Healing through movement, with Hayley MatossianHealing through movement, with Hayley Matossian
The Elevate Experience
Movement-focused teacher Hayley Matossian talks with Angie Manson and Dallas Terrell about how yoga, breath and CrossFit-style training support people in addiction recovery. The conversation highlights practical ways clients build emotional resilience, body awareness and healthier habits they can carry beyond treatment.
45:02•2 Nov 2021
Healing Through Movement: Yoga, CrossFit and Breath in Recovery with Hayley Matossian
Episode Overview
- Movement practices like yoga and CrossFit give people in recovery an experiential way to learn tools such as presence, non-judgement and resilience.
- Simple breath awareness can support emotional regulation and, as Angie notes, may play a key role in preventing relapse in difficult moments.
- Yoga can be scaled for any ability level, allowing very tight or unfit clients to benefit through modified twists, balance work and gentle options.
- Allowing emotions such as tears to surface in class helps clients see that uncomfortable feelings can pass without needing substances.
- Repeated messages about breath, mindfulness and body awareness from different staff and activities help reinforce healthy habits that clients can continue after treatment.
“That breath will save them from relapse. That breath will help them heal, continue to heal their bodies and feel good and get through bad situations.”
How do different strategies aid in addiction recovery? This conversation on The Elevate Experience zooms in on yoga teacher Hayley Matossian and the way she uses movement, breath, and mindfulness to support people in treatment. Hayley shares how a college yoga class first showed her that she could reach a calm, almost altered state “without an external substance”, and how that realisation eventually pulled her away from keg parties and back onto the mat.
She talks about teaching in prisons, juvenile halls and tough inner-city schools, where she learnt that you’re often just “planting seeds” and might not see the results until much later. Now working at Elevate Addiction Services, Hayley explains how yoga fits alongside CrossFit in a holistic programme.
She and hosts Angie Manson and Dallas Terrell talk about tight bodies, wobbly balance poses and clients who swear they’ll never come back to class – then end up saying they’ll keep practising after rehab. For anyone who feels intimidated by yoga, Hayley breaks down how she scales movements, from twists that support detoxification to balance work that gently challenges both body and mindset. One of the strongest threads is the role of breath.
As Angie puts it, “That breath will save them from relapse… it could save a life someday.” Yoga becomes a practical arena to experience non-judgement, emotional release (including a good cry on the mat) and the simple power of “just being where you are right now.” This episode suits anyone in recovery, supporters of loved ones, or professionals curious about adding movement-based tools to their toolkit.
If you’ve ever wondered whether yoga or CrossFit could actually help with sobriety rather than just fitness, this easy-going, honest chat might be the nudge you need to try stepping onto a mat – what small shift in movement could you experiment with next?
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