Mindful Transitions

From Jon Kabat Zinn I quote "Where ever you go there you are." The true essence of this very moment can be only felt, sensed or experienced rather than evaluated, judged or used. From this space, peace can be found despite your circumstances or situations. Therefore, it is quite possible to find yourself right here....

The concept of differentiation in everyday terminology would be defined by a person's ability to stand on their own two feet, especially when with the people that they are closest too. The word represents an ability to balance the needs and desires we all have as individuals with the needs and desires we have to be close to others. Our freewill and independence often comes into direct conflict with our desire to be attached to another. If we are too independent or focused on our own desires, wants and needs, we can come off as tyrants, over controlling, insensitive and self centered. If we never stand up for what we want or believe in and we most often give into the desires of our friends, family and loved ones, we come off as weak, easily controlled and spineless. It's the balance that allows us the freedom to express who we are and take into account how we come off and take care of our relationships. The four point that help us become more differentiated are: #1) Having...

Radical Acceptance is the acceptance of things as they actually are... This means that we detach ourselves from any wants or desires regarding our life situation and we participate fully in the process of our lives. Radical Acceptance likens itself to taking into account our past and present situation with an attitude that there is nothing going wrong (or right). We are so much a part of the present moment in a non-judging way that we free ourselves from our conceptions, old thought patterns and "attached" emotion. This allows our experience to be fresh and new, even when we don't like how we feel. Just because we accept something, doesn't mean that we don't do anything about our situation, that is resignation. Radical acceptance is allowing everything to be as it is and trusting that our unattached awareness will guide our decisions. This is not easy, but it truly is allowing the doing to come from our true being or essence. In my counseling and therapy pr...

Contrary to movies like The Manchurian Candidate, all hypnosis is actually self-hypnosis. One can not be convinced to do things against their moral code during or after the hypnotic process. Hypnosis simply provides access to an altered state of consciousness where critical thinking is bypassed and the entire body becomes engaged in processing. Self=hypnosis can be used to help visualize success and access stress relief. Many people, once having tried it, love it!!!

EMDR is a protocol developed by Francine Shapiro in the late 1980's and early 1990's to address trauma. It is one of the most studied therapy protocols and been found to be highly effective in treating post traumatic stress disorder and elevating emotional pain attached to past life events. The protocol consists of identification of a target incident, defining the target incidents thoughts, emotions and body sensations, and processing the incident with bilateral stimulation. The therapist leads the session by guiding a client through processing with either eye movements, alternating sound that moves from one ear to another, or hand held buzzers that alternate vibrations form one hand to the other. This provides the bilateral stimulation which is thought to engage more of the nervous system, body and brain in the processing of the target incident. A successful EMDR sessions eliminates the current emotional pain or distress associated with the target. This can have profound...

Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) is a psychological method developed by Marsha M. Linehan to treat patients with borderline personality disorder. (BPD)[1] Research indicates its application to also be effective in treating patients who represent varied symptoms and behaviors associated with spectrum mood disorders, including self-injury.[2] Key elements DBT practitioners emphasize include, behaviorist theory, dialectics, cognitive therapy, and, DBT's central component, mindfulness. There are two essential parts of the treatment, and without either of these parts the therapy is not considered "DBT adherent." An individual component in which the therapist and client discuss issues that come up during the week, recorded on diary cards and follow a treatment target hierarchy. Self-injurious and suicidal behaviors take first priority, followed by therapy interfering behaviors. Then there are quality of life issues and finally working towards improving one's life genera...

Jon Kabat Zinn defines mindfulness as paying attention on purpose to the present moment as if your life depended on it. He goes on to say that mindfulness is what comes out of paying attention on purpose to the present moment as if your life depended on it. Which is nothing but awareness. Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction or MBSR is an instructional clinic on meditation that teaches individuals the principles of meditation along with the requirement of 45 minutes to an hour or more of personal practice per day. The clinic has shown to be highly successful in reducing stress and many other medical symptoms (psoriasis) through the skilled instruction of mindfulness. Mindful Transitions currently does not offer MBSR but does use many of the principles, ideas and structure to explain and introduce the concepts of mindfulness in order to reduce depression, anxiety or other mental or psychological conditions through access of awareness and the present moment.