The year was 1992. I was a high school freshman in Mr. Eisenblatter’s art class, and the assignment was to draw a potato. The potato sat before me, earthy and prosaic; I struggled to translate the image onto paper. I could see it, but I couldn’t yet convey it. Eisenblatter grew frustrated with my failures. Taking the paper and pencil from me, he drew over my sketch, shading in potato eyes, cross-hatching dirt, masterfully creating the potato illusion that I’d been unable to d

the somatic connection in psychotherapy I'm a big supporter of psychotherapy. In fact, I just started my Master's Degree in Clinical...

Show of hands: how many of us think of the ego as a "bad thing"-- something we should be trying to get rid of? 🙋🏼‍♀️ It's not uncommon...

How do we own what's ours within systems of unequal power distribution? Recently, a friend of mine and her partner found themselves in a fundamental disagreement over how to handle a situation. They're both white, cisgender, able-bodied, raised in upper-middle-class homes. The biggest difference between their social positions is that he is male, she is female. Additionally, he works in STEM and she is a social worker. Our culture values his work more highly than hers, so he m

Many of us learned how to hold our bodies from family or authority figures at a young age. "Pull your shoulders back!" "Don't slouch!," we were told. And so, we learned to stand, and sit, with our ribcage forward, and our shoulders "back." In the gym, we might sometimes hear "proud chest" as a cue not to slouch forward. We tend to think of this as "standing up straight," or having "good posture." But if we take a look at this image of a woman sitting in meditation, we can see

Why do we meditate? Or, if we don’t, why do we think we should meditate? For many folks, the goal is to be more mindful. We want to enjoy...

A few weeks ago, over the holidays, I was in line at a Starbucks when the mother of one of the employees came into the store to surprise...

If you’re someone who works with anxiety, you already know how overwhelming it can be. This is especially true for folks with a history...

⁣If you’re like me, you’ve experienced Imposter Syndrome in your lifetime– that sense that you should know more than you do, that you’re...

Of course, we all know that each of us sees things a little differently. For example, if you’re lactose intolerant (or a vegan), dairy...

In 1987, Dr. Francine Shapiro went for a walk. As she walked, she noticed that her eyes were moving from side to side, and that some...

three important lessons from The New York Times’ “Spelling Bee” game I love words and word games. I love etymology, the nuanced imagery that a perfect word evokes, the cultural implications of a word choice. I even love thinking about spelling words. So it’s not terribly surprising that one of my favorite daily activities is the New York Times’ “Spelling Bee” puzzle. It’s a simple enough game: you’re given seven letters and asked to make as many words as you can from the comb

I’m going to say something a little revolutionary here: it’s possible to work hard without feeling absolutely terrible. I think our...

Our intuition is our gut instinct, our deeper knowing, Jung’s “perception via the unconscious,” which guides us when logical information...

Have you ever met a new person and felt an immediate sense of unease or distrust– something about them just doesn’t feel “right”? They...

to your movement/wellness professional (yoga teacher, personal trainer, coach, etc.) I wrote this post the other day after a few sessions with clients who have a deep-seated apology habit– even when there’s nothing to apologize for. I always express that there’s no need to apologize, and that my job is to help this process feel as supportive and useful as it can– but I also understand that many of us have been made to feel that it’s not okay to ask for “special” treatment, or

here’s what to do. Isometric contractions are a popular (and powerful) choice for mobility & strength work. They’re incredibly useful as...

and how can we work with it in the body? Have you ever found yourself feeling really jumpy, or on edge– for days, or weeks at a time? For some folks, this can become so common they don’t even notice it anymore. Hypervigilance is an enhanced state of sensory sensitivity and reactivity. Our nervous systems are always scanning for things that might be dangerous. If everything’s going pretty well in our lives, this is a pretty low-key function. If we’re living with the effects of

The other day I was listening to a podcast. The “commercial break” was 30 seconds of “the sounds of nature.” As I listened to the sounds of a woodland scene (birds, trees, wind), I felt my body softening and relaxing unconsciously. I didn’t need to make anything happen– it happened naturally. Then, the sounds faded, and a voice told me that the 30 seconds of nature was brought to me by Nature Valley Granola Bars. I had an instant reaction of being super pissed off. I felt lik

What’s your capacity to be embodied, present and engaged with anger? Before we jump into this topic, it might be helpful to reflect for a moment on your relationship with anger: When you read or hear the word “anger,” what do you notice in your body? In your personal history, what has happened when you experience or display anger? What do you feel or notice in yourself when someone around you is angry? Do you feel like you need to get away, or fix the the problem for them? Do