AWAKENING TO 12 STEP RECOVERY
MEETING FACILITATOR’S GUIDE
Meeting Facilitator:
"Is there anyone here for whom this is their first A.A. meeting ever?"
If there is, have someone read How It Works. If not, ask for someone to read the A.A. Preamble. Then ask someone to read the Kinship of a Common Suffering. Following the readings:
“Welcome, this is an Awakening to 12 Step Recovery meeting, an open meeting of Alcoholis Anonymous. We have come together to explore the similarities between the 12 Step model of recovery and the practices of Mindfulness and Meditation. We have found a guide for our recovery in the 12 Steps, as well as the core principles at the heart of the Buddha’s teachings. You don’t have to be a Buddhist or a member of A.A. to attend this meeting. This meeting is open to anyone with a desire to stop drinking alcohol or using any addictive substance, or maybe you're here with a relative or friend who has a drinking or druging problem. You are welcome here and we are glad to have you. Please remember that who you see here and what you hear here is strictly confidential.
I am the volunteer facilitator of this meeting. I am not a formally authorized Buddhist teacher or necessarily a Buddhist. I do however, have at least one full year clean and sober and experience working all 12 Steps. I also have experience as a sponsor for someone who has worked their way through all 12 Steps. These are the requirements for someone to be a meeting facilitator for an Awakening to 12 Step Recovery meeting. This meeting will run 60 to 90 minutes depending on the length and number of shares. You may leave at any time. Please do so quietly.
After a moment of silence, please join me in reciting the Serenity Prayer.”
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can
and the wisdom to know the difference.
“Now we go around the (zoom) room popcorn style and introduce ourselves. Please, after me (unmute yourselves and) just go for it. My name is _____ and _____________________."
After everyone has introduced themselves:
“This meeting is focused each week on one of the 12 Steps. We use the calendar as our guide for which Step. January is Step One, February Step Two, etc. And each week of the month we alternate between a Mindfulness Talk and a Mindfulness Practice. This week we are considering . . . Together we’ll read a Mindfulness Talk or a Mindfulness Practice for this step."
Read the opening to the Mindfulness Talks or Mindfulness Practices.
Intro to the
Mindfulness Talks
https://www.mindpracthing.com/_files/ugd/ea8a59_8cee9f12107c4356bfa90ff8f9c273c9.pdf
Mindfulness Talks
https://www.mindpracthing.com/ files/ugd/ea8a59_a69f38621f01451fb7ca30ba19fb948d.pdf
Intro to the
Mindfulness Practices
https://www.mindpracthing.com/_files/ugd/ea8a59_00f55a091ea74bcb9345573a15183cb4.pdf
Mindfulness Practices
https://www.mindpracthing.com/ files/ugd/ea8a59_0bd7910ff2174c86a3ac92e23a4b20bf.pdf
Then screen share the talk or practice and ask someone to begin reading. They may pass to someone else at any point or continue reading.
“Does anyone have a question about the reading, or a comment they would like to make? This is not our time for sharing. This is just an opportunity to clear up a question someone may have about the reading. There will be a time for sharing after the silent meditation and everyone will have a chance to share.”
Opening to Silent Meditation
“Take a comfortable and alert sitting posture with your back straight but relaxed. Gently close your eyes. Turn the mind toward noticing the breath. Let your attention focus on the spot in your body that’s easiest for you to feel the breath like your stomach or nostrils. Feel how light and natural, how calm and peaceful our breathing functions. At first, we can be mindful of three in and three out breaths and gradually build our awareness and concentration over more breaths, and over a longer period of time. The most important thing is to enjoy and not try to control your breath. Breathing and knowing that we are breathing is a basic practice. To practice conscious breathing is to open the door to stopping and looking deeply in order to enter the domain of concentration and insight. In the Soto Zen tradition, the bell will ring 3 times at the beginning of our 15 Min. Silent Meditation and twice at the end.”
Following the Silent Meditation
“This is our time to share. You may share on whatever you like – the step, the readings, your meditation or your experience, strength and hope - anything related to recovery. We ask that you not crosstalk and that you limit your share to three or four minutes. Our tradition in this meeting is that everything that is spoken here is strictly confidential. Whatever you say here stays here. It is also our tradition here that everyone will have an opportunity to share. You don’t have to share, but you will have the opportunity. The meeting is now open for sharing. Who would like to share first?”
After the sharing is complete – In closing:
"There is a website that supports this meeting. The URL is mindpracthing.com"
Screen share the home page of the website.
"Please join me after a moment of silence in reciting the Three Refuges Prayer."
Returning home
Taking refuge in the Buddha in myself
May I, together with all beings
Realize my true mind
Returning home
Taking refuge in the Dharma in myself
May I, together with all beings
Practice the wisdom of mindfulness, understanding and compassion
In all my daily affairs
Returning home
Taking refuge in the Sangha in myself
May I, together with all beings
Create harmony with others
Aware that these three gems – the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha
Are within my heart
As they are within the heart of all beings
I vow to realize them
And to help others realize them as well
Following are links to pdf versions of some of the readings that are frequently used to open A.A. meetings.
HOW IT WORKS
https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/assets/p-10_howitworks.pdf
THE A.A. PREAMBLE
https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/smf-92_en.pdf
THE PROMISES
https://singaporeaa.org/PDFs/The_AA_Promises.pdf
THE KINSHIP OF A COMMON SUFFERING
https://www.mindpracthing.com/_files/ugd/ea8a59_291c320c4a8248a88353ef9f3ba819e2.pdf
from pamphlet #84 Many Paths to Spirituality A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature
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