Morsels” and “From Burnout to Balance” among others. She is the founder of S.O.A.R.(™) Success Over Addiction and Relapse

Kyczy has been teaching recovery focused yoga classes since 2008.  Taking the foundation of a traditional yoga training she received from the Lotus Yoga Teacher Association (of the Himalayan Yoga Institute), she has combined the wisdom and inspiration from other teachers along the way.  A leader of Y12SR (Yoga of 12 Step Recovery) classes for nearly five years and a devoted teacher to people in treatment centers and in jail- Kyczy created a teacher training program for others who wish to work in this field.

You can join Kyczy and a host of other people in recovery every Sunday morning at 7am PT (10 am ET) on In The Rooms for the Yoga Recovery meeting.

More about her work can be found at www.yogarecovery.com.