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Case study – Overcoming addictions through spiritual practice
Abstract: Cyriaque Vallee from Paris was addicted to smoking cigarettes and marijuana (pot) and alcohol. He overcame addiction to marijuana through sheer will power. However will power was not enough to help him quit smoking and consuming of alcohol. This case study explains in his own words how he could stop smoking and drinking when he started spiritual practice that conformed to the five basic principles of spiritual practice.
Table of contents
2. Overcoming smoking and drinking after starting spiritual practice
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1. Cyriaque’s addictions
I was addicted to smoking cigarettes & marijuana (pot) and alcohol.
1.1 Addiction to alcohol
I had my first drink with some friends from my Judo training club when I was around 18 years old. I was shy and introverted and having alcohol helped me open up and speak to people and girls. On average, I would drink about 1 litre of beer or about 5 glasses of whisky but only on weekends when going out. My maximum intake was about 2-3 litres of beer or 1 bottle of wine or half bottle of whisky. I would start drinking normally but after sometime would lose control, get drunk and then would feel sick for days. By nature, I tend to be nice and calm but many a time my friends experienced a change in my behaviour after getting drunk. Once a friend commented, “Last night you were like another person, like a devil.”
1.2 Addiction to cigarettes
I started smoking cigarettes at around 23 to 24 years of age when I started modelling in 1994. I smoked around half a pack to one pack a day. After a year or two sometimes when I would go out, I would smoke 2 packs of cigarettes per day.
When smoking I would not smoke slowly. In just 4 to 5 draws, I would run through the cigarettes like a chimney. I smoked a lot for 4 years. I had an intense desire to stop smoking, as I really did not feel good about it. I could feel it ruining my health. Moreover the cost was quite a lot, but I just could not stop.
1.3 Addiction to marijuana (marihuana, pot)
I also started smoking marijuana at about 24 years of age, mostly among friends who would ask me if I want it. At first I smoked little, one joint once a month for about 2 years. Then at age 26, I started smoking 1 joint every evening for 6 months. Then next 6 months I smoked like crazy, 10 joints a day from 8 am till late evening. When I would not smoke, I would get irritable and this scared me. So one day I thought to myself, 'This is going to kill me, I have to stop’’ and just stopped on will power. But the habit did not leave me entirely. I still continued to smoke pot occasionally until 1998.
2. Overcoming smoking and drinking after starting spiritual practice
In February 1999, I came in contact with the Spiritual Science Research Foundation (SSRF) where the concept about how addiction is caused by ancestral problems was explained to me. This explained to me why my will power failed to overcome my smoking and drinking.
I was advised to chant the special protection chant of ‘Sree Gurudev Datta’, to relieve distress from ancestral problems. I started chanting the very moment I was told.
After only 3 days of intense chanting, when I started to smoke a cigarette, after just one draw I could not continue and extinguished the cigarette.
For the next 11 months, I did not smoke at all. In January 2000, I started smoking again, but only for 3 weeks. Then I realised that this must again be due to some ancestor satisfying his smoking desire, but this time I could stop easily as was chanting the Name of God, and was aware of the causes why I was smoking. For the next one year, I was smoking 2 to 3 cigarettes on a few occasions only.
Since 2001, I stopped completely and until now I have not touched a cigarette.
My marijuana habit which consisted of occasional joints continued till about a year after starting spiritual practice.Then it went away by itself. To date, I have not done a joint again.
Similarly my drinking also reduced immediately after starting the chanting. Before I started this spiritual practice I would get drunk very easily, almost every weekend. After starting to chant ‘Sree Gurudev Datta’, I drank little and for a few times only. Since 2003, I stopped alcohol entirely. Since I am French and drinking wine is a national habit, nowadays, just on a very rare occasion I drink half a glass of wine.
I see so many people who are struggling to stop and despite having firm convictions to stop smoking, putting nicotine patches and taking medicines they are unable to do so.
By applying spiritual remedies, I was cured faster without spending money on any medicines or any kind of therapy.
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