Yoga, Meditation, and the Work of Recovery

About fifteen years ago, Nikki Myers and I founded the Yoga, Meditation, and Addiction Recovery Conference at Kripalu. The idea came from something we both recognized in the yoga community: a remarkable number of people practicing yoga were also in recovery from addiction. Yet at that time there wasn’t a clear place within the yoga world where that experience could be named, honored, and explored openly. Many of us were practicing, teaching, and building community while also walking the path of recovery, but the conversation itself was mostly happening quietly and informally. Nikki and I felt there needed to be a place where people in recovery could come together and look directly at how yoga and meditation support long-term recovery from addiction.

Where Practice and Recovery Meet

From the beginning, the conference was rooted in a simple understanding. Recovery is not only about stopping the use of substances or addictive behaviors. Long-term recovery requires the development of awareness, emotional resilience, self-regulation, and a renewed sense of purpose. These are precisely the capacities that yoga and meditation cultivate. Through practice we learn how to sit with discomfort without reacting, how to steady the mind when it becomes agitated, and how to reconnect with the deeper sources of meaning that addiction tends to obscure. For many of us in recovery, these practices become essential supports for living one day at a time with clarity and integrity.

Lived Experience as Teaching

What we knew to be true was that the exploration needed to be led by people who were themselves in recovery. The conference was never meant to be about experts speaking from a distance about addiction. Instead, it brings together teachers and practitioners who know recovery from the inside. When someone shares how meditation helped them through early sobriety, or how yoga helped them regulate their nervous system after years of chaos, that knowledge carries a different kind of authority. It is lived experience. Over the years this peer-to-peer exchange has created an atmosphere of honesty, humility, and deep trust.

Each year people travel to Kripalu from across the country and beyond to participate. Some are yoga teachers who are themselves in recovery and want to deepen the connection between their practice and their sobriety. Others are therapists, recovery professionals, and treatment providers who are interested in integrating contemplative practices into their work. And many are simply individuals who are sober and looking for tools and community that can support them in living a healthy and meaningful life.

The Power of Practicing Together

The structure of the conference reflects that diversity. Participants move through a rhythm of yoga classes, meditation sessions, workshops, panel discussions, and small group conversations. Some sessions focus on the practical mechanics of practice—how breath, movement, and mindfulness help regulate the nervous system and stabilize attention. Others explore the psychological and spiritual dimensions of recovery, including trauma, community, and the role of spiritual practice in sustaining sobriety over time. Throughout the week there is also space for people simply to talk with one another, to share stories, and to recognize themselves in the experiences of others.

One of the most powerful aspects of the conference is the sense of belonging that emerges. Many people arrive having felt somewhat alone in the overlap between yoga practice and recovery. When they walk into a room filled with people who share both of those commitments, something shifts. The walls of isolation begin to soften. Participants often say that for the first time they feel fully understood in both parts of their lives—their dedication to practice and their commitment to recovery.

Kripalu provides a beautiful and supportive setting for this work. The environment encourages reflection, connection, and practice. Being together in a place that is devoted to contemplative life allows participants to slow down and reconnect with the deeper intentions behind both yoga and recovery.

Carrying It Forward

Over the past fifteen years, the conference has grown into a vibrant gathering that reflects the evolving relationship between yoga and recovery communities. Conversations about addiction, once largely unspoken in yoga spaces, are now becoming more open and integrated. Many teachers and programs are exploring trauma-informed approaches and recovery-sensitive practices, and the conference has played a small role in helping that dialogue develop.

For me, the intention behind the conference remains very simple. It is to create a space where people in recovery can come together, practice yoga and meditation, and learn from one another about what it means to live free from addiction. Recovery is a path we walk together. Yoga and meditation give us tools for that journey, but the real strength comes from community—from being in a room with others who understand both the struggle and the possibility of transformation.

Every year when people leave Kripalu, they take that sense of connection back with them. They return to their homes, their studios, and their recovery communities with renewed commitment—not only to their own practice and sobriety, but also to supporting others who are walking the same path. In that way, the conference continues to serve the purpose Nikki and I hoped for when we first began: creating a place where recovery and spiritual practice meet, and where people can discover that they do not have to walk this path alone.

Join the Retreat

On Campus

Yoga, Meditation, and Addiction Recovery Conference

May 25–29, 2026