Hi, my name is [_____________] and I am an alcoholic. Welcome to the You Are Not Alone Group of Alcoholics Anonymous in Playa del Carmen. This is an open, English-speaking Zoom meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous and all are welcome.

Let us open this meeting with a moment of silence and then please join me in the serenity prayer.

Please make sure to mute the microphone on your phone or computer unless you are sharing. When you are ready to share, please introduce yourself with your name and where you are from.

If you have consumed alcohol or any other mood or mind altering substances in the last 24 hours, except as prescribed by a physician, we ask that you refrain from sharing today and speak to one of us after the meeting.

Is there anyone here for their very first AA meeting?

[If there is a newcomer, the chairperson welcomes them and changes the planned meeting format to a First Step meeting. The First Step from 12 & 12 is read.]

Is there anyone here in their first 30 days of sobriety?

Are there any AA birthdays?

[If there is an AA birthday, let them know that you will ask them to share how they did it in a moment.]

Are there any AA announcements?

Will [___________] please read our AA Preamble.

Would someone please read How It Works (p.58) or More About Alcoholism (p.30).

[Chairperson may pick either of these readings.]

*If the chairperson would like, they can ask someone to also read the 12 Traditions.

Please remember to respect the anonymity of each member present and we request that participants confine their discussion to matters pertaining to recovery from alcoholism.

We ask that you conduct yourself on screen in a manner similar to what you would do if you were attending a meeting in person and be respectful to the person who is sharing.

Please be mindful of the length of your share. We suggest you keep your shares to around 3 to 5 minutes, so that everyone has an opportunity to speak.

Please remember: Who you see here, what you hear here, when you leave here, please let it stay here.

Ask those who are celebrating sobriety birthdays/anniversaries if they would take 3-5 minutes and tell us how they did it.

Introduce topic for discussion and open the meeting up for sharing.

Near the end of the meeting read:

Our 7th Tradition States that we are self-supporting through our own contributions. If you can donate, that would be appreciated. Please see the instructions being posted in the chat.

Paste following into the chat:

Text YANA to +1 202 858 1233 from US/CAN
or https://www.moneypool.mx/p/j9dlmTE in MEX
or https://givebutter.com/YANA internationally
All info is on https://www.aaplayadelcarmen.com

At the end of the meeting, the Chairperson says:

If you did not get an opportunity to share during the meeting, or if you’re looking for a sponsor, please talk to one of us afterwards.

Would those of you who are willing to be a sponsor please raise your hands?

Let us be reminded that when anyone anywhere reaches out for help we want the hand of AA always to be there, and for that we are responsible.

Will [_______] please read A Vision for You from our text (p.164).

We will now close the meeting with the Serenity Prayer so please make sure you are muted.

BE SURE NOT TO END MEETING WHEN LEAVING THE MEETING.

Find the PDF here.

Hi, my name is [_____________] and I am an alcoholic. Welcome to the You Are Not Alone Group of Alcoholics Anonymous in Playa del Carmen. This is an open, English-speaking Zoom meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous for beginners, and all are welcome.

Let us open this meeting with a moment of silence and then please join me in the serenity prayer.

As this is a beginners meeting, we would encourage those of you who are in your first year of sobriety to post any questions you may have via chat to the group or me directly. This gives us an opportunity to address those later in the meeting.

Please make sure to mute the microphone on your phone or computer unless you are sharing. When you are ready to share, please introduce yourself with your name and where you are from.

If you have consumed alcohol or any other mood or mind altering substances in the last 24 hours, except as prescribed by a physician, we ask that you refrain from sharing today and speak to one of us after the meeting.

Is there anyone here for their very first AA meeting ever?

(If there is a newcomer, the chairperson welcomes them and changes the planned meeting format to a First Step meeting, The Twelve and Twelve books are handed out and the newcomer is given a 24-hour chip)

Would those who are willing and able to be a sponsor, please send their contact information privately to ________ (name of the person in their first meeting).

Is there anyone here in their first 30 days of sobriety?

Are there any AA birthdays?

(The chairperson can ask them to briefly share how they did it).

Would those with less than 12 months of sobriety please raise your hand? This is not to embarrass you but so that we may get to know you better.

Are there any AA announcements?

I have asked [___________] to please read our Preamble.

Chairperson reads the 12 steps:

Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol— that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Please remember to respect the anonymity of each member present and we request that participants confine their discussion to matters pertaining to recovery from alcoholism.

Please be mindful of the length of your share when we have a larger meeting, we suggest you keep your shares to around 4 minutes, so that everyone has an opportunity to speak.

Chairperson then shares a reading of their choice, or asks someone to read.

Chairperson shares their experience on the topic for 5 minutes.

Chairperson reads any questions he/she may have received.

The meeting is now open for sharing by those with less than 12 months sobriety. After 20 minutes we will open up the meeting for everybody to share.

Please remember: Who you see here, what you hear here, when you leave here, please let it stay here.

Ask those who are celebrating sobriety birthdays/anniversaries if they would take 3-5
minutes and tell us how they did it.

Near the end of the meeting read:

Our 7th Tradition States that we are self-supporting through our own contributions. If you can donate, that would be appreciated. Please see the instructions being posted in the chat.

Paste following into the chat:

Text YANA to +1 202 858 1233 from US/CAN
or https://www.moneypool.mx/p/j9dlmTE in MEX
or https://givebutter.com/YANA internationally
All info is on https://www.aaplayadelcarmen.com

At the end of the meeting, the Chairperson says:

If you did not get an opportunity to share during the meeting, or if you are looking for a sponsor, please talk to one of us afterwards the meeting.

Would those who are willing to be a sponsor please raise their hands?

Let us be reminded that when anyone anywhere reaches out for help we want the hand of AA always to be there, and for that we are responsible.

I’ve asked [_______] to please read A Vision for You from our text (p.164).

We will now close the meeting with the Serenity Prayer so please make sure you are muted.

BE SURE NOT TO END MEETING WHEN LEAVING THE MEETING.

Find the PDF here.

Hi, my name is [_____________] and I am an alcoholic. Welcome to the You Are Not Alone Group of Alcoholics Anonymous in Playa del Carmen. This is an 11th Step Prayer, Mediation and Discussion Meeting where we improve our conscious contact with our God as we understand Him. We will read a selection from AA Approved literature and prayers, then we will have a 15-minute period of meditation, followed by sharing and discussion on the 11th Step and/or the readings and prayers.

Let us open this meeting with a moment of silence and then please join me in the serenity prayer.

Please make sure to mute the microphone on your phone or computer unless you are sharing. When you are ready to share, please introduce yourself with your name and where you are from.

If you have consumed alcohol or any other mood or mind altering substances in the last 24 hours, except as prescribed by a physician, we ask that you refrain from sharing today and speak to one of us after the meeting.

Is there anyone here for their very first AA meeting?

[If there is a newcomer, the chairperson welcomes them and changes the planned meeting format to a First Step meeting. The First Step from 12 & 12 is read.]

Is there anyone here in their first 30 days of sobriety?

Are there any AA birthdays?

[If there is an AA birthday, let them know we will ask them to share how they did it in a moment.]

Are there any AA announcements?

Will [___________] please read our AA Preamble.

Can we have a volunteer to read Pages 85-88 of Big Book – 11th Step – Into Action.

Thank you everybody for reading.

Please remember to respect the anonymity of each member present and we request that participants confine their discussion to matters pertaining to recovery from alcoholism.

We ask that you conduct yourself on screen in a manner similar to what you would do if you were attending a meeting in person and be respectful to the person who is sharing.

Please be mindful of the length of your share. We suggest you keep your shares to around 3 to 5 minutes, so that everyone has an opportunity to speak.

Ask those who are celebrating sobriety birthdays/anniversaries if they would take 3-5 minutes and tell us how they did it.

This is not a meeting that promotes any form of meditation over another. We have no opinions on religious or spiritual practices. If there is anyone here without experience in meditation, we encourage you to sit still for the 15 minute mediation time to the best of your ability. We ask that all show respect during this time by observing the silence, remain muted and please turn your cameras off during this time, so as to not disturb others.

Before the meditation I will read the 11th step prayer, we will start a period of 15 minutes of silent meditation. I will signal the end of the meditation period with a bell. We will remain in silence with eyes closed for a few minutes to give ourselves time to slowly come back to the room and adjust to our external senses and I will read the 7th Step Prayer

I will now read the 11th Step prayer. This is actually the Prayer of Assisi, which Bill W added to his essay on step 11 in The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, which was written 14 years after the Big Book.

“Lord, make me a channel of thy peace—
that where there is hatred, I may bring love-
that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness-
that where there is discord, I may bring harmony-
that where there is error, I may bring truth-
that where there is doubt, I may bring faith-
that where there is despair, I may bring hope-
that where there are shadows, I may bring light-
that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted-
to understand, than to be understood-
to love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying to self that one awakens to Eternal Life. Amen”.

As beginners in meditation, we now reread this prayer very slowly, savoring every word and trying to take in the deep meaning of each phrase and idea. It will help if we drop all resistance to what our friend says. For in meditation, debate has no place. We rest quietly with the thoughts of someone who knows so that we may experience and learn.

As though lying upon a sunlit beach, let us relax and breathe deeply of the spiritual atmosphere with which the grace of this prayer surrounds us. Let us become willing to partake and be strengthened and lifted up by the sheer spiritual power, beauty, and love of which these magnificent words are the carriers. Let us now look upon the sea and ponder what it’s mystery is; and let us lift our eyes to the far horizon, beyond which we shall seek all those wonders still unseen.

“Lord, make me a channel of thy peace—that where there is hatred, I may bring love-that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness- that where there is discord, I may bring harmony- that where there is error, I may bring truth- that where there is doubt, I may bring faith- that where there is despair, I may bring hope- that where there are shadows, I may bring light- that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted- to understand, than to be understood- to love, than to be loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying to self that one awakens to Eternal Life. Amen”.

Ring gong one time to begin 15 minute meditation.

At the end of the 15 min chair rings gong 3x’s to signal end of meditation.

Read 7th Step Prayer

“My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen.”

Group Sharing

Now is the time where we share our thoughts about the 11th Step and/or the reading(s) and prayer. Because time is limited, we ask you to be mindful of the length of your share, so that as many people as possible will have the opportunity to share before we close at 10:00. For people who would like more time to share or do not get a chance to share, please stay after the meeting and talk with us, as the meeting room will be kept open for awhile.

Near the end of the meeting:

Our 7th Tradition States that we are self-supporting through our own contributions. If you can donate, that would be appreciated. Please see the instructions being posted in the chat.

Paste following into the chat:

Text YANA to +1 202 858 1233 from US/CAN
or https://www.moneypool.mx/p/j9dlmTE in MEX
or https://givebutter.com/YANA internationally
All info is on https://www.aaplayadelcarmen.com

At the end of the meeting, the Chairperson says:

Please remember: Who you see here, what you hear here, when you leave here, please let it stay here.

If you did not get an opportunity to share during the meeting, or if you’re looking for a sponsor, please talk to one of us afterwards.

Would those who are willing to be a sponsor please raise their hands?

Let us be reminded that when anyone anywhere reaches out for help we want the hand of AA always to be there, and for that we are responsible.

Will [_______] please read A Vision for You from our text (p.164).

Close with the 3rd step prayer

“My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen.”

BE SURE NOT TO END MEETING WHEN LEAVING THE MEETING.

BE SURE TO SIGN OUT OF THE ACCOUNT

Find the PDF here.

Find the PDF on aa.org.

Reprinted from pages 58-60 in the book Alcoholics Anonymous.

Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.

Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it-then you are ready to take certain steps.

At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.

Remember that we deal with alcohol-cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power-that One is God. May you find Him now!

Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.

Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:

Find a printable version on aa.org.

Reprinted from pages 30-31 in the book Alcoholics Anonymous.

Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.

We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.

We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals—usually brief—were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better.

We are like men who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones. Neither does there appear to be any kind of treatment which will make alcoholics of our kind like other men. We have tried every imaginable remedy. In some instances there has been brief recovery, followed always by a still worse relapse. Physicians who are familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing as making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish this, but it hasn’t done so yet.

Despite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going to believe they are in that class. By every form of self-deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore non-alcoholic.

If anyone who is showing inability to control his drinking can do the right-about-face and drink like a gentleman, our hats are off to him. Heaven knows, we have tried hard enough and long enough to drink like other people!

Here are some of the methods we have tried: Drinking beer only, limiting the number of drinks, never drinking alone, never drinking in the morning, drinking only at home, never having it in the house, never drinking during business hours, drinking only at parties, switching from scotch to brandy, drinking only natural wines, agreeing to resign if ever drunk on the job, taking a trip, not taking a trip, swearing off forever (with and without a solemn oath), taking more physical exercise, reading inspirational books, going to health farms and sanitariums, accepting voluntary commitment to asylums—we could increase the list ad infinitum.

Find a printable version on aasandiego.org.

Short Version

Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.

For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.

The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.

Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.

Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.

An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.

Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.

A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.

Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.

Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.

Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

Find a printable version on aa.org.

Find the PDF on aasandiego.org.

Get a PDF version here.

The AA Principles and Steps

Honesty

Hope

Faith

Courage

Integrity

Willingness

Humility

Brotherly Love

Discipline

Perseverance

Spirituality

Service