Yoga antidote to drug addiction Priest
News & Trends •
source63 fr. joe pereira president of the mumbai ngo kripa foundation says that practicing yoga will help to combat drug addiction1 he was speaking to asianews ahead of the fourth international day of yoga which is being celebrated today1 he has been invited to give an address in london on an initiative on this subject organised by the parliamentary group all party uk in the house of lords1 the priest said that for 50 years he practiced the iyengar yoga method and had been a pupil of its founder bellur krishnamukari sundara iyengar1 in the same way for the past 30 years his foundation has used yoga to help in the rehabilitation of people with alcohol and drug problems1 the kripa foundation offers an intense program of yoga and meditation designed especially for people who undergo treatments and recovery sessions [from drug addiction]1 todays celebration is deeply felt not only in india but in various parts of the world1 social networks abound with photos of indian premier narendra modi as he leads an exercise of 55 thousand volunteers in dehradun uttarakhand1 howeveron the claim that the practice leads to the divine emphasizing instead the beneficial effects on body and physical health1 kripa foundation is an ngo that cares for aids patients and drug addicts1 responding to the perplexities that a catholic priest who teaches yoga raises he replies1 first of all i have been practicing iyengar yoga for 50 years1 after the second vatican council the catholic church has received elements of spirituality from the religions of the whole world1 in my work with drug addicts i have found that the answer to the thirst for love and god is fulfilled through the discipline of the body1 with the body as a temple of the spirit of god everyone has a journey towards god within his own self1 i love the catholic church he concludes because it is truly catholic it welcomes this discipline within contemplative practice he said1 he said he would continue to use yoga for the two dimensions of drug addiction and contemplative prayer1 he added that the kripa model is now used all over the world as a tool for recovery1 i will propose to the english parliamentarians to implement the same method also in the united kingdom .he added1 according to the indian priest meditation and yoga have the power to help us get in touch with the true inner self and to transcend the world of prakriti and of materialism and to operate from a level of awareness which brings us to our essential uniqueness1