Category: Uncategorized

Often in our culture we can often view mental health as a standalone struggle. “If I am depressed then I need therapy and medication, which will help me get back to a normal life.” I’ve been reading the Myth of Normal by Daniel and Gabor Mate. It discusses how we can often overlook the impact […]

I have been reflecting on the particular issues men experience in our culture. From my experience men can carry a particular kind of wounding which is exacerbated by the social norms encouraging men to be stoic, “manly,” yet also the demands to be sensitive, in-touch, nurturing. I find it can be beneficial to explore the […]

Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy was developed by Segal et al as a modality which captures the essence of both mindfulness and cognitive therapy fundamentals. It was initially developed as a 8-week module to be delivered in a group setting to help people struggling with depression. Its premise is to develop ability to first “let go” of […]

Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy was developed by Segal et al as a modality which captures the essence of both mindfulness and cognitive therapy fundamentals. It was initially developed as a 8-week module to be delivered in a group setting to help people struggling with depression. Its premise is to develop ability to first “let go” of […]

Lately I have become more attuned to how much effort we can spend on trying to “manage” or “solve” the “problem” of anxiety. Anxiety, no doubt is unpleasant, can deepen or become more entrenched if we try to control, and sometimes our very efforts to solve the problem can take us deeper into the problem. […]

In my work with clients recovering from significant traumatic experiences, I often refer back to a short book by Peter Levine called “Healing Trauma: A Pioneering Program for Restoring the Wisdom of Your Body.” This book carries simple exercises on how to re-attune a nervous system that has been dysregulated by trauma. The main take-away […]

One of the less discussed aspects of mindfulness training is mindfulness of feelings. Our difficulty in staying present and curious to unpleasant feelings is one of the fundamental reasons we get stuck, depressed and anxious. The nature of feelings is to change, but they only do so when we feel them and allow for the […]

I have been learning more about grief as I lost a close relative recently. Often in psychology depression is defined as grief which has become stuck. The nature of our emotions is to move and morph. Anger felt and directed skillfully can give way to connection, grief can lead to opening in the heart and […]

Traumatic experiences (where our nervous system’s ability to regulate itself gets overwhelmed) can effect us in many ways. Emotionally our ability to move in/out of feelings can be impacted, inter-personally our capacity to trust others and say “no” in boundary-situations can be undermined. Trauma can be low-level and long-lasting (such as certain forms of sustained […]

I sense that in our culture the word depression has lost its true significance in that we use it for everything from mild sadness/disappointment to severe grief. Over the course of my psychotherapy and meditative I have come to formulate depression in different ways. I think that depression is a bodily signal of stuckness, stagnation, […]