“It Needs to Be Shared”
On October 17, 2022, I interviewed Kelly West of Austin, TX, via Zoom. She is a Journey through the 12 Steps participant who took the course in 2021, and she shared her experience with the Journey and how she has been using KY12 since then.
To learn more about the next Journey through the 12 Steps for Women course starting in January 2023, check out the KY12 webpage: https://www.ky12step.com/events/2023journey
Q: What did you get out of the Journey through the 12 Steps course? How was it useful to you?
A: What I got out of it was community. I was really missing practicing Kundalini Yoga during Covid. Also, when I did teacher training there were so many Kundalini Yoga teachers in Austin, so KY12 was a way to differentiate myself and offer something unique to my community. I went to a workshop on KY12 at Summer Solstice, before the workbook was published, and I was interested in KY12 because as I would do kriyas myself, I was always connecting the kriya to the Steps even though the Steps are not mentioned in Kundalini Yoga. So I wanted to be in connection with people who were in recovery but also in the Kundalini community. I was very interested in what you were doing because I wanted to see, could I learn to do this and offer it?
Q: Who would be the ideal person to take the course?
A: A person who is really committed and ready to go through all 12 Steps. Someone who is really committed to their recovery and who wants to develop their Kundalini practice in their recovery. Someone who can really see the connection and is motivated to work through all the Steps. It might be helpful to know a little bit about Kundalini Yoga. You are so good about being gentle, and I think the KY12 program is a great introduction to Kundalini Yoga, but it might be helpful to know yoga beforehand too.
Q: How have you used the material from the course personally?
A: It helped me to confirm for myself that I’ve put together the right elements for my recovery - the Steps and Kundalini Yoga. Kundalini is the most important aspect of my recovery. I sometimes struggle with regular 12 Step meetings. But I feel that people in recovery really need Kundalini. The Steps don’t really address the energy and physical aspects. If I hadn’t discovered Kundalini I would still be drinking. And the Steps are also important - when I finally surrendered to the Steps and to yoga, that’s when I realized that’s the combination that works for me.
Q: How have you used the material from the course professionally?
A: I knew that when I took the course that I was going to do something with KY12. I wasn’t really sure what, I had several ideas, and I still have more ideas, but what I decided to do, because it can be hard to get a Kundalini class, is to reach out to Communities for Recovery. It’s on the Austin State Hospital grounds, it was founded by a doctor who was an alcoholic, and everything that happens there has to be related to recovery, but not necessarily to the Steps. It operates through volunteers. Everything has to be offered for free, it’s for lower income people who can’t afford to get other kinds of help. One of the students who was in Kundalini teacher training with me, found your Workbook, and she came and said to me, “Have you seen this book?” and I said, “Yes, I took the course!” and so we discussed what we might do together. We went to the director and they had a great space, with mats and bolsters. They advertise it on Facebook, and I’m also working on a little website to let people know the schedule for the class. We’ve committed to getting through all the 12 Steps, from August to December this year. The class ranges from 2 to 9 people, and there are regulars who come every time. We read through the chapters and pretty much do the kriyas that you suggest in the Workbook. And we’ll start over again in January. We wrote a script that’s based on the one you shared with me. The format for the class is: we open with the Serenity Prayer, we read from the part of the Workbook that focuses on the Step, and then we do a Kundalini Yoga class based on the Step. We do warmups, breathwork, and a shortened kriya. Then we do a 6 minute gong and a 6 minute meditation. Then we close the class and open it up for sharing about people’s experience with the kriya, or the Step. Usually we get a pretty good conversation! We have one guy, in early recovery, and the rest are women. We do have an older lady who uses a chair and we just adapt the kriya for her.
It’s going well now. It’s one of my favorite things to do.
And this class already got me a job! Because they put my bio on their Facebook page, and a lot of the rehabs in the area follow their page, one of the program administrators at one of the intensive outpatient facilities reached out to me. She asked if I could sub classes, and I did several times. Then I asked if she would be interested in Kundalini, and she invited me in to teach the adolescents. They paid me well, and even though it was difficult to teach that population, hopefully I was planting a seed. And I’m hoping to approach a rehab with KY12. I know most rehabs are really focused on the Steps.
Q: Do you have any other ideas of how to share KY12 with the world?
A: I have every intention of continuing doing what I’m doing. And I’m trying to create a small blog or webpage, and I’ll put the cover of the Workbook as our guide, and I’ll share the schedule and invite people to come. If I can find a way to share it with rehabs I will do that too. I prefer to teach in person, not on Zoom. Close to me in Austin is an intensive outpatient program, I might ask them if I can offer a meeting to their patients. It helps me to get hours teaching, and bring Kundalini to addicts. It helps me to stay in touch with the program, and keeps me honest! I might take a yoga therapy certification course and then be able to offer this through a doctor’s office.
I think this is a great program, I’m a big supporter, and I think it needs to be shared!
Check out https://ky12austin.com for more information
Thank You Kelly!
