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.

Refresh and Renew - Simply

The New Year - a new calendar, a new page, a new beginning- time to remove the dust from the "beginner's mind" and take a chance on the unknown.

 

Today - this day, this 29th of December, I will start the practice of looking at the day without pre- judgment, without expectation, without attachment.  Looking at my agenda I will be where I need to be, WHOLE heartedly. I will show up where I said I would show up and be present to what unfolds.

This doesn't mean I go into the day without a plan! I move into each situation with the respect of proper attention and preparation, but I let go of the unfolding. Rather than planning in detail what I will do or what I will say- I will let go of the particulars and be present. Like a kid I will run out into the playground of life, eager, looking around for my friends and right activity, and then plunge in- without a care.

Relinquishing is the ground for practicing 'beginner’s mind.' It helps us see things anew, as they really are; to be willing to listen to the thoughts and ideas of others with an open mind. So the relinquishing of thoughts and ideas about which we have been adamant can give us a sense of freedom, joy, and spaciousness.

—Allan Lokos, "Lighten Your Load"

Non-Lying, Non- Hiding

I do pretty well on telling the truth - you ask me a question and I tell you no lies sort of thing. I am good with that. I even have brought truth into my ability to set limits in my life- I am practicing the art of non-over-extension. I don't make up stories anymore about why I prefer not to do something, join in, or volunteer.

Just because there is nothing written next to a certain time on my calendar does not mean that I have to fill it - to say yes. I need to have commas in my day, moments of non doing.

The problem is that I still lie to myself; I don't need this rest, I must do this thing, I am not worthy, I look too (fill in the blank). I hide the truth from myself and I hide behind a lie. This lie is often based on special rules I have for myself that I would not have for any other being.  The "you should, you must, everyone else is and you should too" sort of thing. Can I, today, avoid these lies and perhaps let my love and self respect come out of hiding? 

First I must avoid fighting it, perhaps make friends with this character defect. Then work on taming it. :-)

Non-Lying 

Fully facing, getting to know, and actually welcoming the various kinds of liar that I am gives me a taste of not excluding anything; a taste of no inside, no outside. The more I can do this with no outcome or gaining idea in mind, the more truth-speaking and selflessness can naturally arise.

Roshi Nancy Mujo Baker, "Non-Lying"

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.

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.  

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 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.  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.