Month: June 2012

Gluten Sensitivity Vs. Celiac Disease Vs. Gluten Intolerance

I have some introductory remarks here, but below them is a video that explains the difference between gluten sensitivity, gluten intolerance and Celiac disease. If people have any of these issues at play eliminating gluten can be a very good thing for their over all health and well-being. I've heard people "poo-poo" the importance of diet for mental health issues and they use the argument that if programs like Soteria and Open Dialogue can heal those with "schizophrenia" it's not very credible that diet has much to do with it. I find this argument rather lacking since, first of all, we don't see a 100% recovery rate even in these programs. 15 to 20% remain unwell. What if diet were changed in these folks in addition to offering psycho-social supports? Also, being that we're holistic beings, more than one thing can be causing dis-ease in our body/mind/spirit. We might find that attending to something psycho-socially gets us back on our feet and functioning, but we don't feel REALLY good until we attend to diet and exercise etc. Black and white thinking doesn't serve anyone here.

Exposing the Mental Health system – Only Smarties exhibition

Imagine a world where instead of being faced with terror and coercion by those who are supposed to be healers people in altered states (psychosis) were met with love and confidence that they might heal. Such care exists in the world, but virtually not at all in the United States at this time.

there is no solution

Nothing is really solved until we understand that there is no solution. We’re falling, and there’s no answer to that. We can’t control it. We’re spending our life trying to stop the falling; yet it never stops. There is no solution, no wonderful person who can make it stop. No success, no dream, no anything can... Continue Reading →

the PRACTICE of embracing what is…

At the end of this post there is a note for mental health professionals in particular. If you are a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, etc. please be sure to scroll down and read it after reading the introduction below. I was talking about the practice of accepting that which is in a withdrawal group and it was requested that I put together a list of posts that speak to how to go about doing this. So I've done that below. I've collected posts that speak to embracing the full spectrum of our emotional inheritance as human beings. I've found that without acknowledging and integrating the darkest part of our psyches we cannot heal. We also cannot become fully mature adult human beings. One need not be labeled "mentally ill" or be sick for this to be an important part of our life's work.

“Sensations in the body are ground zero, the place where we directly experience the entire play of life”

All our strategies of trying to control life through blaming or withdrawing are aimed at keeping us from raw experience. In the pause, rather than getting lost in our reactive thoughts and actions, we become directly aware of what is happening in our body. We begin to see how interconnected our mind and body are.... Continue Reading →

Love of your fate — Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens

Nietzsche was the one who did the job for me. At a certain moment in his life, the idea came to him of what he called 'the love of your fate.' Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, 'This is what I need.' It may look like a wreck, but go at... Continue Reading →

(STUNNING) Saturday mellow

Having lived most of my life in Yosemite I was blessed to visit there many times. I loved going on the off-seasons when the crowds were few. It's definitely one of the most (among many) incredible spots on this incredible planet.

Reversing brain injury: meditation (doesn’t have to be seated)

woman in front of brain...cartoon style Meditation increases brain size

Meditation increases brain size ~~ As many readers of this blog are aware psych meds can damage the brain as well as the whole body. I'm excerpting and linking to an article from the Harvard Gazette that speaks about how meditation makes the brain grow bigger and aids in healing and plasticity. For those of us who've been on neuroleptics (antipsychotics) and other psychiatric drugs that hurt the brain  (they're all neurotoxic), this is good news.

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Happiness for people who can’t stand positive thinking

Yay! The thought of this book makes me happy. (I've not read it yet) But if you watch the little video you'll see it speaks about a lot of what I share on this blog, that, for me, and many people happiness cannot be achieved without embracing the crap in life...because you, know, shit does... Continue Reading →

A simple observation

When I consider my body is healing rather than thinking of it as sick I have a completely different relationship to the pain and malaise...

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