Kyczy Hawk, yoga instructor and author of "Yoga and the Twelve-Step Path"

Last week, I shared information about yoga and addiction recovery – specifically, five ways yoga can help addicts in recovery.

Fortunately, Kyczy Hawk stumbled across the piece.

Hawk, a San Jose-based yoga instructor who focuses on addiction recovery, is also the author of the recently published “Yoga and the Twelve-Step Path,” and agreed to a quick interview to provide Your Body, Your Mind readers with some firsthand insight about the different kinds of addiction, the dangers of feeling disconnected and separate, and how yoga can help people during the addiction recovery process.

Alicia Sparks: What led to your decision to start practicing and teaching yoga?

Kyczy Hawk: Many years ago yoga presented itself as a non “exercise” form of physical movement and health. Years later I again stepped onto the mat in both physical and psychic pain. I had plateaued in my recovery journey – I am a person in recovery – and I felt disconnected.

Are you a recovering alcoholic or drug addict? Have you thought about incorporating yoga in your recovery?

Maybe you should give it a try.

That, for many people, yoga is an effective way to manage mental health issues like anxiety and depression is no secret; however, according to Jennifer Garam’s Sun Salutations in Sobriety, people also use yoga to break through the “spiritual wall” many recovering addicts hit and continue on their sobriety path.

Apparently, this isn’t a new or secret idea, either. Sarah, the nine-year sober New Yorker quoted in the article, started using yoga during her seventh year, and folks like Rolf Gates, Nikki Myers, and Tommy Rosen write about and teach yoga programs designed for people in recovery.

(Of course, you can Google just about any combination of “yoga and sobriety,” “yoga and recovery,” and “yoga and addiction” and you’ll find tons of related blogs, forums, and programs.)

So, why is yoga working so well for people in recovery?