In our work together, you can expect a greater focus on:

• Present-moment awareness as a tool to tap into what past or future experiences are bringing up for you right now. For example, we may explore:

  • What comes up for you now as you imagine that future scenario or “re-live” that past experience?

  • What strategies are you using to avoid, overlook, or distract yourself from becoming fully aware of the discomfort/tension associated with that memory or anxiety when it comes up now?

• Experimentation. This is a crucial aspect of “going beyond the mind,” because we cannot get anywhere in life by just thinking about it; we have to live it! Once something new enters your experience, only then is it real for you. This is the aim of “experimenting” during therapy, and it might include one, many, or none of these:

  • Noticing and describing physical sensations

  • Role-playing as your mom/dad/partner/friend/past self/future self/loveable self/unloveable self/dog/cat/plant/shoe/ingrown toenail and having a dialogue between two or more of these “characters” (In Gestalt therapy, this is most commonly referred to as the “empty chair technique”)

  • Exaggerating a particular movement, like your foot tapping or hands fidgeting

  • Re-telling/acting out a past experience or dream as if it’s happening right now

• Somatic (body-based) activities. The body and mind are interconnected, and thus we can leverage our physicality to help bring balance to the entire system. It might look like:

  • Taking a few rounds of deep breaths

  • Shaking the hands or waving the arms to move stagnant (depressed) energy

  • Moving into a particular posture (i.e. “legs up the wall”) to calm nervous (anxious) energy

  • Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) aka “tapping”