Be present. Be here, right now…in the timeless Now. Each day my students at The Scottsdale Recovery Center roll out their yoga mats, they are reminded to be in touch with the moment…so in touch that they do not look back on past binges or arrests, and they don’t look too far ahead on the light at the end of the tunnel. They are learning to recognize how precious each moment is and learning to be grateful for where they are, who they are, and what they have right now!
This is a struggle.
This is a practice.
Bringing yoga and meditation into the 12-step program at the Scottsdale Recovery Center, promotes healing at a deeper level—clients learn to resist negative behaviors of the past and begin to live healthy habits of the Now!
Eckhart Tolle in his book “The Power of NOW” writes about your life’s journey having both an outer and inner purpose. “The outer purpose is to arrive at your goal or destination, which implies future…but if the steps you are going to take in the future, take up so much of your attention that they become more important than the step you are taking now, then you completely miss the journey’s inner purpose.”
After reading a few pages from this book to my students, they began to speak up.
One of my students commented, “I really messed up in the past, and my future is not looking so good, but I am working hard to appreciate where I am.”
Another said, “It’s just hard not to look back on how I got here.”
It’s not that we can’t look back on what choices, experiences, and people have brought us to this moment; nor should we avoid setting wonderful goals to achieve in the future. It’s simply about learning to, as my amazing student said, “appreciate where I am.” Appreciate where YOU are right here, right now in life.
When we learn to be grateful, we begin to understand true happiness. We can greet each new day with a smile, and we can give thanks for each precious breath we take in every special moment.
Breathe in. Breathe out. And don’t allow a moment to pass without experiencing it to the fullest.
– Heidi Malano, Recovery Based Yoga Instructor at Scottsdale Recovery Center
