#110: What is Yoga Sutra Recovery?

Long Flights & Long Term Recovery: How Yoga, AA, and a 19-Hour Journey Helped Me Launch a New Chapter in Sobriety

Today, I took one of the longest flights in the world - from Los Angeles to Singapore. It was a 19-hour journey across time zones, layered on top of a long layover that began with a 9:00 a.m. departure from the Andaz in Arizona where the amazing Sober in the City was Held. My friend and community member, Celeste, and I flew from Phoenix to L.A., where we had a 12-hour layover.

Instead of sitting in the airport, we made the most of our time. We went for lunch and joined a yoga class led by Lara Estrada, the owner of YogaBlissLA. I’d met Lara two years ago during another layover - back then, a missed connection from Mexico to Bali. I absolutely loved her teaching and invited her on the Sober Yoga Girl podcast. We took two of her classes and we also meditated on the beach, and it was so restorative. My whole body exhaled.

Honestly, the stillness of the layover - and the meditative quality of the 19-hour flight - was exactly what I needed.

This past weekend was beautiful and energizing, but it stirred up a lot. I taught yoga to nearly 100 sober women at Sober in the City Arizona. While it was an incredible honor, let’s be real: events like that can seriously light up your ego. My nervous system was buzzing. I needed time to recenter, to dissolve the vrittis (thought spirals) and kleshas (obstacles - mostly, the ego), and come back to Yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ - stilling the fluctuations of the mind - before I returned to Bali and to my boyfriend-in-waiting who is with my cat right now, Princess!

During this quiet stretch in the sky, I reflected on the journey that brought me here - especially the one I've been walking in sobriety.

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AA and Yoga: Different Paths, Same Goal

In the past year, I found myself joining AA for the first time ever. I had transferred my addiction from alcohol to Instagram, and I needed some support. I appreciated the structure, the spiritual inquiry, the emphasis on daily meetings and fellowship. But I also struggled with some of the language - particularly the labels and the way some of the teachings felt outdated or patriarchal. I wanted to bring a more modern, feminist approach to recovery. One that incorporates yoga not just as movement, but as a complete system for personal transformation.

I realized there was something missing in my existing offerings like the 30- and 60-Day Sober Girls Yoga Challenge. They were beautiful, but they didn’t always meet the deeper needs of women navigating long-term sobriety, trauma, and addiction transference (like the kind I experienced with Instagram earlier this year).

That’s why I created something new:
The Twelve-Week Yoga Sutra Recovery Program.

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What Is Yoga Sutra Recovery?

It’s a spiritual recovery path grounded in the teachings of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Each week, we explore one core concept through the lens of yoga philosophy, daily sadhana (practice), and supportive community.

There are three key pillars:

• Daily Sadhana – movement, meditation, and stillness: healing through the body.

• Sangha (Community) – connecting to others through live weekly meetings (on our platform, plus additional meetings either also with our community, or other offerings like AA, She Recovers, Dharma Recovery, Zeroproof Experiences, etc.): healing through the heart.

• Svādhyāya (Self-Study) – studying ancient wisdom and applying it to modern life: healing through the mind.

On the long flight, after journaling, meditating, and a few chats with Mr. Citrus (who was sending me photos of him and Princess!), I spent the many spacious hours I had in air putting the final touches on the program. I’m so excited that…

🚨 Yoga Sutra Recovery officially launches June 1! 🚨

I had quietly uploaded it to my website and hadn’t even promoted it yet - but already three people signed up. That means there are just seven spots left!

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The Twelve Practices of Yoga Sutra Recovery

Each week, we’ll dive deep into one foundational yogic concept:

1. The Two Commitments for Spiritual Practice – Abhyāsa (Practice) & Vairāgya (Renunciation)

2. The Five Thought Spirals (Vṛttis) – Understanding the patterns of the mind

3. Kriya Yoga – Tapas (Discipline), Svādhyāya (Study), Īśvara Praṇidhāna (Surrender)

4. The Five Kleshas – Root causes of suffering

5. The Yamas – Five moral vows for living ethically

6. The Niyamas – Five personal observances for inner growth

7. Karma – Understanding cause and effect

8. Samskāras and Vāsanās – Healing deep-rooted trauma and patterns

9. The Four Immeasurables – Compassion, joy, loving-kindness, equanimity

10. The Three Guṇas – The energies of change (tamas, rajas, sattva)

11. Purusha & Prakriti – The eternal Self and the material world

12. Seva – Service as spiritual practice

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What Happens After the Program?

Once you complete the twelve-week journey, you’ll be invited into the Sutra Community - a small, intimate group of women practicing these teachings together throughout the year. We’ll revisit each of the twelve themes in depth, one per month. This is the evolution of the former Sober Girls Yoga Membership.

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I’ve been building this for over six months, though much of it was paused during my assault recovery earlier this year. But it’s back. I’m back. And I’m more committed than ever to making spiritual recovery more accessible, more embodied, and more real for women like me - and maybe women like you.

I hope you’ll join us.
You can learn more or grab your spot here.

With love from 38,000 feet,
Alexandra ✈️💛