A Happy Life Beats Happy Hour

There was a time I couldn't imagine a day without happy hour. I'd start drinking as soon as there was an excuse, keep drinking into the wee hours, wake up hung over and start the cycle again. Those days are over now and if they had stayed happy I wouldn't be writing this.

I am grateful to be free from my dependency on alcohol and cigarettes and (insert drug of choice here). I am much happier without the crutches I so readily leaned on and fought to keep for so long. I don't miss my drunken days, which still surprises me sometimes. The best part is that I reached this healthy, balanced existence by following my heart and doing what I love - practicing yoga.

I'm not sure what actually came first, my desire to stop being a disaster or my desire to be a yogi. They are intertwined. However, I am sure that my actual ability to get sober was a direct result of my yoga practice.

I was an "alcoholic" who sought out yoga as an alternative to the gym. In time, the yoga became a more spiritual pursuit. I didn't set out to be spiritually awakened. I couldn't help it. The yoga just runs deeper than a workout.

I don't believe that sobriety is the only way or that yoga is the only way to get there. I simply found that with yoga, I was able to set a boundary on the booze instead of the booze binding me.

I write to alcohol abuse, as that was my main issue, but the priciples of yoga can be applied to help ease any addiction - food, drugs, bad relationships, ect.

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