Presence of Mind Therapy

Still buzzing from our 🧡8/23/24 KAP Retreat🦁 It was a day of healing for an amazing group of women. They came together, did the work, and surrendered to vulnerability and deep healing. Our sound and body practitioners worked in tandem to raise the vibration to the next level. Shout out to and our growing

I recently hosted a team appreciated event at .yoga.healing which was absolutely💯 Julia is an amazing healer who was able to provide a beautiful container where my team could relax and receive! Julia’s sound healing, grounding energy, and beautiful space was exactly what we all needed to replenish. I personally had a profound experience connecting dots on my own healing path that I hadn’t been able to see before. So grateful to have connected 🙏📿💖

Welcoming to the team our new therapist Kathryn Smilowitz, LSW and therapeutic yoga instructor in training! Kathryn specializes in working with adolescents and young adults, has plans to continue training in play therapy, and is passionate about the mind body connection necessary for healing. Kathryn will primarily be working out of our Summit space and is accepting new clients. 🦋

Looking forward to this magical event Friday, August 23rd! Save your spot and spread the work as Together We Heal Retreats hosts another KAP day long retreat. This is a beautiful opportunity to heal in connection, melt into community, and feel completely supported by licensed clinicians on your psychedelic journey. These groups offer beautiful spaces to deepen your psychotherapy work, expand consciousness, and break out of old patterns.

When the golden light of Father Sun illuminates your path, and confirms that the stones you lay will be a transformational place of healing 🌞🌄🌳⛪️💗

In times of emotional healing, it is common that you might experience a setback or regression of progress. This can feel demoralizing and defeating; it makes us worry that all our hard work has been erased.

However, this is all part of the journey. We are human! Long-term change requires long-term practice.

Try reframing setbacks as useful data: I learned that XYZ does not work for me, or that XYZ triggers me... how can I use this information to prepare for the future? In what ways did I show resilience in getting through this?

🦋

We are thrilled to announce the newest member of the Presence of Mind Therapy team, Patty Thaute, Licensed Massage Therapist. With a passion for healing through therapeutic massage and craniosacral massage, Patty brings a new level of healing in the name of mind-body-spirit integration. 🦋

A sweet farewell lunch one of our fabulous interns, Angelina, as she makes her way onward. Angelina it had been an honor and pleasure to have you. Thanks for all you have done for the practice over the past year! Wishing you all the joy life has to offer and blessings on your path ahead 💕 🦋

Building with community in mind, heart and spirit.

Introducing the newest member of the Presence of Mind Therapy team. Welcome our new Intern, Jamie! Jamie will be joining us for weekly group supervision, assisting with administrative tasks, the creation of marketing material, and collaboration on our monthly wellness newsletter. We’re thrilled to have her!

"What you resist, persists."

It makes sense that when we are faced with unpleasant people/places/things, we are inclined to avoid them. Our most basic human instinct always comes back to survival; therefore, why would we put ourselves in an anxiety provoking situation that, for whatever reason, feels threatening?

To cope with this uncertainty, we might engage in avoidance behaviors. Avoidance behaviors include but aren't limited to:
- Drinking/using drugs (mental avoidance)
- procrastinating (delaying the inevitable)
- isolating ourselves (avoiding social interactions)
- overworking (distraction)

The tricky thing is: this just perpetuates our anxiety. We never get new data that disproves our fears. Additionally, it is also telling our brain over & over, "Yes, that IS indeed a threat! I know that because of how scared I feel in my body. Now, when I see that threat again, I will automatically associate this fear response with it." The cycle continues.

For example: Jane is scared of making presentations at work; she believes she might say something stupid. Everytime Jane has a presentation to make, she calls out sick (avoidance). After months of this pattern, Jane gets fired. This reinforces Janes belief that she is stupid/unworthy of that role. Her fear of speaking intensifies.

Instead, if Jane were to confront that fear, she might have gleaned new practice in that skill, building her self-efficacy. Maybe she would have also gotten new evidence against her belief (her coworker complimented her presentation skills).

The antidote to avoidance is to get curious; ask yourself:
1) What *feelings* am I avoiding? What past experiences made me feel that way that are still with me?
2) What is the worst case scenario for confronting this fear? How can I prepare for that?
3) Am I missing out on opportunities/relationships by engaging in this avoidance?

🦋

This quote is a common mantra from Alcoholics Anonymous that essentially touches on the idea that in order to grow, we need to invite change. After all, how can we expect improvement if everything stays the same?

As we say goodbye to winter and inch closer to spring, perhaps it's also a good time to enter a 'new season' for yourself. Start by asking yourself a few introspective questions:
- What in my life is out of alignment (work, relationships, health, money?)
- In what ways am I contributing to this?
- How could I change my thoughts/beliefs/behaviors to create change?
- What would my desired change look like? Feel like?

Happy exploring ✨

🦋

No emotion is a "bad" emotion. They might feel uncomfortable & unpleasant; however, every emotion is a signal from our brain and body that there is something that needs tending to. They are looking out for us.

We can be quick to superficially "fix" these feelings without getting to the root cause of them; this just delays the inevitable. It would be like watering one leaf of a tree when the roots are rotting down below.

The next time you have an uncomfortable emotion, try staying with it before attempting to brush it away. Ask the emotion what it needs & where it came from. Consider other significant times you have felt this way; are old wounds being reactivated? How can you give that emotion what it needs in the here & now?

Giving ourselves permission to fully explore these feelings will lead us to greater clarity, resolution, and inner peace.

🦋

We still have a couple spots left for this magical day KAP retreat. Email to inquire [email protected]

Sometimes you need a little magic✨ 🧚🏻‍♂️ 🌲 🦋

Welcome to the team, Zoe!! 🦋

Welcome to the team, Rachel!! 🦋

"I was so scared, I almost peed my pants." "I'm so stressed, my head hurts." "I was sweating." "My stomach dropped." "My heart was racing."

Do you notice how, when we describe significant emotions, we often talk about what we felt in our bodies? That's because our physical sensations and emotional experiences are inextricably linked. However, some traditional forms of therapy that *only* tend to thought-work can miss this. We can't necessarily "think our way out" of an emotion if our body is activated and therefore turns the reasoning parts of our brain off.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) is a useful skill to provide us with both physiological and psychological benefits. It can be used in stressful moments where you need to calm down in order to think logically again; or, in very low, depressive moments when you simply need to come back into your body.

🦋

Defense mechanisms help us cope with realities we might not be ready to confront. This often happens on an unconscious level; your brain is very good at avoiding discomfort!

The more you begin to notice these defenses, the more you can get to the root fear beneath them. What is it that you're avoiding? What feels too big to touch right now?

Let's take a moment to thank all the defense mechanisms that have kept us safe up until now. Next, if we're ready, we can tell them they can take a break so that we can let our authentic feelings come through.

🦋

We never "deserve" the pain that is bestowed upon us. However, we can use that pain to help us grow.

🦋

Future Gazers 🦋

Great event!

Sound Meditation Evening with Garden State Psychedelic Collective Gather with your colleagues as we receive the healing medicine of sound at this special gathering of NJ psychedelic therapy practitioners.

Two very common anxiety thought patterns that overlap:
(1) CATASTROPHIZING: where we assume the worst
(2) FORTUNE TELLING: where we predict the future

No shame here: this is yet another survival mechanism evolution built into our body :) Our brain has to get very good at predicting 'what's next' in order to anticipate danger or threat. Our brain hates uncertainty!

However, when we are so stuck on worrying about the future -- something we literally cannot control -- we lose the present moment. We waste energy on something that may, or may not, actually come.

The best antidote to getting caught in a future-doom-spiral is to practice mindfulness. Notice the thoughts come in without judgment. They are here to protect you, but how useful are they, really? How realistic are they?

Then, try to reframe them in a positive light. Notice how that different positive thought opens you up to new moods & actions.

"What if it doesn't work out? --> what if it DOES?"

🦋

March is Social Work Month and the Council on Social Work Education invites you to celebrate it! The annual Social Work Month campaign is a time to inform the public, policymakers, legislators, and employers about how social workers support and empower millions of people every day, helping them to overcome life’s hurdles and live to their full potential. This year's theme, "Empowering Social Workers: Inspiring Action, Leading Change," is a call to support social workers so that they can fulfill their mission to enhance human well-being." 🦋

Basic Understanding of Somatic Processing
Exercises for practicing resourcing during fight, flight and frozen-ness 1.00 Hours
Releasing tension in the pectoral muscles and diaphragm using tools and breathing techniques that apply to the Polyvagal state. 1.00 Hours
The vitality of the hands , and additional exercises for understanding physiological responses in response to somatic responses and connections with mind and body. 1.00 Hours
•Understanding the ARRT framework as presented by Jane Clapp .
•Understanding the importance of continuously checking in throughout the entire session.
•Questions as a framework to help guide the clinician back to help holding the capacity to Co-regulate and also present to clients to help them to understand when they need to self regulate.
• Checking in with client for nonverbal consent, as well as verbal
• Comparing the window of tolerance to real life, examples.
• The three arousal zones by Dan Siegel
• Poly Vagal Ladder by Deb Dana as applied to a workout to understand somatic movement, and how it can be useful towards helping people practice moving towards Ventral Vagal
• Story follow state term by Stephen Porges
• Exercises demonstrating physiological responses to positive self talk and negative
• Practicing using somatic tools to help clients mindfully move towards Ventral Vagal independently.

representing 1 hour and 30 minutes of trauma-informed educational credit.
This is to certify that the above named individual has completed, in its entirety, the educational curriculum that is listed above, and has satisfactorily completed the educational requirements for this program. Satisfactory completion includes, but is not limited to, the following program requirements: Completion of all educational covered in the classroom session. Satisfactory completion of all required practice sessions utilizing material.

Permission to believe in magic forever! 🍀

💖I’m beyond excited to announce our newest practice offering! We have begun accepting referrals for our KAP Day Retreat, infused with Reiki and sound bath healing is the first of its kind for Presence of Mind Therapy in partnership with . This retreat is designed specifically for women in need of healing and sisterhood. We will expand our offering to other demographics in the future. Please share with practitioners, healers, and anyone who you think might benefit💖

Allow yourself to take the time to grow, and remember that not every season is always for growing. Some seasons are for survivng the harsh winter, and others are for blooming and spreading your petals in the sunlight. Change with the seaons as they come and go 🦋

Dawn is a Level III Reiki Master and holds various certifications in the Somatic Arts. Dawn integrates the training of evidence-based practice with Reiki energy healing work. The intention of Dawn’s classes, workshops, and sessions is to guide people through their wellness journey utilizing the body’s innate energetic wisdom and the mind-body-spirit connection. Her work helps support the body’s intelligence guiding it to come back to a state of balanced homeostasis. Dawn has completed training with renowned Reiki and Somatic practitioners including Jane Clapp’s Movement for Trauma Level II, Lune Innate’s Innate Healing Arts Traditional Usui Reiki Level III, William Lee Rand’s Holy Fire Usui Reiki Level I & II, Somatic Embodiment & Regulations Strategies, Stephen Porges, Peter Levine, Deb Dana, and Bessel van der Kolk’s Polyvagal Theory The Master Series, and Somatopia’s Relational Skills Trauma Certificate. 🦋