“Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.”—L. Frank Baum When you work on your computer, do you find yourself hunching forward, squinting as you concentrate, your breathing constricted as you focus on the task at hand? Do you later find your shoulders and...
Why breathe? It turns out we just can’t help ourselves, but we can help the self that breathes. Breathing is an essential physiological activity, controlled by both the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and conscious effort, though the ANS can override us if we try to...
Did you know that over 80% of physical illness may be stress related? We often ignore difficult or conflicted emotions during our day but the body is the repository for these feelings. We also hold stress in the summer heat and need ways of dispersing it. The natural...
Step down into your body’s own root cellar, the dark, hidden place where your unfinished stories are kept (Brandeis). Breathe in the rich earth smell as you travel deep underground, beneath the busyness of everyday thought. On the way down, perhaps you note a...
Last week I was asked to speak about counselling to a group of professional contractors—electricians, plumbers, carpenter, builders, and other tradesmen. Waiting for my turn to speak, I was sitting next to an electrician telling me about his work. He said to me that...
One of the key moments in Dr. Susan Biali’s early medical career was when a caring person told her, at an extremely stressful point in her life, “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to” (2012, p. 6). Permission to be who you really are is the first of seven...