In another post, I discussed how some people have spent most of their lives not living in their bodies, a sense of being “unembodied.” Possibly they ignore signals of hunger or pain or pleasure.  One way to gently become “embodied” is through the practice of trauma informed yoga.  I wanted to share a short video with you – Bessell van der Kolk: Overcome Trauma With Yoga. But really, you don’t need to do yoga. You can start with simply taking a walk and noticing the way your feet touch the ground, heel toe, notice the muscles involved in taking a step, your calves. Notice how your arms move. Just little moments…

Well, soma means referring to the body. So I use “somatic” tools at times with clients. That means I pay attention to the body, to a client’s breathing, their posture, if they’re leaning in or pulling back, their eye contact, their voice if it gets more pressured or softer and more difficult to hear.  And, we might do some “experiments” with the body. If I see shoulders that are hunched up, we may try hunching them up more – going deeper into the experience of that tension. Or I may ask a client to dig his heels into the ground and feel the ground push up against his feet. Or…

ACE stands for Adverse Childhood Events and refers to a landmark study by Dr. Vincent Faletti .  Many people are familiar with the ACE study from the 10 question assessment, “Got Your ACE Score.“ People with a score of 4 or more are statistically more likely to suffer from medical problems like heart disease, COPD, diabetes, and obesity. They also have mental health struggles; are more likely to commit suicide and struggle with addictions and domestic violence.  The ACE study showed that what happens to us in childhood plays out in our adult lives… Unless we deal with it.  Not everyone with a high ACE score needs therapy, but some…

In the work I do, I often times help clients identify their “attachment style.” We do this to look at how an individual’s attachment style may be an assess or a stressor in relationships, in meeting goals, and in contributing to a sense of “stuckness.” There are 4 types of attachment styles. Often our attachment style depends on the situation we are in, the realtionship we are in. But generally, we tend to struggle with the same issues across most situations and relationships. How we respond to conflict, our ability to communicate our needs and wants, and what we expect from others can be affected by our attachment styles. Those…

Maybe you’ve heard about EMDR, or you’ve read in my website where I’ve referenced it. So, you may want to know what it is, and why I use it at times. First EMDR in an acronym for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.  First of all, Eye movement refers to “bilateral stimulation” or “dual attention stimuation (DAS)”. This means I wave a finger or pointer at you, and you follow it with your eyes from left to right (or up to down, or even diagonally.) Or, we can use an auditory source with headphones (I ask you to bring your own in these days of COVID awareness) where you hear a…

I teach “coping” skills to nearly all my clients because… let’s be real, we all probably need to have better tools to handle stressors. Those stressors can include Atlanta traffic (come on how many of you have lost it in traffic?), interactions with significant others and children (little ones or grown ones,) work issues, and so much more. The coping skills I teach may also be called mindfulness skills. I don’t teach meditation skills, but I do teach skills like: counting all the rectangles or red items in a room feeling the ground push up against your feet 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – notice 5 things you can see,…