Client knocked on my door. Asked to speak to me. Big dude in his twenties who used to give me the "f you" eye every time he saw me. 

"Of course, come in," I said.

He came in and asked for some detailed guidance on his meditation practice. Questions about breathing and form/posture. 

"Man, I never would have dreamed I would ever come up in here and ask you these questions," he said, shaking his head. "Today I am sober longer than I have been since I was a frickin kid. I was saying to myself when I woke up today, 'f-ck this sober sh-t!' I was scared, man. I used to shoot up first thing in the morning back home before I'd go take my kid to school. Now, I just get my 'sober fix.'"

"Tell me about your sober fix?" I asked.

"I write my gratitude list, my fears list, then I say my prayers, and then I do the meditation you've been showing us."

"That's cool. So you are doing the morning routine?  Wonderful.  How's it working?"

"Man, it's going to see me through today," he said, half trying to hide his smile, half perhaps in a bit of disbelief that he knows, that he is sure, that he is going to break his sobriety record today.

He sat in the room for a moment or two, just the quiet between us. 

Eventually, he stood up and said, "Thanks, Hyim. Have a good weekend."

"You too, bro."

I love this work. It is such a profound honor to walk this path with these young men and women, these boys and girls, these older men and women, and those who don’t identify as binary. To witness the courage and resilience I see. The joy that I sense in their slowly blooming liberation from their cultural, biological, and generational trauma. Often, I feel the sadness of their weight, but to feel the glory of their triumphs is a blessing I will carry to the end.

(Photo Credit:
Josue Escoto)