Psychotherapist's Journal | Thoughts and Tools to Inspire Wellness in Mind and Body by Karen Gorrin

Where Contemplative Practice and Modern Science Meet

I recently learned about an organization called Mind & Life Institute. Their mission speaks directly to the growing theme I notice in organizations, initiatives, and healing modalities, including my own work at Olive Tree Healing Arts: "The mission of Mind & Life Institute is to foster dialogue and research at the highest level between modern science and the great living contemplative traditions, especially Buddhism. It [Mind & Life Institute] builds on a deep commitment to the power and value of both of these ways of advancing knowledge and their potential to alleviate suffering." Wow - it doesn't get better then this!

What an honor to be living in such fascinating times! The gift of blending ancient wisdom practices together with modern ways of knowing and discovery continues to thrill me. I am deeply grateful for the work of Mind & Life Institute and the intention their organization cultivates to foster multi-disciplinary dialogue on the unfolding journey of life. I encourage you to take a look at their website to learn, grow, and engage. In fact, they have an upcoming conference titled, Educating World Citizen's for a 21st Century that looks fabulous! Perhaps I'll see you there?!

What are your thoughts about this growing trend of intentionally blending contemplative practice with modern science? Have you noticed the same theme emerging in your world? What has been your experience with integrating these differing ways of knowing? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Mindfulness Meditation and Healthcare Reform

This one brought joy to my heart. Representative Tim Ryan, a Congressman from Ohio, who earned his JD from Franklin Pierce Law Center, practices meditation. Not only this, he seems to grasp the critical role meditation and stress management plays in overall health, wellbeing, and disease prevention. And - he has brought these issues to the attention of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for consideration in healthcare reform. Listen to his pitch here.

What are your thoughts? Do you believe meditation and other forms of relaxation and stress management should play a role in healthcare reform? Do you believe we should emphasis such prevention strategies when we know stress is a major player in the development of disease and chronic illness? I do!

Lifespan Integration Therapy Heals Deeply and Completely without Re-Traumatizing

About three years ago I began to incorporate a new method of therapy into my practice called Lifespan Integration. Lifespan Integration, or "LI" has proven to be a very valuable tool in helping my clients heal trauma and childhood neglect without the need to directly talk about past events and -- it really works!

I have found Lifespan Integration to be a gentle yet profound therapeutic modality. I'm deeply grateful for the rapid healing Lifespan Integration has helped me facilitate in the lives of my clients.

The brilliance of Lifespan Integration is that it works by relying on the innate ability of the body-mind to heal itself. From the client's perspective, Lifespan Integration feels like a guided imagery/visualization or hypnotherapy session, although what's actually happening is a targeted neural integration process that convinces the body-mind system that time has passed and the triggering event or circumstances are over. Lifespan Integration uses a timeline of memories to help the client heal events from the past and then bring their full healthy selves forward in time to the present. Lifespan Integration also works with clients who have difficulty remembering their past. People with memory gaps are eventually able to connect the pieces of their lives together into a coherent whole. It's a beautiful thing!

Typically, Lifespan Integration works faster and more completely than "talk therapy" methods alone. I have witnessed Lifespan Integration effectively treat anxiety and post traumatic distress disorder, attachment disorders, eating disorders, somatic disorders, and dissociative disorders. These are BIG words that all refer to a range of labels given to the distress people may have in response to traumatic life experiences or/and childhood neglect. 

Because of my focus in mind-body medicine, many of my clients seek support with anxiety or somatic complaints (when our emotions are expressed in our bodies) or when an unexpected life-changing event or health diagnosis has caused them significant emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual distress. Lifespan Integration Therapy together with relaxation training modalities like meditation or/and biofeedback physiotherapy have worked great. I have successfully used Lifespan Integration Therapy with clients moving through loss and grief, living with a cancer diagnosis, with fibromyalgia and other autoimmune disease, digestive and irritable bowel complaints, and others seeking to better manage work/life demands and increase fulfillment in intimate relationships.

To learn more about Lifespan Integration Therapy I encourage you to visit the Lifespan Integration website or contact me for a free telephone introduction. Lifespan Integration was created by psychotherapist Peggy Pace.

Thank You, Belleruth

Thank you, Belleruth Naparstek, for a lovely day of guided imagery and learning. Your work has been important to so many of us in the healing community. You have inspired my own work in the field, and I appreciate your generous sharing today. Thank you also for your heartfelt poem:

Prayer
by Belleruth Naparstek

Just give me this:
A rinsing out, a cleansing free
Of all my smaller strivings
So I can be the class act God intended,
True to my purpose,
All my energy aligned behind my deepest intention.

And just this:
A quieting down,
A clearing away of internal ruckus,
So I can hear the huge stillness in my heart,
And feel
How I pulse with all creation,
Part and parcel of Your great singing ocean.

And this too:
A willingness to notice and forgive
The myriad times I fall short,
Forgetting who I really am,
What I really belong to.

So I can start over,
Fresh and clean,
Like sweet sheets billowing in the summer sun,
My heart pierced with gratitude.

In Prayers for Healing: 365 Blessings, Poems & Meditations from Around the World. Maggie Oman, Editor. Conari Press, Berkeley, CA, 1997.

An Idea Worth Spreading

One of my areas of inquiry these days is the brain. I am fascinated by the neuropsychology of how we learn, come to know the experience of love, form and hold our belief systems, and so much more. (See one of my favorite books about the brain, A General Theory of Love.)

So you can imagine I was thrilled when my colleague Sue Ann Birdwell, a family therapist in Kirkland, sent me the below link. I think you'll enjoy listening to brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor's speech from the recent TED conference. It's a powerful account of her experience watching her own stroke unfold, and reveals surprising insights into the very nature of life itself.

Inspiration ...

What a great way to start the day! (Thank you, Ben.) I awoke this morning to receive the below video of Steve Jobs, and the speech he offered to the 2005 graduating class at Stanford University. I had heard an audio of this speech at the time, but had long since forgotten how valuable each of the stories Jobs tells were to me. Jobs shares with the students three stories from his life: Connecting the Dots; Love and Loss; and Facing Death.