Whole Connection

Let’s talk about holiday pressure It seems like people fall into one of two groups when it comes to the holidays. Either this is your favorite time of year or you really wish we could do away with the holidays all together from Thanksgiving on. Maybe you don’t feel that extreme, but no matter what side of the holiday aisle you find yourself on, there is no question that this time of year comes with some pressure. Pressure to see family Pressure to travel Pressure to purchase gifts Pressure to decorate Pressure to “feel” a certain way (jolly, merry, happy, excited, etc.) Pressure to cook the best turkey or tofurkey Pressure to have a clean house Pressure to take time off work This pressure can cause us to get caught in some thinking traps that aren’t always the most helpful. Here are some examples…   All or Nothing Thinking. This type of thinking shows up when we are putting our experiences into extremes. For example, “If my house isn’t perfectly clean and m...

  December 21st is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and considered to be a time of rebirth for the sun. This time of year, leading up to daylights savings, is hard for so many of us because of the shorter days, the cold, and the innate desire to hibernate vs. do.  It is easy to feel gloomy and down on ourselves because we experience a decrease in productivity and motivation when the sun goes away so early in the day.  Be gentle with yourself through this time. Cultivate self-compassion. It’s okay to feel this way. It is also okay to reframe the darkness. Hibernation serves just as much purpose as action.  This is a season of rest. All that blossomed in the Spring, grew into fullness in the Summer, and was harvested in the Autumn now needs rest and stillness in order to regerminate and prepare for the cycle to begin again. We asked our therapists at Whole Connection how they like to spend their time during this season and here is what they had...

  It is probably not hard to explain why relationships are important, but they are fundamental to our lives.  We have them everywhere and it has been shown that social connection with others not only has mental health benefits, but also can help us in our daily lives with work, school, and of course with families.  In each of these areas we are asked to learn how to communicate with each other and for every person that looks different. Sometimes the difficulty here is that people are not able to have the impact they wish to have on each other.  I think of this as a loss in translation and inability to share what they are hoping to communicate. In this case we miss each other and are not able to connect and instead of feeling better or closer we might feel even more distant. In relationships we have many different feelings that come up and by being able to express our impulses of why we might want to share and our feelings in the moment, we might be able to connect. ...

AS things continue with COVID-19, I wanted to share a few techniques that might help each of us in this time of stress and fear. The following are all things you can do on your own. Please watch the video as it will give more details and allow you to follow along. BREATHING COUNT To slow our mind and to bring some ease back to it there are a lot of different breathing counts that can help us relax. This short breathing count can do just that. It might take several times or even minutes long version of this. Start by breathing in over a count of 7 Hold that breath for a count of 3 to 5, depending on what feels good for your lungs Release over a count of 5 with intention of letting go extremely slow to start WALKING MINDFULNESS Walking Mindfulness is much like walking meditation. The difference here is that this can happen at any moment in the day and we are attempting to be mindful of our speed and what is around us as we walk. We can do this in seve...

  During this difficult time, we at Whole Connection want to share our sorrow for the loss of life of the many People of Color due to racism. The impacts of these losses impact many of you in different ways and we hope that some of the resources below are supportful and if we can be of more help please reach out.  Anti-Racism is core to the practice of counseling and psychotherapy and integral in all the work we do with clients. We understand therapists’ role as focused on relieving the suffering of people and the communities that shape and form their experiences. Being anti-racist means actively engaging in the room with clients, advocating for them and their groups of belonging, engaging our voices in the community to transform and change sociocultural myth and biases, and importantly looking at how we might perpetuate racist ideas and behaviors in our daily encounters so we stop automatic resposes and practice dimantling social norms in person-to-person relationships. B...

Hello! It is good to finally introduce myself to you all, and share a little bit about how I came to Whole Connection to serve you and this community. It feels that with all that has been going on this year, important things are being often pushed aside by urgent matters. So this introduction may come now a little late, but it still is relevant that you know what is happening at Whole Connection.   So maybe I can start with a little story about myself. My name is Laia and I am originally from Barcelona, with Catalan and Basque roots. I emigrated to the U.S. 9 years ago to start a new career in psychology, and specifically the interconnection between psychology and the body. Before landing in the U.S. I had been working at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, in the department of Political Science, doing research and teaching on models of democracy and the integration of immigrants in the city of Barcelona, that speaks about my interest in impacting larger community dynami...

  Let’s talk about holiday pressure It seems like people fall into one of two groups when it comes to the holidays. Either this is your favorite time of year or you really wish we could do away with the holidays all together from Thanksgiving on. Maybe you don’t feel that extreme, but no matter what side of the holiday aisle you find yourself on, there is no question that this time of year comes with some pressure. Pressure to see family Pressure to travel Pressure to purchase gifts Pressure to decorate Pressure to “feel” a certain way (jolly, merry, happy, excited, etc.) Pressure to cook the best turkey or tofurkey Pressure to have a clean house Pressure to take time off work This pressure can cause us to get caught in some thinking traps that aren’t always the most helpful. Here are some examples…   All or Nothing Thinking. This type of thinking shows up when we are putting our experiences into extremes. For example, “If my house isn’t perfectly cl...

  December 21st is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and considered to be a time of rebirth for the sun. This time of year, leading up to daylights savings, is hard for so many of us because of the shorter days, the cold, and the innate desire to hibernate vs. do.  It is easy to feel gloomy and down on ourselves because we experience a decrease in productivity and motivation when the sun goes away so early in the day.  Be gentle with yourself through this time. Cultivate self-compassion. It’s okay to feel this way. It is also okay to reframe the darkness. Hibernation serves just as much purpose as action.  This is a season of rest. All that blossomed in the Spring, grew into fullness in the Summer, and was harvested in the Autumn now needs rest and stillness in order to regerminate and prepare for the cycle to begin again. We asked our therapists at Whole Connection how they like to spend their time during this season and here is what they h...