Yoga studio offers addiction recovery class

The Center for Health Yoga and Arts will hold a Recovery Open House on Friday at its Downingtown studio.

DOWNINGTOWN>> As more organizations become involved in the fight against opioid addiction in Chester County, a Downingtown business is offering a road to recovery that practitioners say is hundreds of years old.

The Center for Health Yoga and Arts will hold a Recovery Open House on Friday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at its studio on Green Street in Downingtown. The event will feature discussion on how yoga can be used to help recovering addicts face their situation and stop suffering.

The open house will kick off a return to offering weekly yoga classes on Fridays for the recovery community in the county and surrounding areas. “That means all of us who suffer from addiction and/or are dealing with the addictive behavior of others,” said Laura Liss, the center’s director. “We have been providing these donation classes to the community over these past two years.”

Funds raised through the program have been donated to a variety of agencies and organizations dealing with addiction issues, including the Pennsylvania Recovery Organization - Achieving Community Together (PROACT); Kacie’s Cause, an organization consisting of businesspersons and concerned parents seeking to educate our communities of the widespread use of

heroin; Adolescent Awareness, a charitable foundation whose primary purpose is to fund educational programs and activities for middle school aged children; and The Last Stop Clubhouse, a recovery house for addicts from all walks of life.

Transformation Yoga Project provides prisons, private entities and individuals with resources to establish yoga programs as part of a rehabilitation program. The program and processes are adaptable to serve the needs of institutions, justice departments,

and social work agencies. Transformation Yoga Project integrates yoga into successful rehabilitation programs, and partners with institutions to make such programs an integral part of the stress and anger management components of their facility.

The center is encouraging sponsorship donations from $100 to $300.

The Friday event will come on the heels of Gov. Tom Wolf’s address Wednesday to a joint session of the state House and Senate in his effort for action on a package of legislation designed to combat opioid and heroin addiction.

Wolf is seeking passage of bills to require prescribers

to check a prescription drug monitoring database every time they prescribe opioids and limit the opioid quantities that emergency room doctors can prescribe to seven days.

It also comes in advance of a “color run” event sponsored by the county commissioners in West Chester on Nov. 5. Information on that event, which is intended to raise awareness of the issue and funds for the “Warm Hand-Off” program in area hospitals, can be obtained by contacting Rebecca Brain, county communications officer, at rbrain@chesco.org.