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Recovery Programs » Non 12 Step Programs » Refuge Recovery

Refuge Recovery

Refuge Recovery is a practice, a process, a set of tools, a treatment, and a path to healing addiction and the suffering caused by addiction. The main inspiration and guiding philosophy for the Refuge Recovery program are the teachings of Siddhartha (Sid) Gautama, a man who lived in India twenty-five hundred years ago. Sid was a radical psychologist and a spiritual revolutionary. Through his own efforts and practices he came to understand why human beings experience and cause so much suffering. He referred to the root cause of suffering as “uncontrollable thirst or repetitive craving.”

The path of Refuge Recovery begins with the First Truth: addiction creates suffering. This is not a philosophy. It is a practice; it demands action. We must understand, acknowledge, admit, and accept all the ways addiction has caused suffering in our lives. We take this action by writing and sharing an in-depth and detailed inventory of the suffering we have experienced in association with our addictions.

Refuge Recovery consists of an individual program of recovery from addiction, Refuge Recovery meetings held by Refuge Recovery groups, and Refuge Recovery Intersangha, State and World committees that give democratic voice and structure to our recovery society.

The program offers recovery from all forms of addiction through participation in our Refuge Recovery program. The book, Refuge Recovery: A Buddhist Inspired Path to Recovering from Addiction; is the foundation of our program and used by all Refuge Recovery groups.

Refuge Recovery members practice a daily recovery program that includes meditation and retreat, along with self-examination, mentorship and community service as integral components. Our program includes regular attendance at group meetings. The group atmosphere provides help from peers and offers an ongoing support network for all who wish to pursue and maintain an addiction free life.

Refuge Recovery meetings are available in over 500 locations around the world and new meetings are starting every day. Individual RR groups who hold RR meetings are the foundation of our recovery society.

History of Refuge Recovery

Refuge Recovery was birthed in direct response to the clear need for a viable, non-theistic approach to recovery. Noah, feeling disconnected from the 12 steps’ theistic philosophy, found deeper relief within the 4 Noble Truths and the 8-Fold Path of Buddhism. There was a need to shift the paradigm of 12-step recovery and open the door to an alternative path.  Refuge Recovery doesn’t ask anyone to shift a belief system, nor does it require anyone to believe in something. It simply asks that you “trust the process and do the hard work of recovery.” You also don’t have to be Buddhist to participate.

Refuge Recovery is a non-profit, Buddhist oriented, non-theistic recovery program and Noah Levine’s latest book, “The Refuge Recovery: A Buddhist Path to Recovering from Addiction.” It was released on June 10, coincidentally the 79th anniversary of Alcoholics Anonymous. Noah Levine, M.A., whose story is already familiar to many in the recovery community, is also the author of the autobiographical Dharma Punx, the revolutionary meditation manual Against the Stream, and the reflections on the practice of loving-kindness Heart of the Revolution. He founded Against the Stream Meditation Society, which opened its doors in Los Angeles in 2008, and Santa Monica in 2009.

How Refuge Recovery Works

The RR program embraces the reality of cause and effect (karma). All of our actions have consequences. We know that, but we rarely consider this reality when we engage with life. We often simply ignore or pretend that we can get away with all types of habits and actions that we know cause harm to ourselves and to others. When we enter this recovery process we need to be aware of this reality, and start to take responsibility for our experience.  Meditation practice allows us to look at the internal habits and thoughts of our own mind. Developing mindfulness is the most effective way to see this process. We can begin to get a sense of our relationship to pleasant and unpleasant experience, how this affects our habits of craving and in turn leads to grasping, clinging and attachment: This process is the basis of addiction.

No one can recover for you. We take refuge in the fact that we have the power to do so.  You have to do the work yourself.  Addiction is not your fault. Addicts have just developed a strategy for living that no longer works. We have become caught up in a habitual cycle that leaves us in a state of suffering and confusion.

The Four Truths of Recovery

  1. We suffer due to our addictions and the general difficulties of being human in this world of constant change and loss.
  2. Craving is a natural phenomenon; it is not our fault, but we are fully responsible for our healing and recovery.
  3. We can fully recover and enjoy a life of sanity and well-being.
  4. This is the path to recovery: the Eight-fold Path.

Refuge Recovery begins with the First Truth: addiction creates suffering. Understanding that addiction always creates suffering is crucial. Suffering is craving the next drink or drug. Suffering is the idea that you can’t get enough; Suffering is the loneliness and shame and isolation. Suffering is the desire for more pleasure and less pain, which we persistently seek in our addiction. Suffering shows its face in a multitude of maladaptive behaviors.  Understanding this first truth and then accepting it as reality also means accepting that drink and drug aren’t an option any longer.  Recognizing the multiple layers of suffering is encouraged through inventory work: “Without full acceptance and disclosure, recovery is not possible. We cannot skip this step; we must be thorough in our inventory process.” (page 6, RR)

The Second Truth asks you to do another inventory, this time seeking clarity and acceptance around the causative factors behind your craving. “The addict is not at fault for the root causes and conditions that lead to addiction, only for the habitual reactive patterns that perpetuate it.” (page 11, RR)  More often than not, someone suffering from addiction is suffering from deep pain and dissatisfaction in their lives. Perhaps there is abuse, and drugs and alcohol help numb the pain; perhaps there is neglect, and drugs and alcohol make you forget. The reasons and root causes are many and they are varied, but they all lead to the same place: suffering.

The 8-Fold Path of Recovery

The 8-Fold Path of Recovery directs us toward maintaining safety and creating a refuge from addiction. The Eight-Fold Path of Refuge Recovery is:

1. Understanding: We come to know that everything is ruled by cause and effect.

2. Intention: We renounce greed, hatred, and delusion. We train our minds to meet all pain with compassion and all pleasure with non-attached appreciation.

3. Communication/Community: We take refuge in the community as a place to practice wise communication and to support others on their paths. We practice being careful, honest, and wise in our communications.

4. Action/Engagement: We let go of the behaviors that cause harm. We ask that one renounces violence, dishonesty, sexual misconduct, and intoxication. Compassion, honesty, integrity, and service are guiding principles.

5. Livelihood/Service: We are of service whenever and wherever possible. And we try and ensure that our means of livelihood are such that they don’t cause harm.

6. Effort/Energy: We commit to daily contemplative practices like meditation and yoga, exercise, and the practices of wise actions, kindness, forgiveness, compassion which lead to self-regulatory behaviors in difficult circumstances.

7. Mindfulness/Meditations: We develop wisdom by means of practicing formal mindfulness meditation. We practice present-time awareness in our lives.

8. Concentration/Meditations: We develop the capacity to focus the mind on one thing, such as the breath, or a phrase, training the mind through the practices of loving kindness, compassion, and forgiveness to cultivate that which we want to uncover. (pages 24-26 RR)

What Refuge Recovery does is encourage practitioners to lean into their discomfort, investigate it, notice its impermanence, and begin to let it go. It encourages a deep shift in one’s relationship to suffering, creating an element of space around it, and it provides a unique ability to begin to care for your own suffering with compassion. Ultimately, we learn that we are not our suffering.

Refuge Recovery asks practitioners to know and understand that everything has a cause and effect and to take action to shift toward making better, wiser choice. Our actions are never without a reaction, good, bad or indifferent.

What Happens at Refuge Recovery Meetings?

The RR program includes regular attendance at Refuge Recovery meetings. The group provides help from others in recovery and offers an ongoing support network for all who wish to pursue and maintain an addiction free life.

A Refuge Recovery meeting meets regularly at a specified place and time, and practices only the program of recovery and the meditations included in the book Refuge Recovery: A Buddhist Path to Recovery From Addiction.

The book Refuge Recovery is our only approved literature at this time. The general RR Meeting format is posted on the meeting resource page on refugerecovery.org.

Refuge Recovery meetings are held by Refuge Recovery groups. Individual RR groups who hold RR meetings are the foundation of the RR recovery society.

Find a Refuge Recovery Group Near You

There are regular Refuge Recovery meetings in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Oklahoma City, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and Nashville. See HERE for a complete list with times and locations. If one isn’t in your area, you are encouraged to start your own. You can download meeting formats and Refuge Recovery inventories and meditations at RefugeRecovery.org. In addition, BLVD Treatment Centers is offering the first Refuge Recovery track for adults in treatment. There is also a Refuge Recovery sober living that has recently launched, that is has created a sober living environment in coordination with the Refuge Recovery Model.

If you'd like to find a Refuge Recovery group near you click here, or you can purchase Refuge Recovery Literature. You can also download alternative recovery literature.

RecoveryHQ.com is not affiliated with Refuge Recovery or any of its subsidiaries. This information is provided as a resource for those seeking third-party information.