My name is Kelvin Young and I’m an Addiction Recovery Coach and Sound Practitioner, but most importantly a person who’s in recovery from alcohol and other drugs. After many years of struggling with depression, anxiety and drug addiction, I found freedom from alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, heroin and other opiates and began my healing process in a drug treatment program in prison. Within this prison program I learned about the healing powers of meditation, yoga and expressive arts. I had a lot of misconceptions about yoga and meditation but the things that I was doing prior to my prison sentences weren’t working, so I had to step out of my comfort zone and try something new.
By utilizing meditation and yoga I was able to find a sense of calm and inner peace while being in a very hostile and restrictive environment. Also, I was able to go “within” to understand the root causes of my experience with addiction. From my experience with these healing practices, I was able to understand that emotional distress, pain, trauma and stress were at the root of my addiction. I was looking for relief from my emotional pain and found it in alcohol, cocaine, heroin and opiates. They worked for a while until they didn’t work anymore and I got caught in the vicious cycle of addiction. This was a very profound learning experience for me.
I learned that life is about learning, growing and evolving from our life experiences. I’ve learned from the so called negative experiences and grown emotionally, mentally and spiritually from the knowledge I obtain from them. That knowledge allowed my consciousness to evolve; as a result, I’ve become more consciously aware of the choices I make in my life.
Today I sustain my recovery by eating a plant-based diet, practicing meditation and deep breathing exercising with essential oils, listening to relaxing music, spending quality time in nature and building authentic relationships with others. Being in recovery, I’ve had the opportunity to present around the country in diverse settings, including conferences, colleges, retreat centers, yoga studios, prisons, addiction treatment centers, psychiatric inpatient units at state hospitals and mental health agencies.
I was presented with the 2017 Dr. F. Marcus Brown Memorial Integrative Medicine Award for exceptional commitment to incorporating integrative medicine within CT Valley Hospital, a state psychiatric hospital and I also serve as the senior vice president of the Hartford Metro Holistic Chamber of Commerce in CT.
I continue to share my story of finding freedom from alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, heroin and other opiates and offering holistic ways to heal from addiction with sound therapy.