There was a silence on the phone that lasted about 10 seconds until I realized my father had started to cry. In his own way, he was as defeated as me.


All of my arrogance and stubbornness fell to the side when I glimpsed for a moment what effect I had on my Dad. The next day, I flew to Los Angeles to his house. He had insisted to see me first before I went to rehab. I spent four days with him and, all in all, got along pretty well. He was glad to see me alive. We did not speak about much. I slept a lot. After four days, I was off to rehab to start over.


Fourteen years later and still in recovery, I would walk into the office of a man named Guruprem who would become my life teacher. One of the first things he told me was that he knew how I was going to die.


“Okay, tell me. How am I going to die?” “On an exhale,” he stated.


Guruprem taught me how to breathe and how to use the breath to control my mind. He gave me a vision of a life, which existed beyond addiction, even for someone like me who had gone so far down into the darkness. In yoga and meditation, I would find the tools to connect with myself, to connect in more meaningful and less selfish ways with others and to uncover my ever-existing connection with a higher power. Yoga and Meditation


“In yoga and meditation, I would find the tools to connect with


myself...to uncover my ever-existing connection with a higher power.”


provided me with a pathway home to myself. And it all began with the breath.


My 20-year journey of recovery has been painful, challenging, joyful.


I was once a person who had little to no awareness, who had a total disregard About Tommy


Tommy Rosen is a certified Vinyasa Flow and Kundalini Yoga Teacher and a leading authority on addiction and recovery with 20 years experience helping others to overcome addictions of every kind. He is one of the pioneers in the relatively new field of Yoga and Recovery, which utilizes yoga and meditation to help people to move beyond addiction and build fulfilling lives.


Tommy first found recovery through the 12 steps. Some years later, he hit several bottoms that compelled him to “look deeper”. His search led him to Kundalini yoga where he found what he refers to as True Recovery. After turning that corner, he never looked back.


Now, Tommy teaches yoga for recovery in Santa Monica and Venice and runs retreats internationally.


He also teaches and speaks


regularly at Yoga conferences and festivals such as The Green Festival, Wanderlust Festivals, Hanuman Festival, Bhaktifest Causing Leaders.


and Leaders


My mind quickly ran through a number of death scenarios and I found the statement to be true. There is only one way to go and that is…on an exhale. He then followed this up with “of course, you were born on an inhale like everyone else.”


This was Guruprem’s first lesson for me on the importance of breath. I remembered the night I almost lost my breath for good. How unconscious I had been. I was struck with a thought: Addiction is not possible where there is conscious awareness of breath. The more we are aware of our breath, the further we will be from the dis-ease of addiction and the closer we will come to EASE. This is a simple, yet profound lesson, which has taken me most of my life to grasp.


for his own health and whose best uses for the breath were to pull drugs into his lungs. Now, I teach yoga. On a daily basis, I am concerned with the breath and its role in personal transformation. The miracle of it all is not lost on me. I have hit one of the greatest jackpots you can hit on this planet – to be born into the karma of drug addiction and then to be graced with teachers and teachings that could help me to navigate my way out. Everything in my life is a gift today. Sometimes, I forget that, but the Truth remains whether I am aware of it or not.


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His blogs have appeared in The Huffington Post, The Daily Love, Yoga Earth, Yoga Mint and Intent.com. He has also published articles in LA Yoga, Yogi Times and the Aquarian Times.


Tommy just finished shooting the first two Yoga and Meditation DVDs in his Recovery 2.0 video series and his first book, Recovery 2.0: Yoga, Meditation and The Next Level of Addiction Recovery, will be out later this year.


Tommy lives in Venice, CA. with his wife, noted yoga instructor, Kia Miller, where they both teach yoga and help a growing number of people and companies surpass their goals.


For more about Tommy visit www.tommyrosen.com.


September/October 2011 OriginMagazine.com 11 wonder-filled and


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