#YogaEveryDamnDay – Day 33: How Sobriety Deepened My Yoga Practice

So a thing happened three years ago today…

I’ve shared my sober journey before (including here on the blog) so I welcome you to click either of those links to read all about it. One thing I will shout from the mountaintops every chance I get is this: I couldn’t have made it three days, much less three years, without the support of my family, especially my husband and two children. They are the people I live with everyday so I dedicate every ounce of my resolve to remain sober to them.

I also thank my friends for never making my sobriety a social or emotional roadblock. Sometimes, people get weird when you get sober, so I’m grateful to not have had those exchanges in my immediate circle.

Last, but certainly not least, I thank myself because this has NOT been an easy journey. Six months after I took my last drink in September 2019, the world shut down. Suddenly I was at home with nothing to do but sleep, watch CNN, and doomscroll social media. I did whatever I could during the pandemic to keep a glass of Pinot Grigio out of my greedy grasp and it led me to this moment.

And I’m so fucking proud of myself.

I’ll readily admit that it took more than a loving tribe and the internet to keep me on task with my sobriety. 2020 was also the year I came back to my yoga practice on a regular basis. At first, I’d hit the mat once or twice a week, usually as a cooldown after a run (I ran A LOT that first alcohol-free year). As I established a meditation practice, I found that I was being called to the mat more often than I was being called to my Saucony jogging shoes. Today, my yoga practices are twice, sometimes thrice, daily. It has uplifted my sobriety in ways I couldn’t have imagined for myself three years ago:

• My yogic breath conquers my cravings for alcohol. When I take the time to breathe, I use that space to remember how far I’ve come. Breath also reminds me where I never want to be again.
  
• Instead of physically running away from a craving, I go to the mat to face it head-on. True, I’m not drinking either way. On the mat, however, I can consciously acknowledge and release the craving.
  
• When I feel like I’m forcing myself into a challenging yoga pose, I remember that my sober journey wasn’t an overnight mission. If it took twenty-plus years of drinking for me to finally get sober, I can pace myself on the mat. Time is my friend.
  
• Yoga helps me remember my grandparents. It was in their house as a child where I began practicing. They both struggled with alcohol so I know they are shining down on me whenever I choose yoga (or anything else) over wine.

Even three years in, alcohol can be challenging for me to decline. I avoid Sprite because it looks too much like my former signature drink, a G&T. I miss Coronitas in their fabulously huge margarita glasses with tiny beer bottles dipping out of the rims. If someone orders a colorful martini at a restaurant, I’ll stare at it from across the room like it’s a sexy ex. Hard seltzers were bae for me but I’m bitter AF. There were, like, three flavors before I quit, and now there are millions. The disrespect!

But there isn’t a drink on Prince’s green earth that would make me stop being who I am today. #soberlife

See you on the mat tomorrow!
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