AFLa
“17 Year Sober Yoga Guru
Guides You Through the 12 Steps to
Actual Freedom from Your Addiction!”
Treatment may be required to stabilize the active addict and clear his mind.
But it is the obsession that leads him back out to the first drink, the first drug, or the first addictive behavior.
- Why do you continue after understanding your condition?
- Now that you’ve stopped, why would you ever start again?
And yet that is the very tragic condition of the alcoholic and addict:
“The actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly an exception, will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge.”[1]
Why Cannot We Stop and Stay Stopped?
It is all about control and lack of control — even in the face of grave consequences:
“If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic.”[2]
Once you see the connection between the consequences and your using… the conclusion of lack of control over your addiction becomes inevitable.
No sane person would drink knowing the certainty and gravity of the consequences that come to the drinking alcoholic.
“Sometimes We Hear an Alcoholic Say that the Only Thing He Needs to do is to Keep Sober”[3]
- Why isn’t this enough?
- Why isn’t it sufficient to simply not drink or use and go to meetings?
- Why all the spiritual stuff, and why this insistence upon working the steps?
Because not using or drinking leaves us at the level of the problem, not at the level of the solution:
“We feel that elimination of our drinking is but a beginning. A much more important demonstration of our principles lies before us in our respective homes, occupations and affairs.”[4]
Not drinking and using is a good start…
But the failure to take on a lifetime practice of the Twelve Steps and work out the principles of recovery in all aspects of life is the ongoing threat to your sobriety.
“Our Liquor was but a Symptom. So We Had to Get Down to Causes and Conditions.”[5]
- Why do I drink the way I do?
- Why can’t I control my addictive behaviors?
We believe, and want to believe, that conditions outside ourselves are the cause of our addiction…
“We thought ‘conditions’ drove us to drink, and when we tried to correct these conditions and found that we couldn’t to our entire satisfaction, our drinking went out of hand and we became alcoholics.”[6]
… but the next sentence from the Twelve and Twelve quickly straightens out our misunderstanding:
“It never occurred to us that we needed to change ourselves to meet conditions, whatever they were.”[7]
A huge paradigm shift occurs here:
- The Twelve Step work we take on allows everything around you to hold steady while you seek change within yourself!
- We no longer try to change conditions to meet our demands… we begin to change our demands to meet the conditions around us.
- When we see this, we may get a sudden and immediate course correction in how we seek to live life.
“Character Defects, Representing Instincts Gone Astray, Have Been the Primary Cause of His Drinking and His Failure at Life”[8]
We want to believe that our character defects arise from the addiction itself, and that simply stopping the addiction will result in the removal of the character defects.
However, the A.A. literature, once again, is very clear that our beliefs and opinions about our addiction are all wrong and typically backwards:
“We shall claim that our serious character defects, if we think we have any at all, have been caused chiefly by excessive drinking. This being so, we think it logically follows that sobriety — first, last, and all the time — is the only thing we need to work for.”[9]
Ceasing the addiction does not remove our character defects…
The reason why it is so very important to see this relationship is because the corollary is also true — if you do not seek the removal of your character defects, it is not likely that you will be able to remain sober.
Those “serious character flaws” that are responsible for our addiction “must be dealt with to prevent a retreat into alcoholism once again.”[10]
What are Character Defects? Where do They Come From?
- Those coming from a religious training may think of these character defects as “serious violations of moral principles.”[11]
- Others may think of them as personality defects or “an index of maladjustments.”[12]
- The Twelve and Twelve suggests using the Seven Deadly Sins as a “universally recognized list” of these defects: pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth.[13]
So now we have names for the various character defects… but that still doesn’t answer where they come from and what causes them to arise.
Character defects are simply “instincts gone astray”[14]
The literature expressly identifies three basic instincts common to all people: “for the sex relation, for material and emotional security, and for companionship,” or more succinctly, “sex, security, and society.”[15]
The literature recognizes that they “are perfectly necessary and right, and surely God-given,” and are simply part of how we were created and an essential part of human beings.[16]
In the alcoholic or addict these basic instincts “run wild,” far exceeding their proper function.[17]
But, you may ask, when you let your instincts run wild…
Why Don’t You Just Get an Abundance of Satisfaction?
It seems that would be a good thing, since God gave me these instincts and they “are perfectly necessary and right.”
Unfortunately, when the instincts run past their normal bounds, the result is something other than simply an excess of satisfaction of the desire.
The A.A. literature specifically identifies several things that result:
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Unhappiness — “Every time a person imposes his instincts unreasonably upon others, unhappiness follows”[18]
-
Trouble — “When thus out of joint, man’s natural desires causes him great trouble”[19]
-
Conflict — “This collision of instincts can produce anything from a cold snub to a blazing revolution. In these ways we are set in conflict not only in ourselves, but with other people who have instincts too.”[20]
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No Peace — “Whenever a human being becomes a battleground for the instincts, there can be no peace.”[21]
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Emotional Problems — “Nearly every serious emotional problem can be seen as a case of misdirected instinct.”[22]
-
Physical and Mental Problems — “When that happens, our great natural assets, the instincts, have turned into physical and mental liabilities.”[23]
You Can Still Relapse… (Even After YEARS in Recovery)
The story often told after relapse (even by an old timer) is that he, “stopped attending meetings and then picked up a drink.”
Seldom is the story what may be closer to the truth…
“I worked the Steps in a half-hearted manner, clung to my meetings for my sobriety, and then relapsed when I stopped going to meetings.”
“Meeting-makers make it”, and “Just don’t drink and go to meetings” are phrases often heard in A.A. meetings. Notice nothing is said about actually working the Twelve Steps, and so recovery remains dependent upon meetings.
When you base your entire recovery program on meetings, stop going and relapse should be no surprise…
But What if You Practice the Twelve Steps as a Way of Life?
As the Twelve and Twelve says:
“A.A.’s Twelve Steps are a group of principles, spiritual in their nature, which, if practiced as a way of life, can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to become happily and usefully whole.”[24]
There It Is!
It is the actual working of the Steps — “Practiced as a Way of Life” — that results in Addiction Free Living.
You remain clean and sober — not because you attended a meeting — but because you are practicing the principles of the Twelve Steps as a way of life!
Now what does a meeting look like?
- Your Experience — the true and more rewarding purpose provided in A.A’s own literature.
- For the Newcomer — a place to bring their problems.
- For the Others — “Fellowship and sociability” with a group of people who have had the similar experience of addictions and recovery.
My Recovery Began in the Aftermath of Divorce in 1993
I’ve been an active part of recovering communities in Florida, Virginia, Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts — and while AA meetings and sponsors played an important role — the literature became the firm basis of my recovery.
My professional career has taken me from a Washington law practice to international law and investment banking.
Now I’ve launched my “second” career…
A professional certified yoga teacher at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, MA, I also volunteer yoga and meditation classes in the local county jail, and various social service agencies.
I formed Awakened Recoveries in 2003…
… to publish and distribute my book The Spirituality of Sobriety.
Warmly received, reviewed and recommended by treatment professionals — as well as the recovery community — the book became the basis for my professional workshop training, recovery retreats, and now…
… drawing on my years of experience in leading retreats for the Matt Talbot Retreat Movement, the Wilson House, and the Anonymous Foundation — the Addiction Free Living online recovery system!
By following the guidance offered in it you can expect to realize…
The Profound Changes Promised in the A.A. Literature!
Where you used to think of your mind as a “bad neighborhood to be in,” you now find that your “thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane,” and will be “more and more on the plane of inspiration.”
Finding the “emotional balance” promised at the Eleventh Step, and the “emotional sobriety” that comes with the spiritual awakening of the Twelfth Step, you will actually feel different as you “now become able to do, feel, and believe that which [you] could not do before.”
And then the ultimate promise:
You finally begin to “react sanely and normally” to your addiction with a “new attitude” that seems to come “without any thought or effort on our part.”
The experience of actual freedom from your addiction…
What is Addiction Free Living?
- A Method of Practicing the Steps as a continuing way of life, resulting in actual freedom from your addiction.
- Six Online Modules for use by the recovering alcoholic or addict in the privacy of your own home.
- Each Module contains a PDF and a video… (Windows, Mac, Android, iPad and iPhone compatible). Watch the videos instantly in your browser or download them to watch later.
First, the written portion explains the life goal to be achieved… (complete with extensive footnoted analysis of the Twelve Step literature).
Then, in the accompanying video, Gregg will make the message a real and meaningful part of your life…
Module 1:
The Causes of Your Addiction
- Go beyond the medical and psychological explanations for your addiction.
- Learn the two basic causes of alcoholism and addiction as first identified by the founders and pioneers of Alcoholics Anonymous…
- … the same two causes now identified by research as the key elements of addiction relapse.
Module 2:
Working on the Primary Causes of Addiction
- Listen to Gregg’s detailed explanation of these primary causes of addiction, colored by stories from his own experience.
- Begin to see how these causes have run your life into your particular addiction, and how to change that with practices from the Twelve Steps.
Module 3:
Finding Humility in the Alchemy of Recovery
- Discover the surprising twist involved in the work at the heart of the Twelve Steps…
- … and the depth of change that comes with the two shortest Steps of all.
Module 4:
Working on the Immediate Causes of Addiction
- Now continue with Gregg as he moves the discussion to the immediate causes of addiction – leading you into deeper investigation of your life.
- Follow the insight that takes you full circle back to the completion of your work begun in Module 2.
Module 5:
Getting Free at the Roots
- Dive deep to the very foundations of your addiction.
- Begin to dismantle the very engine that drives all your addictive behaviors.
Module 6:
Finding Your Spiritual Awakening
- Experience the openness of your own personal spiritual awakening!
- Witness the profound changes in heart and mind flowing from the depth of your Twelve Step work following Gregg’s guidance in these dynamic modules.
Here’s what you need to do now: Click the order button below. Sales and returns are processed by Clickbank — the world’s largest online retailer of digital products — so it’s simple, easy, super-safe and of course 100% confidential…
But you’re not risking a penny! Because, once you’ve ordered and have instant access, I want you to take the next SIXTY DAYS to go over the material…
… and if you can’t work it, it doesn’t suit you, or anything else, then I INSIST that you return it for a…
Complete, Fast
and Full Refund!
That means you’ve seen the entire course for FREE, if you so choose. I want to make this as simple and convenient as possible for you… because it’s worth it.
If you don’t see the life changing results I’ve talked about, you’ve wasted nothing but a small amount of time.
Wishing you all the best in recovery,
P.S. You’ll also get a free copy of my book if you order now!
“We begin the journey in order to recover from alcoholism, addiction or other life tragedies. And the result? A surprising spiritual awakening!
Written from the perspective of the Twelfth Step looking back over the path of recovery, Gregg D. walks us through the A.A. literature revealing how the Twelve Step program guides the practitioner to a spiritual awakening.”
Be one of the next 50 orders and I’ll send a free copy to your door! (USA Only)
If you end up returning Addiction Free Living for any reason, keep the book as my thanks for trying it out!
You’re not risking ANYTHING…
… so click here and get started right now!
References:
14. Twelve and Twelve, at p. 50.
15. Twelve and Twelve, at pp. 42 and 49.
16. Twelve and Twelve, at p. 42.
17. Twelve and Twelve, at p. 44.
18. Twelve and Twelve, at p. 44.
19. Twelve and Twelve, at p. 42.
20. Twelve and Twelve, at p. 44.
21. Twelve and Twelve, at p. 44.
22. Twelve and Twelve, at p. 42.
23. Twelve and Twelve, at p. 42.
24. Twelve and Twelve, at p. 15.
2. Big Book, at p. 44.
3. Big Book, at p. 82.
4. Big Book, at p. 19.
5. Big Book, at p. 64.
6. Twelve and Twelve, at p. 47.
7. Twelve and Twelve, at p. 47.
8. Twelve and Twelve, at p. 50.
9. Twelve and Twelve, at p. 45.
10. Twelve and Twelve, at p. 73.
11. Twelve and Twelve, at p. 48.
12. Twelve and Twelve, at p. 48.
