Recovery 2.0 is a global community of people who have found a way to overcome addiction and thrive. It was founded in 2013 by Tommy Rosen, an internationally renowned yoga teacher, addiction recovery expert and author with over 34 years of continuous recovery from addiction.
This Q&A series features the unique stories of individuals who are part of this community, exploring their journeys into recovery and experience with Recovery 2.0.
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What brought you into recovery?
I started recovery at age 17, when I was a senior in high school. I went to treatment and immediately felt a sense of relief and belonging. I embraced the 12 Steps and I got involved with womens’ groups in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and I learned a lot about myself. I met a bunch of other young people in the program and we had a blast in life – we’d go out in Minneapolis as sober teens and young adults, living a crazy life, but just sober.
I married a sober man and we had two children, when I was 24 and 26. I started backing away from AA. Then my marriage took a turn. My husband decided he wanted to start drinking. Five years later, I decided to join him. After 15 years of sobriety, I abandoned myself – that’s how I look at it. I had to either stay true to myself and get a divorce, or do whatever I could do to make our marriage happier. It was a conscious choice.
I was on an international flight and I ordered a glass of wine. Before it was even done, I remember wondering if there would be time for another. I immediately knew. But I drank for another 14 years. I was fairly high functioning, getting my real estate license and going back to school to become a nurse. But there were plenty of times when I got way too drunk, and it was definitely muting my emotions and stalling my personal growth.
It also didn’t solve the marriage problem. Near the end, he would be drinking his bourbon at the front of the house and I’d be at the back of the house drinking my wine. We were together, but very separate. I eventually told him I was moving out and got my own apartment. A few days after our divorce was finalized, I woke up and knew it was time to quit drinking. I called a couple of my friends who were in recovery and lived down the hall, and I asked them for help.
How did you find Recovery 2.0
I had gotten back into AA, but there were all these little things at the meetings I remembered used to bug me that still bugged me. I’m completely aligned with the foundation of the 12 Steps, but it was hard for me to find groups of people who felt really solid and supportive of my growth. It’s like trying to find a church – there are all these humans with different personalities.
I’d been sober for about a year when I first heard about Recovery 2.0 through a friend who is also friends with Tommy (the founder). I immediately looked into it, bought Tommy’s book (Recovery 2.0: Move Beyond Addiction and Upgrade your Life), and started joining his workshops and listening to him speak online. I completed the Eight Week Awakening during the pandemic and could truly see the benefit of what Tommy teaches through Recovery 2.0.
I loved how Recovery 2.0 was so inclusive and how Tommy didn’t just talk about substances but also about addictive behaviors and the negative or ruminating mind, where everything has to be analyzed and gone over 100 times. I really struggled with that, and the meditation and chanting practices I’ve learned through Recovery 2.0 really interrupt those thought processes and take me out of negative thinking and overanalyzing.
Last year, I went to England on a Recovery 2.0 retreat. There’s an energy about Tommy and the people that get involved in Recovery 2.0 that reminded me of my very first experience in treatment and getting sober. There’s an excitement to be alive and not use drugs or alcohol. It’s like, we’re going to have fun!
You work in recovery as a nurse at a treatment center. What’s that like?
In-patient treatment has changed dramatically since the 80s and 90s. Unfortunately, there’s an empty-feeling dullness to sobriety now. You just don’t feel the same aliveness, excitement or joy. Sometimes, when I’m working with them one-on-one in detox, you’ll see a little bit of that. But, for the most part, it’s just a very flat experience.
There is a lot of prescription medication, and too many people are taking a medication to be sober instead of tapping into what is innately you — the joy, love and consciousness that we’re all born with. You dull that through years of substance abuse and when you get sober, that should start to awaken. And I feel like there is an awakening that is not happening anymore. Patients want to medicate every single symptom they feel, using prescription and over-the-counter meds. They aren’t learning how to sit with discomfort and allow it to pass.
I think technology is contributing, too. It’s easy to log into a Zoom meeting and not be very present. And at many treatment centers these days, cell phones are allowed to be on your person. They walk around campus looking down at their device. It changes the entire experience, when they can stay plugged into the outside world during their treatment. They aren’t required to focus on connecting with themself and the people there. That’s a huge disappointment to me.
Recovery 2.0 embraces the idea that you can heal from addiction. This is very different from AA, which considers alcoholism a disease. As a medical professional, what are your thoughts on this?
If you see alcoholism or addiction as a medical condition, you can understand why there are so many pharmacological methods to treat it. A lot of industries have profited from this belief, but I don’t think it’s benefiting the people who struggle with alcoholism and drug addiction.
I don’t see alcoholism or addiction as a medical condition. I see it as something you live with and have to manage in a way that’s healthy and appropriate. When Tommy says you can heal from addiction, he doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to drink or use again someday. That would be a life spent trying to control your emotional experience, which isn’t freedom.
We are healing from the discomfort that led us to wanting to numb ourselves. We are healing from the belief that we are bad. We are learning how to move through discomfort and live a life that is full of possibility. Why would I want to use substances that result in behaviors that I will later have to heal from?
How is processed sugar a useful analogy?
There is no pill to treat sugar addiction or manage cravings. I have to decide if I want to eat processed sugar and how much sugar I want to eat. But if I consume too much, my body might start breaking down in the same way that a person’s body can break down from drugs and alcohol. The liver suffers. The kidneys suffer. You can have problems with digestive issues and the brain. You’ve got alcohol-induced or drug-induced, psychosis or dementia. So these things can lead to disease down the line. But they don’t start out that way. The differentiation is important because it informs how we approach prevention and treatment.
What’s next for you? Do you think you’ll continue to work in treatment?
I’m not sure. I know I have a lot to teach, but I’m not seeing many people come into treatment with a strong hunger to learn about addiction and themselves. I feel like we’re letting them take the easy road. It’s like, come to treatment and get some medication. We’ll make your detox comfortable. We’ll even make leaving treatment comfortable, because we’re going to prescribe you several things that will help you cope, and you’ll always have something to take to get through the day. I’m not inspired by that approach. I want to be clear with this sentiment, I absolutely know and agree there is a safety need for medication for detox from alcohol and benzodiazepines. There is a need for some comfort with other substances due to the really brutal physical withdrawal. Beyond the detox withdrawal there is a bigger need for leaning into discomfort, to sit with it and the root of it, whether physical and/or emotional. AND to always be gentle with self and your heart, we and you are worth it.
I’m really drawn to what Tommy does in Recovery 2.0. He has this personality where you just love on him immediately and want to be near his energy, but Tommy can’t be everywhere at the same time. And there are a lot of people in the Recovery 2.0 community with a similar kind of dynamic energy, so there’s got to be a way for it to be more physically present in more cities.
I met a woman at the retreat in England who lives near me in Portland, Oregon. We’ve talked about trying to get an in-person universal Recovery 2.0 meeting started. I would love that. Maybe we’d start with a bit of chanting or breathwork that leads into group sharing. That’s what happens on retreat and it’s pretty magical.
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