All about Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a comprehensive cognitive behavioral therapy that can be effective in treating a variety of problems including suicidal thinking, self-injurious behaviors, depression, impulsive behaviors, and substance use. DBT emphasizes that we need to learn more adaptive skills to replace the behaviors that are not serving us and to address the problems that are causing difficulty in our lives. 

DBT is derived from the philosophical process of dialectics: the balancing of opposites. Therapists who practice DBT form a therapeutic alliance and cultivate healing through dialectically balancing acceptance with change strategies.  DBT emphasizes an accepting, non-judgmental, and validating approach to clients. Therapists utilizing a DBT approach strive to understand their client’s feelings, thoughts, and behaviors make sense given the context of their unique situation. 

DBT can be practiced in individual and group settings and is largely skills-based. Standard DBT contains four modules: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. As with any new skill, these skills often require a lot of practice. Let’s start here!

Mindfulness Skills: Mindfulness skills teach us how to observe and experience reality as it is, to be less judgmental, and to live in the moment with effectiveness.   

• Walking Down the Spiral Stairs: Imagine that within you is a spiral staircase, winding down to your very center. Starting at the top walk very slowly down the staircase, going deeper and deeper within yourself. Notice the sensations. Rest by sitting on a step, or turn on the lights on the way down if you wish. Do not force yourself to go further than you want to go. Notice the quiet. As you reach the center of your self, settle your attention there—perhaps in your gut or abdomen. 

Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills: Interpersonal Effectiveness skills help us to manage interpersonal conflicts effectively and maintain and improve relationships with other people. 

• Keeping Respect for Yourself (FAST): 

(Be) Fair- Be fair to yourself and to the other person. Remember to validate your own values and wishes as well as the other persons. 

(No) Apologies- Don’t over apologize. No apologizing for making a request, having an opinion, or disagreeing. 

Stick to Values- Don’t sell out your values and/or integrity.

(Be) Truthful- Don’t lie. Don’t act helpless when you’re not. Don’t exaggerate and make up excuses. 

Emotional Regulation: Emotion Regulation Skills help us to manage emotions.

• Taking Care of Your Mind and Taking Care of Your Body (PLEASE): 

PL: Treat Physical Illness- Tale care of your body. See a doctor when necessary. Take Prescribed Medication

E: Balance Eating

A: Avoid Mood-Altering Substances

S: Balance Sleep- 7-9 hours of sleep each night

E: Get Exercise- Try to build up to 20 minutes of daily exercise

Distress Tolerance: Distress Tolerance skills help us to learn to tolerate and survive crisis without making things worse.

• Changing Body Chemistry with TIP Skills

T: Tip the Temperature- use cold water to change emotions

I: Intense Exercise

P: Paced Breathing and Paired Muscle Relaxation

(Linehan, 2015). 

Written by Kimberly Bonsiero, LCSW-C

Read more about Kim HERE.

Summertime and The Living Is Easy

Summer calls us to get outside and have fun. Thankfully, we can do that this summer after a very strange 2020. Even the cicadas have gone, leaving us with the peace and quiet of a summer morning. We want to encourage you to embrace this summer as a time for restoration and renewing resilience. The stress and challenges of dealing with pandemic changes and adjustments has taken a toll on all of us. Here are some suggestions for practices of Easy Living this summer which will be restorative for you.

1. Start and end your day with 10 conscious breaths. Take a slow and deep inhale and a long, deep exhale. Repeat 10 times. Feel the movement of the breath in the lower belly. Carry the stillness into your day, or into your sleep.

2. Becoming more aware of the senses is very restorative and summer is a sensuous picnic. Draw in all of the lush colors of green surrounding you outdoors. Notice the fragrances in the morning air. Feel the touch of a breeze on your skin. And, then all those delicious tastes of summer, enjoy the sweet cold of watermelon, the crunch of corn on the cob, or ice cream melting in your mouth.

3. the body loves to move, make sure you enjoy time in movement everyday. If you are not ready for vigorous exercise take a walk, lay on a mat and see how the body would like to stretch or put on some music and get your dancing shoes moving

4. Make sure you don’t miss the opportunity to float this summer. Whether in the pool, the lake, the ocean, enjoy the complete letting go of being held in the buoyancy of the water.

We wish you a fabulous summer of restoration and renewal.

To you on Mother’s Day…

To the new moms struggling with sleepless nights and finding their new identity.

To the seasoned moms working hard to keep it all together.  

To the mothers who have lost children, those met and unmet.  

To those who have lost their mother and feel lost in a world without them.  To those who have no relationship with their mother, chosen by them or chosen for them.  To those who have chosen not to be mothers and fight the societal norm every day.  To those who long to be mothers and count the months and days to “try again.” 

To those who suffer with infertility & secondary infertility and face the guilt & shame, and  feelings of failing as a woman. 

I see you; I hear you, and I want you to know… You are not alone.  

Despite the positive narrative of Mother’s Day, it is important to remember that this  holiday has so many emotional layers beneath the surface. These emotions are sensitive  and run deep as the feelings of sadness, anger, profound grief, and jealousy are so easily  triggered.  

For many, Mother’s Day is a reminder of what never was or what no longer is. Some are  struggling with their new identity as a mother, as motherhood changes you in profound  ways. Some have endured the immense pain of losing a child and many have experienced  the deep loss of their own mother. Some disregard Mother’s Day with the experience of  dysfunction and traumatic abuse from their mothers failing them at a young age. And many have experienced the journey to motherhood with struggles of infertility and secondary  infertility along the way.  

So, on this Mother’s Day here is an invitation to you… 

• Take care of yourself 

  • Think of whatever you need to get through this day – And give  yourself permission to do just that. Very often, women put others before themselves. Today, hold no obligation to anyone, but you.

• Practice self-love and self-compassion 

  • Check the inner critic at the door. Any negative thoughts that come up,  any thoughts about your shortcomings, feelings of inadequacy… acknowledge them and move on.  

• Respect and validate your feelings

  • The feelings you experience are difficult and real. Create a sacred  space for these feelings to exist and care for these feelings gently. 

• Take a break from social media 

  • Disconnect for the day (or two) and protect your heart from triggering  pictures and posts.  

• Ask for what you need  

  • Do not be afraid to ask for what you need. Need to sleep? Need some  space? Need a good distraction? Need a hug? Being mindful of your  needs, and your needs only, and be direct with yourself and those around you . 

And for those in supportive roles, wondering how to navigate this day… 

• Listen  

  • Show up in the quiet, be present, and be attentive. Listen with  compassion and an open heart and let them know their feelings are  heard. 

• Do not assume… 

  • It is okay to want to be mindful and possibly feel the need to avoid the  topic of Mother’s Day all together but provide those the opportunity and permission to decline invitations and conversations. Give room  for those to make their own decision on their tolerance of the holiday.  

• Ask them what they need 

  • Ask them what they need from you… Do they need space? Do they  need frequent check ins? What can you do to help? 

• Leave the advice at the door 

  • Being present and engaging in active listen, refrain from using  statements like, “At least…” and “Be grateful…” Offer compassion, tell  them you love them, and validate their feelings. 

In conclusion, I leave you with this: 

For anyone out there who needs to hear this… You are not alone. Your feelings are  normal. And every day is a journey, despite the road you are on. Let us be mindful on this  day and always.  

“The only thing worthy of you is compassion – invincible, limitless, unconditional.” -Thich Nhat Hanh  

*This post is in no way to take away from the joy and all the good that comes from  Motherhood – but to offer some mindfulness to Mother’s Day as a whole. 
Written by: Nina Davey, LCPC, ATR-BC

Stress. What do you do about it?

April is National Stress Awareness month. As we mark one year since life, as we knew it, came to a pause, there is no better time to reflect on the stress we’ve endured personally and collectively and find some new ways to manage stress. For many, the stress before the pandemic was exhausting enough. The added pandemic stress, relationship stress, financial stress, increased isolation, work stress, national upheaval…and overall traumatic stress of living through a pandemic may have felt, at times, unmanageable and unbearable. In times of stress, you may notice that you act on urges and impulses that take you away from who you are and the present moment. Here are some stress reduction tips and tricks our therapists use to help their clients manage stress more effectively.

1. Stay attentive to the body’s experience. This is where stress exists. This might include doing a body scan visualization while breathing into areas of tension or tightness. Pause and take a moment to just notice where you are in time and space.

2. Progressive Muscle Relaxation exercises are a great way to destress. Click HERE for the script.

3. Get outside for at least 15 minutes each day. Get out into nature (take a walk, hike, sit outside, do some gardening).

4. Daily “Brain Dump” Journal for 15 minutes.

5. Art Journaling – spend 10-15 minutes drawing. Pay attention to what comes up and allow it to guide you.

6. Stress Scribbling – Think about the stressor(s) and notice how your body feels. Draw a scribble that represents the stress and then continue scribbling for 15-30 seconds. Notice how you feel after scribbling. This can be repeated until you notice a change to the feeling. 

7. Go back to the basics! This may include eating food that makes you feel good, drinking water, getting enough sleep, moving your body in a way that feels positive (stretching, walking, etc.), taking care of illness.

8. Aroma Therapy- this may include essential oils or candles that are relaxing like lavender. 

9. Review boundaries and set them as needed

10. Set a timer to remind you to take breaths each hour.

It may take some experimenting to find what works best for you. Studies suggest that focusing on stress reduction strategies for 5-20 minutes daily or in small increments of time reduces overall stress and feelings of overwhelm with time.

You've heard of it ... But what exactly is EMDR?

Some of you come to The Counseling Center because you want EMDR therapy. Others of you have never heard of it, or maybe you’ve heard of it but aren't really sure what it is. What, exactly, is EMDR Therapy?

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It's a big fancy title for a type of therapy that is ideal for trauma and breaking persistent patterns of thinking. In fact, it's one of the only methods of therapy that has been endorsed by the Veterans Association to treat veterans with PTSD. That's a big deal!

But you don't need PTSD to benefit from EMDR. Most of us have negative patterns of thinking like ''I'm worthless" or "I don't deserve love" that have been with us since childhood.

Those thought patterns, just like flashbacks from a trauma, get "stuck" in the brain. And when a trauma or thought pattern gets stuck, it's not easy to change it. We've all tried to stop intrusive thoughts and sometimes no matter how much we want to stop the thoughts, we can't.

EMDR Therapy specifically targets those "stuck" areas in your brain. Don't worry, it's not as scary as it sounds. In fact, most clients find it not only extremely helpful, but also relaxing. Using tones in a headphone and little buzzers that you hold in your hand (or moving your eyes from side to side), your EMDR therapist will walk you into some particular thoughts and memories that have been discussed in advance, and then we just let your brain do the work it needs to do to heal.

All of us here at The Counseling Center are trained in this type of therapy because we have seen how effective it is. It is remarkable.  If you want more information, you can visit the EMDR website at www.emdr.com or www.emdria.org.  Or schedule an appointment with one of our therapists to see how EMDR might help you!

Written by Stacy Stoddard, LCMFT

Four Tips to Improve Your Intimate Relationship

In the film ‘Eat, Pray, Love,’ the main character tells a story about her friend Deborah:

“Deborah, a psychologist, was asked by the city of Philadelphia if she could offer psychological counseling to a group of Cambodian refugees, ‘boat people’ who had recently arrived in the city. Deborah was daunted by the task. These Cambodians had suffered genocide, starvation, witnessed relatives murdered before their eyes, spent years in refugee camps, and endured heroic boat trips to the west. How could she relate to their suffering? How could she help these people?” The main character who plays Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of the book ‘Eat, Pray, Love,’ went on to say that the Cambodian people wanted to talk with her friend Deborah, the psychologist, not about the trauma and suffering they had experienced as result of fleeing their country, but about their love relationships. They wanted to talk about the love they had found, the love they had lost, and the love they were missing and wanted back…all about a special guy or girl whom they couldn’t stop thinking about. Elizabeth Gilbert found herself thousands of miles away from home going to talk to a medicine man about the very same issue: her love life.

Why is it that so many people are consumed with their love relationship? These relationships touch a very deep place within us. The concerns seem to fall into three categories:

• People who have had their heart broken by someone they love and just can’t seem to recover.

• People who are currently in a relationship and are concerned that the relationship is not working.

• People who are looking to find the right person with whom to spend their lives.

In this blog posting I would like to focus on some tips for those who are in a current relationship and feel that it is not working. In future blog postings, I would like to address more tips for current relationships, as well as tips for those who are trying to get over a past relationship, and tips for those who are looking for the right person to be with.

So, here goes:

Tips for Improving Your Current Love Relationship:

1. Be willing to listen. Try to hear what your partner is telling you when he/she speaks. Pause. Don’t think about what you are going to say next, just listen. Let your partner know what you think they are saying. Let them tell you if you heard it accurately or if there is something they need to clarify. Stay calm.

2. Provide safety for your partner. Remember that you are both on the same side ultimately. Your partner is not your enemy. Your partner is your friend. How can you speak to your partner in a way that allows them to feel respected and not attacked? When either of you escalate, the discussion is over for the moment and needs to resume later after a cooling off period.

3. Laugh together. Remember when you met your partner and you had countless moments together talking and making each other laugh? Where did that go? Bring the humor back into the relationship. You may have to work hard to find it again, but you will.

4. Devote time to the relationship. You two need time together and without your children or your friends. It may be very difficult if you have children, but it is essential that you make it happen on a regular basis. Get off the sofa or away from the computer. Turn off the cell phone. Think of a creative way to spend time together. Surprise your partner and ask him/her to surprise you. Make it a priority. And make a rule that you won’t talk about your problems on the date.

Written by Linda Beam, LCSW-C

A New Year: Setting Successful Intentions for 2021

The old custom of making New Year's resolutions serves the purpose of being mindful of what has been and envisioning new beginnings with the transition to a new year.  However, there is a way to make your new beginning more successful.  In Sanskrit the word Sankalpa means vow, vow to self.  When we mindfully set a new Sankalpa we are aligning with our highest self and our highest good.  The Sankalpa originates in a heartfelt desire, and is then affirmed as an intention.  This takes your new resolve to a deeper level, one more likely to succeed because it is a commitment of your true self to your self.  Being directed by your heartfelt desire garners your full commitment and is more likely to succeed.  For example, a resolution to exercise more is frequently expressed in January.  Below I will describe how to go about setting an intention in this area that is more likely to succeed.

1. Sit in stillness and draw your attention within.  Notice the movement of the breath in the body, following the inhale and the exhale.

2. After a few breaths bring your attention to the center of the chest, the heart center, and invite yourself to become aware of your heartfelt desire.  That could be something such as, I am healthy and fit, I make healthy choices daily.  

3. Affirm this intention to your self as if it is already present.  Allow to come to mind images of your self making the healthy choices that result in being healthy and fit. 

4. Repeat this heart centered intention daily to reinforce and this is likely to help you experience the changes you want for your self.

Your heart's desire may be about relationships, or your work, or your life's purpose.   Here are a few examples to help get you started:

I experience love and connection in relationships.

I use my skills and talents in fulfilling work.

I am aware of my values and manifest them purposefully.

These more general heartfelt desires can be broken into specific intentions that lead to fulfillment.  For example, I make time to be fully present in relationships that would lead to greater love and connection. 

Happy New Year and best wishes for fulfilling your heartfelt desires. 

December 2020: Holidays during COVID

We’ve all joked, and sometimes cried, about how crazy 2020 has been, and we’re now looking into the month that may be the hardest for many of us.  We’re exhausted from nine months of varied stages of lockdown, isolation, fear, and unpredictability, and now COVID rates are rising again.  And on top of it all, it’s the holiday season.  For many of us, the holidays will look very different this year.  Here are some tips to help cope with this challenging time.

1. Be gentle with yourself.  Cry if you want to.  It’s okay to feel grief during this holiday season.

2. Keep what holiday traditions you can, but allow yourself to be creative about replacing ones that you’re not able to have.  If you can’t travel to see family, print out their pictures and set them around the table.  Or try zooming together while everyone eats their holiday meal.

3. Talk to others about how you’re feeling and share ideas.  We’re all in this together!  Maybe even join some Facebook groups or follow some Instagram accounts that are sharing ideas about how to cope with this year’s holiday season.

4. Practice gratitude.  Focusing intentionally on the things you’re grateful for is a foolproof way to feel better, even if it feels hard at first.

And, of course, reach out for professional help when needed.  We’re here for you!

Therapy in the Time of COVID

We are living through times unlike any we have previously experienced. A worldwide pandemic has added a sense of threat and powerlessness to our daily lives. We have been required to change the way we do most things: how we work, how we go to school, where we go, how we shop, and how we spend time with family and friends. While human beings are incredibly adaptable, COVID has stretched all of thin.

At The Counseling Center we are accustomed to working with our clients on problems related to anxiety, depression, trauma and relationships. We are now seeing new levels of stress which compound these issues.

We want you to know that we are still available to help in these times. We are fully committed to maintaining our level of excellence in providing psychotherapy and promoting safety, wellness, and wholeness. It has now been several months that we have been offering telehealth and virtual therapy. We have discovered that we are able to effectively work with clients in these formats. While we miss the personal contact of being in the office together, we have been able to establish new therapeutic relationships and maintain the working relationships already established.

If we can help you during this time, we welcome your inquiries. As you know, at The Counseling Center we are always interested in holistic solutions in times of trouble, so we offer the following suggestions as you continue to cope with an extraordinary time.

Our minds and bodies benefit from structure and predictability. As much as possible, try find some daily routines that provide that.

Attending to the body is a great resource for self-care. Try to include some exercise every day, anything from gentle stretching to vigorous exercise, dancing, or gardening will provide resiliency in the body.

Creativity is a great resource for hope, joy, and pleasure. Find ways to include your creative outlets into daily life. This might be the time to take up a new activity such as art or music, or to simply rearrange the furniture or make a collage.

When under threat the brain kicks into survival instincts and works overtime, so practices to help quiet the mind are essential right now. Even those of you who don't think you can meditate can find some simple practices to allow you to experience the quiet below the mind. By accessing some simple breathing techniques, using guided meditation recordings, spending time in nature, and learning to be attentive to sensing and feeling you may spend more time in calm awareness and less time thinking.

We would be glad to assist you in developing a self-care plan designed for you to help you thrive even during this time. Best wishes and be well.

The Staff at TCC

Mindfulness Magic

The skill of mindfulness is not complicated and is in fact a capacity all of us have, but it must be recognized and practiced. The simplest definition of mindfulness is that it is the ability to observe our own thinking and experience. The busy mind is prone to thinking all the time, but we have the internal ability to step back from thinking and observe it at work. So, if my thinking mind has taken off again with its habit of following a “What if” thought, like what if my boss is thinking I didn’t do the job, or what if I don’t have enough money this month, there is part of us that can step back and see “there is that worry again.”

The more time we spend practicing observing the less time we spend captured or fused with our thoughts. This is called dis-identification. When we can dis-identify with thoughts we may be able to see the thought for what it is. We may be able to discern truth instead of just buying into what thinking has to say. So, from the observer standpoint I could see that the worry about money is coming up again and I could also observe that there was enough money last month, or the boss gave me a positive evaluation a couple weeks ago.

Sometimes it takes some practice to disengage from thinking and assume the position of the observer. A simple mindfulness practice is to close the eyes, bring your attention inside, and focus your attention on the movement of breath in the body. You can notice the rise and fall of the chest, the expansion and contraction of the ribcage, the rise and fall of the belly. As you attend to the breath, you can count the breaths saying to yourself, “10, breath in, 10, breath out, continue counting down for 10 breaths. Notice the stillness in the mind, the relaxation in the body, and notice yourself as the observer who is aware of this experience.

The magic that is produced with mindfulness expands the more we do it and includes no longerbeing a victim of every thought we have, reducing fear, enjoying periods of stillness and quiet, and developing a new standpoint of wisdom and discernment. As you stand in the observer standpoint you are also increasing positive biochemistry in the nervous system and decreasing harmful biochemistry. This can affect your health, your sleep, and your experience of joy and pleasure in positive ways.

Four Tips to Improve Your Intimate Relationship

February 2020 In the film ‘Eat, Pray, Love,’ the main character tells a story about her friend Deborah: “Deborah, a psychologist, was asked by the city of Philadelphia if she could offer psychological counseling to a group of Cambodian refugees, ‘boat people’ who had recently arrived in the city. Deborah was daunted by the task. These Cambodians had suffered genocide, starvation, witnessed relatives murdered before their eyes, spent years in refugee camps, and endured heroic boat trips to the west. How could she relate to their suffering? How could she help these people?” The main character who plays Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of the book ‘Eat, Pray, Love,’ went on to say that the Cambodian people wanted to talk with her friend Deborah, the psychologist, not about the trauma and suffering they had experienced as result of fleeing their country, but about their love relationships. They wanted to talk about the love they had found, the love they had lost, and the love they were missing and wanted back…all about a special guy or girl whom they couldn’t stop thinking about. Elizabeth Gilbert found herself thousands of miles away from home going to talk to a medicine man about the very same issue: her love life.

Why is it that so many people are consumed with their love relationship? These relationships touch a very deep place within us. The concerns seem to fall into three categories:

-People who have had their heart broken by someone they love and just can’t seem to recover.

-People who are in a relationship currently and are concerned that the relationship is not working.

-People who are looking to find the right person with whom to spend their lives.

In this blog posting I would like to focus on some tips for those who are in a current relationship and feel that it is not working. In future blog postings, I would like to address more tips for current relationships, as well as tips for those who are trying to get over a past relationship, and tips for those who are looking for the right person to be with.

So, here goes:

Tips for Improving Your Current Love Relationship

1. Be willing to listen. Try to hear what your partner is telling you when he/she speaks. Pause. Don’t think about what you are going to say next, just listen. Let your partner know what you think they are saying. Let them tell you if you heard it accurately or if there is something they need to clarify. Stay calm.

2. Provide safety for your partner. Remember that you are both on the same side ultimately. Your partner is not your enemy. Your partner is your friend. How can you speak to your partner in a way that allows them to feel respected and not attacked? When either of you escalate, the discussion is over for the moment and needs to resume later after a cooling off period.

3. Laugh together. Remember when you met your partner and you had countless moments together talking and making each other laugh? Where did that go? Bring the humor back into the relationship. You may have to work hard to find it again, but you will.

4. Devote time to the relationship. You two need time together and without your children or your friends. It may be very difficult if you have children, but it is essential that you make it happen on a regular basis. Get off the sofa or away from the computer. Turn off the cell phone. Think of a creative way to spend time together. Surprise your partner and ask him/her to surprise you. Make it a priority. And make a rule that you won’t talk about your problems on the date.

written by Linda Beam, LCSW-C

January: New Goals, New Ways to Guarantee Success

January: New Goals, New Ways to Guarantee Success January 2020 It’s January! Time to set all the new goals that you’re going to commit to for the next year month! Let’s face it…we set goals in January that we plan to stick to for the year, but by February we’ve either “failed” or forgotten about almost all of them. Why is there such a high rate of “failure” when it comes to New Year’s Resolutions? I have a theory it’s because of these two things:

1 – We’re not honest with ourselves. Maybe we’re not being honest about what we really want to change vs what we feel like we’re supposed to change. Do you really, truly, genuinely want to add exercise to your life, or do you just know you’re “supposed” to? Or maybe we’re not honest with ourselves about what goals are realistic. Have you ever set a goal to add exercise, meditation, healthy food prep, and volunteering into your already-packed schedule, and then wonder why you’re not able to fit everything in?

2 – We spiral into shame at the first “failure.” If we set a goal to go to the gym every Monday, and then we miss the second Monday in January, most of us tend to spiral into negative self-talk and shame (“I knew this wouldn’t last…I can never do this…I’m such a failure…”). Try to think of your goals as an aim that you’re taking, with room for mistakes and blunders. No big deal if you missed a Monday, just try again! All of this is easier said than done, so take your goals with you to your next therapy appointment, and get the support you need to make them work this year (or at least be more gentle and kind to yourself if they don’t!).

Why yoga helps?

When the brain and nervous system are well rested, at ease, and in good balance we can take them for granted.  When the brain and nervous system are not working in good balance, nothing works well.

The impact of yoga on the brain and nervous system is quite profound.  There is considerable research on this topic, but there is some immediate evidence in how different a person feels between the start of yoga session and the end of yoga session.

The elements of yoga that have immediate positive benefit to how we feel are:  focused attention, leaving behind thinking, breathing and metabolic change, and attention to motor movements and body sensations.  Here’s how these help:

Focused attention:  When we have attention focused on one thing the brain shifts into a state of awareness, stillness and integration that is different from a more global state of attention where our brain may be drawing us in several different directions.  This one pointed attention is soothing and restorative to the brain.

Letting go of thinking:  In a usual day our brain drags us around most of the time.  We hear a constant inner dialogue:  hurry up you’re going to be late, don’t forget your car keys, wonder how George is doing, is there enough money in the bank?  All of that can happen in a couple minutes!  When the body is moving in yoga postures and our focus is there, thinking can fall away for awhile.  It is a great relief to the brain and nervous system to have that pause, find a still point, experience just Being rather than thinking.

Breathing and metabolic change:  We can lose track of how fast we are going in the busy activity of our days.  In yoga practice the pace of the breath slows as we bring attention to breath.  The deepening and slowing of the breath releases certain biochemistry in the nervous system that is restorative and brings a sense of peace. 

Attention to motor movements and body sensation:  Over 80% of the signals to the brain are signals about body movement.  Think how many neural messages are required to tell the brain to raise your right hand over your head and reach for the ceiling.  This is going on all day.  When our focus is external our attention to the body and it’s sensation falls away. It is actually very soothing and offers a sense of safety when we focus just on movement and sensation.  Think how good it feels to have a big yawn and stretch.   Imagine how great it feels to sense the cool sheets and warmth of the blankets as you snuggle into bed.  Spending an hour or so focused on movement and sensation during yoga practice is a renewal for the brain as it gets to give its full attention to this.

Gayle Bohlman

Art Therapy and Creative Healing

There is much more to art therapy than simply “drawing your feelings.” Making art in therapy can be a way to achieve personal insight as well as healing. Art therapists are professionally trained to guide people through the creative process in a therapeutic way. According to the American Art Therapy Association, Art therapists elicit their clients’ inherent capacity for art making to enhance their physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

You do not need to be trained or experienced in art to participate in art therapy. Art therapists’ have specialized training in assessing which materials to suggest based on the issues you are facing, or any difficulties that may arise in the creative process. Art therapy can include a wide range of art materials and processes such as, painting, drawing, clay-work, collage, mask making, creating a visual journal, just to name a few. Selection of art materials are often first considered based on a number of factors including but not limited to age, development, fine motor skills, and present issues for seeking therapy. Materials can range from easily controlled, such as drawing materials (colored pencils, markers) and collage images, to extremely wet and difficult to control materials such as watercolor paint, chalk pastels, and sometimes clay. The art therapist will use this continuum to tailor the selection of art materials and experientials to meet the needs of each client.

You are the expert on your own artwork and creative process. The art therapist’s role is to facilitate explorations of your work rather than to analyze or interpret it. Using a variety of approaches, the art therapist will focus on your process of creating, sometimes more so than the finished product.

Here are just a few ways you can benefit from art therapy:

            -Finding safety

            -Foster awareness

            -Empower resilience

            -Manage behavior and addictions

            -Reduce anxiety

            -Reconcile emotional conflict