Learning the skills of mindful attention can put you on a slow but steady track of healing. Medication and cognitive therapy try to put you on the fast track, but the effects don’t always last. Though it may take a while to instill mindfulness in everyday life, once established it’s with you for the long […]
meditation
The Healing Garden
There is a healing garden at my house, thanks to my partner in life. She is an artist who works in many media. She fills the space around us, inside and outside our home, with beautiful things. Her gardens crowd with daily works-in-progress as she adds one more spot of life to a year-round […]
Tom Wootton’s Story: Finding Ecstasy and Equanimity in Depression
(Tom Wootton has been advocating a radical change in the way we think about depression and bipolar for several years. One the most challenging ideas he has put forward is that depression can be integrated into the comfort zone of living and even become a beautiful experience. To elaborate on what he means by this, […]
Resources for Acceptance and Mindfulness
Before getting into my experiences with acceptance and mindfulness, I wanted to mention the specific psychotherapies and self-help resources I’ve been working with. I’m no expert in this field, but I’ve learned a lot even from my limited exposure to the key methods and practices. I’ve become most familiar with four therapies that have been […]
How Hypnotherapy Works
The more I learn about hypnosis in therapy the more I have to abandon all the preconceptions I grew up with. Hypnotherapy is not about manipulating people or directing them to do things they wouldn’t normally do, act without the usual inhibitions of social behavior – as in all the theatrical stunts we’ve seen in […]
Is There a Link Between Mindfulness and Hypnosis?
In looking for ideas about the power of the mind in healing, I’ve never thought about a possible link between mindfulness and hypnosis. Until now. Michael Yapko claims there is a close connection between the two in his latest book, Mindfulness and Hypnosis. I’ve learned a lot from his well-known self-help books on depression (Breaking […]
