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Anxiety affects 264 million people worldwide!
My goal as a psychotherapist is to help as many people as I can overcome anxiety and worry and take back their life! In order to help, I am constantly studying anxiety, what it is, how it affects people, and importantly, what to do about it!
Read Moref you have anxiety or stress, progressive muscle relaxation can help calm your mind and your body, and help you feel better emotionally and physically.
Anxiety and stress not only cause emotional upset and discomfort, but they create tension in the body such as headaches, stiffness in the neck, or tightness in the chest and abdomen. Body tension is a result of the fight or flight response being activated, and it lingers in the body long after anxiety or stress are gone. To make matters worse, we tend to cycle in and out of periods of anxiety and stress, which keeps our nervous system in a chronic heightened state, and then the cumulative effects take a toll on our body.
A big problem is that anxiety, stress, and body tension is our default state and we don’t even recognize it.
Why does Progressive Muscle Relaxation work to decrease anxiety and panic?
Read MoreWhile commitment and perseverance are required, willingness to accept anxiety and anxious feelings are necessary in order to truly recover. David Gandelman of GroundedMind.com offers the following 4 step approach to coping with and releasing anxiety:
Read MoreIt is helpful to look at mindfulness in two ways. First, mindfulness is a way of being that includes a quality of mind and an innate capacity that we all have. Our brain has the capability for awareness, attention, focus, and control, and we naturally flow in and out of these states regularly whenever we are conscious. So rest assured, mindfulness is not something that is available to an enlightened few, you already possess it.
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Looking for practical ways to improve the quality of your life? This simple exercise is a way to help you do just that.
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Recognizing that lasting change takes time can ease your mind when you’re worried that you are never going to get there. It takes time for problems to develop, and unfortunately, it takes time for solutions to work. For instance, you it may be that you have experienced anxiety and depression for quite some time. With prolonged patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, your brain and body become wired to recognize this as its norm. The good news is that through self-directed neuroplasticity (a fancy term for changing the neural networks or patterns your brain knows), you can accomplish positive and lasting changes!
So while you may feel as though you are slogging your way through, and that change is coming slowly, here are a few tips to help ward off discouragement and frustration.
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Have you ever had days where life seems to be spinning out of control? One thing after another keeps happening--you can’t find your keys and you’re late for an important meeting, you have another argument with your spouse, and while you thought your checking account was ok until pay day, your account has over drafted. These are the shower day, and on days like these, it’s easy to become irritable and stressed.
Sometimes, rather than having just a bad day, you find yourself smack in the middle of a storm. During storms, life’s stressors are more severe such as—a recent loss—a job, a partner, a loved one, financial troubles, or health concerns. When this happens, it’s easy to become anxious, depressed, or both!
While you can’t always control the weather, by skillfully managing your inner world, you can dramatically influence how you feel in a positive way.
Inner world? What’s that?
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Heart center meditation is a gentle way to approach your true-self and gain access to your hidden inner wisdom. Because of how are minds work, we tend spend the majority of our lives lost in . . .
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Inner peace is something we all want and sometimes desperately crave. However, most of us think that finding inner peace is difficult, and that it is by sheer luck that we experience it once in a while. We tend to think that true inner peace is reserved for ...
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Having anxiety is no fun and, for some, can be seriously debilitating. Traditional treatments for anxiety include talk therapy and sometimes medication, while holistic approaches incorporate exercise, massage therapy, and meditation.
On the rise in the treatment of anxiety, as well as other mental health conditions, is sound therapy. Sound has
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In this expanded version of the three-minute breathing space meditation, we begin by observing inner experiences of thoughts, feelings, and body sensations as they are happening. The middle phase of the meditation is spent connecting to and focusing on the breath. The final phase of the meditation is expanding awareness to observe all sensations and the body as a whole.
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As we celebrate the holiday season, and as another year comes to a close, I often take time to reflect on what is meaningful to my life and what values are important to me. One way I like to do this is through reading and contemplating beautiful works of poetry.
I was introduced to Desiderata many years ago ...
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The holidays are fun, but man can they be stressful!
On top of your already busy life, the holidays can create chaos with your schedule! There is shopping to do, parties to attend, gifts to wrap, and bills to pay.
Honoring traditions and spending time with family and friends, for some, is a beautiful thing, but for others, it can trigger painful memories of the past leading to anger, sadness, or anxiety. The holidays can also be difficult for those who have lost a loved one and are grieving, or for those who are reminded of loved ones who passed long ago, but who are still dearly missed.
And what about all of the yummy, tempting food! When we’re stressed, it’s easy to turn to food for comfort! It can be difficult to maintain balance and control where over-indulgence can lead to adding a few pounds of weight and a ton of guilt!
Here are three quick ways that you can make your holiday season happier and healthier:
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Meditation, a Love Story and an APP!
Read MoreAs I continue to watch the news and witness the destruction of the island, and the despair of the people of Puerto Rico, my heart grows heavier with each story of suffering. Tuning in to my thoughts and feelings as I am apt to do,
Read Moreot one minute to spare? Try this simple and relaxing one-minute breathing meditation. It might be the easiest thing you do for you all day!
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My love affair with Mindfulness is in full bloom, and when a client recently shared this Ted Talk given by Shauna Shapiro, I couldn’t wait to share it with you!
Key takeaways from this talk include:
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The RAIN of Self-Compassion is a simple but profound mindfulness practice can be used as a stand-alone mindful meditation, or as a tool to cope with painful thoughts, feelings, or body sensations.
RAIN is one of the essential mindfulness tools that
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I am a lover of self-compassion. Seriously, I could talk your ear off for hours. When I first discovered self-compassion in graduate school, I wondered, where has this been all of my life? It seems to me that we are most familiar with is self-criticism, self-judgement, and low self-esteem.
I have discovered, however, in my work and in my life, that
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The 3-minute breathing space meditation is a quick and portable mini-meditation designed to help you connect with the present moment.
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