#4: Eight Step Recovery with Valerie Mason-John

Ricky is joined by Valerie Mason-John (a.k.a Vimalasara), an award winning author, public speaker, and co-founder of Eight Step Recovery. The structure of the discussion is based on her book, Eight Step Recovery: Using the Buddha's Teachings to Overcome Addiction. Expanding on the Four Noble Truths, Valerie (and co-author Dr. Paramabandhu Groves) distill ancient wisdom to create a practical approach to tackle addiction. These steps are: - Step One: Accepting human life will bring suffering. - Step Two: Seeing how we create extra suffering. - Step Three: Embracing impermanence to show us suffering can end. - Step Four: Being willing to step on the path of recovery and discover freedom. - Step Five: Transforming speech, actions, livelihood. - Step Six: Placing positive values at the centre of our lives. - Step Seven: Making every effort to stay on the path of recovery. - Step Eight: Helping others by sharing the benefits we have gained. Listen as Valerie guides us through each step. Drugs, alcohol, food, sex, shopping, social media... None of us escape addition, to varying degrees. Consequently, the wisdom contained within this eight-step process is beneficial to all of us — spiritual or non-spiritual. Find more information on the Eight Step Recovery online or contact Valerie at [email protected]. (Title music: Monday Morning Wakeup Call by Daniel Birch)