Xia says that Buddhism is better for heroin addicts, while Taoism helps methamphetamine users. Photo: Courtesy of Xia Yu

 
Sweating in the steam from a bubbling hot pot, three middle-aged men clink beer glasses on a sultry summer afternoon.

 One of them, Xia Yu, wears a cowboy hat and a black tank top, flexing his tanned muscles.

Xia could be easily taken as a physical education teacher or a fitness trainer at first sight. It's hard to imagine that Xia is actually a rehab counsellor, and instead of his gym buddies, the other two are both his patients, former drug users.

Just a while ago, they were having a session while Xia sat on a couch, listening, smiling, nodding and writing notes down on his pad from time to time.

But now they are relaxing in an inexpensive restaurant without air conditioning.

Once again, they clink their beer glasses and drink up. 

Buddha, Taoism, Confucius

Xia and his patient at the table, Wu Xiao (pseudonym), have developed a friendly mentor-student relationship in the last two months.

"I feel happy now, and am confident about the future," says Wu. "I didn't know I had strength and energy inside me until our teacher helped me find it," says the 35-year-old from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

Xia says that he has helped about 70 people kick their addictions and rejoice in life in the last seven years. But Xia adds very modestly, "If they succeed, it's all their efforts. I am just the person that accompanies, cooperates with and maybe guides them."

Xia has a full-time job that provides for the family, a general psychological counsellor, but his part-time rehabilitation consultation is his real passion, for which he doesn't charge a penny.

"At first, full of goodwill, I didn't know my limits. I used to take in many patients from all over the country, provide consultation and even pay for their rent." But things went badly when some of them relapsed, he says.

During his first few years, Xia felt very frustrated because complete rehabilitation is very difficult. He thought his job was depressing and hopeless. Now he has changed his way of thinking. "I am just the companion," he said. He does not see himself as a redeemer - which is the way addicts and their families would like to imagine him.

He gave himself the Internet ID of "Yu Xin," under which Xia answers questions from thousands of people on QQ, forums, and a website he set up. "Yu Xin" means "the heart of rain," which represents what Xia believes in. In his work, he's guiding his patients naturally, as things are supposed to be, just like the rain. This is an idea Xia has learnt from Taoism classics.

"When meeting a man of worth, think of becoming his equal; when meeting men not as good, look inwards and examine ourselves," says Xia, quoting Confucius. "When I know myself better, I can really understand and help them."

Body building and traditional Chinese culture are the two things that Xia loves, and he tries to impart to his patients his own understanding of traditional values.

Xia has developed his own unique way of dealing with addicts. For example, for opium and heroin users, he has a method called "calm and introspection training," where he uses Buddhist wisdom to help to cultivate character and realize truth by looking inward and learning about one's own goals in life. For ecstasy and methamphetamine users, Xia focuses on Taoism and the wisdom of the I Ching (Book of Changes).

During his two-hour-long sessions, Xia usually quotes from the Chinese classics quite a few times. Originally from Linchuan, Jiangxi Province, Xia proudly mentioned that Lin­chuan has a profound culture, and was the hometown of several renowned intellectuals in China's history.

Xia also mentioned several times the word yuanfen, a Buddhist concept that means the force of destiny that ties people together. But Xia doesn't just take anybody as a client. The person must be determined to reject drugs. He prefers male clients over females, since patients tend to develop attachments to their therapist. He only accepts about six or seven patients each year.

Mind games

Xia graduated from college majoring in business administration in 2001. After job hunting for a while, he started working in an administrative position at a rehab center, where he became very interested in psychology. He taught himself by reading, taking night classes and speaking to local therapists, and got an occupational qualification certificate in psychological consultation by writing a government test in 2007.

When it comes to drug rehabilitation, Xia thinks physical detoxification is the easy part, and the follow-up psychological therapy is more time-consuming and important.

He says this is one reason he left the state-owned rehab center where he worked, which mostly focused on detox.

"Our teacher [Xia] is different from the consultants I used to see," Wu says, and, with respect, refills Xia's beer glass whenever it was almost empty.

Instead of telling his clients what they should do, Xia tries to analyze their minds. Xia shows his notes taken for one of his patients and explains his process and technique of consultation. At the very first meeting, he tries to lead the patient to say as much as possible about themselves - their family, their job, their childhood - and decides what their problems are. He adjusts his method based on each individual's character.

Dramatic breakthroughs

One of the patients had used heroin for 20 years, and his family tried everything they could and was disappointed each time, until they met Xia. Through the sessions, Xia found that the addict couldn't let go of his grandmother's death. He blamed his family for it, and was bothered by an intense regret that his grandmother would never see the day he was cured.

With this insight, Xia led his patient to learn that his hatred towards his family was actually for himself.

Using hypnotic techniques, Xia says he managed to take the patient back to the scene of his grandmother's death bed, and made him tell her that he's completely free of his addiction. The patient has been clean for five years, Xia says.

In a separate example, Xia says that after many consultations, he found that a patient's problem was rooted in the fact that all her family members treated her unnaturally kindly to compensate for her parents' divorce.

Xia thinks China's rehabilitation system has been improved, and psychological therapy has become much more valued in recent years. But he feels if people in this field would change their role from "managers" to "healers," it would make a big difference.  

Xia's wife, an Internet engineer, was originally against his charitable work but now accepts it out of her love for him. But Xia says taking all the responsibility for addicts is still a great burden for him and "too tiresome."

He said he would consider quitting the charitable rehabilitation therapy in a few years, and just focus on his day job as a general therapist.