Shair Addiction Recovery Podcast | Higher Power | 12 Step | Drug Addiction | Alcoholism | Sobriety | Hp Baby

Cindee Rifkin is a yoga and meditation teacher who brings her skills and daily medicine practices to those who want to find relief from addictions and to bring meaning into their lives.She believes that by quieting our mind, strengthening our body and using ceremonies and spiritual remedies, we can heal our emotional and physical pain, gain the power to create a better life and be our wisest self. She carefully integrates yoga, breathing, prayer, music and ceremony as she works with others to find our source of strength, fulfill our potential and discover the wonder of our spirit. Her vast studies and certifications are in Hatha, Ashtanga, Vinyasa and Forrest Yoga, which began in 2008.  Cindee moved to India and immersed herself in yoga traditions and philosophy with Shri Sheshadri and B.K.S. Iyengar – both are students of Tirumalai Krishnamacharya. Her current primary practice is Forrest Yoga in which she continues higher level trainings with Ana Forrest and Forrest Guardian Jambo Truong. Cindee truly

Tim Ryan the author of From Dope to Hope: A Man in Recovery joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast. A six-figure salary, a beautiful home in the suburbs, a loving family – Tim Ryan had it all, then lost it all because of an addiction to heroin, cocaine, other drugs and alcohol. For years, Tim had great success in business and in life, despite a habit that was forming around “drinking and drugging.” But when he added heroin to the mix, Tim’s balancing act spiraled out of control. Often spending nearly $500 a day to support his opiate habit, his career and relationships suffered setback after setback. His uncontrollable addiction to substances resulted in multiple overdoses, rehab stays, and even jail time. Sentenced to seven years in the Sheridan Correctional Center for a number of drug-related convictions, Tim got clean and sober behind bars. However, “life on the outside” wasn’t working in his favor. While there, his wife divorced him. And his son Nick, who he had introduced to heroin along with his teenage fri

Jennifer Matesa the author of Sex in Recovery: A meeting between the covers joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast. Sexuality in the context of recovery is rarely talked about openly, in part because our broader culture may inhibit us from sharing our true experiences. For some, the prospect of sober sex feels like uncharted waters--in the past, we've rarely had sex without first numbing ourselves with drugs and alcohol. What does it mean to have an intimate relationship in sobriety? Exploring that question deepens our recovery journey. With this groundbreaking work, Jennifer Matesa uncovers the challenges real people encounter when they start taking their clothes off--without drinking or using in order to do so. Providing readers "a meeting between the covers," Matesa blends first-person accounts bravely shared by diverse members of the recovery community, insights from experts, and her own perspectives. The result is a book that creates a space for a vital, new dialogue about sexuality and intimacy. As we find

Adam Jasinski joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast.  Donate to The SHAIR Podcast Click Here In April of 2008 Adam Jasinski was the $500,000 prize winner on the CBS reality show "Big Brother Season 9" and from the moment he cashed in his check his life unraveled.  First he failed to file an income tax return nor pay the taxes owed on the money.  In 2009 Adam was arrested outside Boston and charged with attempting to sell 2,000 pills of oxycodone, the main active ingredient in OxyContin and other painkillers. He had originally pleaded not guilty to possession with attempt to distribute oxycodone but changed his plea to guilty during a hearing Monday in U.S. District Court in Boston. He also pleaded guilty to the tax charge, which was added on by prosecutors.  Jasinski admitted to funding his illegal venture with the $500,000 winnings from the show, and to buying and reselling oxycodone pills for several months, Jasinski faced a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.  Jasinski was sentenced in Janua

Sam Herron the author of Street Life Fragments joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast. Donate to The SHAIR Podcast Click Here Sam is about to publish his first book titled Street Life Fragments: Stories and Photographs from Homeless America. Sam Herron, a former millionaire whose personal tragedies, illness, and bad luck cast him into extreme poverty and homelessness. His firsthand experience of life on the streets at age of fifty, forces Sam to confront the dark side of the American Dream at an age when recovery is improbable. Through the lens of a pawnshop camera, he discovers a side of humanity he once feared and ignored. The insights gained through his art, along with heartfelt interviews with people suffering under the same conditions, help him transcend into a man with a selfless sense of purpose, compassion, empathy, and service. Currently Sam works for a health care provider for people suffering from mental health and substance use disorders, they also provide housing services for homeless and low income

Jane Galloway the author of The Gateways- The Wisdom of 12-Step Spirituality joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast. The Gateways are...A Gateway, a Bridge, an Opening into living the Spiritual Life that the Steps promise! What YOU get from this is TOOLS, Inspiration, Time to release the Shame and move into the FREEDOM. Donate to The SHAIR Podcast Click Here Is there more to recovery than just staying sober and clean? Dr. Jane Galloway offers an emphatic "yes" to this question in her groundbreaking 12 Step companion guide, The Gateways: The Wisdom of 12-Step Spirituality. Galloway presents the 12 Steps squarely in the context of 21st-century spirituality with breadth, skill, and sensitivity that helps readers of any faith (or of none) experience profound spiritual awakening. Too many recovery programs fixate on the sickness of addiction and, as a result, trap people in a pathology-centered mindset. Jane Galloway's strength-based approach suggests "Rather than obsessing on what is 'wrong' with a person, learning

Cory Murphy is an award-winning scholar and world traveler. He’s also a former heroin addict. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, he relocated at the age of 20 to start a new life drug-free. Since then, he has studied abroad on numerous occasions, learned multiple languages, and graduated at the top of his class from the University of Cincinnati’s Carl H. Lindner College of Business. Donate to The SHAIR Podcast Click Here Cory now works in management at one of the largest corporations in the world. In his free time, he shares his story in hopes of inspiring others who have been affected by addiction, both directly through actual usage and indirectly through dealing with a friend or family member that has struggled with drug abuse. Since he got clean from Heroine Cory put together on a blog what he calls the Murphy Method. Here are a few suggestions from Cory. For many years, I’ve looked back on my life and reflected on what I did differently from most other addicts to not only get clean, but to have a recovery i

Robert Apple a recovery blogger and the founder of the Sober Apple Blog joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast. Donate to The SHAIR Podcast Click Here   Robert (Bob) Apple, currently lives in Santa Maria California, but lived in the Silicon Valley for forty years. He was married twice, had two great kids, a boy and a girl. He worked many years for UPS. He also owned several businesses; video store, video production, a bar (not as much fun as you think), and had a partner in four Quizno’s franchises. Several years ago, at the age of 55 years old, he became addicted to alcohol, and prescription drugs. His life began to unravel and was forced to retire from his job at UPS after 27 years as a driver. He became an absolute mess and had become someone he could barely recognize. His behavior was erratic, a chronic liar, undependable, aimless, and lonely. His family and friends could no longer take what he was doing to himself and stayed away. A month after he retired from UPS, he entered his first of three rehabs. He c

J.A. Wright the author How to Grow an Addict joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast.   Donate to The SHAIR Podcast Click Here Jodi grew up in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and moved to New Zealand in 1990 with her young family. She’s been crafting this novel since she stopped using drugs and alcohol in 1985. Jodi has been clean and sober since February 1985, and has worked in the entertainment industry since 1992. Her many jobs have included festival director, concert promoter, and show producer. She is also familiar with just about every type of production job related to staging... J.A. Wright’s How to Grow an Addict, is a novelization about Randall Grange, a young girl who is trying to navigate the testy waters of her family life and come out unscathed despite growing up in a house full of addicts and abusers. It reads like a memoir, a sort of “come clean” string of consciousness that chronicles her rise (or rather, fall) from a young girl to a young woman. The novel is literally what the titl

Jim Downs of Big Jim's Walk joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast.   Donate to The SHAIR Podcast Click Here Big Jim’s Walk, Inc is a non-profit organization bringing awareness to the world of the addiction epidemic. Through this foundation, Big Jim’s Walk has plans to build an addiction recovery center, Camp Redemption, with the help from its’ donors and other community members. Join us as Jim takes us through here battle with Drugs and Alcohol, the wreckage it caused in her life, when he hit rock bottom and his amazing journey into recovery up until today. Listen to Jim’s story now! Clean Date: October 13, 2015 Jim Downs, was born in Fallbrook, California, which is in San Diego County, on January 22, 1969. He was adopted by a very loving family at the age of 3 months. His father passed away when he was three years old. His mother passed away in 2012 from a battle with Alzheimer’s. After the death of his mother, he totally lost it and attempted suicide, including trying to drive his truck into the Arkansas Rive

Sarah Roberts of Sarah Talks Food joins us on The SHAIR Podcast. Donate to The SHAIR Podcast Click Here Sarah is 10 years sober from alcohol, and ever since then has been passionate about discovering ways to live a healthier lifestyle. Her book, "The 28 Day Kick the Sugar Challenge," guides you on a 28 day journey towards better health and wellness, while helping you develop greater self-trust, self-respect, and self-love. Through her research, and by trial and error, she has figured out a formula that allows her to enjoy a healthy weight and maintain good energy, and she wants to share what she has learned with you! Join us as Sarah takes us through here battle with Alcohol, the wreckage it caused in her life, when she hit rock bottom and her journey into recovery up until today. Listen to Sarah’s story now! Clean Date: January 2, 2007 Donate to The SHAIR Podcast Click Here

Mike Lindsey joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast. Mike is the founder of AIR Wear Recovery Gear, AIR stands for Addicts In Recovery. Take pride in the accomplishment of overcoming addiction. AIR Wear, get your recovery on. On today’s episode Mike take us through his gut wrenching battle with Chrystal Meth, you do not want to miss this episode. Donate to The SHAIR Podcast Click Here A little about Mike… “As you know, everyone has a story. For many people, those stories include chapters of addiction. Fortunately, the same people can also experience chapters of recovery in their lives. I am blessed to be one of the survivors of addiction. I have battled addiction for decades in various forms, from alcohol to gambling to drugs and many more. Each promised me peace and relief from fear and pain. I searched to fill empty voids in my life but any relief was only temporary, at best. Being a functioning addict my entire life I was able to be a chameleon, keep up appearances and switch back and forth between multiple a

JoAnn Miller is a recovery advocate and the founder of Holy Addiction. And this is her story… Donate to The SHAIR Podcast Click Here “If you had told me the day I snuck in that window that I would own a blog with traffic, would be working with a radio station and three of the coolest guys in the recovery community, I wouldn’t have believed you. The past year of my life has been one crazy ride.  I gave up drugs and picked up a mission. The day I typed addiction into the search bar on Facebook, I was shocked.  I was an active regular social Facebook user, and I had no idea that this world, our world, even existed.  You would think I would have run into a meme or something, but no, nothing. Within one year this community has turned my life around.  You gave me the strength to give up the Suboxone.  I learned that I am a whole lot tougher than I thought I was.  I found skills that I didn’t know I had and self-worth that I never had.  I have a resume that doesn’t have one single lie on it, and it still looks impre

Rob Koebel, Emmy Award winning Investigative Reporter, had everything he ever imagined, his dream job, a beautiful wife, but in the background was alcohol. When his ex-wife a CNN News Anchor writes a tell all book about their marriage and goes on book tour promoting it – he has a very public and embarrassing meltdown. Rob is caught on a mall security camera, wasted taking a leak on the Apple Store. The arrest makes headlines across the country. Four years later, Rob is sober and on a mission to put purpose and passion back into his life.  Still unhappy after trying jobs in different careers, he moves 2,000 miles out west to Los Angeles, in hopes of getting a second chance at what he loves to do, meeting and sharing the stories of others.  On his journey – he reconnects with old friends and meets new ones who share their stories about how they have or are trying to pick up the pieces of their lives.   Join us now as Rob takes us through his battle with drugs and alcohol, the wreckage it caused in his life, w

Nikki DuBose joins us today on The SHAIR podcast. Nikki is a former model turned author, speaker and mental health advocate. Her debut memoir, Washed Away: From Darkness to Light, was released September 30, 2016. In Washed Away, Nikki recounts her experiences navigating the dark side of the modeling industry, while battling abuse, addiction, and various mental health issues. She recently appeared in the Oprah Winfrey Network on the T.D Jakes show to speak about her recovery from body dysmorphic order and eating disorders and how the pressure to fit into the modeling industry nearly killed her. Tara Nicole DuBose was born in 1985 in Charleston, South Carolina to Sandra Pierce and Wayne DuBose. Her mother was an artist and her father was a delivery salesman for local food companies. Sandra named her “Tara” after the fictional plantation in the film, Gone with the Wind, directed by Victor Fleming. Despite Sandra’s love for the name, she and Wayne often referred to Tara as “Nikki,” short for Nicole, and so the na

O.R. Marv joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast.  Marv is the founder of One Rep at a Time. His website blends fitness information with the challenges faced by those in recovery from some sort of addiction. After years of non-biased research, soul-searching, and step-work, Marv has been able to completely change his approach, not only to fitness, but to nutrition, body image, and overall sense of well-being and spirituality. For years he has only wanted to help people. Today he has finally found his calling, to give back what was so freely given to him in recovery.

Torrance Johnson joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast, and Torrance is the founder of Recover Period, a recovery clothing line who’s slogan is Wear Something That Means Something. Torrance came to the conclusion after evaluating where he was in his life and who he is as an individual, that today's fashion, the bulk of it, does not express who he is or what he is passionate about. Torrance is a man who's life has been affected by witnessing friends, family, and communities taken over by an illness most consider a lifetime battle. Included Torrance himself.  He is driven to connect with and lend support to as many people as possible who’s lives have been affected by the disease of addiction.  To celebrate the small victories, the triumphs, and yes, to give meaningful support during times of struggle. Join us now as Torrance takes though his battle with Drugs and Alcohol, the wreckage it caused in his life and his journey into recovery up until today. Clean Date: July 1, 2014

Patti Clark joins us today on this special 100th Episode of The SHAIR podcast.  Patti is an accomplished speaker and workshop leader dedicated to helping people through various life transitions on their journey to an extraordinary life. For more than 30 years, and over several continents, Patti has been sharing her knowledge and wisdom with others. She is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and graduated from U.C. Berkeley. She has taught English at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and at Oregon State University. Patti’s work has been featured in several publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, and The Mindful Word. Patti now travels around the globe facilitating workshops, and is about to launch a new series of interactive workshops online. Patti spends part of her time in the United States, and part of her time in New Zealand. She and her husband and their two sons live near the beach on the Coromandel Peninsula. This Way Up is her first book.

Dr. Harold Jonas joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast. Dr. Jonas, PhD, LMHC, CAP has extensive experience with web development and award-winning app development since 1999. He’s responsible for the concept, design and launch of multiple directories serving the Addiction & Recovery industry, including Soberhouses.com, Sober.com, Detox.com, Halfwayhouses.com, Rehabs.com, Sobernetwork.com, Recoveryroommates.com, and Interventionstrategies.com. Two of his most recent apps for the Addiction & Recovery space received national recognition and prestigious awards. Dr. Jonas holds a PhD from International University with a focus on Addictive Disorders and an MA in Counseling Psychology from Antioch University. He is a practicing Psychotherapist and Licensed Therapist in the state of Florida. He is also a well-known Palm Beach County entrepreneur in the real estate and hospitality industry sectors. In addition, he has developed and maintained Transitional Residences for people in recovery. Dr. Jonas is availabl

Michelle Thöle joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast. Michelle is the author of My Journey Through Darkness, a true life story of an ordinary young girl who records her journey as a drug addict. Omar:    Do you remember how old you were the first time you drank, or used drugs? And more importantly, how they made you feel? That first time? Michelle:    Yeah, I was 14 and I started smoking, and about at the age of 16 I started going to a lot of parties with the older crowd of kids. We lived outside a big city, we were in a small town. So, we had a lot of house parties. I mean, I remembered nights where my folks would come pick me up at 11 or 12, which was my curfew, and my mother would try and cover for me, because I was stumbling to the car. So, that was the beginning of drinking.     But I must say, I was always very, very afraid of drugs, because I was always kind of fascinated by it. So, I'd read a lot of books about it. You know, the usual trainspotting and basketball diaries. So, I felt very educated, an