This is an upcoming excerpt from our new course in production which is all about stopping porn addiction. If you want to get free beta access to the course before it goes on sale hit up the link and sign up. We’ll email you a special code when it goes live.

When your partner is addicted to porn

When your partner is addicted to porn it can be just as devastating for you as it is them. Porn addiction should not be treated any different than any other addiction like drugs or alcohol.

If your partner is addicted to porn the first thing you need to do is lay all the cards out on the table. Communication is important and having a conversation is where everything should start. The thing you need to know as the partner is whether or not your partner wants to stop watching porn. If they are minimizing it or if they don’t think it’s a problem then it’s important to not engage until they are ready to come to terms with the situation.

For example, many people report that if their partner is addicted to porn they just deal with it because they are afraid that their partner will turn to another person. This generally is not the case.

People who are addicted to porn do not typically go out and seek other people – that would be a sex addiction, not porn addiction. Porn addicts really just want to be left alone so they can get their fix when they feel the need. The other thing not to do is engage in any sexual acts or offer to watch porn together. This would be enabling them, giving them further ammunition and reassurance that what they are doing is okay and it’s not.

Porn Addiction – Acknowledging the Problem

On the other hand, if your partner is acknowledging their problem and wants to change then you can help them by being supportive while they find a recovery plan that works for them.

Think of their addiction like an alcohol addiction. When they are ready to stop, they’ll be okay with putting internet blockers on porn and getting rid of their paraphernalia completely. Like an alcoholic who wants to quit they would pour the alcohol down the drain. While it’s not foolproof of course because they can just go to the store and buy more, it’s a start.

I would recommend that you encourage your partner to find a program because trying to quit porn without guidance is really, really hard.

Remember, it’s important to take care of yourself through this so you can be better at helping your partner when they are ready. Self-care is not selfish, it’s a necessity.

You’ll gain a lot of knowledge in this course about the physical, emotional, and social factors that influence porn addiction.

I hope you enjoyed this snippet – let us know what you think by sending us an email. We’re always interested to know your thoughts.

To your recovery,

Nick

(some content courtesy http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/04/pornography.aspx)

I remember when I threw away $10,000. I mean, I didn’t actually throw away $10,000 in a literal sense. It was a few years back when I was in the middle of my sobriety. I was in a pretty secure position mentally and had a decent working situation. This is when avoiding triggers becomes even more important…when you’re comfortable…

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, came along a recruiter with a job offer. Now, this offer was, as you can guess, about $10,000 more year on my salary. But, the problem was that it added a ton of unnecessary complication to my life and stress. You see stress is a major trigger for lots of people in recovery and adding more of it to my life was not a good idea.

Most people thought I was totally crazy when I told them I was going to pass. They just couldn’t wrap their why I would throw away $10,000 like that. For those of us in recovery, dealing with lower levels of stress to protect our sobriety should be a no brainer…

Sometimes I sit and think about my recovery not as a single decision or choice but as a series of courageous actions that I have to make every day. Every single little decision we make impacts the outcome of our sobriety. Avoiding triggers and decreasing the stress inputs we face daily should be a top priority.

Check out Section 6 of Lecture 19 in our Stop Drinking Alcohol course for more information on avoiding triggers.

I really encourage you to take bold, courageous action in protecting your sobriety and what you’ve worked so hard to achieve. Taking this bold action requires you to be prepared, in recovery and ready to act. Take one of our courses on recovery and addiction so you can be the best version of yourself possible.

We’re here to help in any way that we can and we’ve opened a new program for November students. For the month of November we’re giving away free courses on addiction to every day.

Simply like and share our Facebook page or Twitter and then message us. Let us know what course you want and we’ll take care of you. It’s as simple as that! We’re trying to help spread the word and we need YOUR HELP to do so!

To your recovery,

Nick

(p.s. check out our most recent Tips During Recovery video on Youtube if you haven’t already)

If you read yesterday’s email (or blog for those who read it elsewhere) you’ll know that I wrote about how yoga has really helped me through addiction and continues to do so through my recovery. I made a little joke about downward facing dog right? All is well. Except for one thing…

Apparently yoga really pisses some people off. I woke up this morning to a really angry and, quite frankly homophobic, email from one of our long term readers. In the years and years we’ve been doing Live Rehab (plus the years I’ve been in marketing/sales) I’ve never had a response quite like this.

As much as I would love to print the whole thing it’s really quite rude and disrespectful so I won’t. But, it doesn’t end there. Because ultimately, as much as I wanted to just throw this guy/gal out the window I had a feeling they might be in need of help. So I reached out…

And haven’t heard anything yet. So I’m sending this email/post out to anyone who is reading. If you need help please let us know. Sometimes you don’t reach out in the right way and that’s ok with us. Everyone is going through something at some time in their life.

Yoga can truly help with your recovery but so can running, weight lifting, football or pretty much any type of physical activity. Even power walking. Whatever you end up doing, the process of moving your body and getting out of the zone/headspace you are in can do wonders. You’ve got to start somewhere.

Please don’t attack the people who are trying to help you and the community. Most of us are human (except for the robot dog we have) beings trying to help one another and get by at the same time. However, I do have a warning…

We won’t tolerate it again from the same person. Homophobic attacks, slurs or any kind of hateful speech towards the recovery community will be grounds for immediate muting, banning, site blocking, email removal, course banning and whatever other ways I can think of to remove you from the Live Rehab community. I hope we won’t have to do that!

For those of you still with us – THANK YOU! A couple of you have asked what yoga to do etc after yesterdays message and all I do is load up one of my favourite instructors on Youtube – Yoga With Adrienne. She has a ton of great content (some 300+ videos!) with various lengths and topics to find the perfect one for you. Check her out!

Another great resource the Ultimate Beginners Guide to Yoga from our friend Joanna – a great read!

Anyway, I hope todays message doesn’t cause as much drama as yesterday!

To your recovery,

Nick

(update: November 24th with more resources)

I wasn’t sure I would be able to handle it to be completely honest. I was sweating like a sheep dog in the middle of summer. The thing is, we weren’t even doing hot yoga! In the early days of my recovery and sobriety, I wasn’t that healthy but I knew I had to be active.

Yoga seemed like the right idea for me because, to be honest, I thought it would be easier. But, that morning, I was sorely mistaken. You see, yoga is a great full-body workout and when I was detoxing from alcohol, my body was pissed off with me.

Luckily that day I did not puke during downward facing dog but boy did I feel like I wanted to. There are many striking health benefits of yoga for people who aren’t battling addiction problems but what about for those of us who are or are in recovery?

The health benefits apply to all of us and research from Harvard Health had this to say:

Available reviews of a wide range of yoga practices suggest they can reduce the impact of exaggerated stress responses and may be helpful for both anxiety and depression. In this respect, yoga functions like other self-soothing techniques, such as meditation, relaxation, exercise, or even socializing with friends.

By reducing perceived stress and anxiety, yoga appears to modulate stress response systems. This, in turn, decreases physiological arousal — for example, reducing the heart rate, lowering blood pressure, and easing respiration. There is also evidence that yoga practices help increase heart rate variability, an indicator of the body’s ability to respond to stress more flexibly.

We just released a video on the benefits of meditation and prayer which is also linked to the practices of yoga (check it out here).

Since those early days of my recovery, I’ve tried to incorporate yoga and spiritual practices into my weekly approach to healthy living. I couple this with working out, running and generally being active.

If you’re still struggling with alcohol or drug-related addictions please check out our range of courses you can take from the comfort of your home or on the go.

To your sobriety,

Nick