Author Archive

Have a peaceful holiday season, with a side of realism!

Trauma survivors are made particularly anxious by the hoopla around the holidays.

Positive Energy Bubble – Smile to yourself and imagine a beautiful Positive Energy Bubble by closing your eyes, and taking a few deep slow breaths. Visualize or feel a beautiful colorful bubble all around you, like large soap bubble blown from a large wand. Imagine this is energetically protective bubble. Imagine its feel and its swirling motion as it envelops you. Let this soft bubble protect your entire body.  Enjoy this feeling of protection. Feel safe within this positive space. Smile. Feel good. Read more about the Positive Energy Bubble here.

How effective are everyday stress management techniques in helping keep a person healthy? How strongly do everyday happy events affect you?

Let’s take  look at one of my favorite studies!

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This heart centered technique is based on Autogenic Relaxation. I’ve created a riff on the original autogenic sequence to be a simple, heart-centered and body-based relaxation technique. Autogenic is too technical sounding for me.

When Ted’s daughter Vivian FaceTimed him from college, she seemed a bit down. He suspected it was because of Anthony, her boyfriend. He didn’t like him very much, but whenever he tried to talk to her about this, she shut him down. But Ted really thought the guy was bad news.

It was a few months before Sarah felt she trusted me enough to reveal what she felt was her deepest internalized shame.

Aromatherapy: Make Your Own Flower Essences

Think of flower essences as the Reiki of the plant world, as they work on the emotional and energetic levels of the body and mind. Flower essences are useful for people with highly sensitive nervous systems. Flower essences can also be thought of the homeopathy of the plant world. They were developed by a homeopath, Dr. Edward Bach. He believed many illnesses and ailments have emotional origins. Dr. Bach believed the health of the body depends on the health of the soul.

Herbal preparations come in different forms: fresh and dried herbs, tinctures, soups, teas, essential oils, hydrosols and flower essences. Essential oils are the most concentrated of the plant modalities, using a large amount of plants to create a small amount of concentrated plant oil. Because of the concentrated nature of essential oils, they must be used in dilution. I use them only in dilutions appropriate for sensitive people.