Sybil Nance & Maria Menozzi : Breaking Bad Habits

Habits... some are good and some are bad. Breaking the bad ones can be one of the biggest challenges life can dish up. Although you may be conscious of a habit not serving you it takes a lot of courage to make the decision to break it and A LOT of discipline to stick through the very tough early stages of getting out of it's grip. This month on the Life Transitions show I've been exploring how the tools of yoga can help with making the decision to break a bad habit AND sticking to it. 

I had two amazing guests for this exploration of breaking bad habits. Both come from a yoga background and each has a unique and powerful approach to helping clients with addiction. 

Sybil Nance is a Yoga Therapist and she talked with me about mindset and the 5 "touchstones" that she uses to work with addictive behaviours. When we live in the mindset of how things "ought to be" we tend to skirt reality preferring to live in the illusion of how life ought to be and are often distracted from our true essence.  The 5 “touchstones” that Sybil applies to work with her clients through addictive habits are: start where you are, silence or pause, surrender, steadiness or steadfastness and service or seva.

My second guest this month was Maria Menozzi, a marriage and family therapist and yoga teacher who specializes in trauma (both PTSD and Childhood Developmental) and addiction. Maria works primarily with people dealing with addiction and substance abuse. At first glance you may be thinking that your habit isn't as insidious as substance abuse but I encourage you to tune in. Regardless of your habits, there is a lot to be learned from her approach to supporting her clients' healing process. Maria talks about the four stages of healing through yoga, and happiness as a state of mind.

Have a listen to both interviews by clicking the links below. I'd love to know what you take away from these interviews. Leave me a comment or send me an email. 

Peace & Light, Katlin