Opportunity and Ego

Lets get one thing straight. I didn't get this fabulous life alone. And I do have a wonderful life. I may not always acknowledge or appreciate it; like a good meal I may over consume, as with fun I may over do and become fatigued, but I have a wonderful life with many opportunities. I may, at times, think "Oh this great life! Look what I have created for myself!" It is at just those times that I slip, fall, crash in some way. 

I did not make this wonderful life. I have had so many mentors, known and unknown. Those who were aware of showing me the way and those who had no idea that their words or actions could have such influence. I DID show up for it, I DID make choices, I DID work in large and small ways; but the opportunities and the challenges were laid before me.

I walk through life with open eyes and an open heart. I do this not only so that I don't miss that lesson, that challenge, that opportunity to learn and grow, but to find a way to actively "value everyone's contribution and treat everyone with respect."

We learned about gratitude and humility – that so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean… and we were taught to value everyone’s contribution and treat everyone with respect. –Michelle Obama

Kyczy Hawk RYT E-500 is a yoga teacher and author. She teaches in treatment centers as well as yoga studios in her hometown of San Jose, CA.  Her volunteer time includes teaching yoga in Elmwood Women’s jail and The Recovery Cafe San Jose. She has been a space holder for the internationally known Y12SR (Yoga of Twelve Step Recovery) for over five years. 

Her books: "Yoga and The Twelve Step Path" and "Life in Bite Sized Morsels" are available online.

The Slow March From Codependence

I want to be helpful, useful, considerate, kind; a contributing member of society. I have skills, there are things I have learned and things that I can do that can benefit others. But, I am slowly learning, not to change the world but to offer myself by BEING myself.

Rather than imposing my solutions on others, I am learning to ask what they already know, offering my experience rather than my advice.  The service of recovery asks that I be responsible to the suffering alcoholic- but only to the alcoholic who wishes to stop drinking - without reserve.  Otherwise - I am just meddling.

So, too, in other relationships I am learning to avoid TELLING and to try asking. It is hard, I am so good at inveigling myself into the life of another- so clever that I could change their world - when really , my work is to change myself.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

​ - Rumi​

Kyczy Hawk RYT E-500

Publishing “Yoga and the Twelve Step Path” was the happy conclusion to years of study and research into the inter-relationship between the philosophy of yoga and the principles of 12 Step recovery. She has now published “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

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.

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.  

With deep bows she thanks her teachers; Sarla Walters, Durga Leela, Annalisa Cunningham and Nikki Myers.

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