ONLINE IN MASSACHUSETTS & WASHINGTON
Mindfulness in Therapy
For stress reduction, everyday mindfulness, embodiment, self-compassion and liberation
Tired of feeling overwhelmed, out of control, and exhausted?
While there are many stresses and hardships in life that are unavoidable, many are created and/or made much worse by our excessive worrying, overthinking, self-criticism and self-judgement, ruminating, and obsessively comparing ourselves to others. Anxiety, chronic stress, depression, and other psychological and physical problems are often directly related to our discomfort with uncertainty, need for control, and deep negative beliefs about our self-worth and value. You likely recognize many of this in yourself, and you may even sometimes feel like your mind has been hijacked by unwanted thoughts and feelings. You have probably tried countless times to stop some of these habits and preoccupations, but eventually have fallen back into these old impulses and ways of thinking, leading to even more frustration and self-blame.
Cultivating mindfulness and self-compassion can help.
Mindfulness encourages a dispassionate knowing of our thoughts, beliefs, feelings, memories, and physical sensations as they come and go in the mind and body. By not being distracted and swayed by the mind's usual inclinations, we can be made aware of how unnecessary, outdated, and untrue some of these responses are, feel less controlled by them, and then choose to act differently.
Practicing mindfulness is similar to learning anything new, like exercise, it builds a muscle, a mental muscle of nonjudgmental self-observation. Meditation is about seeing through all the ways we believe we "should" and must be, and all the pressures we think we need to carry, in order to provide the space and opportunity to become a truer version of one’s own unique self. We cannot control much of what happens to us, but we can learn to relate to it in a way that doesn't bring more stress, anxiety, and unhappiness into our lives.
How it Works
There are countless ways to bring mindfulness into therapy and into your life. In fact, each and every moment is a new and fresh opportunity to practice. At its core, mindfulness is simply bringing awareness to the present moment, which can take many different shapes, such as:
-
Connecting with your senses - smelling your coffee, feeling the wind, watching the clouds, savoring a bite of food, listening to sounds
-
Catching yourself in a familiar thought spiral or loop
-
Slowing down and taking a pause in your day
-
Taking a few intentionally deeper and slower breaths
-
Recognizing that you have been on autopilot
There are also many more formal ways to practice being mindful, such as through guided meditations, body scans and sensation exercises, self-compassion and self-acceptance practices, and through visualizations and imagery.
Practicing mindfulness is both very simple and very hard. We live in an increasingly overstimulating and rapid-paced society, where it is more and more difficult to be mindful, and relatedly, much easier to get caught up in stressors and unhealthy habits. We will collaboratively discuss and explore how best to practice and integrate mindfulness into your sessions and day to day life. Regardless of what we decide, my commitment to you is to create and grow a therapy space that feels open, nonjudgemental, and safe - one that is mindful - a space where you may begin to see past and through your regular and more familiar thought patterns and ways of being, and learn to listen to and see yourself in a new, fresh, and ultimately more authentic way.