Tag Archives: anxiety

Vipassana: Insight Meditation

It’s been over a week since I returned from my vipassana meditation retreat. I haven’t fully processed the experience, but I figure it’s time to put some of it down in writing. Vipassana is a ten day, silent retreat. Students are trained in the style of meditation that the Buddha taught. This practice is all […]

Gratitude for Mindfulness

I love Thich Nhat Hanh’s perspective that mindfulness is an art of living. As a therapist, mindfulness has been a concept that I saw text book value in. As a human, dealing with very human problems, mindfulness has become a practice that helps me manage my life with more grace and steadiness than I was […]

Care vs. Overcare

Relationships are an interesting balancing act. Between any two people, there’s a dynamic exchange at play. We give, we receive, we interpret meaning, we push each other (hopefully into growth), and ultimately we learn more about ourselves in the process. The best relationships I’ve been in are those with a mutual level of care and […]

The Power of Reframe

Reframing is a technique taken from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy that helps people learn to challenge their negative beliefs and meet them with a more positive outlook. People struggling with depression, PTSD, anxiety, or tenuous family dynamics can often have the tendency to experience life colored by negative perceptions. Reframing helps teach the brain to entertain […]

Managing Your Teen’s Emotional Reactivity

One of the most common dynamics I encounter with families is this: when the teen starts to spiral into emotional reactivity, the parents go down with the ship! It often feels like parents don’t have a choice–it’s too difficult to watch their child in distress and the pressure is on to either put out the […]