To answer that question, I think it’s important to understand what happens in therapy. First, the therapeutic relationship is unique and special. The therapeutic relationship itself is where and how healing happens. For some, a therapist is the first or perhaps only secure attachment figure in their life. A secure attachment figure is someone who provides a safe physical and emotional environment for interaction. They are people clients can count on, someone they can express their innermost thoughts to, a person that holds space for feelings and processing feelings without shame, blame, or judgment.

Oftentimes going deep into the soul and the psyche requires you to let go of and lose your footing in the world as you knew it. There’s a surrendering here, an acceptance of what is rather than what you want to be. Carl Jung speaks to this when he writes, “Every transformation demands as its precondition ‘the ending of the world’ – the collapse of an old philosophy of life.”

Even the folx supporting reproductive choice sound like they’re doing so for extreme cases: “I’m supporting so and so because she has to choose between putting food on the table or having another child,” or “I’m supporting so and so because she was raped by her brother and pregnant with his child.” The supporters are trying to take the stigma out of abortion, which is great, but also, some people just want to have penis-in-vagina sex and they didn’t use protection for whatever reason. Shouldn’t those people have a choice too? Why not accept reality and account for it?

yoga nidra can help with issues like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), addiction, insomnia, anxiety, and more. That’s not conjecture, by the way. A study from 2011 found yoga nidra helped war veterans reduce rage, anxiety, and emotional reactivity while increasing feelings of relaxation, peace, self-awareness, and self-efficacy. In 2014, a study by Pamela Pence found sexual trauma survivors reported significant decreases in PTSD symptoms, negative thoughts of self-blame, and depression. They also reported an increased feeling of joy.

By doing so, these folx with penises learn more about themselves. They are able to decipher their body's cues and act upon them. They understand their bodies are not machines that obey every command. Instead, the body is a living, breathing organism with its own rhythms and wants. Reconnecting the mind and body creates attunement and harmony, which is more satisfying for everyone involved.

And yes, the symptoms may be uncomfortable and something they want to alleviate, but I invite the folx I work with to think of those symptoms as indicating there's something right with them. I know that may sound odd, bold even, but the body and the psyche are intelligent.

Whatever you're judging yourself about, it's worth it to ask if maybe the judge is mistaken and practice accepting yourself as you, right now. You don't have to do it alone, if you look around you might find there are already people in your life who love and accept you without changing a thing. Seek them out and let them shine that love upon you while you learn to do it for yourself.

The pleasure-oriented approach emphasizes all parts of the sexual encounter, including what has traditionally been called "foreplay," a word I take issue with. Historically, foreplay has been a heterosexual relationship concern. Often, men assume they have to do this/these act(s) known as foreplay (digital stim, oral stim, etc.) in order to really get to “it” (intercourse).

This sort of behavior is not about relating directly to the crush and instead about getting a dopamine hit from the fantasy. The crush becomes an object for the person to project their hopes and dreams on without doing the hard work of actually engaging.

Open communication is the cornerstone of the triadic model. As the psychologist, I meet regularly with both the client and the surrogate to ensure that the process aligns with the client’s goals and emotional well-being. These meetings also allow us to adjust the pace or focus of the work based on the client’s evolving needs.

The natural world is all about balance. We have night and day, push and pull, seeds and sprouts. Human beings are part of the natural world, not exempt from it, and we, too, must seek balance to be well. Yet, annoyingly, balance is incredibly hard to achieve.

The yoga sequence is not only a philosophical death and rebirth, it’s an embodied one. Each practitioner moves through the death and rebirth cycle physically.

The Spiral Dance invokes nature by acknowledging the presence of our environment as a living being that we interact with. In that way, the Spiral Dance is spiritual, but also it mirrors healing taking place among community because people are joined together, holding hands, and supporting one another in the process.

Healing is also not swift, despite the numerous people in the world trying to tell you otherwise with their quick-fix products and programs. Awareness of an issue is one thing – something afforded by the use of psychedelics, for instance – but integration is another.

It may seem counterintuitive because romantic relationships are about intimacy and closeness, but what they really need to thrive and flourish is space. Happy, romantic relationships need space or one or both partners can feel suffocated, controlled, and dominated. Belgian psychotherapist Esther Perel discusses this topic extensively both in Ted Talks and her book Mating in Captivity.

There’s so much attention on men with multiple partners, but what about the reverse? What about a woman in a consensual relationship with multiple men?

In this instance, I’m referring to an altar. An altar can be as simple or complex as you’d like. It acts as a focal point for prayer, worship, ritual, and healing. It can be a specific place, or various places, in your home, or it can be something you make outside, with elements from the earth, which can be a component of ecopsychology.

Belonging contributes to self-worth, self-esteem, and a sense of who you are, even. And it starts young – not at school in terms of who you sit with at lunch, but before that, with your family. Yes, they may provide shelter and food but that’s simply not enough to engender a feeling of belonging.

"Practically everybody reports peak exper­iences if approached and questioned and encouraged in the right way,”

Ketamine is lumped into the same category as psychedelics but it works differently than classical psychedelics like psilocybin or LSD. Ketamine relaxes chandelier cells in the brain, which control pyramidal cells. The pyramidal cells are the “thinking” cells and pass on messages to other neurons. By relaxing that grip, ketamine can produce a dissociative effect; a person can feel “floaty” or like they’re in a different reality