Sunday, December 15, 2013

THREE MUSKETEERS OF RECOVERY SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES IN SHAFA HOME

       On the 12th of December 2013, "Three Musketeers" ex. resident members of Shafa Home came to share their their hope, strength and wisdom in recovery. Mr. Rajan Kalra of 7 years recovery, Mr. Kulwinder Singh of 6 years recovery and Mr. Lovish Gupta were welcomed with warm wishes from our residents and staff. 

       They imparted their new found courage to live a life free of substances upon our attentive residents. These three young men began by expressing their initial worries and fears when they entered treatment and how, over the one-year Shafa programme, they grew emotionally, mentally and spiritually as they progressed further into sobriety. 

       Rajan, Kulwinder and Lovish collectively shared the respect they had earned amongst their peers while in sobriety, how they contended with substance-triggering thoughts and experiences as they left Shafa Home and embarked on entering wider society. They also shared the hope for their future and talked about the postive change of perception their family members had of them.

       Our residents were moved by their sincerity and dedication towards living a clean and positive life; a far cry away from their past habits and behaviours.

       These young men are now able to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives while having standing and respect amongst their fellows in society. They are truly grateful for the oppurtunity Shafa Home had granted upon them to transform what was once a stagnant and wasteful life into a flourishing success.

       This day was a huge motivation and emotional boost to our newly recovering Shafa members. It goes to show that with determination, discipline and dedication, nothing can hinder the progress of a person who is willing to turn their life around for the better.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Founded in 1981 by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji, “The Art of Living Foundation” is one of the the world's largest volunteer-based, humanitarian and educational non-governmental organization (NGO).



T
oday, volunteers from “Art of Living” visited Shafa to interact with the residents and devote some of their positive energy there.
The purpose of their visit was two pronged. On one hand our residents felt proud and experienced self-worth. They felt that the society is still concerned about them and that they have a role to fulfill in the outside world. In a way it was like re-establishing them with the main stream of the society.
And at the same time the volunteer from “Art of Living” saw it as a part of their social obligation. We at Shafa have always believed that addressing to social responsibilities is not only Shafa’s role. Every individual should be encouraged to do his best, to put in his/her share for a common purpose, to understand and fulfill his social responsibility.
Residents and the volunteers had a great time together, their experiences were remarkable, participation & involvement were 100%. This is what the volunteers from “Art of Living” had to say:-

  •         “We are 16 in numbers and visited the rehab centre. We felt very nice, the system here is very lovely, organized, disciplined and well managed. The noble work should go on.”
  •         “You are doing superb work.....All the Best.”
  •        “It was a great experience. Keep up the hard work.All the Best…….”





Click on the link below to view more pics:-
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.218643298299250.1073741873.150155235148057&type=3

Saturday, September 28, 2013

JAPANESE STUDENTS SHOW THEIR INTEREST IN SHAFA



We have always believed that there are  NO BOUNDARIES FOR CHANGE”……………
Today these boundaries extended further till Japan.
We had students visiting us. They got interested in our activities  after listening to volunteers from Japan (AISEC), who had spend some time at our centre earlier.
They had come to explore possibilities of future volunteer exchange program with our organization…..
After they left, we received a mail from them. We feel like sharing the same with you:-
“ Dear Ranjan Dhar
Thank you for inviting us to your office.
Your concept is so smart, and important in not only in India but also in Japan.
So, I think that some Japanese students want to work in Shafa Home.
If there is a student to work, aiesec will send messages to you.
Good Luck! ”

Hope this conveys their experience at Shafa………………….
To view more pics, click on the link below:-

Monday, September 9, 2013

DANCE AND THEATER

We at Shafa Home always believed to keep every new day as a challenge. Residents loose their zest if new ways and means are not adopted everyday. Here to keep it lively and interesting, Shafa introduced Dance and Theater as a treatment modality to convey feelings and emotions.




Friday, September 6, 2013

THEATER IN TREATMENT

Theater is also used at Shafa as a treatment modality......
Reader may think that this is being done to keep them busy. Our aim is not even to make them as Shahrukh Khan or Amitabh Bachchan either, we want them to understand how to use their body to express their feelings of pain, shame, guilt, anger, hurt, fear, happiness etc......

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

MY GRATITUDE SPEAKS.......



Hi ,,, my name is Manish and I’m an addict, clean and serene in the Therapeutic  Program.

Just for today, I will try and share for the still suffering addict. The newcomer is the most important person.
First things first: these program works and an addict like me has fond answers to everything within the therapeutic program. And what do I mean by that?
Simply stated, when recovering addicts first shared with me about therapeutic program, they kindled a fire in me which had died long ago. The Fire of Life had died as a result of addiction; the drugs and withdrawals leading to lost ambitions and dreams and a sense of despair that I never thought Id experience. Gone were the friends, gone was the ambition and gone was any remaining sanity.

My addictive personality lead me to use from age 14. It was alcohol, then grass and later opiates and smack and morphine. In between were phases of LSD and dexidrine and mushrooms and downers. I got into lot of trouble with the law too, and the only reason I did not go to jail was because the cops were lenient. My father always bailed me out. Moreover, India at that time in the 70s and 80s had no narcotics control laws yet. Everything was available. Playing music and influence from hippies and yogis had us lot enjoy life. It was one big, happening party.

Then came stark reality, and as addiction and withdrawal distorted rational thought, I found myself in the midst of strange, unwelcome experiences. Having had a history of disturbed sleep, coming from a disturbed family and with sibling abuse issues, the drugs had worked to keep me at ease. But only long enough to have me addicted and then the ugly side became apparent. I headed for hospital for addicts for the first time. Before I started using regularly, I had been in the mental institute for sleep disorder and earlier on had been counselled for bad behaviour and restlessness. The drugs gave me release. Now as i lay on the hospital bed, i dreaded what was coming next.

The chief psychiatrist came the next morning, looked very severely at me and said "Manish, you gave us a terrible scare. Your blood pressure dropped to very critical levels. This is the first time in my long career that I've encountered this situation".

See, I was again the bad boy, the unmanageable teen and the centre of attention for all the wrong reasons. And I hated it. I closed my mind. I got counselled; I tried to run away and finally got discharged much against the doctors and my family's wishes. Fact is, I did not think I had any problem at all, so why all this fuss, attention and money being spent?

I passed time for a few days at home, thinking what I could do with my life. In the hospital they had recommended that I complete my studies. But that wasn’t attractive. I got bored thinking and went back to an old hangout, met a buddy and in no time was smoking a joint again.

This became a pattern for the next decade or so of my life; hospitalization, agonizing withdrawals, staying clean for a while and relapses that carried me deeper into drug use and trouble with my family, friends’ law and society. I also tried geographical and ashrams but with no real results.


And one night, I’m listening to jazz on the radio and fondly chasing smack, already nice and numb on downers. I’m fully possessed by the spirit of intoxication I go into a real deep trance. After sometime, I’m in the midst of a very supernatural and frightening experience. I’m actually seeing my soul leaving my body and settle in one corner on the room. As I’m looking on, a voice says very clearly "You are going to die very shortly". It may have been the spirit of my alcoholic uncle who had died recently or it may have been God, I can’t tell. But I got the message and was screaming "noooooooo,,,,,,, i don’t want to die".

That, I believe, was the first of my awakenings in recovery.

And then it happens few weeks later that I’m sitting chasing smack with some guys and I suddenly start praying to a Personal Deity, a thing I had not done for very long. Then I got lucky. I got the number of a rehab, that too from a using friend. She had stayed clean for 10 months and had relapsed but that held some hope for me. And after I cleaned up in this rehab, i never have had to use again, for 25 years now. In the rehab, one very disturbing and insane night, I had my second awakening. I was lying down in the isolation room, no lights, in solitary confinement and very scared and in very painful withdrawal. I was very unmanageable. My soul cried out for a Higher Power to help. Then I start to breathe easy, and go into a trance and have an experience of the Great Light of the Universe!

We need to have Spiritual experiences; else an addict like me cannot sustain recovery. After the Experience at the rehab, I’ve had Experiences that are more informational/ educational in nature. That's the Power of the Therapeutic Program.

Not to say I've not had problems and failures, trials and tribulations but this Program has shown me success in family, career and society, solutions to the darkest problems and the Great Joy of Living. Really, I can feel that the therapeutic value of one addict helping another is without parallel. Abstinence in close association and identification with others in Therapeutic Program is the best ground for growth.


M.I.P has been a Recovery Source for nearly 10 years now. I’m truly a Miracle in Progress. I’m also reminded that M.I.P also stands for Most Important Person, the newcomer. Indeed, we can keep what we have only by giving it away. My gratitude speaks when I care and share.

And having said all of that about myself, I truly believe that any addict can stop using, lose the desire to use and find a new way to live, in the Therapeutic Program WAY ! God Bless y'all and keep coming back, no matter what happens in life or however you're feeling.

Remember to say to yourself "

Just for today, my thoughts will be on my recovery, living and enjoying life without the use of drugs"