Preparing for Winter 2020-2021: An Investment in Your Future Self

With winter on the horizon and the pandemic still raging, the prospect of many more months inside with constricted holiday gatherings, limited opportunities to spend time outdoors, and narrowed possibilities for entertainment outside of the home, may incite feelings of distress, frustration, and apathy. While this winter may look different from winters past, the experience…

Self-Care During Marital Separation

This year may have been daunting considering the circumstances we have all been through in 2020; we’ve been cooped up inside and socially distancing for almost the entire year. However, some of you have had other issues preoccupying your mind and have been going through the process of breaking things off in your relationship with…

What We Are Reading This Fall

As the weather begins to change and days become shorter, curling up with a book starts to feel particularly appealing. We would like to share with you what some of the members of our team are reading for comfort, exploration, growth, and knowledge in hope that this inspires you! Amanda Matousek: I’m reading “How to…

Hold Yourself Kindly: A Deep Dive into Self-Compassion

“Self-compassion” is a phrase that gets used a lot, but what does it actually mean? I remember when I was first told to be compassionate towards myself, I had no idea what that actually entailed. I set out to do some research to discover if self-compassion is something that is genuinely important, or if it…

Finding a Way out of Fight, Flight, and Freeze Response

Our bodies and minds are experiencing the current global crisis as a serious threat to survival and all that feels familiar and safe. Living in a constant state of fight, flight, or freeze is exhausting. We must find ways to release this stress on a daily basis. Connect with friends and family, exercise, knit, scream…

Focus on Values, Not Resolutions

The hope of change and renewal accompanies most of us as we part with one year and enter another. Some people feel confident and energized as they vow to exercise more, spend quality time with their children, learn to play an instrument, be kinder, change jobs. Others voice their aspirations more timidly or not at…

Acupuncture: Balancing Body and Mind

What inspired me to become an acupuncturist is the desire to help people return to nature as well as their own true nature. Our bodies are microcosms reflecting the world around us, each with its own internal seasons, weather systems and rhythms. Puberty is a season, new motherhood is a season, and so is menopause.…

New Year’s resolutions: Reflections on change and growth

2019 has arrived. Many of us greet the New Year with hopeful goals and plans that reflect what matters to us, be it health, family, career, and frequently, what we have not given sufficient attention to in the previous year. As a psychotherapist, I love this optimistic period of renewed commitment to deeply personal values…

On the Many Joys of Cultivating Gratitude

Gratitude is an emotional experience that may arise in us spontaneously, swelling our hearts with love and appreciation, and contributing to our sense of connection – to people close to us, to our community, to the many things that ultimately ground us and infuse our lives with meaning. Gratitude is also a practice that can…

The ABCs of Postpartum Self-Care

All life transitions, even the joyful ones which mark the beginning of a new, wished-for chapter, are tough. The transition to motherhood is even more challenging than a move to a foreign country, getting married, or setting on a different career path. Why is that? The arrival of a baby forces changes that are abrupt,…