Bestselling author and renowned Buddhist teacher Noah Levine delivers a much needed alternative to 12-step. Using an adaptation of the Buddha's Four Noble Truths and Eight Fold Path, Refuge delivers a proven and systematic path towards recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. For all the people that have been helped by the 12-step program, there are many more who don't connect with the focus on God and its reliance on an external higher power. In Refuge, bestselling author and Buddhist teacher Noah Levine offers a systematic approach based on Buddhist principles, which integrates scientific, non-theistic, and psychological understandings of how addictions manifest as cravings in the mind and body and how a path of meditative awareness can alleviate those cravings. This highly practical book is designed for anyone interested in a non-theistic approach to recovery and requires no previous experience or knowledge of Buddhism or meditation. Levine has personally developed and taught the Refuge Recovery system for many years and has created a community of those that follow the tenets. Levine writes "This is a path and practice that if developed and lived and, if successfully completed, will insure a full recovery from addictions and will lead to a life long sense of well- being and happiness. Of course, like every path, you can only get to your destination by taking the actions moving forward-a deliberate action, one foot in front of the other, surely we will arrive.

The path is gradual and comprehensive, a map of the inner terrain that must be laid out as a clear and comprehensive map of the inner-terrain that must be traversed in order on the way to recovery. The path is will includes daily meditation practices, written investigations of the causes and conditions of our addictions and how to find or create the a community that you will need in order to heal and awaken.".