Recovery, Healing and Taking Care of the Soul With Paul CrouseRecovery, Healing and Taking Care of the Soul With Paul Crouse
Katherine Arati Maas
Host Katherine Moss speaks with Paul Kraus about his journey from heavy drinking and suicidal thoughts to long-term sobriety, spiritual practice, and life in Japan. They discuss early recovery, the role of AA, meditation, and how taking care of the soul supports a more meaningful, grounded life.
0:00•19 Apr 2016
From Drunk Nights to Soul Care: Paul Kraus on Sobriety and Spiritual Growth
Episode Overview
- Early sobriety can feel painful and chaotic, but facing the truth about addiction is a crucial turning point.
- Support systems such as AA and Al-Anon are strongly recommended as first steps for people struggling with alcohol and their families.
- Meditation and mindfulness help people return to the present moment and reduce the grip of cravings and conditioned reactions.
- Caring for the soul and inner life is as important as caring for the body, especially in long-term recovery.
- Making conscious choices, rather than living on autopilot, is central to changing destructive patterns and building a meaningful life.
“It sucks wholeheartedly because this is the rock bottom of my life… imagine your heart is covered with this stuff and you picked all the scabs off of your heart.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This conversation between host Katherine Moss and guest Paul Kraus brings a mix of raw honesty, humour, and spiritual reflection that many people in recovery will recognise instantly. Paul traces his path from suburban drinking culture in Michigan and Wisconsin to two decades of sobriety and a new life in Kyoto, Japan.
He talks frankly about early drinking – “this is what people did… we had drinking parties” – and how things shifted from social fun to sitting alone, drunk, in very dark emotional spaces. His description of early sobriety pulls no punches: “It sucks wholeheartedly,” he says, comparing his heart to a scraped knee with all the scabs picked off.
The episode spends plenty of time on that messy, early phase of recovery: shame, suicidal thoughts, the terror of walking into a first AA meeting, and the relief of finally dropping denial by breaking down in front of a trusted friend. Paul strongly recommends AA as a first port of call, stressing that “you really do need a support system,” and also points to Al‑Anon for families and partners. From there, the conversation widens into soul-care.
Paul describes his work as a personal development consultant, teaching meditation, mindfulness and practical spiritual tools so people can “stop being a slave” to conditioned thinking, cravings, or old patterns. He keeps it down-to-earth, joking about “new age junkies” and stressing that this is about being grounded and present, not floating off into another universe.
Katherine and Paul also share lighter moments – bonding over meeting at a CrossFit gym in Kyoto and laughing about “operators are not standing by” at tootallpaul.com – which keeps the tone warm even when the subject matter is heavy. If you’re sober, sober-curious, or simply trying to make sense of your own painful patterns, this chat might get you asking: what would it look like to actually take care of your soul today?
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