An Essex County man who battled drug and alcohol is now helping people through a holistic approach.

"Start doing these free classes in Newark… First class, I had literally one person show up," says Dox Diggla, also known as the “Brick Citi Buddha.” "And by the end of the summer, we had 50 people consistently coming every Sunday."

Diggla "was at complete rock bottom" after dropping out of college and turning to a life of drugs and alcohol on the streets.

"I'm the youngest person at every renal center. I'm literally going blind," Diggla recalls, which prompted him to turn his life around and choose a path of recovery and health.

"Meditation... eating right, I became vegan," Diggla explains. "I started to heal myself."

He then began to use his newfound knowledge to enlighten the public.

"My business which is now meditation education, into lectures,” Diggla says. And he adds that he has seen a variety of people come into his business.

"We've got Muslim people, we got Hebrew-Israelites, we got some people that are atheists and we all come in here and get our peace at the same time," Diggla says.

For more information, visit brickcitibuddha.com.