RECOVERY AND WELLNESS MENTORING
There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground;
there are a thousand ways to go home again.
- Rumi
I work privately with a limited number of clients recovering from mental health challenges or compulsive behaviors/addiction.
Recovery is not linear or one-size-fits-all. It's also not circular; we never end up where we started. That turns out to be great news, but it can also be a lonely, overwhelming, heart wrenching process.
Together, we will explore the rocky, magnificent terrain of your life. I may not have been exactly where you are, but I promise that the ground is familiar and well worth treading.
Recovery from Mental Illness
Nearly everyone has heard about recovery from addiction. While recovery from mental illness is not a new concept, it isn't discussed often enough. The assumption is often that long-term recovery isn't realistic, especially for serious mental illness. That fact is that recovery is available to everyone, without exception.
The beauty is that each of us gets to define our own recovery. For me, being in recovery means that I'm tending to my health, practicing self-inquiry, and feeling a sense of purpose and connection in my life. In yoga, we would call that svastha, svadhyaya, and dharma.
You don't need to know those words to know that all that is necessary for recovery is being open to idea idea that we all have the innate capacity to heal. There are infinitely many paths from there, and I am here to support and guide you using tools from yoga, peer mentoring, and modern science.
Recovery from Compulsive Behaviors
If you are new to recovery, the world may suddenly feel very unfamiliar. Yoga will bring you back into your body by offering a method of building resilience while taming your hijacked nervous system. Yoga eases craving by tending lovingly to the pain that caused it, which is stored deeply inside of our bodies.
Working together, we will develop a sustainable practice to welcome you home to your Self as well a holistic plan to improve and recover your health.
Learning to stay in your body, with all its sensations, both joyful and difficult, is the
key to lasting recovery.
Established in recovery, but feeling stuck?
Whether you're experiencing big life changes, set-backs in recovery, or simply feeling the longterm effects of chronic stress, it's easy to feel confused, stuck, possibly even unmoored. Setting yourself back on a path to purpose, health, and connection may feel daunting.
Together, we will examine the terrain of your life, employ your strengths, and fortify the parts of your life that need more support. That may be as simple as optimizing health routines or as dramatic as being your ally as you make big, necessary, and often long overdue shifts in your life. In either case, our time together will lead to more freedom and joy so that can engage fully with life.
The magic of recovery
is that what ails us turns out to be the
fertile ground of transformation.
My Modalities
Peer Support
The most important credential I have is my lived experience recovering from complex trauma, mental illness, and addiction. Peers bring a level of understanding and connection that is often not felt in traditional healthcare. The emphasis in my work as a peer is to support self-determination and foster a recovery mindset. I'm on the path with you. I am a certified by the State of Oregon as Peer Wellness Specialist, and bring a commitment to professional ethics and continuing education to my work with clients.
The Practice of Yoga, Broadly Defined
Yoga was positive psychology before that term existed. It is a multidimensional discipline that includes a lot more that strengthening or stretching the body.
Yoga, strictly translated, means "union". The physical practice unites our minds, emotions, and bodies so that we are at home with any sensation. Our emphasis will be the breath, whether in poses or meditation, so that we restore the body's ability to abide in ease and a sense of safety.
Yoga philosophy always informs my work with clients. Ultimately, our aim is to wake up to the absolute reality of our wholeness and connection. Thanks to yoga, we have thousands of years of teachers, texts, and testimonials to lead the way.
Yoga Nidra
Yoga nidra, or yogic sleep, is a guided meditation is done lying down that has myriad positive effects. At its most basic, yoga nidra offers deep, nurturing, complete relaxation of the entire body and mind. The system of yoga nidra that I offer includes setting resolves while in a completely open and relaxed state so that the subconscious is recruited to empower and direct us exactly in the direction we want to go.
Other Modalities
I bring knowledge and experience with intuitive eating, modern nutrition and exercise, ayurveda, positive psychology, motivational interviewing, and nonviolent communication to all my sessions. If I have a tool I think will be helpful, I will certainly offer it!
Please note: Breathwork experiences are not offered in mentoring sessions. The primary reason for that is that the two practices are very different and each deserves its own context and setting.
In addition to being a Certified Peer Wellness Specialist (PWS) and ERYT-500 yoga teacher, I am a certified Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher, Wellness Practitioner (CWP), and Breathwork Facilitator.
The body of scientific research supporting yoga as a healing modality is growing rapidly.