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

Mind-Body Wellness Workshops at the Sammamish Club

Join me at the Sammamish Club this fall to learn about the relationship between thoughts, emotions, and physical health. We'll discuss recent modern science discoveries that you can utilize to optimize your own health and well-being.

Choose your session:
Wednesday, October 15 at 7:00 PM
Saturday, November 15 at 1:00 PM
Wednesday, December 3 at 9:30 AM

Where:

The NEW Mind-Body-Energy Studio
The Sammamish Club
2115 NW Poplar Way 
Issaquah, WA 98027

Fee:
$40. The cost of this workshop may be applied towards Thrive, the 8-week wellness program designed to create harmony in mind and body coming to the Sammamish Club in January 2008-created and facilitated by Karen Gorrin.

Facilitated by Karen Gorrin 

For more information or to register, contact Karen Haigler, Aquatics and Programs Director. To learn about the Sammamish Club, click here.

Attunement with Nature

Just about the time the clouds shifted, and the beautiful blue sky that was hidden all morning emerged, three black crows landed on the tree next to me and started singing. Their concert continued for more than twenty minutes, lulling me into peaceful contentment.

If you squint you'll see the trio of crows sitting close together on the lower left branch in the photo. Without a zoom feature on my phone it looks like the birds are far away, but I could feel and see them as close neighbors.

Relaxing into the cadence of the music I wondered about the influence these sounds were having on my brain. I had just spent two days at the Wise Heart, Mindful Brain conference with Dan Siegel and Jack Kornfield learning about interpersonal neurobiology. Research now shows how mindful awareness stimulates very similar areas of the brain as listening to jazz music. Both have the ability to place us into a state of gentle self-attunement. Noticing my experience while listening to these birds, I felt an inner bliss and joy. It was a kind of recognition that expanded my sense of me to include my interconnection to the natural environment around me. I felt "in-tune" with the birds, the environment, and myself. When was the last time you celebrated the emerging light with your feathered friends?

I started to wonder if these were in fact crows or ravens? I didn't know the difference. A visit to wikipedia gave some background, but I found myself much more interested in the symbolic meaning of both birds in folklore and occult circles. In Buddhism, for example, the crow is associated with protection. The Dharmapala, the protector of the Dharma, is represented by the crow in one of his physical forms. The crow has also heralded the birth of several Dalai Lama. I will reflect on these qualities of my trio of visitors today. Whatever their purpose in sharing space with me, I warmly welcome the tradition of protection they bring. What are the symbols of protection in your life?

In the News: How the Brain Rewires Itself

Thank you to my Lifespan Integration colleagues for telling me about the article, How the Brain Rewires Itself by Sharon Begley, in the January 19, 2007 issue of Time Magazine. A fascinating read, especially for those interested in neuroscience. What interested me most about this article was the information about nueroplasticy, meaning, the ability of the mind to change the brain.

As a holistic psychotherapist, I have been trained in a mind/body psychotherapy called Lifespan Integration, which helps people heal the effects of neglect and abuse without re-traumatizing. The reason Lifespan Integration works, believes it's developer Peggy Pace, is due to this same nueroplasticity, or the brain's ability to adapt and change.

The article traces the journey of scientists understanding about how the brain works. Until recently, writes Begley, the adult brain was considered to be hardwired and fixed in form and function. But research over the past few years tells a different story. We now know the brain has the ability to change its structure and function in response to experience.

The idea that the mind can actually change the brain could have an enormous impact on health and the healing process. Something we may otherwise have viewed as an insubstantial thought, writes Begley, could affect the very material of the brain itself, altering neuron connections in a way that can treat mental illness or increase ones capacity for empathy and compassion.

Yet all of this would be little surprise to the experienced mediator. The practice of single-point focus, and releasing the thoughts of the grasping mind, can actually change the way we think, feel, and experience the world. The possibility in all this? Emotions, moods, and more, may turn out to be trainable skills. This really does prove the idea, that anything is possible.