WHO AM I
I began my yoga journey as a way to find peace and mindfulness in what was otherwise a chaotic and unbalanced life. Achieving sobriety from a life of dependency left an emptiness and insecurity that prevented any real progress in truly moving forward and living a life of passion, purpose, and meaning. My path of uncovering a greater sense of self and a reconnection of mind and body created my desire to dive deeper into my personal practice of yoga and share what I have learned with others. Uncovering that balance led me to achieve my 500hr Yoga Teacher Training Certification as well certifications in Yin Yoga, (a slow-paced style of yoga incorporating long-held postures with an awareness of breath) and The Yoga of 12-Step Recovery, “Y12SR” (more details to follow).
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Actively leading classes for those, like myself, affected by substance abuse, I bring that same passion and desire to InspireLife Yoga and Wellness.
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My approach in leading yoga classes for groups and individuals dealing with substance abuse is not as a replacement for any recovery program but as an addition to an ongoing recovery process. Chemical dependency is a self-destructive process that weakens and unbalances the individual physically, emotionally, and spiritually. People in the throes of substance abuse often suffer social exclusion and reside at the fringes of society. The decision to enter treatment is often predicated by what is referred to in recovery circles as “hitting rock bottom”, a chaotic state in which the individual's disorder intersects with systemic inequality and long-term disadvantage. Individually, they are often found to suffer from anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and poor physical health, as I did.
Organizations that Robert is affiliated with:
Offers a mind and body approach using both the mind and the body for relapse prevention. Using the cognitive tools of the 12-steps and the somatic experience of yoga, Y12SR assists people to develop body awareness, to learn to feel what’s going on in their bodies, and to self regulate.
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The 12-step recovery model, created in 1939, is the most well-known and pervasive addiction/recovery program in the world with millions of practitioners internationally. In a word, the characteristics and effects of addiction could easily be described as separation. Addictive behaviors separate and disconnect us from our loved ones, our environment, and ourselves. Conversely, yoga itself means union, integration, and balance. Yoga and its practices teach the fine art of balancing our multidimensional lives while living in a complex world. The 12-step program approaches addiction at a cognitive level, yoga includes a somatic approach. The combining of the two creates a model that truly addresses addiction as the physical, mental, and spiritual disease that it is. Y12SR recognizes that yoga and its practices are a part of a holistic recovery program and rather than a replacement, it provides adjunct tools to address the physical, mental and spiritual disease of addiction.
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The Yoga of 12-Step Recovery program is a meeting and a yoga practice. The time is divided between a 12 step like sharing circle, yoga asana (movement), pranayama (breathwork), and meditation session where we “take it to the mats.” Y12SR can be done using a yoga mat, a yoga block, or using a chair for those who are more comfortable seated. Meeting topics can come from the sharing circle or if no topic organically develops, the space holder may suggest a reading. Simple yoga postures (as illustrated on the previous page) and breathing exercises will be practiced at each meeting. The yoga practice offered is designed to be accessible to all bodies and levels of yoga experience.
Founded by Gwen R in 2013, Yoga4Sobriety is a complementary practice for any 12-step program. Classes join together the subtle body (chakras) and the 12-steps. Chakras are energy centers in the body with purposes that support the 12-step way of living. Like everything else, our chakras can become unbalanced. When we balance our chakras while working the steps it adds another level of strength and integrates recovery into our body, mind, and spirit. In Yoga4Sobriety classes, the goal is to bring a simple message of recovery with a physical practice that will help find balance in body, mind, spirit, and recovery.
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"Chakras are energy centers in the body that can get clogged due to physical and emotional traumas. These blocks show up as physical issues in the body and over time can create more serious issues of disease. Yoga helps us become aware of these blocks and gives us methods of releasing the energy blocking them so that energy can move smoothly through." Tracey Ulshafer, Owner One Yoga Center
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Yoga4Sobriety is not a replacement for any recovery program. It is designed to be an add-on to an ongoing recovery process.
Liberation Prison Yoga’s mission is to serve prisons and jails, bringing yoga programs to incarcerated individuals and those whose lives are affected by incarceration; to train yoga instructors to work inside the prison system, and to educate the public about trauma-conscious yoga.
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Due to the extraordinary circumstances affecting us all, we are offering our trauma-informed classes to you free of charge online. Starting in April with a 3x/week schedule, join our wonderful teachers for an uplifting and self-empowering yoga class. Click below to see the schedule.
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Let’s be the quiet revolution – moving towards integration instead of isolation, healing instead of punishment, and peace amid unrest – inside ourselves, and inside the prisons.
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Anneke Lucas, Founder
Some disciplines Robert focuses on:
MEDITATION
Learning, in some cases for the first time how to breathe, relax, and destress while reestablishing the relationship between body and mind is often a powerful and incredible step forward in the journey to sobriety. My yoga class format (while differing from various groups or individuals) is often rooted in a series of gentle and passive poses held for extended periods of time allowing for participants to feel their bodies reaction to the physical aspect and at the same time connecting it with the attention/awareness of the breath and the bodies relationship to both.
Meditation is a powerful yet simple technique with many health benefits, including reducing stress and anxiety. With many positive impactful effects, meditation has become more widely utilized in both substance abuse treatment centers and general wellness circles as an add on too many primary therapy programs. The overall goal of meditation for people in substance abuse recovery is too reintroduce and synchronize the mind and body for improved mental wellbeing, gaining a sense and ease over the present moment while creating the foundational steps for an enhanced quality of life in sobriety. By taking deep breaths in a comfortable position (sitting, lying down) chanting or silently reciting a mantra (or another focused word), and focusing on the breath, the individual is encouraged to “notice what you notice” and “to try to be comfortable and at peace with the places you find yourself”.
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Types of Meditation and Benefits:
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Mindfulness meditation is one of the most popular methods of meditation and brings attention to increasing focus, concentration, and awareness.
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Zen meditation brings about calmness and encourages non-reactivity. It reinforces attention to the present moment, encouraging practitioners to focus on the here-and-now and clear their past.
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Guided meditation can encourage someone to visualize a peaceful mental image as someone facilitates it with guidance.
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Transcendental meditation involves a silent mantra and teaches effortlessness as a means to achieve peace and reduce stress.
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Breathing naturally, simply focusing on the inhalation and exhalation.
YIN YOGA
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Yin is a slow, soothing, and meditative style of yoga that targets the deep connective tissues, bones, joints, fascia, and ligaments in the body. It also focuses on stretching and stimulating different acupressure points from Traditional Chinese Medicine.
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In Yin Yoga, we hold mostly passive poses for about two to five minutes to work into our connective tissues.
The more we work our fascial system and deep tissues, the less dense and tight our bodies become as we age. Movement and stretching hydrate fascia and literally help slow the aging process.
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Lengthening extremely tight tissues can be an uncomfortable practice, but using this time to focus on breathing is a large part of Yin Yoga and also one of the many Yin Yoga benefits.
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Typically when we experience discomfort, our bodies naturally become tense and we use our fight-or-flight response. Yin Yoga teaches us to reroute the mind and slow the heart rate when we experience discomfort.
