Wood: Channel Your Frustrations and Expand

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Wood: Channel Your Frustrations and Expand

This week we explore the element of wood, which is associated with the liver and gall bladder and also corresponds to the energy of springtime. Like the tree, wood energy is both rooted in the earth and reaches upward and outward in expansion. This pandemic presents a few challenges for wood, as when liver energy is activated within us at this time of year, the impulse is to move up and out, to burst forth with renewed robustness. As the emotion related to the liver is anger, it is no surprise that many people are experiencing anger, frustration and other related emotions as a result (aggression, irritability, etc.) But the wood element has much to teach us about how to weather this situation we are in…

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Water: Riding the Waves and Finding the Flow

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Water: Riding the Waves and Finding the Flow

This week we are exploring the element of water and how its properties can be particularly beneficial at this time. Water has always had a calming effect on me personally. When I was a teen, I lived near the ocean, and at that time in my life I remember how looking out at the sea always had an immediate calming effect on my restless soul. Now I live within walking distance of a river, and it still amazes me how the sight of it can lift my mood and make me feel instantly refreshed…

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Metal and the Lungs: The Breath as the Instrument of a Calmer, Clearer Mind

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Metal and the Lungs: The Breath as the Instrument of a Calmer, Clearer Mind

As COVID-19 has swept the globe, it has brought many of us back to the awareness of our cherished breath. The feeling of being able to fill one’s lungs with air from top to bottom and then have a satisfying release is not to be taken for granted. In the West many of us tend to habitually breathe rather shallowly as we rush from place to place and as we sit hunched over our computers. While the adoption of yoga and meditation by the mainstream have made us more aware of the importance of breath for health and mental clarity, there are so many benefits as well as layers of meaning that seem quite apt at this time when the pandemic has impacted all of us…

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Stress Awareness Day: Finding New Ways to De-stress

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Stress Awareness Day: Finding New Ways to De-stress

As April is Stress Awareness Month, I wanted to address this topic, especially as what is stressing us out this year has a different flavor than usual. National Stress Awareness Day was originally set for the day after Tax Day, so we could reflect on how much we had let the matter of filing and paying taxes stress us out, but this year that doesn’t exactly apply because that particular stressor has been delayed. There are any number of things you might be stressed about this April…

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Staying Grounded During a Pandemic

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Staying Grounded During a Pandemic

The novel coronavirus (COVID19) has taken the term “viral” to a new level. In viral fashion, it has spread quickly throughout the media, bringing with it waves of anxiety and panic. At these times we need the media in order to stay informed of the latest measures that are being taken such as school closings and containment zones. But it can be difficult to keep perspective when there is so much news unfolding in real time and various opinions about how to respond to the outbreak…

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What is Psychotherapy Anyway?

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What is Psychotherapy Anyway?

Funny you should ask.  If you have never embarked upon a therapeutic journey, you might have some questions and/or reservations.  For years there has been a stigma around psychotherapy based on misunderstandings, the primary misunderstanding being that psychotherapy is for “crazy” people.

We think that the rest of us high functioning adults don’t need such a thing because then we might be admitting that we are “crazy” – to ourselves or to others. Ironically…

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