“To be a person is to have a story to tell.”
~ Isak Dinesen
Private sessions are a way to quickly familiarize yourself with mindfulness as a practice to help you achieve greater balance and ease in your life. Whether your issue is a chronic medical condition such as headaches, heart condition, chronic pain or dealing with difficult emotions, mindfulness offers a compassionate lens in turning toward rather than resisting what is present. Many people simply want to build a meditation habit. Mickie also works with clients pre-surgery to enhance the healing process post-surgery.
Although the sessions are not considered therapy, they do have a therapeutic effect. Together, we determine how the ancient and evidence-based mindfulness practices can serve you to help alleviate stress and anxiety. We create a personalized plan to address whatever issue is challenging you leaving you with a highly actionable tool box. All sessions are conducted on ZOOM and payable by Zelle or Venmo.
Dealing with Difficult Emotional States
Mindfulness can help us understand our emotions, why we’re feeling them and how to deal with them. We begin to uncover the message of emotions and actually welcome them rather than feel overwhelmed or aversive to them. Not to be confused with positive thinking, mindfulness helps us in noticing our emotions non-judgmentally — whether they are pleasant or unpleasant — to understand why we are feeling a certain way, to accept it and work WITH it rather than against it.
Chronic Headaches
Chronic headaches whether migraine or stress induced can be debilitating. They also affect people's ability to work, through decreased productivity, and interpersonal relationships which in itself leads to an increased stress burden. It's not a coincidence – headaches are more likely to occur when you’re stressed.
Stress is a common trigger of tension-type headaches and migraine. It can also trigger other types of headaches or make them worse. Wells et al (JAMA 2020) indicate: “The present study is consistent with most recent studies that demonstrate the positive effect of mindfulness on migraine disability, without improvements in headache frequency,22,69,70 although 2 recent studies showed mindfulness impacting migraine frequency.”
Post-Surgery Fear and Anxiety
It is normal to feel anxious prior to surgery, however research shows that this anxiety can increase postoperative pain resulting in slower improvement during the period of recovery.
Vaugh et al (2007, AORN) showed slower recovery, increased risk of infection, and other negative outcomes for patients experiencing preoperative anxiety. Dr Linda Carlson, chair of psychosocial oncology research at the University of Calgary in Canada indicates “stress and anxiety cause inflammatory cytokines and stress hormones to be secreted into the bloodstream. These, she says, “can have dampening effects on the immune system. Hence, people are less able to recover quickly from medical procedures like surgery, and their healing from wounds may be slower.” The good news is that mindfulness in combination with imagery can significantly reduce pre-operative anxiety and thus enhance post-operative healing.
Stress Reduction
“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf”. This is a quote from Dr. Jon Kabat Zinn, the creator of MBSR and a primary contributor to evidence - based mindfulness practices in the western world. Unfortunately, we cannot change our stressors but we can develop a different, healthier relationship with the way we think about them and relate to them. We work together to in our sessions to develop tools so that when a stressor arises, you are not just ready, but relish the opportunity to work with it in a different way.
Cardiovascular (CV) Health
Mindfulness can help people improve cardiovascular health in multiple ways. For example, a study led by Brown University researchers found that participants in a mindfulness-based blood pressure reduction program improved health behaviors that lower blood pressure.
A meditation practice will change how you cope with stress, which research shows will in turn lower your blood pressure.
Meditation can positively affect a measure of heart health known as heart rate variability (HRV). HRV reflects how quickly your heart makes small changes in the time interval between each heartbeat. A high HRV is a sign of a healthier heart. A 2013 study found that low HRV is associated with a 32% to 45% increased risk of heart attack or stroke among people without cardiovascular disease.
Basu Ray et al (2014 Ochsner Journal) indicate that “During the past few decades, multiple studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of meditation on various CV risk factors.”
The study authors conclude that “Meditation is believed to be efficacious in reducing sympathetic activity, lowering cortisol levels via modulation of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal pathway, and reducing negative behavioral activity. Studies have shown that in addition to decreasing CV mortality, the beneficial effects of meditation improve conditions such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and high cortisol levels. However, future studies on the effects of meditation on health are essential to establish a nonbiased view of this emerging landscape.”
Creating a Meditation Habit
We often have the ‘best of intentions” in this regard but in the end fall short of our goals or intentions. I am here to guide you and encourage you in creating a practice that will serve and support you rather than be another item on your “to do” list.
This will include finding the best time for formal meditation, the many different ways to practice formal meditation and how to incorporate informal practices into every moment of every day to create greater happiness and less suffering. I will guide you to become more comfortable with your own thoughts during meditation and possibly create a change in perspective on “thinking”.
My own meditation practice has created so many positive shifts in my personal life and relationships that it is with great enthusiasm I share what I have learned both formally and informally with others.