Restorative Yoga and Home-Baked Bread: An Interview with Diane Ortego
If you’re preparing to enter a residential program for
First, let’s be clear: you do not have to wear tight clothes or be flexible to do yoga. And second, yoga has everything to do with recovery. Diane Ortego, the yoga instructor at Victory Addiction Recovery Center, agrees.
Meet Diane Ortego
Diane was born in New York but has lived in Louisiana for 24 years. She has been teaching yoga for over six years and has taught at Victory for just over a year now. In addition to yoga, Diane also teaches meditation and yoga nidra at Victory and is a massage therapist at her business in Lafayette. While her teaching focuses primarily on restorative yoga, Diane lets her clients’ needs come first: “Some days they need to move quite a bit, and other days they need the more calming side of restorative poses,” she explains. “I try to meet them every day where they are at.”
Teaching yoga is a passion for Diane, who practices daily on her own in addition to teaching. She “absolutely loves” teaching yoga at Victory. “What I love about yoga is that it’s available to everyone. We begin where we are at. It teaches grace and acceptance of one’s beautiful imperfections. It calms the mind and allows the mind, body, and spirit to align,” Diane writes. “I am humbled and honored to walk through that door and create space for others to find their path to healing.”
Before We Continue, Some Definitions
Meditation – Meditation comes in many, many forms and traditions, but at its simplest, meditation is a practice of coming to a place of stillness in the body and mind and using the breath to generate detachment and calm. “I can’t meditate–I can’t get my brain to slow down,” is something many people say. But meditation isn’t about not thinking or feeling. It’s impossible to completely stop thinking and feeling for any real length of time. Instead, meditation is about cultivating an attitude of detachment toward your thoughts and feelings. As thoughts and feelings arise, you watch them without judgment, and you let them go. Over time, a meditation practice will help you regulate your emotions and be less reactive to cravings, stress, and other triggers in your life.
Restorative yoga – Restorative yoga comprises certain relaxed poses that you hold for several minutes at a time. The goal is to open up the body and clear the mind as you focus on the breath. Restorative yoga uses props like bolsters, blankets, and pillows to support any part of the body that would otherwise feel strained in the pose. As Diane explains, “Restorative yoga has longer holds in a relaxed state, and it’s about learning to accept oneself as you are with all your thoughts.” After beginning with slow stretches, Diane typically leads her students through slow movements and then ends with restorative poses. She plays music during the session “that speaks directly to life experiences.” The class ends with a guided deep relaxation, which brings us to our next definition…
Yoga nidra – Yoga nidra means “yogic sleep” or “conscious sleep” and is a place of deep, meditative relaxation. Typically, an instructor will lead students through a guided meditation to help them let go of any physical tension. As the body relaxes, you lose conscious awareness of the body and connect with your higher, or innermost, self. In Diane’s classes, students enjoy their relaxed poses and listen to Diane’s voice as she leads them through a meditation. “I will speak to them and explain that they are not alone in their thoughts,” she says. “We are all human, and our brain will try to take us out every time. I ask them to come back to their breath and just be in the moment, for that’s where we do our best living, the here and now.”
A Yoga Journey Begins
Diane’s yoga journey was sparked by “multiple surgeries and injuries” and by her refusal to give up even though her future was “bleak.” Yoga helped her gain physical and mental strength, and after a year of being a student, Diane became licensed to teach yoga in Louisiana. This was just the beginning of her training. She then took a 7-day extensive course with Baron Baptiste, the creator of Baptiste yoga, and also earned certifications in injury and recovery, yoga for athletes, yoga nidra, and Y12SR (yoga with a 12-step recovery focus). When a friend introduced her to Kerri Cunningham Tucker, Victory CEO, Diane’s journey at Victory began.
Yoga at Victory: What to Expect
Diane teaches yoga at Victory twice a week for an hour each session. Her students love her classes. “I show up early, and they have their mats already out, waiting on me,” Diane says. “I go early to check on all of them, meet any new clients, and just see where they are at that day.”
Classes begin with a reading. Diane encourages her students to choose a reading to share that sets the tone for healing. Then the class proceeds with the slow movements and restorative poses, ending in yoga nidra. Diane enjoys getting creative with her closing meditations. “My favorite thing to do with the clients is a food meditation,” she shares. “It’s about more than food. I explain that what we put in our bodies affects us daily–and that includes the words and stories we tell ourselves.” With Diane’s guidance, clients begin to feel empowered: “It’s a challenge every day for all of us, but when [my students] begin to provide themselves with grace and realize that their imperfections are their true light, I begin to see them change, breathe, and smile.”
The Power of Yoga in Recovery
“Yoga is helpful in addiction recovery for many reasons,” Diane says, “But none so prevalent as empowering introspection. The movement of one’s body and providing ourselves grace is the powerful thing I see among clients. When they dive deeper, they begin to change internally, and it encourages them to step up and step into their own power.”
Diane’s yoga journey has inspired her to remain active in her free time as well, training at Apex gym, riding her bicycle, going to concerts, and being with friends. “I love to cook and bake, which I spend a lot of time doing,” she shares. “Everyone who knows me knows that, even the clients at Victory. I make freshly baked bread for them sometimes.”
So if you’re about to enter a treatment program at Victory, remember this: give Diane’s classes a try. If the relaxation and self-awareness aren’t enough to inspire you, go for the freshly baked bread!
A final word from Diane: “It’s been quite the journey to get here today, but I am thankful every day to be a part of my clients’ journey at Victory. I get to see their first steps to recovery, and I am humbled to be even a small part of their process. Forever grateful!!”
