In the past few decades, I have tripped through the cosmos on mind-expanding substances, traveled through America with J. Krishnamurti, Ram Dass, and a variety of sages, and trekked to the mystic East to study with the most renowned, powerful Yogis in the world.

THE END OF THE ROAD
For all my incredible journeys, the ten months I spent in rehab facing a near terminal drug addiction was the most profoundly transformational experience of my life.

As with many addicts, hitting rock bottom forced me to let go of everything thought I knew. I had no choice but to die to my old self and arise, reborn, from the sad ashes of my former life.

Trough some mysterious combination of professional help, determination and magic, I emerged a far more refined version of my former self. I was a whole new man, firmly rooted in a willingness to change, take direction, clarify values, and behave in a manner congruent with those values.

REINVENTING THE WHEEL
It's doubtful whether any of the highly skilled therapists, sponsors, and counselors at the rehab knew much about Yoga philosophy. And yet, their collective strategy for helping me reclaim my life is presented as a cohesive model in Yoga's foundation text, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

'Kriya Yoga', the Yoga of action, is defined in the second chapter as the precise dynamics for sustainable transformation.

It is the underlying approach required for any of Yoga's tools to work, and contains the three essential components for lasting change.

DO SOMETHING
Kriya Yoga's first element, tapas, is a new behavior, or contrary action, refinement. Yoga, the original behavioral psychology, holds that better behavior generates improved feelings, (as opposed to classical psychology which maintains that emotions must first be healed at their root for us to effectively change our actions).

Yoga and the twelve step programs each explain that we can act our way to feeling better more easily than we can feel our way to better behavior. Therefore, tapas, 'acting as if' is the quickest way to refine our systems and transform our minds.

In Yoga, Asana (postures) and conscious eating are new behaviors for improving the body. Pranayama (breath control) is tapas for refining the physiological processes. Bhavana, (visualization) is new action for clarifying values.

In twelve step programs, going to meetings is the tapas for staying sober and developing a capacity for intimacy.
Taking personal inventory and making amends are the contrary actions for reducing resentment and shame.
In Twelve Steps and Yoga, the most direct route to inner transformation is by changing outward behavior. They both insist that: 'if you keep doing what your doing you'll keep getting what you're getting', and that 'insanity is repeating the same actions but expecting different results'.

Not every action is tapas, however. All true tapas is linked to Kriya Yoga's second component, svadhyaya, or reflection. More specifically, the Sutras define this reflection as accurate observation of oneself with the help of another person.

WHERE THE TRUTH LIES
Svadhyaya's demand for an external reference highlights Yoga's central paradox: Even though our deepest wisdom and greatest truths are inside the individual... based on the changing nature of the mind, if left to ourselves, (especially in areas where we lack clarity), we lean toward our imbalances.

Yoga, psychology, and the recovery movement each offer relationship with another person, teacher, therapist, or sponsor, to help us from subverting our best attempts at change. Without the added perspective, a self-destructive person can harm themselves in their attempts to become less destructive. Thus, the overachiever will try too hard to overcome their tendency to overachieve and the perfectionist will fail to recognize any small improvements they have made in becoming less perfectionistic. For some people, more asana might be the best tapas. For others, less asana (or none at all) would create the desired effect.

In the past, guides (teachers, elders, and shamans) and guidelines (rituals, rites, and traditions) supported the individual throughout life. Modern Western culture offers freedom without guidance and celebrates the self-reliant loner, the heroic individualist. Addicts, in particular, struggle with authority issues. They often exhibit 'defiant dependence', the tendency to seek approval and support while defensively pushing it away.

The value of reliable references permeates Yoga philosophy. Traditionally, Yoga was defined as a living lineage of experience handed down from teacher to student, a river of insight flowing back in time to the first teacher and forward to infinity.

This same model is the foundation of the 12-step program, which encourages every addict/alcoholic to work with a sponsor who works with a sponsor, so that they might someday sponsor a newcomer and 'pass on what they've been given'.

THE POWERS THAT BE
The final element in Kriya Yoga is Isvarapranidhana. This subtle concept has many meanings, including: teachability, willingness, focusing on the quality of the action, and staying out of the results.

To achieve the greatest change with the least amount of struggle, we must constantly be willing to let go of the familiar and remain open to the new. Isvarapranidhana is described as constantly emptying the cup so it can be filled again. This elegant principle is also associated with trust, faith, and surrender. Even after our deepest reflection and most measured attempt at change, Isvarapranidhana is the awareness that, in the end, we are not in control of the results of our actions.

In another striking parallel between Yoga and the Twelve step program, the entire Kriya Yoga model is beautifully expressed in the Serenity prayer, a centerpiece of recovery. Many recovering people repeat this prayer at meetings and as part of their daily rituals. It goes, "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change (isvarapranidhana) the courage to change the things I can (tapas) and the wisdom to know the difference.(svadhyaya)"

These three timeless principles are the essence, the defining characteristics of Yoga. It would, therefore, yield greater benefit to wash one's hair with the spirit of refinement, reflection, and release, than to do 100 sun salutations in a hot room without it.

GOING UP
The elements of Kriya Yoga which I first encountered fifteen years ago at a treatment center in downtown L.A. continue to guide my life and fill my days with confidence, integrity, wisdom and joy. I guess if we're lucky, the bottom can be the first step to the top.