Dr. Amy Alexander - Phoenix Mind Body Medicine

07/04/2022

"Can mind-body practices have a social impact? Can they enhance our relationships with each other and the natural world, to see beyond selfish interests?

Sat Bir Khalsa, a Harvard and Kripalu research scientist [Your Brain on Yoga] thinks so, and he lists four benefits of mind-body practices:

Self-Regulation: emotional & stress regulation, resilience, equanimity, & self-efficacy
Awareness: attention, mindfulness, concentration, cognition, & meta-cognition
Fitness: mental alertness, circulation, respiratory function, & self-efficacy
Spirituality: transcendence, unitive state, flow, transformation, life meaning/purpose

We can see the powerful impact on human identity in all areas: positive behavior change, social responsibility, relationships, quality of life, values, life purpose and meaning, and spirituality.

Mind-body practices help us to take action for the common good. "

- Ken Nelson

06/06/2021

Ugh, Ontario. Please stop trying to erode physician delivered, OHIP covered, mental health services. We have more patients than ever who need meds and/or therapy that cannot be delivered over a computer-based CBT program. This isn't the time to drop the ball.

Due to a billing code issue, that the government refuses to correct, many Family Docs will soon be docked pay if they need to refer patients to another Family Doc/Psychotherapist for meds and therapy help.

We don't have enough Psychiatrists and Family Docs with focused Psychotherapy practices help patients who need more than their primary care docs can offer.

Here's an OP Ed for more info...

Ontario is in a mental health crisis. Yet, patient access to OHIP-funded physician-psychotherapy is being significantly restricted by a hastily made pandemic…

08/07/2020

I'm so impressed by the compassionate and non-pathologizing nature of this model of mind. Internal Family Systems has changed my practice and the way I work with others, my family and my self.

IFS therapy is upending the thinking around schizophrenia, depression, OCD, and more

07/31/2020

Many of these tips and tools are ones I cover in my OHIP-covered, online groups for the mind body treatment of stress, chronic pain, chronic mental or physical illness and insomnia. These programs offer a safe, closed group experience (with the same people each session), over many weeks, to help reduce isolation and to help you connect to supportive community.

Check out my website to see details about the groups starting in September and October 2020.

Dr. James Gordon weighs in on the mental health challenges we face during the pandemic and what we can do to cope.

07/27/2020

These are all great ways to boost mood. Try a few out today. 🙌

😌☀️

via .official

06/02/2020

Words cannot describe the range of feelings I, and likely you, have felt about the heartbreaking events of the past few weeks regarding racialized violence.

As many of you know, I incorporate a lot of mindfulness in my work. Mindfulness can be a tool for coping, but also a tool that prepares our nervous systems and minds for right action and speech.

Black Lives Matter. I'd like to amplify the work of this Black Psychologist, Dr. Candice Nicole. Her free meditations are on this page (but please consider donating, as well). One is for Black folks and one is for those of us who wish to cultivate an anti-racist mindset, as well as our ability to be allies.

As a counseling psychologist, a healer, and a Black woman with a love ethic to my activism, this project is one of my contributions to the Movement for Black Lives. I was trained to use guided medi…

01/12/2020

Here's to authentic growth in 2020. Happy new year to you all!

The ideal versus reality of growth.



HT Lisa Olivera Therapy, LMFT #106546

01/04/2020

Happy New Year to you all! I know that my new year has begun with a few unexpected challenges. Meditations like these have come in handy and I encourage you to check them out. Remember, training your brain takes a combination of kindness and discipline. Keep up the good work!

We’ve rounded up our most popular guided meditations from the past year to help deepen your practice and provide support for every aspect of your life.

12/22/2019

May you have a restful Winter Solstice and Season.

The solstice is an ideal time to gift yourself with an embodied experience of the peace and stillness that can be found in nature during this season.

12/04/2019

Many times, we need to let tears flow before the nervous system can settle...

Keep in mind that grief doesn’t just dissolve. Instead it arises in waves and gradually, with growing compassion, there comes more space around it. The heart opens and in its own time, little by little, gaps of new life—breaks in the rain clouds—appear. The body relaxes and freer breaths appear. This is a natural cycle you can trust—how the heart renews itself.

Image:

11/29/2019

You bet Mind-Body Therapies work for Chronic Pain Management! Not only do they help us live with more ease, but they help us reduce (or, in some cases, eliminate) the need for medications like opioids/narcotics.

My next, OHIP-covered, Living with Ease: Mind Body Medicine for Chronic Pain program starts in October 2020. It's not just a mindfullness program, either. Many effective Mind Body Therapies are covered, in addition to cutting edge information on how you can change your brain to experience less pain.

Take a look at this recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine:

Mind-body therapies were linked with small declines in opioid dose, a promising finding in light of concerns surrounding the scale of opioid prescriptions in the United States.

11/08/2019

Such a lovely article on how hearing and working with our parts can be powerful medicine. If you haven't seen "Inside Out", please do!

We can learn a lot about basic emotional health from this animated children's movie