By Elizabeth Herman ┃Posted: July 09, 2018
How can we collectively recover from addiction, crime and obesity, all of which keep growing into some of the worst societal problems?
The three individuals in this podcast reveal how yoga and breathing meditation became keys to their own self-healing. From heroin addiction and compulsive stealing to food addiction and excess weight, their psychological and physical dysfunction prevented Vytas, Amy, and Tommy from fulfilling their true purpose and high potential. Their transformations are outlined in detail as each of them speaks with Michael Fischman.
Listen to the stories of these three lives that had been beset by crime, addiction, and obesity, only to eventually evolve into lives of purpose and meaning. In this podcast, Vytas Baskauskas, Amy Lee McMohan and Tom Duffy share how the ancient healing practices of yoga and meditation helped them overcome their addictive and self-sabotaging behavior patterns and adopt a life dedicated to helping and serving others.
Quotes from the segment
Vytas says, “I couldn’t go to class and still hustle all day to get money. At that point, my heroin habit was 100 to 150 dollars a day. For me it was a full time job to figure out how to get 100 to 150 dollars a day. It was pretty much just through robbing and stealing.”
Eventually, one of his friends introduced him to yoga after he withdrew from drugs: “I started going to yoga once or twice a week. It was physical, I liked it and it kind of just gave me more ease in my body. It made me feel like I was OK physically and that was all that heroin ever gave me. I loved heroin because heroin made everything OK, you know, no matter what my problems were, no matter what I was struggling with mentally, heroin just made it all go away, and I felt something similar in yoga.
I felt that at the end of the practice, at the end of the final meditation, that whatever problems I had didn’t really matter, and everything was going to be alright. I liked that. I really dug that feeling.
Now, through yoga and meditation, living sober, I have developed a lifestyle that’s much less self-centered, and a life that I wouldn’t say is completely selfless, you know I’m not a saint just yet, but my purpose is in giving back, and the universe has showed that to me.”
Amy says, “When I started practicing, before the relaxation, I was very in my mind, like ‘oh, you’re so heavy,’ but when I came into relaxation, the feeling of my body was no longer present and I was just surrendered. I remember lying there and I began to shake and have these sensations of light coming through my body and it made me feel really good, so I started practicing more.”
Tommy says, “I took a course in breathing, learning a technique called Sudarshan Kriya, and a lightbulb went off in my head. It was like the addiction was gone. I just didn’t want to be less high anymore. I was so high from the breathing. It was just unbelievable. I noticed almost immediately that as soon as I started breathing, everything went quiet. Just the feeling of complete clarity without any drugs.”
Michael Fischman concludes this podcast by saying: “Breathing techniques and meditation bring a certain sense of mental maturity that helps you have greater distance from you and your thoughts. It brings a sense of dispassion so that you’re not so overwhelmed by your emotions and you become less reactive. Vytas, Amy, and Tommy have had incredible breakthroughs by including yoga, meditation and service into their recovery program. I’m not suggesting that these practices should be used in place of other therapies but they clearly provide powerful additional support to anyone in recovery.”
Link to the podcast
Listen to the Yoga of Recovery and learn about the healing power of yoga for many kinds of addictive and compulsive behaviors. Other podcasts are also available on the same website.
By Elizabeth Herman - PhD in English, with concentrations in Rhetoric and Composition, and Literature, she offers writing support to clients, teaches locally, and lives in Boone, NC. With a longtime keen interest in Yoga and Ayurveda, she recently completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training with Sri Sri School of Yoga.
