Tag: change

women performing yoga on green grass near trees

Yoga Therapy vs Psychotherapy

by Amanda Vaughan, posted in Treatment, Yoga

Over the past pretty much 10 years I’ve been slowly but surely working toward getting my Yoga Therapy Certificate with the International Association of Yoga Therapists. I finally completed that task last month. I had finished up my training with an absolutely wonderful studio out of San Francisco, Purusha Yoga School. I met some amazing people and learned so so much. I am actually sad that it is over more than excited about the certificate. Anyway it has always been a dream of mine to incorporate more yoga into my mental health practice. This has been difficult because my profession is Clinical Social Work and there is a very strong business model for a therapy practice that utilizes insurance and out of pocket. The clients I see need to be able to use their insurance and I don’t want to be so boutique that I can’t cater to the average working person whom is most likely not going to pay my hourly rate weekly. Some can and will because of the benefit, but most of us want to use our insurance if we have it.

So the challenge has been how do I work in yoga therapy since insurance doesn’t cover that. Well through this last training I have received so much insight how this all could work and finally decided to take the jump and transition my practice to something much more holistic. It is very exciting for me.

I think understanding how yoga therapy and traditional psychotherapy are similiar and different is really good to keep as a fore front as I chart this next course. Here’s a brief comparison of the two:

Both Yoga Therapy and Traditional Psychotherapy are the same in the following ways:

Both

  • Work on rewriting negative thoughts/experiences into something more positive that helps get a person unstuck and to move toward  optimal wellness.
  • Work on understanding where a person is  on their journey toward wellness and meet the client where they are at.
  • Are confidential
  • Use skills of motivational enhancement therapy and cognitive behavior therapy
  • Set up SMART (specific measurable, attainable, relative, time sensitive) goals for treatment.
  • Teach mindfulness and relaxation skills
How Yoga Therapy and Traditional Psychotherapy are different:
  • Traditional Psychotherapy uses predominantly talk and utilizes one or more of the many models of psychotherapy available to Licensed Counselors.
  • Yoga therapy uses the framework of the 8 limbs of yoga to build a treatment plan.
  • Yoga therapy uses Sanskrit terminology to identify and explain concepts while traditional psychotherapy uses western medical terminology.
  • Yoga therapy uses the chakra system to assess health and to inform treatment planning.
  • Yoga Therapy  follows ayurvedic principles to guide treatment.
  • Most traditional psychotherapy is covered under insurance; yoga therapy is not.

As you can probably see they do have a good bit that overlaps. So the plan is for the business to focus primarily where the two overlap. The majority of Yoga Therapy can be billable with insurance as long as it follows psychotherapy models. I still plan to offer classes that are geared more on teaching versus therapy and those would be out of pocket.

So it’s a new chapter for Grounded for Peace. We start off the transition this summer with offering more specific yoga therapy individual sessions and some small therapeutic groups that incorporate specific strategies in Meditation, Breath work, and Relaxation. As times goes and when I am able to add more staff, we will begin offering more targeting therapeutic groups for anxiety, addiction, and trauma.

If you are interested in knowing more about upcoming groups, click on “Contact Us” at the top and leave us a message.

Making “Not-So-Good” Habits Work for You

by Amanda Vaughan, posted in Change, Mindfulness, Stress Management, Wellness topic

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“A process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential.” – This is SAMHSA’s working definition of recovery.  this could be recovery from Mental Health or Physical Health concerns.

Recently I have seen  a good many clients that have come in reporting very similar symptoms.  They feel somewhat down or even distressed.  They are functioning relatively okay with work and home but feel like they have lost their way.  They report feeling empty, tired, anxious.  Most of these individuals have been very involved in family and/or community.  They have been the family coordinators, the church volunteers, the community activists.

When looking at the above working definition of recovery, these folks are definitely self directive, but somehow the other two areas of health and wellness and full potential have been overshadowed by others needs (others in their own family and others in the community).  When using the needs assessment tool I incorporate into my practice (the DLA20), it is clear that many facets of their life have been neglected and continue to be drained.  There’s just not enough nourishment and recovery built into their lives to keep pace with all the other routines in their life.

We live in a society of go, go, go.  Ample supplies of caffeine and energy supplements.  Ample supplies of foods and other items to grab quickly from moving to one activity to another.  We more and more are getting out of habits of nourishment and allowing for our bodies to recover.   Recovery is not just a mental feat but very much a physical feat as well.    We have to develop healthy routines to nourish our bodies and brain.  These routines have to be consistent in order to make an impact.   Just like we consistently go to the coffee pot, check Facebook, or volunteer to help another, we need to consistently eat nourishing foods, take time for some quiet,  and get some stress relieving physical activity.  But how?  It sounds simple but if it were that simple we wouldn’t have this problem of course.

The trick is to begin by connecting one activity to another.  The activity can be good or bad.  If you drink coffee every morning or check Facebook before bed on a consistent basis, then these are great activities to link with more nourishing habits like 10 slow breaths or eating an apple.    Once you have successfully linked these habits consistently you can build in more healthy habits like a walk or some yoga.  It’s better to start small though.  Later you may decide to even phase out the original activity, especially if it was doing more harm than good.  Getting overwhelmed and not doing anything at all is not an option if you want to stop the cycle of constant drain, low energy, and feeling like you’re in a fog.

Sometimes we need reminders, so setting timers, getting others involved are great ways to ensure more consistency.  Also subscribing to a blog whether it is mine or another wellness author could also be a good way to get a tickler to continue to work on developing healthier practices.  As with much in life persistence against failure eventually develops consistency regardless, so keep trying.

Maintaining Progress

by Amanda Vaughan, posted in Change, Wellness topic

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January, the time of resolutions.   Just checking out Facebook or talking to friends or coworkers you are bound to hear about new projects people are attempting.  Eating better, exercising, losing weight are big ones.  Also many people this year are de-cluttering and working on simplifying their life.  Some are doing away with bad habits like smoking or other dependencies.

Most of these resolutions are very admirable and when people first decide on them you can hear the optimism and hope in their voice.  But come March or April, how many are still focused on these resolutions.  How many in August?  December?  It’s difficult maintaining change and progress, especially if change is incremental.  So how does one maintain focus and progress?

I strongly believe that setting solid goals that are specific, measurable, realistic and with a deadline is the best place to start.  In counseling we use the acronym “SMART” to guide us in making goals with clients.  Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound.  So if the goal was to lose weight then you would want to set a deadline to lose a certain amount of pounds.  You would need to do some research to find out what is a healthy amount to lose a week (usually no more than 2 lbs is advised) and make sure your amount and deadline are realistic and attainable.  Then you would set small weekly goals and research the best options to lose weight to choose your strategy.

The next step would be incorporating supports.   Would you benefit from joining weight watchers or finding a friend to exercise with?  Do you need to track your diet in a journal or use an app like Myfitness pal..?

The third step is then identifying obstacles like donuts at work or eating leftovers from kids’ plates.  Then you develop strategies for each of these obstacles; like having alternative snacks handy at work or having kids clean up their meal themselves so you are not tempting to grab a bite..

Fourth is evaluation and noting the progress and setting fourth another goal.  This is where most people throw in the towel actually.  The idea of seeing failure is sometimes enough to call it quits.  I like to think of failure as an opportunity to really understand what didn’t work.  What obstacle do I need to prepare more for and what are my options for this obstacle?  This is where breakthroughs are made but so many times we are too fearful of feeling like a failure or we are burned out on the task at hand that we really don’t learn from it or keep the progress we really did make.