Baby steps…I started with an exercycle on which I peddled for 15 seconds until I could peddle 30 seconds. (I got it for free on free cycle). Walking to the mailbox was an exciting workout for quite a while. Yoga has been wonderful…sometimes still I only do 5 or 10 minutes at a time…it continues to unfold….I did a lot of other things in baby step ways. Never pushing beyond what felt safe and comfortable.
As most of you know by now, I like mixing it up. Well, really, I NEED to mix it up. My body wants and needs something different everyday. I woke up a couple of days ago and wanted to dance but I also felt like I needed some yoga, so I did a search on youtube with yoga and dance in the search query. I got this lovely little short but intense workout...
It's hard to understand why the importance and primacy of exercise is so often overlooked and/or buried in the treatment and care of those who suffer from mental distress. It is nothing short of criminal to not make exercise and diet/nutrition the first thing that is tended to when people are suffering from that which is most often treated in psychiatry. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
exercise isn't just about physical health and appearance. It also has a profound effect on your brain chemistry, physiology, and neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain to literally rewire itself). It affects not only your ability to think, create, and solve, but your mood and ability to lean into uncertainty, risk, judgment, and anxiety in a substantial, measurable way, even though until very recently it's been consistently cast out as the therapeutic bastard child in lists of commonly accepted treatments for anxiety and depression.
Complex Conscientiousness -- by Duff McDuffee Conscientiousness is one of the big five personality traits. It means something like being self-disciplined, painstaking and careful, thorough, organized, hard working, goal-oriented, reliable, deliberate. It also means acting according to one’s conscience. In simpler times this was a key element of what people meant by one’s character, but in... Continue Reading →
First a short article by Daniel Mackler and then Eleven Ways to be Your Own Therapist Does Growth Have to Be Painful? Yes. Pain is a byproduct of the growth process. Emotional growth stretches the limits of the personality, and this is unpleasant. At some level personalities want to remain static and fixed, and... Continue Reading →
I’ve had a phone conversation with Troy about the Natural Approach to Healing Depression classes. They’re good people…who did not prepare well enough…and did not look into the different arena's on the internet to understand that there are different expectations in different places. For example they will be putting the whole series on YouTube where... Continue Reading →
I'm not writing much because I'm in a holding pattern. My whole life feels like it's on hold. I've stopped tapering, I've moved out of my home to be on my own temporarily and am living a bare bones existence which if I didn't have so much on my plate would be very depressing, but... Continue Reading →
You have six more days to e-mail to USA National Institute of Mental Health about their "Strategic Plan." NEEDED: Voices for Choices in Mental Health! Why you ought to call on NIMH for research on more CHOICES in mental health system other than drugs, drugs, and more drugs. One of the biggest funders of research... Continue Reading →
Most of us who have been treated with psych meds gain weight, there are a lucky few who escape this side effect, and then many that gain a moderate amount and then what seems a large significant minority for whom major weight gain is a problem. I fall into the last category. Before I started... Continue Reading →
