Monthly Archives: August 2016
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Depending where you live, kids are gearing up to go back to school or already are in classes. No matter which case, we continue to get queries about what works best for anxious middle schoolers, distressed over the start of the school year and the thought of entering a larger, more complex and intimidating system. This "Ask Health Journeys" post should be a great resource for families with kids in this situation.
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Posted: August 29, 2016Categories: Update from Health Journeys
I’m excited to be going back to my old stompin’ grounds of McLean, Virginia, to offer a workshop for the Center for Pastoral Counseling of Virginia on the power of guided imagery to heal heartbreak and trauma, and to create the conditions for forgiveness.
I was invited to speak by Rev. Becki Porter-Harmon, a wonderful colleague I met in the early 70’s, at a newly founded shelter for teens called Alternative House, where she was hard at work building the program and I was a mental health consultant from the Woodburn Center for Community Mental Health in its earliest days. And here we are now, forty years later, working together again! Wow.
This three-hour workshop is especially geared for pastors, therapists, counselors, health professionals and coaches, but also anyone with an itch to learn more about the power of guided imagery to catalyze deep healing, growth, learning and change, even under the most challenging conditions.
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Hi, Belleruth.
This summer, I sat once more for the bar exam. I have always been a terrible test taker and for me, passing the bar is the ultimate, terrifying test.
There I was, facing the Boogey Man after several failed attempts, complete with racing pulse, intense sweats and nausea. I always knew the material, but I would get so inundated with stress and fear, I couldn’t access it.
Only this time, with the help of a very wise therapist, I figured out that in my past tries, I had never given myself the tools I needed to succeed.
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Researchers from France, Brazil and Madrid looked at how motor imagery improves performance in sports, as affected by varying states of fatigue. Specifically, they examined when dynamic motor imagery (dMI) (or imagined action with simultaneous movement of the body), provides greater benefit than traditional static motor imagery (sMI), or imagined action without its physical execution.
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Hi Health Journeys,
Could you please, please, please do a program on meditation for teens? The only ones I can find have the most awful, phony voices. My daughter has been listening to you at bedtime for years. She loves your voice and music (as do I).
But a lot of meditation, mindfulness and anxiety recordings I've found are either condescending, phony-sounding, or use vocabulary that's too sophisticated for a teen, so she ends up worrying about whether she understands it or not.
Please - just a simple one for self-acceptance, letting go of what other people think about her and understanding life's complicated questions...
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Posted: August 23, 2016Categories: Update from Health Journeys
We've got one heck of a bargain going right now here at Health Journeys. It's a GOGO (give one, get one) sale. You can give the gift of a guided imagery download and get a free download of equal or lesser value for yourself. Here's the catch: you need to follow these steps and act fast, because the deal ends Thursday night.
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Posted: August 22, 2016Categories: Update from Health Journeys
Hello again.
So, we continue with our back-to-basics advice on how to get the most out of your guided imagery or meditation sessions, and a few things that are good to keep in mind. For newcomers or old hands, it never hurts to be reminded of some of these things. So here we go: a few more pointers.
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Here’s a wonderfully upbeat note from a woman who has been through a lot and came out stronger for it. It looks like she used guided imagery every step of the way, pretty much.
She first learned about guided imagery from her late husband’s chemotherapy nurse at what used to be Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. Here's what Ellen has to say.
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It’s good to see so much new research on the positive impact of guided imagery on people undergoing chemotherapy these days. It seems to be coming from all over the world. A few weeks ago we posted a study from Cyprus. Now here’s one from Taiwan.
Researchers from Mackay Memorial Hospital in New Taipei City, Taiwan, evaluated the impact of relaxation with guided imagery on patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy.
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Dear Health Journeys,
I am interested in your audio program for Rheumatoid Arthritis or Lupus (SLE). I have Lupus but also several associated autoimmune syndromes.
However, while joint inflammation is sometimes present, it has mostly been more manageable than some of my other challenges, which are intense Sjogren's symptoms, malaise & achiness, flu-like feelings, sleep problems, night sweats, queasiness, rashes, fogginess, and times of depression and anxiety that spike with my disease activity.
I am interested in guided meditation that would emphasize a calming and balancing of the immune system as a whole, and for my mind, body and spirit. Please let me know if you think your program would be suitable.