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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
 Posted - May 28 2015 : 6:24:13 PM
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Transforming addiction. Transcending suffering. 
www.ayprecovery.org
In the spirit of open-source knowledge, I'm looking for anyone interested in:
--publishing your personal story as it relates to recovery and yoga (can be anonymous, or not)
--blogging about related topics and adventures
--starting local meetings using AYP as the baseline for recovery
--sharing artistic creations sprung from stillness in action
This is very much a work in progress, so I appreciate constructive feedback and questions. Email me...call me...send out the vibrations across inner space...
Wishing you all the qualities we cultivate in samyama. 
Cody |
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Dogboy
USA
2294 Posts |
Posted - May 28 2015 : 9:42:13 PM
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Wishing you the best with your service. I'll check out the site!
My wife bravely faced her years of secretive alcoholism in 2014 which nearly bankrupted us financially and tore apart our marriage. Yoga was instrumental for my coping by giving me a buffer from suffering, and not allowing emotions to poison the well, and to support her in a loving way. She is not into yoga, but perhaps it's magic worked through osmosis. She is sixteen months sober, and looking and feeling better than ever; I couldn't be more proud of her.
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - May 28 2015 : 11:09:00 PM
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| Great to hear, Dogboy. Wishing her the best in her recovery, and I know she is incredibly fortunate to have you as a partner. No doubt the yoga is rubbing of on her! |
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BlueRaincoat
United Kingdom
1734 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2015 : 4:44:34 PM
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Great work Cody! 
@Dogboy
All the best to you and your wife. You have both been very brave and strong in the last sixteen months.  |
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sunyata
USA
1513 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2015 : 4:55:56 PM
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Stillness in action, Bodhi!
Stillness in action, Dogboy |
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kumar ul islam
United Kingdom
791 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2015 : 5:04:31 PM
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| thankyou bodhi for helping your beloved brothers and sisters |
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Dogboy
USA
2294 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2015 : 5:12:42 PM
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BillinL.A.
USA
375 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2015 : 5:15:39 PM
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"AYP for Recovery follows this model by focusing on how spiritual methods can assist a person in recovering from addiction to drugs, alcohol, and other materialistic attachments. The recovery community desperately needs better tools to make swift progress. This website provides instructional material to achieve that transformation. However, this is a self-directed modality, which is sustained by an inner calling for lasting peace and joy. We can only point the way. The rest is up to you. We have a common goal, and that is to cultivate a permanent condition of ecstatic bliss. THAT is our “normal state”. THAT is our birthright. THAT is the destination to which we go."
How glorious is this?
You offer lots of leadership Bodhi Tree to put stillness in action! |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2015 : 5:28:34 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by BillinL.A.
How glorious is this?
I figured I would set the bar high right off the bat, just like Yogani does in the very first lesson.  Thank you for checking it out.
Many thanks...kumar, sunyata, BlueRC. |
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karl
United Kingdom
1812 Posts |
Posted - May 30 2015 : 07:35:45 AM
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Excellent Cody. As if it could be anything else 
Not sure if I can be of help in any way ? If I can then please let me know. Your help was much appreciated during my efforts and if I can return the favour I would feel honoured in doing so.
Every possible success to you and to those who will benefit from the resource. |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - May 30 2015 : 08:41:28 AM
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| Thank you, karl! Based on your autobiography, I think it would be fair to say that you "recovered" from limited, or mental, identification. Even though you were never heavily addicted to drugs/alcohol, you have definitely benefited from practices like Deep Meditation, which loosen awareness and give us more free range to explore our consciousness. So maybe you could put the "recovery" spin on your story and share it on the website. Also, I enjoy your contemplative writing, so if you are interested in doing a blog (regularly or sporadically), I'm totally game for that. |
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Charliedog
1625 Posts |
Posted - May 30 2015 : 12:17:57 PM
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Hi Cody,
Really hope your AYP for recovery, will do it's work!
I see very close in my family how addiction to alcohol can ruin family life.
There is also the knowing that one can only help oneself.
If there is the strong will to recover, there is the need for tools.
There you are with your own experience and this recovery site. Because of your opening up, and sharing your own story, I am sure that this will inspire.
The rest will follow.....
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - May 30 2015 : 1:06:37 PM
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Thank you, Charliedog! You're definitely right--everyone has to choose their path. It's a lead-by-example gig. I have no interest in stressed-out persuasion or trying to force results. Just trying to lay out the tools, as you say.
"If you build it, they will come." --Field of Dreams |
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karl
United Kingdom
1812 Posts |
Posted - May 31 2015 : 06:42:31 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Bodhi Tree
Thank you, karl! Based on your autobiography, I think it would be fair to say that you "recovered" from limited, or mental, identification. Even though you were never heavily addicted to drugs/alcohol, you have definitely benefited from practices like Deep Meditation, which loosen awareness and give us more free range to explore our consciousness. So maybe you could put the "recovery" spin on your story and share it on the website. Also, I enjoy your contemplative writing, so if you are interested in doing a blog (regularly or sporadically), I'm totally game for that.
Certainly. Give a bit of time and I shall put together something which provides a recommendation for the AYP method.
Contributing to a blog sounds interesting although I'm not sure how that would fit in ? It would perhaps need to be focused. |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Jun 01 2015 : 09:04:40 AM
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Blog #2: Drinking Dreams!
http://ayprecovery.org/blog-2-drinking-dreams-2/
These days, I often remember my dreams quite vividly. I wake up, and the memory of last night's subconscious movie replays itself in my waking mind.
When I was younger, I could dream lucidly, staying fully aware during the mental scenery. That doesn't happen much anymore, which is fine. AYP doesn't recommend trying to induce lucid dreams, but rather to cultivate the abiding witness condition, which can be present in all states of consciousness: waking, dreaming, and deep dreamless sleep. Hence, the witness has been called the fourth state, or turiya, because it encompasses and transcends the previous three. This is a natural result of Deep Meditation. Also, Cosmic Samyama is an AYP technique that complements yogic sleeping.
Anyway, back to the nitty-gritty details of my dreams. One recurring theme has been relapse. In the dream, I somehow find myself surrounded by alcohol and/or other intoxicants, and I think (in the dream): "Well, I can get away with this. A little bit won't shatter my sobriety." It's a classic processing of residual guilt, fear, and desire. My subconscious mind wants to grab my waking mind's attention. OK subconscious, you got my attention!
What do I make of these pesky dreams? Am I on the verge of a relapse? Well, I don't think so. Not by a long shot. I think it reveals what a social creature I am, because part of the dream entails the fear and guilt about having to admit relapse within the recovery community. In the dream, it's not like I'm even worried about the damage being done to the nervous system, which is the doorway to the Infinite. The worry revolves around reputation and appearance. This kind of thinking is of course a common aspect of human life and social conditioning.
So, it's no big deal. It's just another opportunity to inquire into myself, and to get closer to Our Source of wisdom, strength, and resilience. I remind myself that sobriety is merely a necessary step in cultivating ecstatic bliss, and that abstinence/renunciation is not an achievement in itself (see my lesson on the topic in "Why AYP?"). I don't have to focus on what I've left behind, nor on whether it's looming in the shadows, waiting to re-possess me.
I don't have a disease, and there's no evil demon haunting my soul. What I do have is a heart and mind that is evolving, and that is a natural part of the human drama and cosmic movie that is unfolding in the Here Now.
So, if you have relapse dreams, I advise that you take such scenery with a grain of salt—recognizing that you are not, at your core, the content of your mind. What we are, fundamentally, is abiding inner silence, and such silence will properly process the experiences we have accumulated through the course of time. We are works in progress.
Unity. Wisdom. Lightness of Air. |
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sunyata
USA
1513 Posts |
Posted - Jun 01 2015 : 11:46:10 AM
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| Yes, lots of wisdom in this post. |
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kami
USA
921 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2015 : 4:03:37 PM
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Cody,
This is one of the best websites I've seen! Everything about it is inviting and beautiful. The contents are wonderful. Congratulations on the launch, and wish you the very best for its growth.
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pkj
USA
158 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2015 : 5:09:56 PM
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Great service to the fellow beings. Wonderful site. I will send the link to few of the people suffering. Even though i told them about Yoga/mediation so many times. I think the links to the site will definitely help.
Blessings
PKJ |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2015 : 8:14:58 PM
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Thank you, kami! You've been instrumental to me from the beginning, and still are. Love you more than words can tell.
Thank you, PKJ. Yes, please pass it along. |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2015 : 8:01:34 PM
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Blog #3: Do You Believe?
http://ayprecovery.org/blog-3-do-you-believe/
Belief is a tricky thing. I've believed in things that didn't turn out to be true.
For instance, when I was a child, I believed that Santa Claus was delivering my presents on Christmas morning. One day, I found out the truth. There was no Santa Claus sneaking in through the chimney; there was only my parents putting his fictitious name on the wrapping paper. The story of Santa Claus is a mythology created by the human mind. It's a lovely story, but a story nonetheless.
Not all stories are imagined, or fictional. Some are real and non-fictional. My recovery story on this website is real. Those events really happened. There is a factual basis to the words. Even so, fiction did play a crucial part in the unfolding of the non-fictional story. When I studied religion at Florida State University, I took a class on Buddhist saints (hagiography). I would indulge in their stories using my fictional mind. This fictional indulgence led to me actually taking up the practice of meditation and hanging out at places like the San Francisco Zen Center. Clearly, the realm of fiction is tethered to the tangible ground of non-fiction. Imagination shapes reality. But with inner silence, we can discern between what is real, and what is imagined.
With the presence of inner silence, I can more carefully consider my beliefs, and what role they play in my life. Ones that are advantageous and beneficial can be easily favored and released into stillness; others that are deceptive or detrimental can be released into stillness as well.
Yogani has said: It's not so much what we believe in, but who we become, that matters in the end. Believing is only a stepping stone to becoming. Therefore, who do I believe I can become? Well, I have plenty of detailed visions and desires swirling around in my heart and mind, and I'll keep some of those up my sleeve, but what I can say is that I surely believe I can become stillness in action—without any need for recognition or praise. It's the most natural thing, and not particularly glamorous (well, maybe sometimes). It's also incredibly selfish, because it not only serves my local body-mind, it also serves well beyond me—when it's genuine. It's the best kind of selfishness there is.
Believe what you want to believe, but recognize that our beliefs are only a small part of the equation. Ultimately, we have to find out through direct experience what is true, and what is not. That is the appeal, and the quest for enlightenment.
Best wishes on your journey. |
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maheswari
Lebanon
2520 Posts |
Posted - Jun 05 2015 : 03:19:44 AM
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that is a wonderful website! i like the sea pictures a lot.Everything is so clearly presented
i really enjoyed reading the details of Cody Rickett story too |
Edited by - maheswari on Jun 05 2015 03:20:55 AM |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Jun 05 2015 : 09:09:14 AM
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Glad you like it, Maha! Thank you.  |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Jun 08 2015 : 11:46:17 PM
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Blog #4: The Power of Poetry
http://ayprecovery.org/blog-4-the-p...of-poetry-2/
One of the first poems that ever struck me was The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot. Something about the despair in that poem touched my heart. There is a kind of sophisticated malaise, a kind of ornate droopiness that captures what I had seen in certain niches of society, and more importantly, within myself. Quite simply, it's sad.
But even within the sadness, there are hints of yearning, hints of freedom. The flame within Prufrock has not died; it has only diminished a little bit. He asks: "Do I dare disturb the universe?"
It wasn't until a decade after reading that poem that I began to ask a different question, and that question is: "Do I dare become the universe?" When I began asking that question, I realized I had been asking that question all along—it's just that now the inquiry has become more conscious and purposeful. To become the universe is the goal of AYP for Recovery. It's a grand and lofty goal, but even so, I find it an incredibly worthy one.
Another poet has come to my attention in recent years, and he strikes me in a way that is significantly different than Eliot's Prufrock. That poet is Walt Whitman, and one of his best poems is Song of Myself. The scope of Song of Myself is immense, but there is a simple thread that weaves it all together. That thread is none other than Whitman's direct perception and realization that his Self is underlying all phenomena on this magical planet. He wrote:
"I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise,
Regardless of others, ever regardful of others,
Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man,
Stuff'd with the stuff that is coarse and stuff'd with the stuff that is fine."
Whitman has carved an indelible signature into the poetic landscape of America and the world, and his poetry is remarkably powerful. That power is accessible for all of us, and even if you don't write poetry (which I recommend at least trying), you can draw from its wellspring of stillness, which is our Self, and our true nature.
When I write poetry, I am rejuvenated and liberated simultaneously. And if another person catches even just a tiny spark from what is written, then the magic is working.
May the power of poetry and language work its magic in your life. Thank you for reading. |
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Charliedog
1625 Posts |
Posted - Jun 09 2015 : 02:41:14 AM
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| Amen Cody, may the magic of your poetry and language touch many hearts. |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Jun 09 2015 : 11:28:56 AM
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| Thank you, Charliedog. |
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BillinL.A.
USA
375 Posts |
Posted - Jun 09 2015 : 5:06:53 PM
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Whitman's so impressive to me cuz he was so drunk with love even while tending to the wounded, agonizing soldiers of the U.S.Civil War. |
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