The Yogi Therapist

  Welcome and welcome back! Life can feel kind of swirly sometimes. With everything going on in the world, on the news, and in our own lives, I think it's about time to have a conversation about what to do when everything just feels hard. So tuck in, get comfortable, and let's figure this out. The Concept To be totally honest with you, the phrase 'get your mind right' kind of irritates me. I hate when I'm upset and feeling emotional and someone says, 'you need to get your mind right'. I mean...They're right, but that's kind of like telling an upset person to 'calm down'. It's accurate, but obviously I'm not the most receptive at that moment. Yes, I know, I need to take more responsibility to make myself available and receptive to helpful bits of wisdom. Sometimes it's hard. So let's talk about when it's hard. Distorted is a word that means that the way you're seeing something isn't true to how it actually is. There...

Hey, everyone! I know it's been awhile, but I'm excited to be back! I've spent the last year researching mindfulness, meditation, psychology (brains, behaviors, thoughts, emotions - the whole shabang), adult romantic relationships, and a bunch of other stuff! Believe it or not, I actually wrote a book about mindfulness. It's called Mindfulness and Me: A Practical Guide for Living. It's in publication now, but no release date yet - stay tuned for details! I know when people hear mindfulness there's usually one of two mental images - soccer moms doing yoga or Buddhist monks in orange robes sitting silently for hours. Speaking as a yoga/meditation teacher, mental health therapist, and psychologist, believe me when I tell you that mindfulness isn't just a fad. Let's take a closer look at why mindfulness is becoming so popular.  The Concept     Mindfulness is actually one translation of an ancient Indian word that is also sometimes translated as 'being in...

    Welcome and welcome back! I'm so glad you've taken time to explore one of my all time favorite topics! In my opinion (and this is a blog, so that's okay), this is probably the most important topic. The key to stress management. The key to healthier relationships. The key to experiencing inner peace. Apparently lots of doors have the same lock. For real though, stick with me here and I hope you'll see how revolutionary this topic is. The Concept     Let's just start by defining the word. Simply stated, a boundary is a point of separation. It separates one thing from another. Imagine the boundary that separates North from South Korea. Heavily armed armed and guarded - no one comes in and no one goes out. No communication. No relationship. Now imagine the line between Maryland and Pennsylvania. If your GPS didn't say, "Welcome to Pennsylvania", would you even know you crossed over? There are different laws in the areas, and when you move from one to t...

     Welcome and welcome back! It’s the remix to ignition! Nah, I’m just kidding – but that’s a good song though. Anyway, this is kind of like Stress Part II: Armed and Fabulous. Okay, enough with the obscure pop culture references. This is a follow up to the discussion we had about stress – stress management. The Concept                 If you haven’t had a chance to read through the stress 101 post, I recommend that you do that to help get a basic understanding of what stress is before diving into managing it. Alright, that’s done. Welcome back. Okay, stress management is a set of activities to decrease the negative (bad or undesired) effects of stress on your body, your relationships, and your quality of life.   Stress management is specifically focused on chronic stressors, those situations that are pretty constant for awhile. It’s about helping your body to continue functioning at its...

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...

    Welcome new folks, and welcome back returning folks. I wanted to dedicate some time and energy to talking specifically about emotions. You may have noticed in my post about mental health that I did not really include emotions as a symptom for any particular disorder. That was intentional. As humans, we experience a full range of emotions. That is healthy. That is normal - albeit uncomfortable. So let's talk about emotions. The Concept:     Let's just start with the obvious. Emotions are hard. They're confusing. They're overwhelming. And a lot of times they're uncomfortable. But what are emotions? This may sound strange, but an emotion is a label for a state of mental and physical being. First, let's separate emotions from feelings using the example of sadness. So let's say you're feeling sad. How do you know  you're feeling sad? What is it that made you draw that conclusion? Maybe your body and/or your heart feels heavy, maybe you're tired or...

    Welcome back! I've decided it would be best to start with the most basic question: what is mental health? As a mental health therapist, when I ask people what they want to work on or why they've come to therapy, I get answers like "because of my depression" or "my PTSD" or "my anxiety". Don't get me wrong, those are all valid answers, but to me it shows a need for more education about mental health. So let's get started. It's easiest to think of mental health as a parallel to physical health. You have a physical body, and let's say for the sake of argument that you have an emotional body (kind of a yogic idea, but stay with me here). In both cases, when you notice a problem then you go to the doctor. When the doctor asks you what's wrong, what do you tell them? a gall bladder infection or that you have pain in your side? Strep throat or that you have a fever and a sore throat and maybe even white polyps? You may tell the doc...