Morning Meet and Greet

Meditation: this is a practice in which the reality is both a blessing and a curse. I practice for the former and it is the latter state I work to ameliorate even as I meet it. 

Meditation: the discipline of focus and non-engagement, the practice of silence among the mental clamor, the gift of being in the midst of doing. Breathe, regard the posture, the pose of the body, the feeling tones, the activity of the mind and then...again. 

Meditation: while I may look for "nothing"; nothing is in the space between the moments of attention. It is there that I can meet myself in silence- practicing unconditional love as I see all there is of me. I meet the good and the difficult, the clear and the murky. I can breathe and greet myself just as I am. 

Now; to sit.

“In meditation we have the opportunity to meet ourselves, to see ourselves clearly for the first time. We have never met ourselves properly or spent this kind of time with ourselves before. . . . We cook, we talk, we take a walk, or we swim. We never just sit with ourselves.”

—Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, "Cool Boredom"

Kyczy Hawk RYT E-500 is a yoga instructor 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 six years.

Kyczy has published several books including “Yoga and the Twelve Step Path” 2012 and “Life in Bite Sized Morsels” 2015. Her book “Yogic Tools for Recovery; A Guide To Working The Steps” will be out November 14, 2017.

She is a contributor to national and international magazines (I Love Recovery Cafe, Yoga Times, 12 Step Gazette, OM Magazine, Recovery Today Magazine and Indigo International, among others.)  Kyczy has developed a series of yoga sequences for Studio Live TV that incorporate recovery principles in all-levels yoga classes. The link for them can be found on her website www.yogarecovery.com.

Recovery has allowed her to heal and enhance her relationships with her kids, her family and her grand-family. Life is now rich with possibilities which she explores with art, craft and travel.

Busy Brain Messy Brain

For a person who wants to live from the heart, my head sure gets in the way. Currently I have been meditating a little longer, a little more frequently and what I discovered is that my brain can be a snarly mess. Not snarly in the growly hissy way, but in the my earbuds have mysteriously tangled themselves up again way. 

I go to bed feeling calm, I have a good sleep, perhaps even with pleasant, if just barely remembered dreams. I get up- wash my face, brush my teeth and sit down to meditate. 

Two breathes in and my thoughts shoot out of the gate like thoroughbreds at Pimlico!! On Acid. They don't go in a straight line race- it is more of a maze and with multiple changed courses.

And I have to remind myself "of course"! Of course the mind will bolt around, scampering freely over the meadow of my mind. I just have to watch. I just note it and sit there. There is nothing to do but sit.

Breathe and be quiet and watch the chaos under the hood.

"No matter how savvy and independent and self-controlled we may presume ourselves to be, without mindfulness, chaos is what we discover when we begin to look under the hood."

—Kathleen Dowling Singh, "The Chaos Under the Hood" 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 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.

The moment, like recovery ; simple buy not easy

With kindness, even now, this day this morning- in a few minutes I will sit. I will sit and practice coming back to the moment. Time and time again I know my mind will wander - she does- it is her way. And even though I know this fact, I will deal with the disspointment, the frustration and sometimes being cross. WHY CAN'T I JUST STAY HERE NOW! I cry inside my mind. And then I remember, it is her way to wander. And with kindness I come back. Come back to now to the breath and be. 

Just as I veer into emotional intoxiation of one type or another - the longing for a waist line, the desire for a car, the outcome of a certain action- I practice letting go and coming back to what is.  I come back to sobriety; I return to the practice. So simple; so very difficult.

So Simple, So Very Difficult

I have no doubt about the teachings. To live right here now, moment after moment. So simple, and so very difficult. - Peter Matthiessen, "Emptying the Bell" 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. 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. 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.   A leader of Y12SR (Yoga of 12 Step Recovery) classes for 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.  Trauma sensitivity and the somatics of moving home into your body are some of the basics taught in S.O.A.R.(™) Success Over Addiction and Relapse 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.

Start From Where You Are

Start from where you are - WHOLE heartedly- accepting yourself in this present moment. Start from where you are - rather than the place you wish were were, you hoped to be, or thought you should be. 

Start from where you are - loving yourself in this perfect moment, this correct time. There is no other place or condition or feeling that you could be or have. This IS you, right now. Be THIS fully, be this with compassion.

Start from where you are - accepting this moment is the doorway to the next; this is the way to be in this next moment fully. It is one of the cosmic jokes; you can't change until you ARE.

The paradox of our practice is that the most effective way of transformation is to leave ourselves alone. The more we let everything be just what it is, the more we relax into an open, attentive awareness of one moment after another.-  Barry Magid, "Five Practices to Change Your Mind"

Kyczy Hawk E-RYT200, RTY500 is the author of “Yoga and the Twelve Step Path” (2012) and “Life In Bite Sized Morsels” (2015).

In The Rooms  sponsors an online Yoga Recovery meeting Sunday 7am PST.  Log in and join her there.

She leads two Y12SR, yoga of twelve step recovery, classes a week for the public at Willow Glen Yoga in San Jose. Kyczy is the creator of SOAR(tm) (Success Over Addiction and Relapse) instructing teachers about the unique needs of the recovery population. This certification training now available in an ONLINE study course.  http://www.yogarecovery.com/SOAR__tm__Cert_all.html

Check out her ONLINE RECOVERY INFUSED YOGA CLASSES:

http://yogarecovery.studiolivetv.com/MemberRegistrationYR.aspx 

One Reason to Meditate

One reason to meditate is to practice neutrality.  Allowing thoughts to ebb and flow, to move by without judgement, gripping or aversion, is to practice an attitude of neutrality, of emotional equanimity.  Coming from this place, this space, when the painful, the challenging or the difficult arises we are more likely to meet it with love and faith.

This is not spiritual bypass but the ability to see and feel things in the "right size", thereby moving the ego to the side and the true response to be. 

At least we can practice "...until we attain the selfless appearance of the buddhas."

Since all habit belongs to either the deluded panic of samsara or the noble path of enlightenment, it is best to develop the positive habit of the path of enlightenment that always creates the positive energy of love and faith, until we attain the selfless appearance of the buddhas.

- Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, "Continuous Mind"

Making Safe Space for your Sweet Self

MAKING SAFE SPACE FOR OUR SWEET SELVES

Taking some time each day to make space... make space for the best of your self to come out from hiding. Find that breath that will invite you into peace, into calm, into non-striving. Let go of the future, leave the past and be in the moment that is you.

The Best of Our Potential

“We have the potential to be more kind, to practice mindfulness, and to experience well-being, but we only use a small fraction of the potential we have. So that’s what meditation is about: to cultivate the qualities that we have the potential for but that remain dormant, latent, unused, and to develop them to the best of our own potential.”

- Matthieu Ricard, "Why Meditate?"

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

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.

FIND THE GAP THAT FILLS WITH PEACE

FIND THE GAP THAT FILLS WITH PEACE

Pema Chodron is so wise and articulate.  She guides us so beautifully into accepting life as it is, as it comes to us.  We then can find the gap: between fear and security, doubt and faith.  It is that space wherein peace can be found and then drawn into the other places; the spaces that are not as lovely and the spaces that are.

Building Unconditional Openness

“Whether we’re seeking inner peace or global peace or a combination of the two, the way to experience it is to build on the foundation of unconditional openness to all that arises. Peace isn’t an experience free of challenges, free of rough and smooth—it’s an experience that’s expansive enough to include all that arises without feeling threatened.”

- Pema Chodron, "Unlimited Friendliness"  

Kyczy Hawk is the author of Yoga and the Twelve Step Path and founder of S.O.A.R.(tm) Success Over Addiction and Relapse. She offers training on line and teaches in person in Treatment Centers, and Jail. She also leads Y12SR classes at Willow Glen Yoga in the Silicon Valley area of California.

www.yogarecovery.com

Wake up this morning and awaken to your thoughts

GOOD MORNING, WAKE UP AND AWAKEN TO YOUR THOUGHTS.

With the busy-ness of the season and the changeability of the weather - our bodies react and our minds respond. Take a moment to feel your body; to become aware of the feeling tones and emotions. Then take some time to sit and watch. Watch the movement of your mind as you note the feelings in your body. Not to judge, but to know. Then, be kind, accept and go on.  

Know Your Mind

“As long as we exist, our mind is an inseparable part of us. As a result, we are always up and down. It is not our body that goes up and down, it's our mind—this mind whose way of functioning we do not understand—not just our body, but our mind. Therefore, sometimes we have to examine ourselves—not just our body, but our mind. After all, it is our mind that is always telling us what to do. We have to know our own psychology, or, in religious terminology, perhaps, our inner nature. Anyway, no matter what we call it, we have to know our own mind.”

- Lama Yeshe, "Your Mind is Your Religion"


Kyczy Hawk is the author of Yoga and the Twelve Step Path and founder of S.O.A.R.(tm) Success Over Addiction and Relapse. She offers training on line and teaches in person in Treatment Centers, and Jail. She also leads Y12SR classes at Willow Glen Yoga in the Silicon Valley area of California.

www.yogarecovery.com