Disclaimer

Back when I was a street kid, drunk and homeless, it seemed everyone wanted to offer me a sandwich or a blanket with their version of God wrapped underneath it.  They said it was free, but the price tag was hidden, and the exchange was ambiguous, and I didn’t like that.  No one likes to think they are doing one thing and find out that it is really something else.  I offer the following statement with respect for everyone who is looking for help, so that there is no unwanted surprise fee around the corner.

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This course is spiritual in nature, but It has no religious agenda or underpinning.  It does not come from any particular faith or belief system.  We have no doctrine or dogma.  We teach a course which is designed to bring you into a daily practice that is proven effective for remaining alcohol free permanently.  To do this, we must strengthen ourselves by getting into alignment with more than our own limited thinking and patterns. We use nature as our guide and invitation to understanding ourselves and our connection to more than our solitary self-concept.

 

You do not have to believe in anything to take this course, and you can believe in something and take this course.

Sober and Alive is what I have put together as a course and community designed by my own learning and experience.  It pulls from many sources.

 

I honor and acknowledge my primary teachers- Bill Wilson, the founder of AA, Sylvia D. the woman who showed me the fearlessness practice through the teaching of the 12 steps, and who listened to my fears patiently and shared her loving and powerful consciousness with me encouragingly for 25 years before she passed on, Tom D. the man who showed her that practice and who has shared countless hours of experience strength and hope with me and so very many others in the 50+ years of his sobriety.

 

I honor and acknowledge Ann Fairbank for teaching me the meditation practice that I have done daily for 33 years.

 

I honor Paula Newman for teaching me my advanced meditation practices and starting me on my Veda studies. 

 

I acknowledge Anna Jacobs for piquing my interest in learning more about the Vedas when I witnessed the change in her, and for teaching me about The Vedas. 

 

I Honor and acknowledge Kristen Vandivier for teaching me The Veda and Siddhi courses and for unflagging support from the Vedic perspective to create Sober & Alive.

 

I honor and acknowledge Thom Knoles, who created the Veda and Siddhi courses that I have studied, and who I plan on learning to become a meditation teacher from, his master Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his Master Guru Deva.

 

I have lightly studied many world religions as an adult, after growing up with a heavy emphasis on Christianity and metaphysics. 

 

In the last 35 years that I have been alcohol free I have worked with and listened to thousands upon thousands of people who identify as alcoholics and/or addicts, who have been diagnosed with alcohol use disorder or other chemical dependencies and many others with related disorders or mental health struggles.  

 

I honor each and every person who has given me the pleasure and good fortune to share my knowledge and experience with them, as they have been my greatest teachers.  I do not claim to know everything about alcohol, alcohol use disorder or anything else for that matter.   I am always open to and wanting to learn.  This is the Sober & Alive way.  Evolution.  That is our guide, and nature’s way.