Acudetox, also known as the NADA Protocol, is a 5-point ear acupuncture procedure that was developed in the Bronx. Initially, the protocol was designed to help detox the body from drug and alcohol addiction, but results showed that this simple procedure could help alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression as well. Wondering how 5 small needles can have such positive effects on the body? Keep reading.
Read MoreIntroducing My Soul Brief-Case - a self-help therapy card deck meant to help you unravel life’s many challenges. The full deck is made up of 50 cards. But for the purpose of this exercise, I have selected just a few to help you get started.
Read MoreThinking of seeking mental health treatment, but not sure if you may need psychiatric medication? Here are 7 signs that you can look out for:
Read MoreTo get in touch with ourselves in this pandemic, we need to be able to meet ourselves where we are and think like scientists - gather our hypotheses, test our actions, iterate our plans. We will only ever known when something is truly right when we try and execute. Living in our heads will not launch us into action. It takes a certain kind of willingness to be truthful, compassionate, and open with ourselves to re-imagine and re-align.
Read MoreOne year later and here we are again. I can hear exasperation in the air, and know full well how frustrating it is to have to go through all of this once again. While offices have given a mandate to WFH, it’s just as relevant for all of us right now to be prioritizing Wellness From Home programs amongst our teams. This is why I designed a self-help therapy card deck in these very uncertain times, when access to care and support are hard to come by.
Read MoreIn the last two months I have been asked to speak at several events on various mental health topics. From identifying the presence of a disorder to supporting the supporter. I realized that whether we were the ones struggling or if we were faced with someone who was in fact struggling, the forums always ended with this one question: “what do we say to someone who is struggling with their mental health?” While there are many things already written out there, I thought I would share with you my 3 very simple go-to statements and why these can be helpful.
Read MoreWe’ve published reading lists, now it’s time to feed our souls with music that can assist us in our healing. A mantra, in sanskrit, literally means “a thought, thought behind speech or action”. Man - meaning thought, translates in the English language as “mind”. While there are many mantras that often use a language that may not be familiar to us, I have recently come across a few albums that help make grounding and setting my intentions for the day so much more easy. Here they are:
Read MoreAs a health practitioner there are a few books that I really do appreciate from other experts. Perhaps this is because of my background in interdisciplinary studies that I discover how much richer a practice can become when fused with other techniques. The Art of Healing by Bernie Siegel, M.D. is one of those books. Written in '70s, Siegel pours age old wisdom into The Art of Healing by incorporating psychological techniques with his medical practice. How? Through projective tests or what we commonly know as drawings.
Read MoreThinking of seeing a professional, but can't seem to decide if what you're going through is worth the trip? Perhaps you may feel that despite the gravity of your situation, you still manage to get by. It's always good to know that somehow we're still chugging along, right? So how do we know when it's gotten pretty bad and it's time to see a mental health professional? Here are four signs to look out for:
Read MoreJust when I thought that I had the formula to increased self-awareness, a few exercises on mobility seemed to have shifted my ideas on automaticity and programming. It wasn't just about paying attention to the different muscle groups, but acknowledging my defects, that made me want to improve. Mobility, as it turns out, is meant to help you function better on a regular basis. Unlike passive stretching (widely used for flexibility), mobility looks at long-term changes in the viscoelastic properties of muscle (Stephens, et al. 2006) , and when practiced regularly, could increase muscle length.
Read MoreSelf-compassion, as it turns out, demands that we go beyond our comfort zones. While compassion may seem like the complete opposite of courage, I soon learned that courage and self-compassion actually came hand-in-hand. Research shows that self-awareness plays a huge part in developing health behavior change, but if the awareness of ourselves is generally unpleasant, then we may look to food or other concrete aspects (like cigarettes, alcohol, etc) of life instead of long-term health goals (Adams & Leary, 2007). Through better understanding of the self, however, my research has shown that self-compassion can help us acknowledge visible flaws that we might be willing to act upon.
Read MoreTo be honest, I spent this last week reading up on so much of it, there was no way I couldn't write about it. Gratitude, according to researchers, has been called an “empathic emotion” (Lazarus & Lazarus, 1994) because it is predicated on the capacity for recognizing the beneficial actions of other people in one’s life. This is also known as Dispositional Gratitude - the ability or life orientation to notice and appreciate what is positive in the world around them. Research shows that people who possess dispositional gratitude tend to engage themselves more in healthy activities for the reasons below:
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