Posts Tagged ‘meditation’

Sit or lie down in a comfortable position. Close your eyes, quiet your thoughts. Sometimes when you’re just beginning mindfulness practice, your mind isn’t used to being quiet. Your mind has lots of thoughts rushing in.  Just imagine them as waves moving about. Be gentle with yourself. It takes time to habituate  your mind to calmness, just as it takes time to build a muscle at the gym.

Imagine being in a peaceful place.  It could be a place you know or one from your wonderful imagination. Be aware of the sounds around you. Sounds can be distracting when we try to block them out, so acknowledge the sounds and be at peace with them. Visualize any cares or worries gently drifting away.

Read the rest of this entry »

Goodness, if mindfulness was a drug, there would be ads everywhere about its effectiveness!

And it’s free and available to us at all times.

Mindfulness is the heightened awareness of inner and outer experiences through focused attention in the present moment. Mindfulness and positive intention can be purposefully cultivated and used for healing. Current research confirms this ancient belief.

Read the rest of this entry »

Read the rest of this entry »

A definition and overview of DBT’s Distress Tolerance can be found here.

Radical Acceptance is a large concept. And a large skill to practice.

Read the rest of this entry »

Perinatal Therapist Spotlight: Robin Muskal, Ph.D.

Dr. Robin Muskal

Please welcome my colleague from Morristown, New Jersey, Robin Muskal, Ph.D., with a doctorate in Clinical Psychology and has trained as a  psychotherapist, body worker and energy practitioner for 20 years  to BirthTouch^®  as a guest expert today!  Robin works with the perinatal and postpartum population as an adjunct wellness practitioner. She is an advocate for whole person care and helps patients build a strong network of community supports. Utilizing a meaningful set of interventions and techniques, such as meditation, yoga, mindfulness and cognitive behavioral strategies Robin, will assist with transitions, balance of mood and empowerment towards self-integrity and healing. Robin is a Board Certified wellness coach, and a teacher of Iyengar yoga. She has a private practice in Morristown and Florham Park, NJ. 

Read the rest of this entry »

Evidence-based mindfulness practices help alleviate depression and anxiety (Istock/Zen)

A(nother) very large research team (umm how about calling them the Oceans Eleven of JH?)  led by Madhav Goyal, MD, MPH, at Johns Hopkins University published findings from a study they did about the effects of mindfulness practices on symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mindbody practices have so many benefits, you’d have to order online from outside the US to be able to afford them- Read the research!

With so much talk about the expense of healthcare, I wanted to put out a positive message about inexpensive mindbody self-care practices. Self- care doesn’t have to be expensive. Self-care is an important component of postpartum depression treatment. Low cost mindbody therapies are helpful on many levels. Research strongly indicates complementary therapies improve health on multiple levels and in concrete ways and are low cost.

For four rewarding years, I ran the MindBody Program at the Cancer Center at a hospital. The program provided relief for people with the burden of chronic illness on emotional and physical levels. Research indicates persons with chronic illness, co-morbidity, aging-related illness and persons with mental illness, such as depression and anxiety, are among the most likely to use complementary therapies (Cheung, Wyman, and Halcon, 2007), so it was a good fit. Research such as that conducted by Ben-Ayre, Frankel, Klein, Scharf (2008) indicates patients expect their physicians to refer to appropriate complementary care clinics as needed. The MindBody Program was a forerunner of the integrative medicine trend.

Read the rest of this entry »