Life By Design Therapy

  The likelihood that you know someone, or will know someone, who has experienced a traumatic event is high: 70% of U.S. adults have lived through at least one traumatic experience. You can help a friend who is experiencing a trauma response cope with their distress in the following ways: 💙 Validate their emotional reactions. A wide variety of emotional responses, including anger, shame, guilt, and sadness, are normal after a traumatic event. 💙 Provide practical support. Offering to help with chores or take care of the kids may free up time and space for your loved one to process and heal. 💙 Don't rush the healing process. Healing does not occur on a universal timeline, and you cannot force someone to heal before they are ready. 💙 Help them locate resources. If the trauma response persists more than two weeks after the event, they may want to consider seeing a mental health professional. Life by Design Therapy is one resource that offers support to individuals coping with trau

  Emotional intelligence, or EQ, is a term encompassing many skills related to our interpersonal relationships. Examples of skills that are considered part of our EQ include emotional awareness and empathy. EQ begins with your perception of your own and others' emotional state. It requires awareness and understanding of how these emotions may influence thoughts and behavior. With this knowledge, we can then manage our emotions or provide comfort to others. Therapy can help you strengthen your emotional intelligence by identifying areas of improvement in your relationships and strengthening your emotional awareness. Contact Life by Design Therapy today to learn more about EQ and the role it plays in your life. https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/

  If you’re interested in attachment, check out our series on Attachment Theory , explaining the four styles of attachment that develop in childhood and how they affect our relationships as an adult. You'll learn: ❤️ Why our relationships with our caregivers are so important ❤️How childhood trauma impacts attachment styles ❤️The difference between anxious, avoidant, and disorganized attachment ❤️Ways to develop a more secure attachment style ....& more! Raise your hand if you can't wait to read this series 🙋🏿🙋🏼‍♀️ https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/

  You are not your emotions. You are experiencing your emotions. Whatever you are struggling with -- anger, sadness, worry -- does not need to become part of your identity. Emotions are temporary visitors, not permanent personality traits! Contact Life by Design Therapy today to learn how you can acknowledge difficult emotions without becoming them. https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/

  HOW SOMATIC THERAPY CAN HELP PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA When we've experienced something traumatic, we may not be consciously aware of the ways in which the trauma affects our everyday life . However, our bodies remember what has happened to us, and they store those memories as uncomfortable (sometimes painful) somatic sensations. If you have survived trauma, you may find that you hold a lot of tension in your muscles or that you feel disconnected from your body. This can occur when our bodies are reminded of the trauma, even if our minds aren't aware of it. Somatic therapy is a type of psychotherapy that asks us to listen to -- and learn from -- our bodily sensations. By strengthening the relationship between mind and body, we can heal from the effects of trauma , both physically and emotionally. Here is how it works. HOW OUR BODIES REMEMBER TRAUMA Unexplained physical ailments, like headaches or muscle tension, are common in trauma survivors. While they may be related to your t

  "No" is a complete sentence ❌ You do not owe anybody an excuse or an explanation for setting the boundaries that feel right for you. That being said, it's completely normal to struggle to set boundaries, especially if you are used to pleasing others. Contact Life by Design Therapy today to get matched with a licensed therapist who can help you identify your needs and set authentic boundaries accordingly. https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/holistic-somatic-therapists

  We all have emotional needs. Having needs does not make us "needy." It makes us human! Your emotional needs are the conditions you need to feel happy, comfortable, and secure in your life and your relationships. Somatic therapy can help you identify these needs by putting you in touch with your body's physical and emotional cues. Contact Life by Design Therapy today to learn more about the body -- and what it can teach us about our emotional needs! https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/

  What does your intersectional frame look like? Our therapist Ashley Gregory explores the connection between the "personal" and the "political" in her latest blog post for Life by Design Therapy ❣️ https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/ashley-gregory-mft

  Touch is a human need. As far back as the 1800s, researchers noticed that babies who were not cuddled failed to thrive. Humans are instinctively wired for touch -- which is why touch therapy can be such an effective component of somatic psychotherapy. Touch therapy, when aligned with your therapeutic goals and operating within ethical codes, can have significant benefits, but it may not be right for every patient. Contact Life by Design Therapy for an evaluation to determine if touch therapy could be helpful for you. https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/

  Our bodies have built-in mechanisms to protect us from overwhelming, intense situations. The freeze response is just one example of these coping mechanisms. "Freezing" doesn't always have to mean literally freezing still. It can also include exhaustion, "zoning out," or the inability to concentrate. This response isn't bad; there is nothing wrong with you if your productivity is impacted by a fast-moving situation. It is your body's natural, protective response to stress . Pay attention to the signals your body is giving you in situations where you might be demanding a lot from yourself. When work or home life gets busy, check-in with your body. Ask yourself, "How am I feeling?" And if you notice any signs of freezing, don't fight them: slow down and remember to be kind to yourself and your process 💙 https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/

  ✨ Why somatic therapy at Life by Design? ✨ We believe that healing and transformation happen within present moment experiences, and use this belief to shape our work. Our goal as therapists is to guide you towards accessing more information and lead you to the path of experiencing wholeness. We believe this is the road to growth, paradigm shifts, challenging unhealthy patterns, and, most importantly, to the FREEDOM OF CHOICE. Somatic therapy encourages you to choose yourself, every day, by choosing to be aware of your body in the present moment. Contact Life by Design Therapy today to learn more about our openings for somatic therapy. https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/family-therapy

  "To be disconnected from our body is to be disconnected from ourself." -  @_lisaolivera  💙 The connection between our bodies, our minds, and our concept of the self is of tantamount importance in somatic therapy . We hold onto so much of our previous experiences as physical sensations, making our bodies one of the fullest expressions of our memories and identities. Your body stands as a monument to every accomplishment you have made; every challenge you have overcome. Today, I encourage you to ask yourself: how is your body a reflection of YOUR innermost self? What does your body, its sensations, and the way you present yourself say about YOU? ✨ https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/holistic-therapy

  It's amazing how often we don't realize how certain people and situations impact our mental, physical, and emotional well-being. Your body will tell you when something in your life is off. Practice awareness , listen to your body's cues, and assess when something doesn't feel right. https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/

  HOW YOUR RELATIONSHIP MAY CHANGE POST-PANDEMIC The COVID-19 pandemic brought major changes to every area of our lives, including our romantic relationships. From new couples quarantining together to married couples coworking from home, many relationships faced momentous challenges that brought partners closer together (or pulled them apart). As we adjust to the "new normal" post-pandemic, we can expect our relationships to further grow, shift, and evolve in novel ways. For example, we may find that our relationship has become stronger as a result of surviving a pandemic together, or that quarantining together strained our connections with our partners. It's important to normalize all of these changes to our post-pandemic relationships. After all, the COVID-19 pandemic inflicted unprecedented trauma on a global scale, and such a dramatic experience is bound to change the way we relate to ourselves and others. Whatever you and your partner are going through, you are not a

  DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH: HOW TO REVEAL THE HIDDEN GEMS IN SAYING “NO” SAYING “NO” CAN BE ILLUMINATING  A few years ago, a friend of my partner and I asked about staying at our place during a road trip up the California Coast. She and a friend of hers were going to be passing by the Bay Area on a weeknight. While we were thrilled to hear from her, my partner and I both had to work that week and had no chance to take time off. We considered our needs and her request carefully. We absolutely wanted to reminisce about our college days and laugh until our faces hurt. We also knew that having our friend and her companion stay over would lead to staying up too late and feeling drained the next day. Ultimately, after a thoughtful assessment of what we had going on in our life, we decided we weren’t going to be able to host a sleepover.   We relayed this boundary to our friend, letting her know we would love to have her over on a weekend. Our friend took this boundary personally, suggesting that

  When was the last time you felt secure? Where were you? Who were you with? What did your body feel like? Resourcing is a somatic therapy technique that allows you to create a sense of stability and safety. Your past is full of emotional resources you can draw on to cope with distress in the present moment. These resources include visualizing (i.e. resourcing) a "safe place" or "protective figures" associated with positive memories in the mind and body. By remembering these positive people, places, and events from our past, we can effectively "download" the bodily sensations associated with calmer or happier times, to bring our minds and bodies back to a better place. https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/individual-therapy

  Muscle memory is a powerful thing 💪🏾 Like riding a bike, our bodies instinctively remember previous trauma, even when -- in the case of suppressed traumatic memories -- we ourselves do not. Somatic therapy involves the body in the therapeutic process to help it release traumatic shock. Through somatic therapy, your body learns to process trauma, just as your mind does. Life by Design Therapy offers a team of qualified somatic therapists to support you throughout your journey toward catharsis 💙 Contact us to learn more about how we can help you heal. https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/trauma-therapy

  Body awareness is about more than just our physical selves: it is the connection of our mind and body as one 💫 Having awareness of the body is important because our bodies hold onto past memories and experiences. Studies show there is a relationship between trauma and medical conditions; physical manifestations of trauma can include migraines, upset stomach, and hormone imbalance. Realizing your own breathing and physical sensations fosters a pathway to change, helping you feel more comfortable in your own skin. Somatic therapists help you track changes in your bodily sensations to recognize signs that give you clues as to what is going on in your internal mind. Today, we encourage you to ask yourself: what would it feel like if I was more aware of my body's responses to my memories and my surroundings? What would it look like? Describe it, visualize it, and manifest this body awareness in the present moment ✨ https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/

  When's the last time you listened to what your body was saying to you? 🤸 Learn to speak your body's language in somatic therapy . We'll help you translate the messages your body is sending you through sensation, so you can let go of whatever is no longer serving you. https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/

  Much like an effective workout routine, therapy requires consistency in order to be successful 💪🏾 Research shows that therapy is most effective on a once-weekly basis. When sessions are spread out, there is less room for deep healing work, growth, and change. For these reasons, we recommend that all clients begin with once-weekly sessions at Life by Design Therapy. Contact us today for answers to more of your FAQs about starting therapy! https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/faq

  Grounding can help us feel more connected to our bodies and the earth when we feel anxious or overwhelmed. Try one of these grounding exercises next time your anxiety becomes too much to bear: 💙 Regulate your breathing by exhaling longer than you inhale. 💙 Try "Earthing." Take off your shoes & feel your feet against the ground. 💙 Name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can touch, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste. 💙 Eat or drink something slowly. Notice the texture, temperature, and taste. To learn more techniques to manage your anxiety, contact Life by Design Therapy and schedule a consultation with one of our qualified therapists today. https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/anxiety-therapy

  The COVID-19 pandemic brought major changes to every area of our lives, including our romantic relationships. As we adjust to the "new normal" post-pandemic, we can expect our relationships to further grow, shift, and evolve in novel ways. Most, if not all, romantic relationships have continued to evolve after the pandemic. In our recent blog post , we share some of the most common changes relationships are facing post-pandemic, and how you and your partner can navigate them to bring about the best possible outcome for both individuals. https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/blog/how-your-relationship-may-change-post-pandemic/7/2021