Cathy Ukrainetz Yoga

Progress not perfection. This is hilarious Enjoy

And this needs awareness!!

Discovering you cannot control or handle alcohol or that you can’t make it work like the normal people is like discovering cigarettes gross you out and ...make you pukey or like spontaneously concluding you in fact cannot bring yourself to date self-absorbed emotionally unavailable men that don’t value you ever again or like finding that you actually really truly can’t stand watching the Real Housewives of Orange County (after 10 seasons...). It’s a blessing, not a curse. See more

True story #loveyourselffirst #everyoneelsewillfallintoplace #betruetoyou

Warning! Newly legalized Canadian marijuana is a gateway to other Canadian behaviors.

I had the pleasure of attending a talk by Gabor Mate tonight. His views on addiction are bang on. He has an understanding of how to make sense of something seemingly so senseless! It's not the chemical we use that is the problem, it's the pain being covered up by the chemical we need to take a serious look at. Addition is something we do to makes ourselves feel better, instant gratification, but long term has a negative impact on our lives. It can be anything from alcohol, ...drugs, sex, sugar, spending, exercise, work, gambling, food, you name it, if it has a negative affect...it's a problem. We can all benefit by taking a different perspective on a very serious very real disease that is happening around us all. Gabor has done fantastic work on being proactive with the upcoming generation & listening to them to understand their pain & fears rather than label them as being bad or acting out. Addiction is not going to end by being told "Just say no" or "Just stop"! The substance being abused is not the problem, it is a solution, to the addict, to escape the pain. It is the pain an addict is suffering that needs to be addressed & quite often goes back to their upbringing! "In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts" by Gabor Mate makes sense of what appears senseless!

These past few months have probably been some of the hardest times in my life. As life changes so do I & some days I can adult & others I can not. I (try) daily to practice these steps to continue my growth & bring me hope & possibility. 1) Acceptance & non judgement is where I'm at. 2) Trust, hope & faith is what I cling to.... 3) Believing there is something greater than I to show me the way, is a continual practice in patience. 4) Staying true to myself & my integrity keeps me humble. 5) Being vulnerable & accountable (this is some of the adulting I'm struggling with) 6) Having the willingness to change brings possibility. 7) Letting go of old ideas & thought patterns that no longer serve me is growth. 8 ) Being responsible keeps me real ( again adulting) 9) Make amends wherever possible through love & forgiveness. 10) Admitting when I'm wrong opens me up for opportunity & growth. 11) Prayer & meditation allows calmness, peace, serenity & confidence. 12) Sharing my struggle with others to help us all accept where we are at & that it's ok to be there. This brings me back to #1) Acceptance &...repeat. My name is Cathy & I am an alcoholic. Born into a life of addiction & dysfunction I knew no different. After battling with many relapses and periods of sobriety I have now been sober for many years. What is different this time is my perspective. I had to teach myself how to be grateful & practice gratitude constantly. I'm only one drink away from death...always & I'm OK with that. My struggle lately has been depression, which if not acknowledged, will lead me right back to addiction. Through these past years of sobriety yoga has become a major tool that has helped change my perspective on life, has shown me forgiveness, taught me gratitude & the ability to be OK with where I'm at one day at a time. I believe it has probably saved my life. In my depression I rely on the practice of yoga, mind & body & have no desire to reach for my drug of choice & that for me is a miracle. All my years of bouncing back & forth between recovery & using, it was always my depression & pain that put me back in a bottle. Today that is not the case. Today I can sit with depression & examine it for what it is & more importantly why it is. I don't have to mask it I can let it be & let it go. For that I am grateful. A 12 step program has taught me what to do & yoga has taught me how to do. Acceptance, forgiveness, non-judgement, patience, trust, faith, integrity, accountability, humility, willingness & letting go have all been gifts. I gotta say I'm a long way from having it all figured out, but I am grateful I have the possibility & the knowledge to be ok with that & accept where I'm at one day at a time. We all deserve to love & be loved & laugh (real belly laughs) on a daily basis, so lets start with loving ourselves first. There is no high out there greater than the natural high of life. I've experienced it.