Mason-John Valerie - Eight step recovery : using the buddhas teachings to overcome addiction

The Buddha was in recovery. Taking this bold statement as a starting point, this wonderful book shows how we are all addicted to aspects of life and can all benefit from training our minds and hearts to be free of the tyranny of compulsion. The Mindfulness-Based Addiction Recovery (MBAR) programme draws on a wide range of the Buddhas practical, yet deeply profound, teachings. Over the eight steps you are given a priceless gift the possibility to gain mastery over your mind and heart and find freedom.

Vidyamala Burch, co-founder and director of Breathworks, author of Living Well with Pain and Illness and Mindfulness for Health

Mindfulness is increasingly recognised as offering an important tool for recovery from addiction and other mental disorders. In Eight Step Recovery, we are shown how other teachings from the Buddhist tradition can also play an important role in recovery. The eight steps outlined here provide a simple, wise, and practical approach to recovery from a wide range of compulsive patterns of behaviour associated with suffering. They provide a spiritual pathway to recovery for people from any faith tradition, as well as for those who are not religious, and for those who suffer from addiction as well as those who are simply aware of the suffering associated with the human condition. This is a book for everyone!

Professor Chris Cook, Director of the Project for Spirituality, Theology & Health, Durham University, UK

Blending Mindfulness Based Addiction Recovery with traditional Buddhist teachings and moving personal stories, Valerie Mason-John and Dr Paramabandhu Groves give us a wise and compassionate approach to recovery from the range of addictions. This comprehensive approach to treatment will be a valuable tool for addicts and addiction professionals alike.

Kevin Griffin, author of One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps

Through Buddhist teachings, personal experiences, and case examples, this book provides a wise illustration of the fundamental processes underlying a broad range of addictive behaviors. Mason-John and Groves offer here a practical and compassionate step-by-step guide to freedom from the deep trappings and suffering of addiction.

Sarah Bowen, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, author of Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention for Addictive Behaviors; A Clinicians Guide

Eight Step Recovery

Using the Buddhas Teachings
to Overcome Addiction

Valerie Mason-John
Dr Paramabandhu Groves

Published by

Windhorse Publications

169 Mill Road

Cambridge

CB1 3AN

UK

www.windhorsepublications.com

Valerie Mason-John/Vimalasara and Dr Paramabandhu Groves, 2013

The right of Valerie Mason-John and Dr Paramabandhu Groves, to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Cover design by David John

Photograph Vimalasara Dan Toulgoet/Vancouver Courier

Photograph Paramabandhu Stuart Flack

Original typesetting and design by Ben Cracknell Studios

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Paperback ISBN: 978 1 909314 02 3

ebook ISBN: 978-1-909314-35-1

Windhorse Publications would be pleased to hear about your reading experiences with this Ebook at:

References to Internet web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Windhorse Publications is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.

Contents

About the authors

Valerie Mason-John, also known by her Buddhist name, Vimalasara, grew up in orphanages, in foster homes, and on the streets, and was locked up at the age of fifteen. She was an extreme anorectic bulimic, at one time weighing sixty pounds, and hung out religiously in the rave scene. She is the author and editor of seven books, including her self-awareness book, Detox Your Heart: Ways of Working with Anger, Fear and Hatred. She is a TEDx speaker on the theme of self-harm, We Are What We Think, a trainer in the field of conflict transformation and has worked in the field of addiction for fifteen years, helping many women and men with their anger issues. She is the chairperson of the Vancouver Buddhist Centre, and regularly leads retreats for people in twelve-step programs and for those working with addiction. She blogs regularly on the topic of addiction and delivers the Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention course, renamed the Mindfulness-Based Addiction Recovery (MBAR) course. She is an ordained member of the Triratna Buddhist Community.

Paramabandhu Groves is a psychiatrist for the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK, and has specialized in the field of addiction for twenty years. He is the clinical director of Breathing Space, which is the health and well-being wing of the London Buddhist Centre, and he teaches mindfulness-based approaches to help with depression, addiction, and stress. He developed the Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention course for addiction, renamed the Mindfulness-Based Addiction Recovery (MBAR) course, which has successfully run in both the UK and Canada. He is the author of Practical Buddhism: Mindfulness and Skilful Living in the Modern Era, and has published academic papers and contributed to several books in the field of addiction. He is an ordained member of the Triratna Buddhist Community.

Acknowledgements

This book would not have been possible without Windhorse Publications confidence and belief in our vision. Thank you so much to Priyananda for trusting in a vision that was just a rough outline on the page when we approached him. We also have much gratitude toward our developmental editor Vishvapani Blomfield for his keen eye and knowledge of the teachings of the Buddha. We are appreciative of Hilary Jones who did our first copy-edit so we could hand over a clean copy to our publishers. To Dhatvisvari who did our final copy-edit with her diligent eye. At Windhorse Publications, we are very grateful to Michelle Bernard for guiding the book through the production stage, and Hannah Atkinson for her work particularly in the marketing and online promotion. Our readers, Amala, Dayasiddhi, Carolyn Dickenson, Jacky Smola, Julie Lloyd, Liz McGrath, Manjusiha, Marta Meengs, Navachitta, Ruth Atkinson, Ron Frances, Terry Klotz, Upakarin, and Vijayadipa, were so generous in giving up their time to read early drafts and offering their critical helpful feedback.

Thank you so much to Bodhipaksa for his website Fake Buddhist Quotes, which put us on the right track. We are grateful for the input from Jodi Loudfoot, Lynn Fraser, and Roseanna. We would also like to thank the people who have been part of the free 21-day meditation download that accompanies this book, which you will find on our website http://thebuddhistcentre.com/eightsteps: Advayaprabha, Ana Hernandez, Dharmasakya, Dhiraprabha, Candradasa, Kate Munger, founder of Threshold Choir, Helen Greenspan, Jayakara, Laura Fannon, Nina Wise, Saraka, Sugati, Phap Ho, The Alaska None, Sanghasiha, Karunachitta, Thich Nhat Hanh, Vandanajyoti, and Yeshe Chodron (Laurie Lesk). Thanks to Jinamitra for recording all our reflections in the book, and to Subhadra and Andrew Riches for their skilled editing of the audio files. Behind every writer there are those people who support the creative process, so we would like to acknowledge the kind support of Cheryl Kehoe and the Samaggavasa Community, and the Vancouver Triratna Recovery Monday Team. Thanks also to all our friends who support and believe in our work.