Month: July 2013

A crafty recovery: knitting as therapeutic and meditative vehicle

I picked knitting up again during the throes of benzo withdrawal, on the urging of a friend. When I found myself very ill and traumatised, I needed something to fill in my days besides colouring in kids's books and feeling miserably sorry for myself. When my friend suggested that I take it up again, I was dismissive of the idea, but was urged to until I eventually gave in and bought some yarn to knit a simple scarf. Once I began, I realised that knitting is like riding a bicycle - you can put it away for an extended time but it isn't forgotten. I knitted my way through the scarf, and then several more scarves for family and friends. The more I persevered, the more creative the finished product. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

On The Legacy Of Aging

Among other things this is a critique of our pathologically youth oriented culture. It's very wonderful. Please watch. Aging is no accident, says Hillman: … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Yoga back bends: feels yummy on the autonomic nervous system

I've been using yoga as a main source of rehabilitation and recovery since I was bedridden. I began doing yoga while still in bed. Now it continues to be a primary source of continued healing. Lately I've been doing backbends and while all the yoga I do feels like it profoundly helps my nervous system, these bends have really been making me think about my autonomic nervous system and how it seems to be healing it. Tending to the autonomic nervous system seems like the most important thing I'm doing in all of my recovery practices. And indeed all of my recovery practices aid in this most important endeavor. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Be a healing presence: the Seiki switch

Words like 'seiki' and the 'vital life force' do not have to be limited to signifying physical energy and forces that belong to the laws of physics. Instead, they also can be regarded as poetic metaphors that hint at the wholeness of life and how it can be experienced. Accordingly, we do not reduce seiki to only being a physical energy. Though it may be felt as if it were an electrical force surging through the body, any reference to this experience as an “energy” or “force” is better taken as a holistic metaphor. In the same way that a person can poetically say that they have “fallen in love”, been “struck by God”, or “slain in the spirit”, seiki is a way of indicating heightened ways of feeling alive. Here we find that feeling remarkably alive contributes to being more alive. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Histamine Intolerance: can be associated with folks getting psychiatric diagnosis ( #foodie friday)

So it's clear, this sort of sensitivity unrecognized can lead to being drugged with psychiatric pharmaceuticals to begin with, so anyone taking any of these drugs might want to rule out this condition. Being that a lot of neuroleptics and benzos and it seems SSRIs too all have significant anti-histamine properties this may impact a good number of folks....It doesn't mean there aren't lots of other issues you're dealing with like trauma, and grief and loss and general dismay of the state of the world and humanity, but it means you might be able to clear out one compounding factor and figure out more easily how to deal with the others. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

the emotional roller coaster

The emotional roller coaster will continue as long as you remain attached to the moods you experience as preferable and you in turn reject those moods you consider negative. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

People are told they are “disordered” when in fact, it is in society that true disorder lies

To tell a person they are “disordered” for life, when in fact, it is in society that our true disorder lies, is one of our gravest, most perpetrated acts of existential violence. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Yoga for bedtime

I like this idea of doing yoga in bed, I think this might help some people start stretching a bit right from bed, which is where I started my yoga practice when I began rehabbing from having been bedridden for 2 years. I had no choice at the time, perhaps that is why I now really prefer the floor. What joy that I can get up and down from the floor now! … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Olga Runciman – Hearing Voices Network (also many links on hearing voices & thriving)

Olga Runciman is the Chair of the Danish Hearing Voices Network. Originally a psychiatric nurse, she herself became a patient, and experienced the full force of psychiatric treatment before making a full recovery. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

What does it mean to live as part of the web of life, but to behave as if we don’t?

The question about what it means to live life as though we are not connected to all is urgently important at this point in our history on this planet. Because if we don't collectively come to understand that everything matters, we will sadly be headed for doom. It's wonderful to see this line of thinking enter into the realm of what mental health professionals are thinking about. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Psychiatric labels and the bigotry/prejudice attached to them

I get really tired of the stickiness of psychiatric labels. In spite of the fact that they are used inappropriately all the time, once people are labeled it's very hard to lose the label and the bigotry and prejudice that accompanies the label. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

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