In my first blog I would like to share my definition of recovery.
Recently I discovered a world of blogs and podcasts dedicated to recovery. On my daily morning walk I plugged into podcasts and listened, enthralled, as women shared their stories of drug and alcohol abuse and the consequences this has had in their lives. As I listened to their stories of addiction and recovery I finally understood I was far from alone with my struggle to stop binge drinking. So many women just like me, successful, hard working women, many of them mothers too, realized they were no longer just recreational drinkers but were using alcohol to cope with the stress of their busy lives, and they had reached a point where their drinking was a problem but they struggled to simply stop or moderate. Afraid of the stigma associated with dependency many of these women felt alone in their struggle to stay sober, and many too felt intimidated by the idea of AA and NA, or felt these programs didn’t fit their needs. This is what recovery has come to mean to me. It is a movement for people with all kinds of dependency and addiction issues, for people in AA or similar programs and for people who are not. It is for people seeking well-being and are prepared to do what it takes to achieve this.
So, four months ago I decided to join these women in recovery and stop my weekly (more or less) binge on wine. I had tried to stop many times before without success, but from listening to the stories of other women I now knew my resolve would not be enough, I had to find support and to make myself accountable. My yoga teacher and good friend Linda, as well as two other friends, provided the support. As for accountability, I decided to create She Retreats, a yoga retreat for women in a similar situation to me and would like to meet other women on a similar journey.
For the past decade yoga has been integral to my life. I have often joked to friends ‘Sometimes I crawl into that yoga studio only half alive and come out ready to go again.’ In recent years I have done three retreats led by Linda in the past few years and know how powerfully healing a retreat is. In my experience I connect to my deepest self on retreat and return empowered to live a healthier life.
So the idea for She Retreats was born. She Retreats is for women who drink too much and love too much, eat too much or too little, and for women who give to much to others and too little to themselves. This is a weekend for women in recovery and for women who need to nurture themselves and connect to their true desires.
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