Welcome. I’m Kyczy Hawk.
My life as a student:
I am one of those people who started to practice yoga later in life. Thinking that inflexibility, a small range of motion and lack of strength would keep me from a full practice, I discovered, to my delight, that yoga is perfect for me, my body, my abilities, and in-abilities. It is also so much more. In the Lotus Yoga Teacher Training (Himalayan Yoga Style) the philosophy of yoga enriched the asana, or poses, for me. I have come to love all the limbs of yoga; it has opened a lifelong study for me.
I have witnessed the power of yoga and recovery first-hand. As a woman in recovery, I know something about the ravages of addiction. I know what damage can be done to the body, mind, and spirit when one’s life is turned over to a substance, a behavior, a destructive way of life. I have experienced the long climb back to wholeness. The discipline of a life in recovery is never over.
I learned about the power of yoga in relapse prevention when I started yoga in my seventeenth year of sobriety.
It began with my own experience of quiet breathing and exploring physical challenge. My work on the mat led me to an enhancement of my spiritual condition.
I progressed in my ability to discern healthy relaxation/tension release from a feeling of boredom or being tired.
In this way, I witnessed the effectiveness of yoga in preventing relapse in my mind, body, and soul. I found incredible ability to give me the strength I needed to continue my recovery. It was this direct experience that gave me the resolve to focus my life and my love of yoga to helping those who are going through what I went through by becoming a yoga teacher.
My life as a teacher:
Having taught over 1600 yoga classes to people in recovery, I have experienced first-hand the incredible power of yoga to transform lives. I have amazing students; students who come for physical challenge and investigation… students who come for healing… students who come to learn about the tools that yoga offers them and their wellness path… students who have come to enhance their recovery from addiction and to avoid relapse.
I have been a yoga teacher for several years and my primary focus has been classes designed for people recovering from addictions. I am also a certified Yoga of Recovery (YoR) Counselor available for private consultations and group work.
I take my classes to jails, recovery homes, halfway houses, and detention centers, helping others find inner guidance and strength through yoga and with each other. I hold classes in studios – Y12SR classes (Yoga of 12 Step Recovery)- combining a recovery meeting with a yoga class. I have been involved with the Art of Yoga Project and the Niroga Institute – both organizations that work with at-risk youth. My volunteer time includes classes at the Recovery Cafe San Jose and Elmwood Jail.
My focus includes training others to share the power of “service” yoga through my program “S.O.A.R.™ and being a Y12SR Leadership Trainer. My sincere hope is that we are able to bring yoga to all treatment centers, aftercare and offer to it in jails and institutions. Bringing the holistic healing powers of yoga to these venues would be a wonderful thing!
Namaste~
See My Schedule tab for class times and locations
Kyczy (keet-ski) Hawk
kyczy[at]yogarecovery.com
San Jose, CA 95125