"Welcome to this guided meditation. My name is Yogi Bryan, and this meditation is for someone that's suffering from withdrawals from addiction." That is how a 23-minute audio practice published on YouTube in April 2022 opens, and the tone never changes: close, unhurried, and direct about who it is for. The video is a guided meditation built as a single sequence. It moves from breath awareness into a rhythmic breathing technique called ujjayi, through a body scan, into a paired temperature cue, then into a visualization in which the listener locates a knot of "stuck energy," pulls it out, spins it, and tosses it into a fire, before returning to the breath. It is meant to be played whenever cravings or withdrawal symptoms become hard to sit with, and the speaker is clear that he knows the territory from his own experience.
The framing is the first thing worth noticing. Bryan does not describe the practice as a treatment, a cure, or a detox protocol. The video's own description frames it differently: it is "for informational and entertainment purposes only," and the speaker writes, "I've been there too many times so I know how you feel." That personal authority is the emotional core of the piece. Withdrawal is treated as something a person goes through in real time, often in the middle of the night, and the audio is designed to be used at that moment rather than studied in advance.
Bryan's instructions on timing are specific. Listen "anytime you feel the urge or the desire to fall into your addiction," he says early on, or when a symptom feels "so hard and harsh that you need relief." He suggests lying down if you are feeling unwell and using headphones if you can. The practice is repeatable by design, and the description says so directly: "Do this meditation as many times as you need."
The opening minutes ask almost nothing of the listener. Bryan asks you to bring attention to your natural breath and to observe it: "is your breath smooth, deep, shallow or choppy? how does your breath feel?" The stated job is simple. As he puts it, "all you have to do is breathe and listen to the sound of my voice," and the body "can eventually and naturally relax." Withdrawal is often experienced as a loop of agitation, and a voice giving one low-stakes instruction at a time gives the mind something to hold that is not the craving itself.
From there he introduces ujjayi pranayama, which he describes as a breath that "strengthens you energizes you but it also relaxes you." He calls it "a nice equalizer" and "a nice breath to get you through the tough times, the times where you don't feel so good both physically and mentally." Ujjayi is one of the most recognizable breathing practices in yoga, and Bryan teaches it through sound and image rather than terminology. Inhale through the nose. On the exhale, constrict the throat "like you're fogging up a mirror," so that the breath makes a soft, ocean-like hush. Then keep the same breath with the mouth closed. He offers the comparisons himself: the sound is "like waves forming against the shore" on the inhale and "waves crashing against the shore" on the exhale. He also jokes that it sounds "like Darth Vader," which makes the technique less intimidating for a beginner. Then he returns the listener to a natural breath, noting that the technique can be used "anytime you need it throughout your day."
"Listen to this meditation anytime you feel the urge or the desire to fall into your addiction or if you feel that withdrawal symptom so hard and harsh that you need relief." (Yogi Bryan, opening minutes of the April 2022 video)
After a body scan in which the listener is asked to "notice any tension," to notice "the parts of your body that feel good," and to send "a wave of relaxation all throughout your body," the meditation introduces its most distinctive device. Bryan asks you to "imagine the coldest feeling you felt" and wrap it around your head. Then your hands should begin to warm, "like you're putting your hands next to a fire." The cue is that as the head grows colder, the hands grow warmer, and the two sensations are repeated in alternating phrases: "head colder and colder, hands warmer and warmer."
It is worth being precise about what this does, because it is not a claim the speaker makes in clinical language. The cue asks the mind to hold two distant regions of the body at once and to track a shift between them. The attention that might otherwise be locked on a craving or an ache has a concrete, changing task. Bryan links the sensation directly to relief: "you soon start to realize your withdrawals are easing away." He then extends the cue into a cool breeze across the whole body, asking you to recall "a time you felt the most perfect temperature," perhaps "on a beach" or "in the woods." The sensory memory is a deliberate choice, a way of giving the nervous system a place to rest that it already knows.
The final stretch is the most vivid and the most open-ended. Bryan asks you to find "a spot in your body where you feel some pressure" and says it could be "some stuck energy," "a situation you'd like to release," or "a little bit of the withdrawals." He is careful to make room for listeners who cannot picture anything: the color "can be any color, multiple colors, maybe you don't see a color at all and that's okay." The instruction is to "stay with the feeling" and let whatever shape arrives.
Once the location is known, the listener pulls the energy out, either in the mind's eye or with the hands, and shapes it into a ball in front of them. Bryan notes that "sometimes the color changes as you pull it out," and he insists on thoroughness: "make sure you get it all out." Then comes a rotation. Notice which direction the ball is spinning, then reverse it. He directs the spin to speed up, "ten times faster," then "100 times more." This is the kind of image that rewards slow, repeated listening. A stuck, looping feeling is given a motion, a direction, and an opposite direction, and the listener is the one who controls it.
The ending is an act of release. The ball is tossed into a fire, and the listener is asked to "feel heat on your back" as it burns. The meditation then closes with a return to the refrain that runs through the entire recording: "one breath at a time." The phrase is repeated, slowly, until it becomes the thing left in the room. Bryan ends by noting that the listener "can come back to it" whenever needed, and that the practice "runs in the background" of the day.
This is the question that matters most, and the video itself answers it with restraint. The disclaimer attached to the upload states that the audio is "not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition, mental disorder, or psychological issue," and that it "is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice." It also tells listeners not to use it while driving or operating machinery, and to discontinue use and consult a professional if they experience discomfort.
That caution is not a formality. Withdrawal from some substances, including alcohol and certain opioids, can be physically dangerous and sometimes requires medical supervision. A meditation can help with the mental weight of a hard hour, but it does not replace a doctor, an addiction specialist, or a crisis line when symptoms are severe. The speaker's own closing advice in the description is the most honest guide: "Take care of yourself. Be gentle with yourself. It gets better I promise." Read that as encouragement to seek help, not as a substitute for it.
If you are in withdrawal now, start with the medical question. Contact a doctor, an addiction treatment provider, or a local emergency line if symptoms are intense. Once that support is in place, the meditation can be one tool among several. Keep the audio on hand for the moments when the urge rises and you need something to do with your attention. The breathing section can be used on its own: a slow inhale through the nose, a constricted exhale that sounds like the sea, and a return to natural breath.
For readers drawn to the practice itself, the video sits within a channel the creator describes as "Sleep Hypnosis & Yoga Nidra," and the cue-based style of the cold-head and colored-ball visualizations will feel familiar to anyone who has used guided sleep or relaxation audio. Listen in a quiet place, use headphones, and treat it as repeatable. The speaker has said as much: this is "here for you," at any hour, for as many rounds as you need.
