The Zen of Recovery

The Zen of Recovery
Author: Mel Ash
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2014-07-29
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 149763542X

A practical synthesis of AA’s Twelve Steps and Zen’s Eightfold Path. In this compelling blend of East and West, Mel Ash shows how Zen mind and practice connect to the heart of recovery. Courageously drawing from his lifetime of experience as an abused child, alcoholic, Zen student, and dharma teacher, Ash presents a practical synthesis of Alcoholics Anonymous’s Twelve Steps and Zen’s Eightfold Path. You don’t have to be Buddhist to appreciate the healing power of The Zen of Recovery. The book makes Zen available to all seeking to improve the quality of their spiritual and everyday lives. It also includes practical instructions on how to meditate and put the book into action. Its message will help readers live more profoundly “one day at a time.”

Refuge Recovery

Refuge Recovery
Author: Noah Levine
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2014-06-10
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 0062123092

Bestselling author and renowned Buddhist teacher Noah Levine adapts the Buddha's Four Noble Truths and Eight Fold Path into a proven and systematic approach to recovery from alcohol and drug addiction—an indispensable alternative to the 12-step program. While many desperately need the help of the 12-step recovery program, the traditional AA model's focus on an external higher power can alienate people who don't connect with its religious tenets. Refuge Recovery is a systematic method based on Buddhist principles, which integrates scientific, non-theistic, and psychological insight. Viewing addiction as cravings in the mind and body, Levine shows how a path of meditative awareness can alleviate those desires and ease suffering. Refuge Recovery includes daily meditation practices, written investigations that explore the causes and conditions of our addictions, and advice and inspiration for finding or creating a community to help you heal and awaken. Practical yet compassionate, Levine's successful Refuge Recovery system is designed for anyone interested in a non-theistic approach to recovery and requires no previous experience or knowledge of Buddhism or meditation.

Cool Water

Cool Water
Author: Bill Alexander
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Total Pages: 162
Release: 1997
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9781570622540

This book provides a long-needed alternative to the reliance upon a "higher power" that is so much a part of traditional twelve-step addictions recovery programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous. In simple and practical language, Alexander, himself a recovering alcoholic, introduces a new, nonreligious approach to addiction recovery that he calls "Ordinary Recovery", which draws upon the wisdom of mindfulness practice.

Eight Step Recovery (new edition)

Eight Step Recovery (new edition)
Author: Valerie Mason-John
Publisher: Windhorse Publications
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2018-06-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1911407430

This new edition includes a Foreword by Jon Kabat-Zinn, how to run an Eight Step Recovery meeting, and how to teach a Mindfulness Based Addiction Recovery programme, including teacher's notes and handouts.All of us can struggle with the tendency towards addiction, but for some it can destroy their lives. In our recovery from addiction, the Buddha's teachings offer an understanding of how the mind works, tools for helping a mind vulnerable to addiction and ways to overcome addictive behaviour, cultivating a calm mind without resentments.

One Breath at a Time

One Breath at a Time
Author: Kevin Griffin
Publisher: Rodale Books
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2018-02-06
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1635651816

Merging Buddhist mindfulness practices with the Twelve Step program, this updated edition of the bestselling recovery guide One Breath at a Time will inspire and enlighten you to live a better, healthier life. Many in recovery turn to the Twelve Steps to overcome their addictions, but struggle with the spiritual program. But what they might not realize is that Buddhist teachings are intrinsically intertwined with the lessons of the Twelve Steps, and offer time-tested methods for addressing the challenges of sobriety. In what is considered the cornerstone of the most significant recovery movement of the 21st century, Kevin Griffin shares his own extraordinary journey to sobriety and how he integrated the Twelve Steps of recovery with Buddhist mindfulness practices. With a new foreword by William Alexander, the author of Ordinary Recovery, One Breath at a Time takes you on a journey through the Steps, examining critical ideas like Powerlessness, Higher Power, and Moral Inventory through the lens of the core concepts of Buddhism—the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, mindfulness, loving-kindness, and more. The result is a book that presents techniques and meditations for finding clarity and awareness in your life, just as it has for thousands of addicts and alcoholics.

The Zen Way of Recovery

The Zen Way of Recovery
Author: Laura Burges
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2023-07-18
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 0834845172

An accessible, compassionate guide to Buddhist principles and practices that can help support recovery from addictions and addictive behaviors—written by an experienced lay teacher with long-term recovery. For anyone struggling with addiction, Buddhism offers powerful, grounding wisdom and tools to help support recovery. In The Zen Way of Recovery, Laura Burges shares her experience as a dedicated Zen practitioner who came to terms with her own addiction to alcohol and found support for her recovery. Through the lens of Buddhist teachings, Burges offers tools and practices which, together with the help of recovery programs, can offer a road to sobriety. Burges is an experienced and compassionate guide, and her message is resonant for people with any type of addictive behavior—and for people who aren’t necessarily familiar with Buddhism. Her teachings are drawn from the Buddha's life and teachings (specifically the Eight Awarenesses of the Awakened Being and the Six Paramitas), and the wisdom of Japanese Buddhist priest Dogen Zenji, the founder of the Soto school of Zen, among others. Burges emphasizes the importance of being in an active recovery program, and the teachings and practices she offers in each chapter—including reflections, journaling prompts, meditations, instructions for setting up and altar and zazen—are both a perfect adjunct and powerful reinforcement. Examples of reflections and journaling prompts include: Do you still hear the critical, contemptuous, sarcastic voice of a parent or partner in your own head? Do you sometimes hear yourself mirroring this negative voice with others? What were the models of relationship that you grew up with? What are ways that you can cultivate more patience? Check in with yourself to see if tiredness, hunger, loneliness, or anger is affecting your thinking in the moment.

The 12-Step Buddhist

The 12-Step Buddhist
Author: Darren Littlejohn
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2009-03-10
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1416595953

The face of addiction and alcoholism is a face that many have seen before -- it may be a celebrity, a colleague, or even a family member. And though the 12-step program by itself can often bring initial success, many addicts find themselves relapsing back into old ways and old patterns, or replacing one addiction with another. Author Darren Littlejohn has been there and back, and presents a complimentary guide for recovery to the traditional twelve-step program, out of his own struggles and successes through the study of Zen and Tibetan Buddhism. Working with the traditional 12-Step philosophy, the author first shares his own life path, and how he came to find the spiritual solace that has greatly enhanced his life in recovery. Then, he details out how his work integrating Buddhism into the traditional twelve-step programs validates both aspects of the recovery process. While being careful not to present himself as a Tibetan lama or Zen master, the author shows how each step -- such as admitting there is a problem, seeking help, engaging in a thorough self-examination, making amends for harm done, and helping other drug addicts who want to recover -- fits into the Bodhisattva path. This integration makes Buddhism accessible for addicts, and the 12 Steps understandable for Buddhists who may otherwise be at a loss to help those in need. The 12-Step Buddhist is designed to be a complimentary practice to the traditional 12-step journey, not a replacement. While traditional twelve-step programs help addicts become sober by removing the drug of choice and providing a spiritual path, they rarely delve deep into what causes people to suffer in the first place. The integration of Buddhism with the traditional process provides the wisdom and meditations that can help addicts truly find a deep, spiritual liberation from all causes and conditions of suffering -- for good.

Chi Kung in Recovery

Chi Kung in Recovery
Author: Gregory Pergament
Publisher: Central Recovery Press, LLC
Total Pages: 169
Release: 2013-11-18
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1937612422

Chi Kung, the art of cultivating life force energy, is here distilled into a key selection of exercises designed to boost health, enhance vitality, and increase mind-body-spirit consciousness. For anyone interested in exercise with a deeper spiritual significance, this step-by-step guide takes readers through essential breathing, meditation, and mindfulness techniques that yield exponentially more powerful benefits than traditional exercise.

Let Go

Let Go
Author: Martine Batchelor
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2007-06-27
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 0861715217

Everyone has negative habits -- even the smallest ones can take control of us. "Let Go" is a much-needed guide to getting that control back. Martine Batchelor helps readers focus their minds and uncover the roots of their repetitive behaviors. For Batchelor, it's all about how we relate to our thoughts. By adopting the kind of "creative engagement" that she teaches in "Let Go, " readers can start to see real change, and recognize problems for what they really are: growth opportunities! Batchelor's methods are applicable to all unwanted behavior -- from the slightest undesirable recurring actions to more serious patterns of cruelty, self-abuse, and negativity. Each chapter concludes with Batchelor's expert guidance in exercises or meditations that helps readers begin to work with their harmful habits in a new, creative, and empowering way.

The Joy Beyond Craving

The Joy Beyond Craving
Author: Jon Keskula Mountain
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2003-06-06
Genre: Materialism
ISBN: 9780972992909

Now in its second printing, THE JOY BEYOND CRAVING shows how people of all faiths, including many who may not have thought of themselves as "addicts," can overcome the addictive cravings that prevent us from finding true peace of mind. Written by recovery coach and certified hypnotherapist Joni Kay Rose, THE JOY BEYOND CRAVING makes an excellent gift, and is especially helpful in keeping New Years resolutions.