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  • What the Body Does Not Remember

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  • Potato Beetle Coloring Page

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  • “I Won’t Give Up” – a Dance Performance by Donna Russo

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  • Mindfulness Minds

    I have been practicing meditation since the mid-70’s and started a mindfulness meditation practice in the mid-90’s. Mindfulness has to do with the quality of awareness that we bring to what we are doing and experiencing, to being in the here and now.  It has to do with learning to focus on being in the present, to focusing our attention on what we are doing and what is happening in the present.

    Many of us are distracted by images, thoughts and feelings of the past, perhaps dissociating, worrying about the future, negative moods and anxieties about the present.   It’s hard to put these thing away and concentrate on the task at hand.

    I started teaching mindfulness to patients/clients a few years ago and often used the following as a hand out:

    Mindfulness has to do with states of mind. Reason Mind, Emotion Mind, and Wise Mind. Reason Mind is your rational, thinking, logical mind. It plans and evaluates things logically. It is your “cool” part. Reasonable Mind can be very beneficial. It is easier to be in Reasonable Mind when you feel good. It is much harder to be in Reasonable Mind when you don’t feel good.

    You Would Use Your Reasonable Mind To:

    Build a bridge

    Figure out how to double a recipe

    Balance your checkbook

    Figure out the fastest way from point “A” to point “B”

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    Emotion Mind describes times when emotions are what influence or control your thinking and behavior. Emotional Mind can also be very beneficial. Emotions are what motivate us to action. Emotions are what keep us attached to others and building relationships.

    Emotion Mind can be aggravated by:

    Illness, Lack Of Sleep, Tiredness, Drugs, Alcohol, Hungry, Overeating, Poor nutrition and/or lack of exercise, Environmental stress and threats, not taking your meds.

    Both Emotion and Reasonable Mind Are Equally Important And Valuable

    Reasonable mind gives you a way to solve your problems.

    Emotion mind gives you a reason (motivation) to want to solve them.

    Wise Mind is the integration of emotional and reasonable mind. Wise mind is that part of each person that can know and experience truth. It is where the person knows something to be true or valid. It is where the person knows something in a centered (balanced) way. It is almost always quiet and calm in this part of the mind.

    Everyone Has A Wise Mind!

    Some people have simply never experienced it.

    No one is in Wise Mind all of the time.

    Wise Mind – An Analogy for Wise Mind is like a deep well in the ground. The water is at the bottom of the well. The entire underground is an ocean called Wise Mind. But on the way down, there are often trap doors that stop progress. Sometimes the trap doors are so cleverly built that you actually believe that there is no water at the bottom of the well. The trap door may look like the bottom of the well. Perhaps it is locked and you need a key. Perhaps it is nailed shut and you need a hammer. Perhaps it is glued shut and you need a chisel.

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  • Aphrodite Coloring Page

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  • How Your Body Affects Your Happiness

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  • How meditation can change your life and mind | Sam Harris, Jon Kabat-Zinn & more | Big Think

    There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to what mindfulness is and what meditation can do for those who practice it. In this video, professors, neuroscientists, psychologists, composers, authors, and a former Buddhist monk share their experiences, explain the science behind meditation, and discuss the benefits of learning to be in the moment. “Mindfulness allows us to shift our relationship to our experience,” explains psychologist Daniel Goleman. The science shows that long-term meditators have higher levels of gamma waves in their brains even when they are not meditating. The effect of this altered response is yet unknown, though it shows that there are lasting cognitive effects. “I think we’re looking at meditation as the next big public health revolution,” says ABC News anchor Dan Harris. “Meditation is going to join the pantheon of no-brainers like exercise, brushing your teeth and taking the meds that your doctor prescribes to you.” Closing out the video is a guided meditation experience led by author Damien Echols that can be practiced anywhere and repeated as many times as you’d like.

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  • California poppy Coloring Page

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  • Dance Movement Therapy at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA

    Great video about what Dance Movement Therapy is and how its done in a Medical setting with children.

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  • Assessment and evaluation

    In therapy at some point the counselor will engage in an assessment/evaluation  process that generally involves examining how the therapy sessions are going and hopefully includes feed back from the client/patient. If the counselor is trained as a
    dance movement therapist the evaluation/assessment may include many areas such
    as verbal sharing, drawings and movement. Movement assessment can include
    observing ( which can be considered seeing someone move objectively) and
    witnessing (which can be considered seeing someone move subjectively) a person
    move. I look at:

    • Space, how does the person
      move in the environment, up/down, do they use space or stay small.
    • Time, do they move fast/slow.
    • Force, what is their muscle
      tension like, are they contracting/expanding, hard/soft, light/heavy.
    • Flow, is the movement
      continuous, unrestrained, restricted.
    • Sound, do they talk, use
      vocal sound, create sound with their body.
    • Congruent, how are the
      movements related to the intention.
    • What do I feel while
      witnessing, what and how do I feel like moving when witnessing .
    • How does this compare to
      other people I have observed, the same/different.

    I first learned and applied these techniques while studying the movement based
    group creative arts modalities know as the Halprin Method and Motional Process
    in the 80’s and early 90’s. If you would like more info I recommend 4 books I found useful:

    Dance/Movement Therapists in Action: A Working Guide to Research Options

    Artistic Inquiry in Dance/Movement Therapy: Creative Research Alternatives

    Meaning of Movement

    Dance Therapy and Depth Psychology: The Moving Imagination.

    These books helped me to strengthen my assessment techniques and to discover new
    methods.

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