As a teacher, yoga therapist, and life mentor I see the struggles my clients face every day with mental and emotional well-being and the way this impacts every area of their life. I also consider myself a educator, influencer and advocate to smash the stigma that hovers over mental health today.  I want to show everyone, no matter what they have struggled, suffered, or survived through, that they can achieve the mental health they desire and deserve and that we will celebrate their actions to do so.  In this blog, we will share some tips to maximize your well-being beyond talk therapy.

Navigating healing is a challenging process for most and can seem like an endless journey. In some ways we get stuck in the “darkness” and it can act as our security blanket but also a divider between us and the real world. There are fantastic interventions available today but the truth is society is a bit conditioned to pay more attention to the darkness - it sells after all.  And it seems most interventions for dealing with our struggles are focused on labels, diagnosis codes, and analyzing every shade of darkness in our lives but there are simple and beautiful practices we can employ in our lives to navigate the darkness and realize that bliss, joy, contentment and recognizing the beauty of life is available to us anytime.

In this blog post share insight about boundaries, and how our past trauma and adversity can impact our ability to recognize that boundaries are needed, be able to communicate them, and uphold them. This can also impact our commitment to self-care and practice.

Our ability to advocate for ourselves is impacted by many things including how we were raised, if we suffered an adverse childhood or adulthood experience, and the internal reality that exists within our mind in terms of how we see, think, and perceive the world around us.  

One of the biggest challenges we might face when we can’t advocate for ourselves is being unable to set healthy boundaries.  I wrote a post last month on boundaries and self-care if you want to check it out.    I believe that boundares are a vital part of our self-care and mental health plan.  Today, we will share five ways that my work as a yoga therapist can help someone develop self-advocacy skills.