Our minds have a natural tendency to meander, jumping from one thought to another, often leaving us feeling scatterbrained and unable to sustain our focus for more than a fleeting moment. However, it's important to realize that this wandering mind is not a sign of doom or an inherent flaw. In fact, it's a common experience for many of us. Rather than viewing this tendency with harsh judgment or frustration, it's more helpful to approach it with compassion and understanding. Our minds wander, especially when they are burdened by fear, anxiety, or excessive thoughts. This is where meditation comes in as a valuable practice. Through meditation, we can train our minds to rein in their wandering tendencies and cultivate the ability to focus on one thing at a time. It's a gentle and transformative process that empowers us to harness the potential of our minds, ultimately leading to greater clarity and peace.
Read MoreJoin the Global Yoga Therapy Day Celebration: Whether you are new to yoga therapy or a seasoned practitioner, Global Yoga Therapy Day provides a wonderful opportunity to explore this transformative modality and its countless benefits. Seek out local events, workshops, and online resources to deepen your understanding of yoga therapy and somatic psychology.
Read MoreBrother Thay, as he was known, asked us to use all our senses when eating the tangerine, to let each bite hit the tongue and to notice the juice washing over it – the acidity, the sweetness, the tinge of sourness. He said, “Each time you look at a tangerine, you can see deeply into it. You can see everything in the universe in one tangerine. When you peel it and smell it, it’s wonderful. You can take your time eating a tangerine and be very happy.” There is true and pure happiness in each and every tangerine if you just be with it.
Read MoreSeeking out the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco for my doctoral degree was important and has tremendously helped shape my practice today. Started by Haridas Chaudhuri, student of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, this institute offered a lens into ways to address and help the whole person, not merely the mental aspect of the lived experience. Studying in India deepened my understanding of how art, music, body movement, and states of consciousness are as much an integral part of the practice of psychology as much as are the id, ego, superego, transference and countertransference. It was easy to see the archetypes personified before my eyes as I saw 50 foot statutes of Ganesha and Saturn.
Read MoreBecause bodies don’t come with instruction manuals, how the heck are you supposed to know what yours wants?!? Simple: You ask. It may seem like a foreign concept to talk to your body, but the body is ready and waiting for you to talk with it, to consult it. After all, it is an integral part of you. And, it is already communicating with you, even if you aren’t sure how to interpret its messages. Listening to the body, from the inside, and learning what it needs and wants is a skill that takes practice.
Read MoreHowever the body wants to respond, I encourage you to listen. The body has its own wisdom so let whatever wants to occur, occur.
Read MoreSometimes bodies speak quietly, like through a whisper. And sometimes we miss that whisper and then our bodies speak more loudly, such as through a cold or an illness even. When we dis-associate from the body, the body’s inner wisdom has a way of bringing us back. Sometimes we know our bodies are speaking to us, but we don’t understand the message! It may be hard to decipher the messages from the body as they are encoded in such ways that require some quieting, slowing, or curiosity.
Read MoreHistorically, psychology as a field has heavily focused on the brain–and arguably, the mind as localized above the neckline–as being the way out in terms of psychological freedom. In the past, the field of psychology has overlooked the body and the role of spirituality.
Read More