The Yogi Therapist

Welcome and welcome back. How many times a day do you hear the word "stress"? How many times do you find yourself saying that you're "stressed out" or "stressing"? We live in a stressful world! But what does that really  mean? And do we have any control over it? The answers to these questions and more next on....The Yogi Therapist. (I hope you read that in a TV show announcer's voice). The Concept    Okay. Let's just start by defining stress. Definitions matter, especially for everyday terms like stress, because it's a pretty vague term and I want to make sure we're all the on the same page. So, for our purposes, stress is the physical/mental/emotional experience of challenge. A stressor is something that causes that experience in us. For example, imagine you're a caveman hunter. You see a lion. You run super fast to escape said lion. In this example, lion = stressor, and running = behavior or action. The "stress reaction"...

    Welcome, come in, take your coat off and stay awhile. I'm kidding, I know this is a blog. But welcome new folks and returning folks. Thank you for choosing to spend some time and energy with me. I want to dedicate this post to a model of therapy called Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). DBT was designed to be used with people who are experiencing symptoms of borderline personality disorder, and especially those people who engage in non-suicidal self-harm (such as cutting). Over time, research has supported it as an effective intervention not only for borderline personality disorder, but also for PTSD, substance use disorders, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and others. It's okay if you aren't familiar with these diagnoses. Suffice it to say, DBT is effective for people who feel overwhelmed by their emotions and do destructive stuff because of that. The Concept:     Let me just start by saying, DBT holds a very special place in my heart. The more I learn ab...