Getting out of my mind - drugs, yoga, meditation and me | elephant journal
Pull up a comfy chair my friend, I’m going to tell you a story.
Once upon a time there was a strait-laced middle class girl completely opposed to drugs because Authority had told her they were Bad. And she believed in Authority.
Yet as she grew into her late teens and observed people around her drinking alcohol and smoking pot, What she’d been Told and What she Saw were two completely different things.
What she Saw was people having a whole lot of fun, while she was sitting on the sidelines all prim, proper, tightly-wound and separate. And she didn’t want to be separate from everybody else, she too wanted to be relaxed, having fun, part of something bigger than herself.
Not so much Peer Pressure then – she’d learned all about that in school and there was no way anyone wouldever Pressure her into doing Anything. [...]
I'm not sure I agree with the idea that the 'high' from yoga is essentially different than the high from any substance or activity since a crutch is a crutch is a crutch if that's how one is using anything, and the feelings that go along with either are based in chemical changes in the brain and body whether they're sought in a functional or dysfunctional way. That said, I do agree that drug *abuse* for most people is a self-limiting phenomena if they have the opportunity to use properly (with a foundation of education and experienced guides where necessary) and if they have ready and open access to resources to help get their use in check if it gets out of hand. When I say 'out of hand' I mean when their use begins to affect their lives and the lives of those around them adversely, which would be far less likely in an environment in which they could be open about their choices and have the support of their families, friends, and loved ones in judging their personal well-being and the efficacy of their judgment. I do think that pharmaceuticals carry much higher risks for most people than many natural substances, but even with those, proper comprehensive education and an open, supportive atmosphere would go a long way toward mitigating many of those issues. Not an atmosphere supportive of drug use, but of the user and their health.
I used to know a woman who'd drop five or six at a time of the highest-dose Percocet available when her prescription called for one every four hours with one more in between if needed. Her doctors knew she was overusing her meds and kept managing her symptoms, but I doubt they knew she was also prone to washin' 'em down with a six-pack and drivin' around the neighborhood with her granddaughter in her lap. Her deputy son-in-law knew, but he wasn't gonna take legal action against her and neither was anyone else 'cause she didn't deserve to go to jail for that (idiotic as it was).
I share this as a clear example of the ways our prejudices and legal system create more problems than they solve when it comes to drug use, misuse, and abuse. She really did have severe pain, and opioids can cause one's perception of pain to seem greater than it actually is, so it makes sense that it kept getting exponentially 'worse' the more she took and she really did 'need' high doses or (probably preferably) a good detox and a revisitation of her pain management plan. But without all the facts it was hard for her doctors to keep up on the liver degeneration or to know that her judgment was being pretty severely adversely affected. Friends and family had to find ways to minimize to themselves and each other the sheer insanity of her choices and the mental and temperamental side effects of her abuse in order to justify not reporting her, which is how we all get to that point with people of, "Gee, I just don't understand it. He or she was doin' fine and then all of a sudden..." No. It's not all of a sudden; it's just that we choose to blind ourselves to early problems because we don't want our friends (or ourselves) to get in trouble. We tell ourselves they (or we) can handle it, it's not a big deal, and the user works very hard at concealing their use from anyone who might have a problem with it and say, "Hey, I think you need a little help here," 'cause that help will very likely include a (potentially life-altering) criminal charge along the way. In her case the self-deception had gotten to the point where she didn't think twice about givin' her pills away, despite the fact that Percocet is a dangerous drug. Last I knew she was 'fine', or at least functioning in as normal a way as possible for someone under that kind of influence, but I'd be surprised if that's still the case. She was in her late 40's at the time, years ago, and she showed no signs of slowing her consumption. And maybe even in a different environment she'd be one of those people for whom life and good health just aren't important enough to take some care, but given the number of people I know and have known who use various things without issue and the number of people who have issues who've lamented that they couldn't seek the help they needed without fear of the repercussions, I have to think that even though there would always be those people they'd be far fewer and farther between.
Anyway, my point is only that while I think this is an excellent article and Ms. Grant makes a lot of really good points, I disagree that using yoga as a social enhancer is effectively any different than using anything else. Many use food, many use music, many use dancing, people use all sorts of mechanisms to get a little outside themselves and relate more easily with others, but anything that makes us feel different (which is pretty much everything, even sleep) is based in our body's chemistry. Anything we do with the intention of feeling better is something we 'use'. If the difference is that drugs can damage or kill you, well, in most cases that's true, but used improperly without an appropriate education so can food, or water, or air, or even yoga.
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