Join Dezryelle Arcieri, LMFT, 200YTT in this mindfulness practice to manage difficult emotions, pain, and self-judgments. This Body Scan meditation is an opportunity to be in the present moment, regardless of what is showing up or how it feels. Try it out and see if it will be useful for you.

Navigating the healthcare system can be an extremely vulnerable and sensitive process. The LGBTQIA2S+ communities have been disproportionately affected by healthcare discrimination and have a history of health oppression. For many trans, queer, and non-conforming individuals, being educated about their healthcare needs is a necessity and self-advocacy can help us to get the care we need and deserve from a system set up against us. Self-advocacy is when you speak for yourself, understand your rights, and ask for what you need. LGBTQ self-advocacy requires self-awareness, assertiveness, and preparation.

So often we focus on the difference between ourselves and others. In this meditation, you will have an opportunity to tap into connection and belonging, uncover similarities among our shared human experience, and foster a sense of common humanity.

Anxiety can serve as a way to keep us safe, as it signals alarm bells to our body that help us avoid or get out of life-threatening situations. The feeling of anxiety can also serve as a tool that helps motivate us to accomplish things that we care about in life. For some of us though, our body regularly rings those anxiety alarms in situations that aren’t necessarily life-threatening throughout the day. Therefore, it makes sense that we find ourselves googling “How to get rid of my anxiety” or have started therapy with the initial hopes of saying goodbye to anxiety altogether. However, since the feeling of anxiety is a part of this whole human experience thing we are all embarking on, what if we gave ourselves a break from working so darn hard to get rid of anxiety, and instead focused on how we could relate to the feeling of anxiety in a different way?

The disability rights movement has been in full swing in the United States and globally since the 1960s, and we have a lot to learn from the leaders of this movement throughout its history. There is now more of an understanding of the responsibility of everyone to help society become a safe space for people living with chronic illnesses and disabilities. However, if you yourself are coping with a chronic illness, you may be experiencing symptoms of chronic stress that need a whole lot more attention and understanding. If you are experiencing extra body tension, irritability, loss of interest in things you once enjoyed, issues with staying or falling asleep, or withdrawal from your community, you may be experiencing chronic stress.

Can grief cause anxiety? Grief related anxiety can present itself as panicking, excessive worrying, difficulty concentrating/focusing, trouble sleeping, restlessness, irritability, and with intrusive thoughts. Feelings of grief and anxiety can manifest in physical symptoms like nausea, stomach aches, fatigue, body aches/back pain, increase in heart rate, and trembling/shaking. Anxiety can also manifest in spiritual ways where you may be questioning reality, have fears around death and what happens next, or simply seeking answers through religious and or spiritual practices to find answers and a sense of hope.

Religious abuse occurs when someone uses religious teachings, beliefs, or practices for their own purpose and design to gain, or maintain, power and control over others. This can cause lasting impacts on others who believe in the religious teachings or feel unable to disagree with the teachings, including fear that if you choose to question the faith or even part of the faith, you will be kicked out of your community, you will disappoint others, or that you will go to hell because God is angry at you for your “lack of belief.” Other times people do not feel that they have the opportunity to say no or to escape harmful situations, because they do not know that they can choice to leave, to say no, or to have an opinion that differs from someone else, and often are explicitly told that they cannot disagree and must follow the religion’s rules.

I truly believe that we have everything we need within ourselves. By that, I mean that more often than not, our bodies give us clues as to what we are needing. Stomach growling? It’s time to eat. Eyes are straining and heavy? Time to sleep or rest your eyes. Feeling sad? Maybe you need to cry and release some pent up feelings. Taking care of yourself can also simply be waking up in the morning, getting out of bed, washing your face, brushing your teeth, then getting ready for the day. Taking care of yourself can also include recognizing that there is a major stressor in your life that you are struggling to manage and seeking help. Self-care is a lifelong practice to help maintain your overall health and wellbeing. When we take care of ourselves, we can more fully show up in our lives.

Join Jennifer Jahahn, MA, 200YTT in this gentle yoga practice designed to cultivate mindful awareness, manage stress, and increase self-compassion. This is a seated practice and gentle enough for any body, no yoga experience is necessary, and includes a breathing practice, gentle movement and embodiment exercises, and a short meditation. Enjoy!

Dating is a natural starting point for connection when getting to know a new intimate partner. However, dating throughout the entirety of a relationship can have a long-lasting impact on relationships. Date nights/days provides space for you and your partner to reconnect and rekindle that romantic spark, which increases intimacy, passion, and reduce stress. Dating your long-term partner prioritizes quality time, increases connection, facilitates communication, and can help you more deeply understand your partner.

For most of the United States, winter is truly here. For the Pacific Northwest where Satya Wellness Collective is located, this means months of dark, gloom, and rain. The clock has changed. The temperature has dropped. The darkness falls way too early, making us feel that it’s midnight when it’s only just 6:00 pm. Whether you are a lover of winter, a sun child, or somewhere in between, we can all be affected by the changes in temperature, sunlight, and energy that winter brings. Some of you might have a harder time waking up and getting out of the warmth and comfort of your bed, some of you might pine for your favorite outdoor activities, some of you might not feel motivated to work or cook, some of you may even have Seasonal Affective Disorder or experience a spike in your symptoms of depression. 

Join Sarah Gootee, LMHCA as she leads you through 3 simple and easy to use grounding practices to manage challenging thoughts, feelings and emotions.

Fall is officially here and with it comes more time for introspection as we cozy up indoors and look forward to the coming holidays. Many have started planning around holiday events and may be having mixed feelings about this season as it greets us once again amidst an ongoing pandemic. Commonly, Thanksgiving and Christmas spark feelings of excitement and joy for upcoming gatherings with family and friends. Many others may find the upcoming months more difficult to navigate. Some may already feel holiday blues taking hold, suffering from emotional overwhelm, including sadness, loneliness, irritability, anger, nervousness, or low energy. Among the range of emotions that come with the holiday blues, grief is the most commonly felt as reminders of important losses are easily triggered during traditional end of year reflection. Regardless of how you may feel today, this article can offer great therapeutic strategies to increase your bandwidth during this holiday season.

In this short guided meditation, Nora Nasir, LICSW, will assist you in mindfully connecting to your body in the present moment, offering your body compassion, and cultivating deep relaxation and nurturance.

All humans have different experiences, values, beliefs, histories, and styles of communication. When we come together in relationships and we blend those differences, which sometimes leads to conflict. All relationships include some kind of conflict. Conflict is unavoidable and attempting to avoid conflict usually just makes it worse.

Some people struggle with perfectionism as an adult because of the high standards that were expected of them as a child. This could have been in the area of academics, sports, music, or anything that a child could achieve greatness in, but we also see this in the behavior of children who were in highly stressful situations and/or traumatized by their caregivers. A child that is being emotionally, verbally, physically, sexually abused or neglected may learn to use perfectionistic behaviors as a means for safety by controlling their environment as much as they can.

This short breathing exercise, led by Dezryelle Arcieri, LMFT, is designed to help you manage a busy mind. If you are noticing a whole lot of thoughts in your head and feeling overwhelmed, this is the meditation for you. Try it out now!

The Introduction on the Lifespan Integration website states, “Lifespan Integration is a gentle, body based therapeutic method that heals without re-traumatizing.” The creator is a woman named Peggy Pace from the Seattle area. She initially created this method for victims of abuse or neglect, but it is now recognized as being a useful therapeutic method for a wide range of mental health issues.

Mental health is a challenging, yet an important public health issue. A major goal of public health is to identify barriers that individuals and communities face in living healthy, fulfilling lives. One such barrier is mental health challenges related to depression, anxiety, trauma, stress, burnout, culture, and more. People struggling with unaddressed mental health needs often find day-to-day activities, such as spending time with friends, going to school or work, doing their favorite hobbies, or following up with medical appointments, much more challenging. This can lead to additional distress and even worse health outcomes. In the field of public health, prevention and early intervention are vital to successfully addressing the health needs of individuals and communities.

Your life has changes significantly, and you are no longer the same person. Not being able to maintain your Pre-Covid body and lifestyle may have led to some negative and even harmful behaviors, including negative self-talk, self-judgement, comparison, restricting or other disordered eating behaviors, substance abuse, etc. Self-compassion, self-care, and acceptance is the antidote. If you find yourself struggling with some of these, please first seek care from a professional, such as a medical doctor or licensed therapist. Then, let’s practice some self-compassion: