I was invited back for a second time on the Finding Harmony podcast to talk about the intersection between yoga and psychotherapy. Listen here! 👇🏻
https://t.co/U6EKQ8II12
In the absence of regulation, it’s vital for prospective patients to do their own research when finding a counsellor or psychotherapist.
https://t.co/CXN4EufCbo
“Part of the work of psychoanalysis is to reconstruct the self’s many histories into the revised, co-constructed version that is the product of the analysis.”
Christopher Bollas.
"Anxiety as we know, is always connected with a loss… with a two-sided relation on the point of fading away to be superseded by something else, something which the patient cannot face without vertigo.”
Jacques Lacan.
I read Thomas Ogden's response to Winnicott's Fear of Breakdown, and I was so moved by his compassionate treatment of a patient's shameful behaviour in this vignette:
“Therapists who can work effectively with the basic emotions – reframing and re contextualising hurtful memories so they can be reconsolidated in the context of positive feelings – may be able to promote more lasting therapeutic change.”
Jaak Panksepp.
Intro to Psychotherapy, Session 4 — When therapists practice more psychodynamically (open-ended dialogue, avoidance of the “teacher-role,” identifying warded off emotions, etc.), the better the patient outcomes, regardless of the therapist’s stated theoretical orientation.
"The two most important phrases in therapy, as in yoga, are “notice that” and “what happens next?” Once you start approaching your body with curiosity rather than fear, everything shifts."
Bessel van der Kolk – The Body Keeps the Score.
Calling things "OCD" when they’re not doesn’t help anyone.
OCD is a serious mental health issue, and misconceptions stop people from getting the help they deserve.
To learn more about OCD, visit our website today ➡️ https://t.co/bCrscopCpH
"For the hero, fear is a challenge and a task, because only boldness can deliver from fear. And if the risk is not taken, the meaning of life is somehow violated."
Carl Jung – Symbols of Transformation.
"All comparatively intense affective processes, including even terrifying ones, trench upon sexuality."
Freud – Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality
I see this in clinical practice and on the yoga mat every day. That is, what happens on one level (the mind) also appears to happen on the other (the body). Do you have experience of this?
Reflections on the more subtle links between yoga and psychotherapy -
The Pañcha Kośas (5 sheaths) were first mentioned around 6th century BC in the Taittriya Upanishad. In this system, Manomaya kośa (consciousness) is in constant communion with Annamya kośa (the body).
In 2017, yoga theorists Mallinson and Singleton wrote that the body is a "microcosmic manifestation of the macrocosmic universe", containing oceans, rivers, mountains and planets.