A Way From Darkness: Yoga As a Key To Lasting Recovery, With Taylor Hunt

05/04/23 • 43 min

Hopestream for parenting kids through drug use and addiction

ABOUT THE EPISODE:
So many of us go through life feeling we’re missing something important – an idea or practice that will help mold us into our best selves. It’s possible to go our entire lives without even knowing what we’re looking for. But sometimes, the universe seems to put exactly what we need right before us.

My guest today, Taylor Hunt, was only months sober when he began praying about that missing piece. And when it was finally offered to him (in a most unusual way), he rejected it over and over again. On today’s episode, Taylor tells us the incredible story of how he finally came to accept the practice that would save his life and give purpose to hundreds of others in recovery: Ashtanga yoga.

Taylor has been in recovery for 17 years now, but when he first began yoga, he was only a few months sober, desperately trying to build a healthy life. Since then, he has become a lifelong advocate of the benefits of the practice, especially for those in recovery.

On this episode, we discuss:

The almost supernatural way yoga found its way into his life
The common problem yoga can relieve for young people struggling with anxiety and substance misuse
The positive domino effect of consistent yoga practice
Yoga’s role in the lives of parents with kids misusing substances

EPISODE RESOURCES:

The Partnership to End Addiction: www.drugfree.org/get-support
The Body Keeps the Score (Bessel van der Kolk)
www.taylorhuntyoga.com
A Way From Darkness - Taylor's book
Trini Foundation - Taylor's nonprofit organization
Apply for a scholarship

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On this episode, we discuss:

The almost supernatural way yoga found its way into his life
The common problem yoga can relieve for young people struggling with anxiety and substance misuse
The positive domino effect of consistent yoga practice
Yoga’s role in the lives of parents with kids misusing substances

EPISODE RESOURCES:

The Partnership to End Addiction: www.drugfree.org/get-support
The Body Keeps the Score (Bessel van der Kolk)
www.taylorhuntyoga.com
A Way From Darkness - Taylor's book
Trini Foundation - Taylor's nonprofit organization
Apply for a scholarship

Previous Episode

Jessica Lahey, NYT Best Selling Author on The Addiction Inoculation, Inviting Failure and The Ultimate Challenge For Parents

ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Jessica Lahey has been surrounded by addiction her whole life. As a person now in long-term recovery, she grew up around alcoholism, came to her own reckoning with dinking, has taught every grade from 6-12, worked with adolescents in residential treatment, and written two New York Times best-selling books, The Gift of Failure and The Addiction Inoculation.

Jessica’s books are a gift to parents looking for ways to set their kids up for the best possible outcome regarding substances and the ability to navigate life independently as they progress through high school and their young adulthood.

You’ll hear how Jessica went from being adamantly against substance use to realizing she had a serious drinking problem, why she wants parents to focus on progress, not product, why allowing our kids to struggle truly is a gift, and explains the data behind the mantra, “delay, delay, delay.”

It’s appointment listening, even if your child is already down the path of misusing substances. You’ll gain so much from this frank and encouraging conversation.
EPISODE RESOURCES:

How To Raise An Adult
Never Enough
I’ve Taught Monsters
On Being 40ish
Nadine Burke Harris - The Deepest Well
Differently Wired
Tilt Parenting podcast
Quiet, Susan Cain
Jessica’s Parent Teacher Conference NYT Column
#AmWriting podcast

Next Episode

Back Pocket Parenting; Getting Un-Enmeshed From A Child Who Misuses Drugs and Alcohol, with Cathy Cioth

ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Parents often don’t realize they’re deeply and unhealthfully embedded in their child’s life- especially when that child struggles with their relationship to substances. The official term for this dysfunction is called enmeshment, but since Cathy and I aren’t therapists, we liken it to back-pocket parenting.

If you find yourself intertwined in your child’s life to the degree that they’re not doing age-appropriate things for themselves, or you don’t know where they end and you begin, this is your episode.
We talk about what enmeshment looks like, examples of our own relationships, the impact it has on a teen or young adult, and ideas for how to start to disentangle from your child using boundaries and natural consequences (and a good therapist!)
EPISODE RESOURCES:

AutoCamp (The Stream Spring retreat venue)

Hopestream for parenting kids through drug use and addiction - A Way From Darkness: Yoga As a Key To Lasting Recovery, With Taylor Hunt

Transcript

My guest today is the author of the passage you just heard. I'm excited to share this incredible story of how his life was turned around. But before we get into that, I want to remind you that the fact you're here today is not an accident. I talk with so many parents every week who tell me I listened to X, Y, Z episode today and it was exactly what I needed to hear.

It was like you were living in my life and then created the episode. And that is true in a sense. I am in your home and you