Published On: December 2, 2022837 words4.2 min read

 

This week’s podcast guest is Chuck Schad who is the founder of the Inner Theater – which offers mindfulness and meditation programs.

He is passionate about meditation which enabled him to stop drinking and change his life.

Chuck shares his story with us and he ends our conversation with a five-minute meditation which will enable you to breathe and take pause if you get triggered to drink.

In this Episode

  • Chuck and his wife came of age in the late ’60s when he began to dabble in meditation – he even studied it with a Vietnamese Monk
  • But then life got in the way – 2 kids and 2 busy careers meant that meditation got shelved for a while
  • A difficult period in his life led Chuck to step up his drinking
  • The combination of a business failure and a son with a drug problem sent him to AA for help with his alcohol dependence
  • AA wasn’t the right fit for him and he sometimes had a beer on the way home to calm his nerves!
  • He was feeling totally strung out so went to his doctor who prescribed Benzos for the anxiety
  • Chuck then became addicted to Benzos – and had to go to hospital for help to stop
  • The combination of alcohol and Benzos is not a good one – as we heard on last week’s podcast interview with Janet D
  • Chuck began reading about Eastern meditation and then began to meditate daily with Sadhguru
  • He began to feel so much better that he began to give talks about meditation at local libraries
  • His passion for meditation grew and he was offered a job running sessions at an Inner City Clinic
  • Meditation changed everything for Chuck – it gave him distance and made him realise he didn’t need external help for his problems – he had the answers within
  • You’ll hear Chuck explain that we have between 20,000 and 70,000 individual thoughts every 24 hours but meditation enables us to flip the coin and watch these thoughts – to be the witness and break the spell!
  • It enables us to take a step back, settle ourselves down, and to learn how to “self-soothe”
  • Chuck and I talk about the demands of corporate life – and the fact that some progressive organizations are hiring him to run meditation sessions for their employees
  • He talks about using of meditation in recovery and we discuss the value of reframing – just as we say at Tribe Sober that “getting sober is an opportunity to change your life” – he says that “Recovery is an Invitation”
  • You can find Chuck at innertheater.com and his Facebook page is Chuck Schad
  • Our conversation will end with Chuck doing a meditation which can enable you to PAUSE if you get triggered and feel like having a drink
  • So even if you’ve never meditated before please give the meditation a try – it’s just 5 minutes but if you close your eyes, get comfortable and listen to Chuck’s soothing voice you’ll be in a different state afterward and may well be able to resist any cravings to drink
  • Keep this podcast handy on your phone so that you can quickly tune into the last 5 minutes and do the meditation whenever you need it.

More Info

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Episode Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by the Tribe Sober Membership Program.  If you want to change your relationship with alcohol then sign up today
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