In this conversation, Andrew shares how Sky Breath Meditation works with our physiology rather than against it, using the documented relationship between breath patterns and emotional states to bring the nervous system into alignment from the inside out. We get into what the research actually shows, how it fits alongside 12-step work, psychedelic integration, and traditional clinical care, and why it doesn’t ask you to believe anything different than you already do.

• What separates Sky Breath from other meditation techniques and why it’s the most studied breathwork protocol today

• How the breath-emotion connection works, and what a scientific study revealed about running it in reverse

• Why Andrew & I believe addiction is about identity and what it takes to get underneath it

• What a person in recovery said Sky Breath gave him that nothing else had: choice - in the moment before the decision

Website: artofliving.org | Recovery-specific: skyrecovery.org

Please hit the little like & subscribe buttons wherever you get your podcasts.

With Blessings,

Randal

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That’s the line this episode draws. Because when we’re working toward mastery and comfort serves the work, we come back Monday morning lit up and ready to give. But when we’re just grinding until Friday, when the drink, the couch, the shortcut is what we’re actually after, that’s when we’ve crossed into something familiar to anyone in recovery: an addiction.

Using the Chinese Five Element cycle, I walk through exactly how comfort-as-goal moves through the addiction cycle the same way any substance does. The fruit looks, smells, and maybe even tastes like success, but it’s hollow calories.

And here’s what that costs us:

• When comfort is the goal, meaning goes out the window. Every time.

• Shortcuts don’t just rob you of mastery, they also sacrifice the heart, which is where inspiration and purpose reside.

• Crisis as a gift. Because rock bottom can be where the belief finally cracks open enough to let something honest and real in.

• Mastery holds the magic to connect you to lineages of the past, to nourish people right now, and then inspire the next generation for the future. No shortcut can deliver this.

Thanks for listening.

Here’s a link to Lesson 6: The 4 Stages of Addiction that we use as a guide in this episode.

Blessings!

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The focus is one simple, powerful Qigong exercise: hold the ball. In 13 years inside addiction treatment centers, this is the exercise that lit people up. I loved seeing the light bulbs going off when someone felt the Qi between their palms for the first time.

We’ll explore Qi follows Yi. Energy flows where attention goes. Which means we can direct it, move it, use it. Starting with the basics, jaw, shoulders, belly, we work through three lines of relaxation, build the Qi ball between the palms, and then take that ball of love and light to wherever it’s needed: a headache, a knee, gastric upset, anxiety, cravings, heartbreak. No place to put it? Bring it straight into the Heart.

This is a practice that can deliver palpable relief, not a cure-all, but an absolute component of healing that puts you back in participation with your own recovery.

In this episode:

• What Qi actually is, and why a thousand types of it exist in Chinese medicine

• The three body basics (jaw, shoulders, belly) that shift your state immediately

• The three lines of relaxation as preparation for any Qigong practice

• How to build and feel a Qi ball between your palms

• Directing that ball to pain, discomfort, anxiety, cravings or straight into the Heart

• Qi as a pattern interrupt for fast-cycling cravings like nicotine, scrolling, and stimulants

• Why fighting the interrupting mind makes it worse, and what to do instead

Want to run through it step by step?

Lesson 23 is waiting at thesobershaman.com.

Let me know how you did, tell me about the experience & shoot me any questions you may have - directly or in the comments below.

With Blessings,

Randal

Really?

I’ve noticed this sentiment has been showing up on social media lately, and I’ll admit, I get it. I bumped up against it in those first couple of years and I’ve had many people tell me they’ve experienced exactly the same. It’s common to hit some pretty quick plateaus of the, “Ok, I’ve stopped. Now what?” variety.

But here’s what I keep coming back to: what’s boring, exactly? Life?

Yup, there’s a lot to cover here. Because, as we know, stopping the active addiction is just the beginning.

The Intention Behind This Journey

This episode and journey were born out of both of those things: the “sobriety is boring” feeling and the existential question of, “Now what?" I found that the practices that got me through early recovery are exactly the same ones that also took care of these two challenges. And which is why they’ve become non-negotiables in my present life.

Specifically, I’m talking about the shamanic journey. You, as well, can use the knowledge, information and healing power provided and apply it to what’s working and what’s not working in your life right now. As the practice grows, you grow with it. As you grow, it grows with you. Evolving, inspiring, empowering and definitely not boring.

If you’re ready to undertake this shamanic journey right now, wonderful, here’s the specific intention:

I am journeying to meet my guardian spirits, the ones that protected me in active addiction.

If you’re not in recovery, no worries, you can absolutely still do this journey. If you’ve walked through some kind of life-threatening situation, maybe you want to ask about that specifically. Or maybe not and you just want to meet your guardian spirits, in which case ask: How have you protected me in the past? What do you want from me now? How can we have a relationship going forward?

If you haven’t undertaken the shamanic journey yet and would like a step-by-step guide, here’s Your Guide to the Shamanic Journey. It’s part of the free membership to The Sober Shaman and comes with everything you need to get started.

As usual, I do my best to enter into the journey from a place of emptiness. And as usual, I had some preconceived notions and expectations about what I was going to find and who I was going to meet. But that’s part of the practice. I look at all those expectations and say: thank you for your opinions. You’ve just accurately identified exactly what I need to let go of. And then the drums start. I breathe…what fills the emptiness is wonder. Not knowing. Genuine heart-sourced curiosity.

What I Found: The Upper World and the Lower World

In my journey, I was immediately brought to a teacher I haven’t called upon or worked with for at least a couple of years. It always amazes me how in non-ordinary reality the experience of time is completely different. It was like no time at all had passed since my last visit and we picked up from right where we left off.

This upper world guardian, who’s name is Almethius, showed me how he is a guardian of what the Chinese call the Hun, or the eternal soul. His relationship is to guide and protect me during “soul level” situations, and which I was shown a few that occurred during that active addiction time of my life.

And then, I have to say this with a little humor, I went to the lower world. Where I found my guardians living out the scene from those paintings, you know the ones, found in really cheap hotels in the middle of nowhere where there’s a bunch of animals sitting around a card table playing poker. That’s my power animals, hanging out, smoking cigars, waiting for the Emergency Light to go off signaling I need help, again. All right, whose turn is it? You go save him this time.

In Chinese Medicine, this is at the level of the Po, which is the part of the soul that dissolves back into the Earth upon my passing. It deals with earthly problems, physical directions, and these three-demential-time-&-space situations. And I don’t just see a bunch of cats sitting around one table, no, there’s a whole Lowerworld casino floor. Everybody’s busy. Bells, buzzers, announcements. Dealing with all variety of knuckleheads like me up here in the middle world. A beautiful assortment of compassionate guardian spirits doing what they do best.

What became clear to me in this journey is that it takes a team. A team of helping and compassionate spirits to carry us through the thresholds of an entire life. Birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, career, parenthood, and into the wisdom of elderhood. All of it.

I saw between 12 and 15 specific incidents from my life where one simple change…of a steering wheel, of a step, of a word, and I would not be here. And I would have taken people with me.

That was extremely power-full and all I could handle on this one journey.

What This Transforms

What the guardian spirits showed me was this: that search for thrill, that sticking-my-finger-in-the-light-socket, that nightly tight rope walk, was the drive, the burning Fire, the infusion of spirit, that fueled the using in its attempt to fill The Void.

I was a stimulant kind of guy. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was the bible, literally. It never got weird enough for me. And looking back, I recognize it. When I speak to people who cut, it’s the same thing: a way to slice through the flatness. Even if it’s pain, at least I feel something.

And that circles back to the original instigator for this journey: Sobriety is boring. The practice is the answer to that. A practice that delivers connection, spirit, wonder, not knowing what I’ll find, infusing that kind of excitement, and igniting that kind of curiosity. That is what is transformational.

This is what Opens the Eyes of the Heart and transforms the Phlegmed-over senses that are stuck, ruminating, with gaze turned inward, into the outward opening, senses-receiving abilities to recognize the profound beauty in the ordinary.

Normal rocks. This perspective delivers the notion that right here, right now, I am enough. Right here, right now, you are enough. That’s it. Beautiful.

In the recognition of that, we are given the responsibility to remember this, because now, we have something to protect, something to lose, and something to build upon.

He Who Heals Me Divinely: A 30-Year Mystery

One more thing from this journey, a 30-year mystery and a sticking-point in my belief system, resolved.

When I first met Almethius, about 30 years ago during my time in acupuncture school, I got the name and I’ll admit…I cringed. There was something about my perception of that name, writing it in my journals, even as the years went by and I developed real rapport and trust, that my guts twisted just a little.

Back then, I did some superficial investigation into exactly what the name could mean, but I came up empty, the feelings remained and I kind of just buried it.

So, since one of the most obvious changes lately is Ai, after this journey, I revisited the etymology. I plugged the name into ol’ Gemini, intentionally scrambled, breaking it into its roots so I wouldn’t just get one of those sycophantic answers. What came back was this:

Al from the ancient Greek verb meaning to cure, to heal. Theus from theos, divine, of the gods, sacred. Me, the first person singular pronoun. Myself.

Put together, the name Almethius means: he who heals me divinely. Or simply: my divine healer.

What?!?!

I’ve been carrying around a cringe about that name for 30 years. And now, after this journey, not only can I finally unwind my guts but, dag-nab-bitt that’s just too cool! And while the relationship was always there, the name was always right, I’m just now getting out of my own belief system’s way to receive it on yet another, deeper, level. One that provides even more insights into the origins and continued usage of the substances and behaviors that perpetuated my cycle of addiction. Amen.

Let me know if you’ve undertaken this journey, or if you want to. I’ll be doing live streams and shamanic journeying sessions toward the third or fourth week of June. Subscribe to the Substack so you’ll know when things are going down. Till next time, blessings.

In this episode, I dig into what the word “shaman” actually means, why I deliberately use it, and why I’m equally deliberate about saying I’m not one.

From lineage, ancestors and sacred language to power loss, soul loss and spiritual intrusion, I share the path I do walk and why I’d rather teach you to be your own shaman than do the work for you.

Show Highlights

• What a shaman actually is, Unpacking the traditional dictionary-definition of shaman. From lineage, sacred language, ritual, to the role of intermediary between people and spirit.

• Why I use the word, but don’t claim the title. The intentional tension behind the name “The Sober Shaman” and why challenging preconceived notions is part of the work. As it’s one of the things I do best ; )

• The three forms of shamanic disease. A breakdown of power loss, soul loss, and spiritual intrusion, and how they show up in addiction and trauma.

• Teaching you to do it yourself. Why I believe the most powerful healing is the kind nobody can do for you, but it’s also the kind nobody can take away from you, either. And how I guide people to reclaim it.

This one is close to my heart, so I hope it sparks something in you too.

Listen in, and let me know your thoughts. Don’t forget to like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

With Blessings,

Randal

A Quick Intro

Thanks for stopping by. If you’ve been searching for answers to the problem of addiction, and feel that something is still missing despite everything you’ve checked out…

Welcome. You’re in the right place.

Because that’s exactly the way I felt when I was working through the programs, therapies and medicines that were provided to me.

So now, let me propose a question:

The work of The Sober Shaman starts with this single shift: stop searching, start trusting. Because when you make that flip, everything changes; how you see addiction, how you see recovery, and how you see yourself.

You can trust the truths that:

• Speak to your Heart

• Touch your Soul and

• Resonate in your Bones

And that’s what I hope The Sober Shaman can deliver to you!

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Lay of the Land

Start With These:

To give you insight into how-this-all-works, here’s three foundational posts: The Premise, A Paradox, and 3 Principles. Everything else in here is built upon these basics. Read, listen to, or watch them and see how they land.

The Sober Shaman Podcast

Through solo-casts and interviews with others who express their curious minds & compassionate hearts, you’ll get innovative and original perspectives on medicine, healing and practical spirituality.

The Program

Comprised of 52 separate yet interdependent Lessons, they provide a deep-dive into one recovery related topic every Lesson of the Week - that’s one per week for an entire year. Every one is supported by a Live session (anonymous to attend) and an audio Q&A, and contains step-by-step guidance through the PDF workbook, 3 videos, 2 experiential exercises, a checklist summary and professional notes. This is the exact material that was successfully integrated at world-class inpatient centers, universities and private practices. It’s proven work - and you’re supported the whole way.

Practices

“It takes a new experience to change an old belief” and each one of these posts provide a path of practice to do exactly that. You can start by downloading Your Guide to the Shamanic Journey and becoming a free member.

The Next Right Thing

FREE — Start exploring

Podcasts, interviews, guides, videos, live events, and my book come with membership, and it’s all free. This is a real foundation, not a teaser. Come in, look around, go as deep as you like.

Free Membership

ALCHEMIST RECOVERY PROGRAM — Monthly or yearly

The complete Alchemist Recovery Program. Join us Live. Send in your questions. Go at your own pace. Integrate it with your current therapies. Use it to jump-start a spiritual practice or break through blocks you’ve carried for years. This is the map, and I’ve got you covered every step on it.

Start The Program Now

GUIDED SUPPORT — 1 on 1 Sessions

Take your practice further with private sessions that address your specific questions and provide personalized application of the work. Send me a message and we’ll connect to get you what you need.

Contact Me

With Blessings,

Dr. Randal Lyons, DOM, L.Ac.

Subscribe now

Is this You?

The Program: Tested, Proven, Effective

Get the Alchemist Recovery Program and receive the same material that’s been:

• successfully integrated at world-class addiction treatment centers for 13 years

• presented to thousands of medical and mental health professionals through lectures, presentations, speaking engagements, as well as continuing education classes.

• taught as a complete course to Masters level Chinese Medicine students at University

• used in private & group practices for over two decades

For you now...

It is presented in 52 step-by-step, easy to understand, bite-sized Lessons. That’s one for each week of the year. This structure allows us to take a deep-dive into one recovery-related subject through The Lesson of the Week, as well as provide long-term support throughout the entire year.

Most importantly, it is an asset for you to use however it best fits into your recovery.

You can use it to break the cycle:

At your own pace - It’s a complete, self-guided resource to achieve, maintain and then thrive in recovery. Also, you can send email questions directly to me.

In collaboration - It’s designed for seamless integration with other therapies, so bring it to your current healthcare providers for synergistic results.

Alongside our sessions - Join us Live to perform live, real-time work.

You receive all of this in every one of the 52 Lessons:

PDF Workbook:

3 Videos

The Drum Journey

Shamanic wRites

In addition, you also receive:

Checklist - as summary of the important points to keep in your awareness for the week, as well as moving forward in your recovery

For Practitioners - Notes from the Lab to offer you challenges to keep you practice fresh, alive and growing

New Resources - Because The Program is always evolving, growing and transforming, you’ll get the latest updates on this Lesson’s topics, as they directly relate to what’s going on & who’s breaking new ground, right now.

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Notes of Thanks

Over the years, I’ve been blessed with the trust of many clients. The song used in the video above, “Opening To Freedom,” is used with permission from Byron Metcalf and my dear friend, Jennifer Grais. It is from the album, “They Were Here” (2017 Dr. Bam’s Music) all rights reserved.

FAQ

What makes this Program different?

Three main points:

1. It honors the fact that you are unique and will have your own specific issues that need to be addressed. At the same time, there are universal laws that apply to everyone regardless of who you are, where you come from and the specifics of your addiction. The Path’s work acknowledges and embraces this paradox to deliver the medicine that is right for you.

2. We follow 3 simple principles, each with their own clear, plain-English model that walks you from point A to point B, then all the way to success at point Z. The work is evident and laid out before you.

3. It integrates with your religion and other therapies—or provides a completely new spiritual path. This means it works with whatever belief system you already have; there is nothing for you to change except the old, outdated models of protection that perpetuate addiction.

I know I need spirituality but believe in science. Will this be a problem?

You believe in science? Wonderful! Bring that curiosity, apply that logic, and conduct your experiments while exploring the realms of the shaman!

I already have a therapist and/or medical caregiver. Can this work help with those therapies?

If you’ve got other support, awesome! First, because The Program provides a spiritual perspective on addiction, these time-proven ways of breaking patterns can fill-in-the-blanks of whatever you’re already doing.

Second, it keeps you involved between sessions. You’ll have extra support and as much engagement as you want through the exercises and material.

Third, if your practitioner and you would like, you can do the exercises together with your therapist during a session. These methods support synergy, where the end product is more powerful than the sum of its parts.

Is shamanism, Chinese Medicine or anything in here against my religion?

Absolutely not. As a mater of fact, the work is designed to strengthen whatever spiritual connections you currently have.

I don’t feel comfortable with the words “alcoholic” and “addict,” but I know there are problems. How can this Program help me?

The first thing we do is explore exactly what you mean by the words, terms and concepts around this loaded subject. We eliminate any confusion, release the baggage, and get on the same page to tackle the problems that you have (regardless of labels and free from rigid rules).

I’ve tried other spiritual approaches and am wary of the ‘woo-woo’…

Personally, I was exactly the same, which is why I’ve made every exercise, in every Lesson, provide tangible results that are immediately applicable to your situation.

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With Blessings,

Dr. Randal Lyons, DOM, L.Ac.

To begin, I start with, “What are the long term effects of Adderall?”

There’s a lot to look at there.

Then, I visit a question that I’m often asked, which is: “If I’m diagnosed with ADHD, prescribed Adderall by a licensed psychiatrist, and taking it as I should be, is this still an addiction?”

Great question. And answers will cover the entire spectrum, as we’ll talk about.

And the last one, which is something I ask of every prescription, “Where’s the off ramp?” Which is my way of exploring when is enough going to be enough, the “problem” finally fixed, and we can stop taking the medicine.

These are the questions (still, surprisingly) not a lot of people seem to be asking, which is why I’m kicking up the dirt again here. I feel like it’s a discussion that needs to keep being revisited.

What’s your take? Maybe you’re somebody who finds adderall works just right for you. Maybe you’re somebody who it’s changed your life for-the-better in a huge way. Maybe you’re somebody stuck in the middle somewhere…wherever you find yourself on this one, I’d love to know your thoughts.

With Blessings,

Randal

Hey, here’s a PDF from a couple of years back on this exact subject & it gives a good outline of the podcast.

Adderallthecostofspeeding

1.34MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

“There is no chemical solution to a spiritual problem.”

You’ve probably heard this one, as it’s one of the most quoted lines in recovery. Maybe you’ve even said it a few times yourself. But here’s the thing:

What exactly is the spiritual problem?

Because if we can’t name it and we can’t map it, then the saying is just a groovy bumper sticker. True, sure, but not particularly useful.

In this episode, I’ll be nailing down exactly what the spiritual problem is through an introduction to the core shamanic model of illness. It provides answers and gives us a solid framework for understanding addiction,

This isn’t one culture’s tradition or one religion’s perspective. It’s a structure that’s found on every continent of the world that points to the same three root causes for all disease. And when I applied these to addiction, something fit into place where nothing else had clicked before.

The shamanic map finally made sense of the spiritual territory.

The three reasons, in order:

• Power Loss — We are all born with spiritual help. Whatever you call it. That connection gets severed when the TAHL hits — the Trauma, Abuse, Heartbreak, and Loss that overwhelms every defense we have. Power Loss isn’t weakness. It’s a severed connection.

• Soul Loss — When the pain becomes too much to be present for, a piece of us leaves. Psychology calls this dissociation. Shamanism calls it Soul Loss. Basically the same thing, different language. That piece takes qualities with it, our innocence, trust & childlike-joy, and leaves a void where those blessings used to be.

• Spiritual Intrusion — The void doesn’t stay empty. It never does. Something moves in. It’s pain-fear-based, hungry, and perfectly fed by your drug of choice. This is the spell of addiction. And the only reason it works is because we believe the lie it tells us about who we are.

You don’t have to frame any of this in spiritual terms if that’s not your language. The concepts hold whether you call it a spirit, a belief, a pattern, or a spell. What matters is recognizing the sequence and understanding that recovery, at its core, is about reversing it.

Stop feeding the intrusion. Court your soul back. Reclaim your power.

That’s the treatment plan. And this episode is where it starts.

With Blessings,

Randal

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In this episode, I pull apart the reasoning behind “why we need this” and ask a harder question: need it for what, exactly? And according to whose values?

Some of O’Leary’s foundational pillars, like national security, medical advancement, and job creation, sound like progress. But when I look closer, I find the same engine running all three: fear. Fear of enemies. Fear of disease. Fear of falling behind. I’ve found that when fear is the foundation, whether we’re talking about it as the structure for sobriety, or a family, or a career, it builds a future that is dependent upon, and addicted to, who or whatever holds the answers for relief. That’s not healthy. And in obvious contrast to something built upon heart-centered-ness designed for human connection.

We look at what it means to place data centers on top of farmland, possibly permanently. To me, that isn’t a neutral decision…

it’s a declaration that our relationship to data is more important than our relationship to healthy food and all of the sources in which it blessedly comes from.

And then…when tech inevitably offers lab-grown food as the solution to the food problem it helped create, well…you can see where I’m going here…we’ve traded yet another living thread for one more I’m-smarter-than-Nature answer.

We talk about medicine, and the empowered patient that this model of “advancement” continues to leave out of the equation. We talk about community, what Main Street actually gave us, and what we quietly surrendered when big-box-businesses-of-convenience became the go-to form of human consumption.

And we talk about power. Not the kind that flows through these kinds of data-server farms, but the kind that flows through human, organic relationship. The ones we’re wired for with nature, with neighbors, with our own body and heart-recognizing choices.

Two kinds of power are on the table right now. One is being built with billions of dollars and the full force of fear. The other lives in the choices you make every single day.

Which one are we feeding?

Takeaways:

• The “if we don’t, our enemies will” argument behind Kevin O’Leary’s Stratos Data Center is the same fear-based logic that drove the nuclear arms race. And how it’s still building the wrong world for the wrong reasons.

• When we place data centers on farmland, we’re making the value statement that our relationship to technology matters more than our relationship to nourishing, living food.

• Modern medicine’s promise to “advance through AI” continues to disempower the patient. And it ignores that the vast majority of chronic disease is lifestyle-dependent and entirely within each person’s own control.

• Big Business as community is one built on competition, hierarchy, and dependence on billionaire infrastructure. It certainly is one model, but not the only model; Main Street, reciprocity, and relationship-based commerce existed, and can exist again.

• Every strand we hand over to a tech system, whether it’s our food, health, commerce, or human connection, is another thread removed from our intimate weave in the Web of Life. And the cost of that doesn’t show up until the web starts to tear.

This one zooms out quite far - and at the same time, hits every one of us in deeply personal ways (which we don’t even fully know how yet!) Let me know your thoughts down below, it’s appreciated.

And if you don’t mind, please hit-that-heart & consider subscribing.

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With Blessings,

Randal

In this episode, I’m sharing my first take on one of the most loaded topics in wellness right now: Ozempic and addiction. And just for a heads-up, my angle might surprise you.

I hear people talk about Ozempic quieting “food noise” or reducing cravings. While that’s great, when I look at it through the lens of Chinese medicine and shamanic tradition, I see something different: a drug that solves hunger by treating hunger as the problem.

Here’s why that matters. Hunger isn’t just a body signal — it’s a sacred function. It’s our daily act of communion with the Earth, with nourishment, with life itself. When we chemically suppress that, we don’t just suppress cravings. We weaken the very muscle that allows us to say yes to what truly nourishes us.

And that, by the Alchemist Recovery definition, starts to look a lot like addiction — the patterned and repetitive use of any substance or action that attempts to fill a void, but instead reinforces the origins of the pattern.

We’ll walk through each element of that definition and apply it directly to Ozempic. We’ll talk about rituals of communion, the archetypal wound of disconnection from nature, and why…

your daily pill may have replaced your daily bread.

This is not medical advice. This is a perspective — one I hope sparks some open thinking & honest conversation.

Important discussions like…who makes the best stuffed noodle? Wontons vs. ravioli vs. pierogis. Let’s sit down, disagree, and figure it out together.

🎙️ The Sober Shaman Podcast — making the spiritual practical.

You can listen to the audio of this episode here:

The work of The Sober Shaman and The Alchemist Recovery Program begins with The Premise: stop searching, instead start trusting.

When you do this, everything changes. Here’s why…

Addiction wants you to keep searching because this allows it to perpetuate itself and keep the status quo rolling along.

Here’s what happens when you’re stuck in searching:

1. The answer is out-there-somewhere

2. It keeps you focused on what you don’t have

3. It keeps the Machinery of Need running at full speed

4. Keeps addiction’s illusion of never enough alive and reinforces The Spell of Not Enough

5. Feeds the Hungry Ghost - the vacuum is running on high suction

6. Energetically it is a Yin/ - negative charge in nature, which pulls in from the Universe.

Addiction doesn’t want you to stop searching because when you do and you start trusting, everything changes. Here’s how:

1. The answers are within you

2. Brings your focus upon what you already have

3. Brings the Machinery of Need to a halt

4. Breaks the Spell and shatters the Illusion of Never-Enough

5. Stops feeding the Hungry Ghost - turns off the vacuum

6. Energetically it is a Yang/+ positive charge in nature, which in this case is about giving out to the Universe

Specifically…

• If I have the answers, then I have something to give

• I have something worthwhile to share

• I can bring meaning, passion and purpose to life

• And not just to my life, but to life

• So, we are not just talking about initial sobriety, but also an ongoing practice for as long as we want.

The Premise of stop searching and instead start trusting is a great way to begin the conversation about the deeper spiritual aspects of recovery.

And again, this work is YOUR work - so how you discover, understand and nourish your relationship with spirit, is all about what..

• Speaks to your heart

• Touches your soul and is

• Known as truth within your bones

The Alchemist Recovery Program is here to provide the guidance to help you do exactly this.

…any pattern, habit, or addiction…

One way to break out of it is to change our thinking - because…

“You can’t solve a problem using the same kind of thinking that created it” - Einstein

One way to do this is to pull a 180 on our Western, logical, A + B = C thinking by way of a paradox.

In addiction, I use this one:

Addiction is predictable

You are unique

What this means is that:

You will have to do recovery like everyone else. There is no way around it. Period. It’s totally predictable. Laws of the Universe kind of thing.

And….

You will not do your recovery like anyone else.

Both are true at the same time.

That’s a paradox.

It’s not, “So, which one is right? They are opposites, so it has to be either the first or the second.” That’s the thinking that perpetuates a cycle.

Instead, consider, embrace, and investigate, “Hmmm. How can both be right?”

This causes a crack in the cement of thinking that sealed the pattern into place. The light of truth shines in - and in a way we couldn’t have even thought of before.

That’s where we can begin. And then pry that crack wider & wider until the cycle falls apart.

This works for any place of stuckness, on any subject or situation, whether or not we call it “addiction.”

Give it a try. I’d love to know your thoughts ; )

IT’S SIMPLE: FOLLOW THESE 3 PRINCIPLES

PRINCIPLE #1: Addiction affects the whole person: mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical

Right from the start, we determine which part of the whole person works best for you. We speak the same language to eliminate confusion, honor your beliefs and deliver the specific brand of medicine that’s right for you.

PRINCIPLE #2: Addiction is a cycle

Many approaches talk about this but few, if any, have a 2,500-year-old proven way to chart the entire Cycle step-by-step. Applying this, we find where your addiction is at its weakest and break it there, once and for all.

PRINCIPLE #3: Addiction impacts every close relationship.

Addiction devastates your closest relationships. The Yin-Yang Theory provides us with a simple, unique and powerful method of repairing them - including your personal relationships to Spirit, Nature and the Universe.

When we apply these 3 Principles, we break the Cycle of Addiction.

Join us in The Program to see exactly how!

I look forward to being your guide,

Randal

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a: a spoken word or form of words held to have magic power

b: a state of enchantment

I’ve been professionally helping others in recovery for almost as long as I’ve been clean and sober—no coincidence. From the start, I realized that for treatment to have any chance of success, I need to take what works from my esoteric Chinese medicine and core-shamanic approaches and explain addiction’s origins and mechanisms in a way people can understand.

On the other end, I’ve had to translate what I do for treatment centers, insurance companies, and licensing and accreditation boards, as well as to my medical and mental health colleagues—speaking in the “medical-ese” that checks diagnosis codes and reimbursement boxes.

Fun, right?

Now, I aim to strip away language that complicates an already complex issue. With that in mind, I propose…

Addiction is a Spell
This Spell is a Lie
This Lie is a Belief

Let me explain.

Check out our exploration along this path to the core of an addiction. Hit the play button on the podcast audio at the top of the page, or check out the video embedded here:

And as always, please hit the little like button and send along any comments or questions you may have.

With blessings,

Randal

Struggle.

And that’s my desires - and those are my beliefs - so, this struggle is me vs me!

That’s exhausting.

In this Lesson, we examine the mechanisms at work and resolve the struggle. Chinese Medicine calls this a Harmonizing treatment, and that is exactly what we do here throughout the mind, spirit, emotions and body.

Let’s begin…

The following material is for paid subscribers. Join our community to get the PDF Workbook, 3 step-by-step videos, the guided audios for the Medicine Journey and the Shamanic wRites exercises, as well as a Client’s Summary Checklist and the Notes From The Lab for practitioners.

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Access the Workbook here:

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Sometimes, thinking about a problem is the problem.

Sometimes, we just need to move.

Movement is the Medicine.

Just like the buried seed cracks through its hull and bursts forth from the Earth like the first Crocus and Daffodils of Spring, in this phase of the cycle, we explore in what direction your movement is taking you.

Is it in response to the repetitive messaging from of the Cycle of Addiction or is it reaching out, up and for the light of the sun and something new?

Let’s begin…

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“There is no chemical solution to a spiritual problem.”

I’ve always loved that line. And it naturally reveals several different avenues of thought to travel upon, but today, in this Lesson, I’m focused on only one:

What exactly is the spiritual problem in addiction?

And what do I do to fix it?

In Lesson 21, we explore the three root causes of all illness from a core shamanic perspective: Power Loss, Soul Loss, and Spiritual Intrusion and map them directly onto the experience of addiction.

When I first applied these three things to my own story, something clicked into place where nothing else had clicked before. I’ve been teaching them ever since.

Inside the full lesson, we’ll use this framework to take it from the conceptual to the personal. It’s all about your experience of the work and how we’ll fit it into your beliefs using your language.

We’ll take a guided journey to The River of Your Life, which’ll take you back to the moment everything changed. From that spot, we re-member and begin the work of becoming whole.

The full map is just below. We will look at the Shamanic View of Illness and the three ways we can lose our power, vitality, life force, our relationship to spirit and even vital pieces of our soul.

Also, how to get these back.

Let’s begin…

The following material is for paid subscribers. Join our community to get the PDF Workbook, 3 step-by-step videos, the guided audios for the Medicine Journey and the Shamanic wRites exercises, as well as a Client’s Summary Checklist and the Notes From The Lab for practitioners.

Subscribe now

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