The Top Benefits of Reiki Healing for Mental Health and Well-Being

Reiki is an old healing technique that’s been used for several centuries. It has been reported to provide significant results by using energy transfer, positive mindsets, and gentle touch.

If you are interested in Reiki for mental and emotional health and well-being, you will find it offers several benefits. Keep reading to learn what these are.

Promote Balance and Harmony

Reiki is a type of non-evasive treatment that provides ample benefits. It is very effective in helping achieve overall wellness. By way of energy transfer, you will achieve balance across all systems of your body, spirit, and mind. This creates a sense of harmony and helps you focus and live a more positive lifestyle.

Relaxes and Releases Stresses and Tensions from Your Body

Another factor that many people love about Reiki is that it helps you just “be.” This offers a few minutes of nothing but pure relaxation. As the receiver, you can release tension and clear your head, which is why it is so beneficial when healing from trauma. Those who have been through traumatic experiences often don’t have the opportunity to let go of the feelings it creates, even for just a few minutes.

The energy transfer that occurs during a Reiki session makes you feel relaxed, lighter, and peaceful. This also allows you to reach out to your inner self and reflect on your life.

Break Down Energy Blocks and Balance Your Spirit, Body, and Mind

With regular Reiki treatments, you can enjoy the ongoing flow of unblocked energy through your entire body. While this may sound unusual, when this happens, it helps you de-stress while enhancing your memory and learning and promoting mental clarity. It can also reduce pain and encourage physical healing of the body.

If energy passageways in your body are blocked, it means positive energy can’t move to some parts of your body. This can result in pain, anger, fear, mood swings, and so much more. With ongoing Reiki treatments, these passages remain unblocked.

Cleanse the Body of Toxins

Modern Reiki techniques, which have been built off the ancient practices, can be used to help your body go back into the “self-healing” or “repair” state of digest and rest. When this state is triggered in your body, it means you can self-cleanse and eliminate unneeded or negative energies. It also helps protect the body from immune system failure, exhaustion, and burnout.

Improve Focus and Clear the Mind

When you truly invest in a Reiki session, it will help reset your mind and help you remember to live in the present moment. The positive transfer of energy lets the mind refocus on what is going on now, let go of past mistakes, and avoid focusing in on future-related anxiety. This will help you accept where your life is now while promoting positive reactions to people and things that happen.

If you want to heal, it may be time to consider using Reiki. It offers all the benefits mentioned here and more.

Healing Your Trauma

The idea of trauma is relative because what is traumatic to me may not seem traumatic to you. It does not mean that one needs less care and attention than the other. Traumas are also not always easily identifiable as they may manifest in different ways much later in life. The one thing we can be sure of is that no trauma is trivial.

More often than not, people think that being stoic when faced with trauma or pushing it to the farthest reaches of the mind helps. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. It will rear its ugly head sometime or another when you least expect it.

Triggers That Bring Up Past Trauma

Anything can trigger the memory that brings back the old trauma to mind, such as a completely unrelated incident, harsh words from a loved one, and witnessing another's traumatic experience. 

A certain traumatic incident may also establish a pattern of behavior that follows you through life.

Seek Professional Counsel

While you may only seek counsel when something triggers certain reactions from you and you are trying to understand why, it may be better to acknowledge that your emotions are too close to the surface, and you tend to express them in ways that are not common. It is also better to understand the need for a community that is supportive and empathetic.

We can't live in isolation, even if we have learned to live under the COVID-19 pandemic conditions. Open up and talk about it without fear and you will find that everyone you know is facing some challenge or another.

Help Is Available

Professional counselors and therapists are available for in-person and online sessions. Just reaching out to them is a good start for better mental health. You only need to verify the credentials of these professionals by checking their qualifications and experience. You can also talk to your physician and make recommendations. Even a discussion with your peers can get you some names. You are not alone, and there are so many others that are dealing with similar situations.

Healing Is Possible

The path to healing may be long and hard; but, it will be worth the time and commitment needed from you because coming out at the other end of the tunnel can ensure a less stressful and more comfortable life. Isn't that we all hope to achieve? Therefore, be it a few therapeutic sessions with a dedicated therapist or other forms of healing such as Breathwork or Reiki, the objective remains the same: to be well, mentally and physically.

The Importance of Mental Wellbeing

Unlike the common cold, a reluctance to seek help for mental health issues prevails. Although an increasing number of people are able and willing to seek help, there are still many afraid to admit to a problem and live a life filled with anxiety.

Acknowledge The Need For Help

The onus of seeking help cannot be placed only on the individual. The society we live in also contributes to the stigma that exists around mental health. Concerns such as depression, anxiety, unhealthy relationships, and self-harm have not been discussed openly enough in our societies. Hushing it up or going into a self-denial mode stems from a lack of awareness or understanding of the problem. It also happens because it feels too daunting to admit that you require help.

Don't Be Afraid To Seek Help

Expressing distress in any form is difficult because these feelings of pain are just that - feelings. As such, they are not easy to articulate. Feelings are also commonly associated with being emotional, and as such, there is a fear that you would be perceived as being weak. However, research shows that the sooner you bring it to the fore and seek help, the better.

"It's all in your mind" is a common belief that hinders us from seeking help.

A piece of frequent but misguided advice from family and friends is to get over it or think positively. Sadly, such advice only trivializes the problem. Changing one's own pattern of thoughts and behavior is a process.

Who Can Help?

Fortunately, there are specialists that are qualified and experienced to support you in the way you want. Online therapy is also gaining popularity due to the COVID-19 or Wuhan virus pandemic.

Improving mental health requires time, attention, patience, and specialized skills. Just as one needs to make lifestyle changes to improve physical health, it’s fundamental to keep in mind that our bodies and minds work together. As a result, their functioning can influence each other greatly.

Mental well-being requires as much help if not more and is a process. The process can and does include different forms of therapy, giving you a greater choice of healing methods. Holistic healing includes yoga, meditation, reiki, breathwork, etc.

Empathetic professionals with experience in addressing mental health issues can help in healing your mind and lift your spirits up to enjoy a well-balanced life. Ensure that you or your loved ones find the right therapist and therapy that suits your needs. 

Ways You Can Take An Active Role In Your Stress Reduction

Everyone experiences stress in their lifetimes; however, some periods of stress are less manageable than others. Even if you have successfully navigated stress in your past, you may find that previous coping skills become less effective as you age. Stress and trauma are something millions of people have to deal with daily, and they can lead to some pretty adverse side effects.

Not only can stress and trauma have an intense negative impact on your mental health, but they can also pose some severe physical complications as well. Luckily, there are ways and methods that you can use to decrease stress and relieve yourself from past trauma. Here are a few strategies you can employ when you find yourself overwhelmed with anxiety and stress.

Stress Relieving Natural Supplements And Vitamins

The first thing you can do to relieve yourself from stress is to educate yourself on natural stress-reducing supplements. A handful of different types of vitamins and supplements work to improve mental health, so you should do your independent research to find out which types are best for you.

While supplements are not a guaranteed treatment for stress, many people have reported positive benefits and improvements to their emotional and physical wellbeing from adding them to their diets. Some of these supplements even have scientific evidence to support their claims, with many studies being done about the most prominent ones.

Meditation To Calm The Mind

The second thing that you can to try and alleviate stress and trauma is to practice meditation. Meditation is the act of collecting your mind and thoughts to try and achieve better mental and spiritual well-being. There are many different ways to practice meditation, but all methods attempt to achieve the same thing.

Meditation has been proven to promote positive mental health changes, and many people who have tried it will stand by it. Meditation poses no risks and can be done pretty much anywhere for no cost whatsoever. If you need stress relief, there is a form of meditation that may work for you.

Therapy For Stress, Trauma, And PTSD

Finally, if you have experienced trauma and suffer from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, you should look into trauma therapy. There are different parts and types of trauma therapy, but all of them are administered by professionals whose only goal is to help you improve your quality of life.

Often, people fail to consider treatment or simply think they can avoid it; however, taking an active role in your mental health is essential to your happiness. Trauma therapy has helped many people, with thousands of testimonials claiming that the patient’s lives were changed for the better. If you feel that you have exhausted your capabilities of managing stress in your life, then look into trauma therapy.

The Healing Effects Of Reiki

Reiki has long been an effective healing technique used by practitioners to lessen stress and tension on the mind and body. To move a person toward his or her centered, balanced body, mind, and spirit, Reiki can encourage the body’s healing mechanisms to function more effectively.

How Reiki Helps Release Tension

Reiki encourages natural healing through the reduction of stress and tension in the body. Research has shown that Reiki can lower the heart rate, blood pressure, and stress hormones while supporting a healthy immune system. While there is evidence of these positive effects, only broad theories about what causes these pathways of healing are known.

The longstanding belief is that the rapid multileveled response that Reiki produces is a complex process. This encourages the body’s systems to simultaneously or quickly, shifting the “fight or flight” response associated with stress to a relaxation response. Reiki supports the body’s natural healing mechanisms that can take place without the burden of mitigating tension by moving the stress response.

A significant part of Reiki’s multileveled rapid response process affects the sub-physical level of the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing, also referred to as the biofield.

Reiki’s Vibrational Power

For thousands of years, traditional, indigenous, and Eastern medical systems have recognized that a balanced biofield is the foundation of health and wellness. When the biofield becomes unbalanced or is disrupted, the body is susceptible to illness. Reiki is believed to offer a therapeutic vibration that brings balance to a disrupted biofield by increasing coherence and decreasing dissonance in the system.

Energy Transfer

Reiki practitioners use their hands to carry the energetic vibrations of the recipient’s wellness. This action creates an awareness in the recipient of the wellness that exists deep within him or her as the focus is directed toward healing. In this manner, Reiki connects the practitioner with an inner source of peace that transfers to the recipient, reducing tension and the fight or flight biological response to stress.

Reiki As A Therapy

Reiki is akin to meditation, which sets it apart from other energy therapies such as shiatsu. Most energy therapies use techniques to target specific corrections that need to be made, whereas Reiki practitioners do not diagnose or deliberately reorganize the biofield.

Instead, Reiki is exceptionally passive in practice, making it appropriate for any person who seeks to remediate the adverse effects of stress on the body, mind, and spirit.

Making it Through the Hard Times: Tips for Maintaining a Positive and Optimistic Mindset

Just turning on the news can have a huge impact on your mental health. It seems impossible to remain positive and optimistic. You likely have several sources of stress. For example, you may be concerned about losing a loved one, be stressed about financial issues, or worried about your child. You may also be concerned about your own health and feel a sense of helplessness or doom. Regardless of the exact feeling you are experiencing, there’s a good chance that optimism may feel more like a luxury than something you deserve. 

At the core, though, being positive and optimistic means that you overcome those negative, anxious feelings. Optimism doesn’t mean you “smile through the pain.” Instead, it means staying hopeful about the future, even if the present feels completely negative. 

Even though it can seem impossible, some tips can help you maintain a positive and optimistic mindset, even during troubling times. 

Address and Recognize the Negative Feelings You Have

Each feeling has a purpose, including the negative ones. Because of this, you should never ignore them. Your negative emotions let you know something is wrong. They also help to ensure you give the problem the attention it requires to solve it. 

Some negative emotions, such as doubt, fear, and anxiety, can be like an attention vacuum. They can narrow your mind and cause you to focus on certain details. This may be helpful in some situations, like determining fact from fiction. However, if your thoughts are overly negative, they can be unhelpful. The same is true for overly optimistic thoughts. 

You should not just ignore your negative emotions, regardless of if they are caused by changes in your life, trauma, or stress. Instead, recognize them and consider how you can address what is calling them. 

Actively Engage in Self-Compassion  

Practicing compassion toward yourself and others is essential in building resiliency. A key to this is to interrupt any recurring cycles of negative thoughts and inner dialogue. 

If you find that you are constantly cycling through all types of negative thoughts that don’t lead anywhere, you should take a step back to interrupt this cycle. This may include meditating and focusing on your breaths rather than your thoughts or changing your environment. It can also be as simple as having a chat with someone you trust to get a fresh perspective on things. 

Take Pleasure in the Small Things in Life 

What do you enjoy? Is it the three minutes you spend feeding your dogs in the evening? Or having your morning coffee on the porch? These are the things you should lean into. They will help distract you from bad news and negative thoughts. 

If you find that these negative thoughts are overtaking your mind, day after day, it is a good idea to speak to a professional. They can help provide a professional evaluation and ensure you get the treatment needed to help you overcome this often unbearable cycle. 

When the Stress of Covid-19 Triggers Trauma

Many people who experience trauma try to just put the experience behind them. They mistakenly ignore the ramifications of traumatic events pretending like they never happened. The thing is that triggers eventually pop up. A trigger is a type of stimulus that reminds you of a past trauma. It can be as predictable as a smell or a sound, but it can also be much more complicated. Triggers don’t just make you uncomfortable, they can cause you to relive the entire traumatic event all over again. People are complex human beings and unaddressed trauma can leave you feeling helpless.

Stress and Trauma Are Related

When you say the word ‘trauma,’ people automatically think of physical events or injuries, but trauma can be emotional, too. The sudden death of a loved one or an unexpected divorce can often cause emotional trauma. Sometimes just witnessing a tragic event can cause emotional trauma. Any type of trauma causes a stress response in your body. Chemicals are released to physically prepare you for the fight or flight response. This is a natural and inevitable process which can repeat itself during a flashback. Your blood pressure and heart rate are naturally increased, and you may begin sweating. You may also go through other changes as you try to cope. Some people experience nightmares and/or mood swings while others tend to withdraw from family and friends. You may also develop more severe symptoms like anxiety, fear, or depression. Everyone deals with trauma differently.

Traumatic Stress of Covid-19

The fear and uncertainty of the covid-19 pandemic is intense and unpredictable. Lockdowns have altered daily schedules and prevented the in-person socialization people have come to depend on. Fear of a loved one falling ill, or getting sick yourself, can cause severe anxiety. The long-term stress of extreme lifestyle changes and lack of confidence in a resolution eventually take a toll. Even those with no history of trauma are susceptible to the chronic stress of covid-19 and we have much to learn of the long-term ramifications. Unfortunately, those already coping with past trauma can be especially vulnerable to the stress and social isolation caused by the pandemic. Research shows that social support systems dramatically reduce mental health deterioration.  Extended isolation can increase the symptoms of unresolved trauma.

Managing Stress and Anxiety

The symptoms of trauma manifest differently for each person. Chronic unresolved stress and anxiety can trigger the pain of traumatic events. Luckily, it is possible to treat the mind, body, and spirit as you learn healthy coping mechanisms to help you heal from trauma. If you’re dealing with unresolved trauma or anxiety due to the stress of covid-19, contact Joe Langheim Counseling today to schedule a consultation. I’m a passionate experienced certified trauma therapist who utilizes several gentle therapeutic modalities to help people discover their purpose and power. 

The Toll of Emotionally Abusive Relationships

Emotional abuse can be hard to notice from the outside. We can easily see the signs of physical abuse as they often leave lasting bruises and visible scars. However, a relationship that involves emotional abuse may worsen over time and leave the victim questioning their reality. There is often a pattern to emotional abuse, and it usually consists of a combination of manipulating a person with control tactics and using a person's fear against them.

Control

A relationship in which one person is under the control of another is not healthy. Sometimes, a person's control over another is quite overt. The abuser may clearly state what their partner is allowed to do, where they are allowed to go, allowed to wear, or allowed to eat. Often the control is more covert than this. Emotional abusers may use criticism, guilt, and shame to control what their partner does. For example, a partner might belittle your sense of responsibility, therefore, making themselves the sole decision-maker in the relationship. Sometimes a partner might intentionally upset the other person to shame them for their reaction.

Isolation

To adequately possess control over a person emotionally, an abuser often seeks to isolate the person. A victim may be separated from other people they're close to, and they may also be isolated from the activities that make them feel good about themselves. Once again, isolation may be achieved by overt orders. An abuser can also use manipulation tactics such as belittling their partner's friends and family to erode their relationship. You may find that a partner has simply taken up all of your time, leaving you no time for other people or activities.

Fear

A person in an emotionally abusive relationship is often in fear. They may be afraid to go against their partner's wishes for fear of verbal abuse. This may involve yelling, name-calling and criticism. Your partner may be tuned into those deep fears within you, such as your worries about how other people perceive you and use them against you to control your behavior. One of the most painful punishments is the withholding of affection. When one partner wants to discuss problems in the relationship, the emotionally abusive partner may trivialize their concerns, telling them that they're making a problem out of nothing.

Lasting Effects

If you're in the midst of a relationship like this, you may be feeling confused, afraid, hopeless, and ashamed. Mental abuse can make people question their reality and whether they're crazy for feeling that the situation is problematic. You may also be experiencing brain fog and stress that makes your daily activities difficult such as anxiety symptoms, psychosomatic pain, and low self-esteem. Emotional abuse can also cause persistent and prolonged symptoms of trauma, such as with PTSD or CPTSD.

Consider setting boundaries or breaking away from a relationship involving emotional abuse. Practice self-care with exercise, reaching out to loved ones, getting active again, eating a healthy diet, and prioritizing your rest. Talk therapy is an excellent option for moving past the pain of an emotionally abusive relationship. As a Certified Trauma Therapist, I know the disruption that these experiences can cause to the mind, body, and spirit. Contact me so that I can help you to make sense of the past and move forward with your healing.

Are You Suffering From CPTSD

The condition, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), has become relatively well known over the years. Many people think of war veterans, rape victims, or survivors of severely violent experiences when they hear the term. However, Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) is a condition that is becoming more widely known and discussed. To understand the difference, let’s revisit the causes of symptoms of PTSD.

PTSD

Those experiencing PTSD often experience symptoms affecting their thinking and behavior. Intrusive thoughts and images can be very stressful for patients. In response to these intrusions, sufferers may alter their behavior by avoiding certain situations that remind them of the stressful event. Feelings of fear, self-blame, shame, and numbness are common amongst those affected. These symptoms are the brain’s reaction to a traumatic event. Although people often associate PTSD with war, it can affect anyone who has undergone an experience that they found to be significantly traumatic.

How CPTSD Differs

While PTSD usually refers to an isolated event that resulted in extreme stress and trauma, CPTSD is caused by continuous trauma over a more extended period. Patients also report additional symptoms than those associated with PTSD.

Symptoms

Along with PTSD symptoms of intrusive memories and avoidance of triggers, CPTSD patients experience difficulty regulating emotions, dissociation, negative perception of self, and difficulty maintaining healthy relationships. Those who have been in a long-standing relationship with an abuser may suffer from perceptual distortions of their abuser. Patients often feel they’ve lost their understanding of life’s meaning. Feeling hopeless and without faith is a familiar and stressful feeling for those experiencing CPTSD.

Causes

Long-term trauma, especially by a caregiver, seems to cause some to suffer from these painful thoughts and feelings. These traumatic experiences could include long-term abuse (physical, emotional, or sexual), childhood neglect, or prolonged exposure to dangerous circumstances.

Outlook

There are options for treating and managing the symptoms of CPTSD. Many find improvement of their feelings and thoughts with therapy, treatment, and/or medication. In therapy, patients can learn to notice their negative thought patterns and strategies for replacing them with healthy alternatives.

No matter how dark your past, I believe that you can heal. I have spent over ten years working with patients who have experienced traumatic events. Using traditional therapy along with gentle therapeutic modalities, I aim to help my patients discover their power and purpose. If you’ve experienced trauma and are suffering from symptoms of PTSD or CPTSD, contact me for a consultation. 

How to Keep Your Stress in Check this Holiday Season

The holiday season is filled with presents, gatherings and tons of great food. However, this time of year can also be extremely stressful. A recent study found that over 88% of Americans claim that they feel extremely stressed during the holiday season. If you spend this entire holiday season stressed out, you will miss out on the fun and excitement is has to offer. 

Addressing the underlying causes of your stress and anxiety is only possible with the help of a mental health professional like Joe Langheim. He is a therapist that believes in treating the whole person, which means getting their spirit, mind and body healthy. 

If you are looking for ways to keep your stress in check during the holidays, check out the helpful information below. 

Find Some Time to Be Alone

While spending time with friends and family members during the holidays can be fun, it can also be a bit stressful and frustrating. In most cases, too much time around some of the people in your inner-circle can put you on edge. Instead of spending every waking moment of the holidays with other people, you need to schedule some alone time. By spending some time alone, you can decompress and relax. 

During this alone time, you may want to meditate or do some breathing exercises. Both of these practices can help put your mind at ease and lower the amount of stress in your life. 

Avoid Financial-Induced Stress With a Budget

Buying gifts for all of the people in your life can get expensive. Spending too much money on these gifts can lead to you getting stressed out. If you want to avoid this financial-induced stress, you need to create a budget before you start shopping and stick to it. You also need to be mindful about how much time you have to shop for and wrap the presents you plan on giving. 

Your stress levels will rise substantially if you procrastinate when it comes to getting these gifts. If you get an early stop on holiday shopping, you can get what you need before it is a madhouse in the stores in your area. 

Give Back By Volunteering

During the holidays, people get so wrapped up in the monetary side of giving. Rather than putting so much emphasis on material things during the holidays, you need to think about giving the gift of your time to charitable organizations in your area. 

Going in and volunteering at a soup kitchen or helping out during a toy drive can be a lot of fun. Volunteering also allows gives you an opportunity to focus on something other than the problems in your life. With some research, you can find charitable organizations in your area that need help during this time of year. 

Need Help Managing Your Stress and Anxiety?

Are you having problems getting your stress under control? Contact Joe Langheim Counseling to schedule an appointment today!

The Top Signs You Are Dealing with an Unhealthy Relationship

There is no class when you are growing up that teaches you to be a decent partner. While you may learn the biology of sex, the legal aspects of marriage, and even read a few obscure love stories, this does not provide an actual picture of how to be good to someone else when in a relationship.

While some people can gather this information from their parents and other adults in their life, this is not the case for everyone. Unfortunately, this is what leads to toxic people and toxic relationships.

Sometimes, the signs of a toxic relationship are clear, but they can also be subtle and hard to detect. Knowing what to look for is the best way to determine if it is time to take a step back or make a move. Some of the top signs of a toxic relationship can be found here.

There's a Scorecard

When someone keeps score, it means they will continue blaming you for past mistakes you made. If both people begin to do this, you will develop a type of "relationship scorecard." This essentially turns your entire relationships into a battle to see who has made the most mistakes and who is more indebted to the other.

When this happens, you use guilt and bitterness from the past to try and manipulate your partner in the present. This is an ongoing cycle and something that will lead to serious issues for anyone, regardless of how long you have been together.

Passive Aggressive Behavior

Rather than saying something out loud and upfront, one person in your relationship tries to nudge someone in the right direction to figure out what they are thinking or what they want. Rather than saying what is upsetting you, you find small and often petty ways to make the other person mad. When this happens, you feel justified when you complain to them.

If this happens, it means there are serious communication issues in your relationship. If you cannot improve communication, your relationship is doomed to fail.

Holding Your Relationship Hostage

When one of you has a simple complaint or criticism and tries to blackmail the other by threatening the relationship's commitment, this is not a good sign. If you hold your relationship hostage, it is not good for anyone and will create many unnecessary drama.

How to Handle Toxic Relationships

When it comes to a toxic relationship, there are many factors to consider. However, one of the most important things is to take steps to change. If you are a problem, you have to find a way to improve the situation. If the other person is the problem, the only option may be to leave – after all, it is impossible to change someone who does not want to change.

By taking the right steps and seeking professional help, you can overcome the issues related to a toxic relationship and finally enjoy the way love is supposed to be.

Practicing Meditation For Stress Relief

This year has been one that has created stress for almost everyone. With uncertainty around every corner, the threat to health and safety, and financial implications, stress is at its an all-time high. While a certain amount of stress is normal, we are experiencing unprecedented times which leads to unchecked stress levels. Ongoing stress can lead to much more harmful mental and physical conditions such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and weight fluctuations, which can all have negative effects on our body. One of the best strategies that we can employ when combating stress is that of meditation.

Practice Of Meditation

It is common for people to hear the word meditation and think of Tibetan monks sitting still in the dark for days on end chanting mantras in unfamiliar tongues. While this is a form of meditation, what many people don’t realize is that there are many different types, most of which are really simple and easy to practice. Meditation is a practice where an individual attempts to focus their mind in order to gain mindfulness and awareness. This can be done anywhere in the world with no external tools needed.

Alleviating Stress & Anxiety

Meditation brings many positive benefits for the individual practicing it. The first major benefit is that it controls anxiety. Studies have shown that when people regularly practice mindful meditation, they report feeling less stress and higher levels of relaxation. Less stress equals less anxiety.  Studies have even found that meditation helps to alleviate some anxiety disorders and ease their symptoms, and some researchers go as far as to say it can cure anxiety altogether.

Increasing Self Awareness

Meditation can also strengthen your self-awareness. Self-awareness is simply a better understanding of yourself and the environment around you. Strong self-awareness can help you to grow as a person and learn to see the world for what it really is, instead of assumptions that you make up in your mind. Finding your truth and your reality is helpful in being able to successfully remediate problems and blockages that may exist in your life.

Boosting Positive Mental Health

Meditation has also been proven to be beneficial for your mental health, as it helps to erase toxic traits buried deep in your subconscious, such as low self-esteem and intense self-criticism. Meditation can also help you to combat feelings of loneliness, as you learn that you’re never truly alone because all things are connected.

Strengthening Focus & Memory

Finally, meditation can help your focus and improve your memory. Research has shown that meditation can help to increase your attention span and helps aid with short term memory, as well as long term memory recollection. Gaining control over your own mind and your ability to retain information helps increase confidence and allows you to use your brain to solve problems in a constructive manner.

Seeking Assistance

Meditation is a form of stress reduction that anyone can practice by themselves in the comfort of their surroundings. However, sometimes we need more assistance in managing stress and anxiety that has become overpowering in our lives. If you live with chronic stress and anxiety or trauma-related stress, we can help you find your way through to a more healthy state of being. Contact Joe Langheim LMHC, LPC, CTT to find out how we can assist you on your journey to a stress-free life.

Is Trauma a “Big Deal?”

To some people, this question has an easy answer. For others, it might be easy to skate over that answer and kind of shrug it off – because they might not really know about trauma or have much experience with it.

If you're someone who has suffered trauma in your life, you know that it is a big deal. But how do you get other people to realize that?

In therapy, you need someone with key knowledge about how trauma healing works. But you also need someone who understands that your problems are a big deal and that you need a way to communicate that to the world.

Much of the problem with certain types of trauma is that people feel unheard and alone as they struggle through the rest of their lives. Healing and resolution happen in a social context, to some extent – when you feel more confident that you can make others understand, you feel more able to work through trauma, work past it and change your life in positive ways. This kind of agency is critically important through long-term work on trauma and recovery. 

At Joe Langheim, we offer various modalities to help deal with trauma, but for everyone coming in the door, we start with the premise that this type of assistance is vitally important. We start from the standpoint that we are here to help our clients to overcome their struggles and rebuild things that are broken, in whatever form that may take. 

Part of this process is unlearning various things that have impacted our ability to live in a healthy way. Sadly, it's so easy for trauma to cloud our vision and distort our perceptions of reality. We learn unhealthy habits through the impact of trauma on our lives and then those things are hard to put aside later. Then there’s that need to be listened to, to feel the agency that you need to change. Solutions are multi-modal. There are strategies and techniques for healing, but there’s also the overall context of how you relate to others. 

The good news, though, is that we can unlearn these things and rebuild a positive life that works in a healthy way. That's what we are about at the office of Joe Langheim. We have the tools and resources to address the deep-seated trauma that has become a part of your life and help you to walk through to the other side.

The Biggest Emotional and Mental Benefits Offered by Meditation

Meditation provides you with a secure connection between your external and internal worlds. It helps awaken your body and benefits all aspects of your conscious and subconscious mind. Learn about some of the most significant health benefits offered by regular meditation here. Knowing what this offers will help ensure you get the desired results from your meditation activities.

Meditation Helps Enhance Empathy

Compassion or loving-kindness meditation helps ignite neural connection to brain sites that help regulate positive emotions, such as kindness and empathy. The significant flow that meditation induces and helps build sensations of social connectedness and makes you a more amicable and affectionate person.

Meditation Helps Improve Cognition

Most experts agree an excellent way for professionals to increase the chances of success is to ensure meditation practice is part of your day-to-day routine. Studies have also revealed that mindfulness and transcendent meditation practices help improve the brain’s decision-making and problem-solving strategies. This can help bring a desirable shift in your professional life.

Meditation Is a Natural Stress Stabilizer

Stress is the response the body has during unforeseen adversities. When you encounter immediate threats, it will increase cortisol levels (this is the stress hormone) in your body. It will also activate the Autonomic Nervous system. This is responsible for the fight-or-flight responses you experience. According to brain studies done on regular meditators, it has been revealed that they have much lower levels of cortisol present in their brains. This explains their insightful nature and resilience.

Meditation Helps Promote Emotional Well-Being and Health

Countless studies have proven that meditation helps improve your self-worth and self-image. When you meditate, you get a clearer picture of your mind, and you will become more aware of the thoughts that drive your actions and emotions at a specific moment in time.

Another study has shown that regular meditation helps to reduce the likelihood of developing mood-related disorders and depression. There are some forms of meditative practices that also help to promote positive thinking and could even help improve a person’s emotional health.

Meditation Helps Increase Attention by Creating a State of Flow

When you meditate, you get absorbed at the moment. When you meditate, mindful awareness will come naturally, and you will reach a state of “flow” where your mind is in total harmony with itself. A study on the effects of people who engaged in an eight-week mindful meditation course found that those who meditated regularly had an improved concentration and attention span. Even those who meditated for shorter durations had more focus than those who never meditated at all.

Is Meditation Right for You?

When it comes to meditation, there are more than a few things that you should know. If you want to improve your emotional and mental health, there is no question that meditation is a smart tactic. Keep this in mind when you are trying to improve your health, as it is going to provide all the benefits here, and more.

How to Change Your Life This Summer

The idea of changing your life can sound impossible. It often seems like participating in death-defying leaps of faith or experiencing an event that can only be seen in movies. However, changing your life is easier than you think. There are steps you take this summer that will have positive, long-lasting effects for years to come.

1) Accept the desire to change.

To truly change your life, you must accept the desire to change. You may have been through trauma in your life that you never allowed yourself to process. Or maybe you are experiencing such a level of stress right now you can't handle the day-to-day very well anymore. Right now, immediately, accept that you want to change your situation. To take a healthy step forward, you must do the work in rewriting your story. I can help you with that.

2) Get rid of negative thinking.

What is your inner dialogue? How do you process the world? Pay attention to your thoughts and how you speak to yourself because it shapes how we experience the world and how we see ourselves. Yet, if you have experienced hurt and pain, merely forcing yourself not to think a certain way doesn't work. Begin by showing love to yourself and identify where the negative thinking originated. You may want to start journaling and write down these thoughts as they come into your mind. Ask yourself if the negative thought is true and begin a loving relationship with the hurt part of you that embraces this thinking.

3) Cut down on social media.

Now more than ever, social media lead to a downward spiral of negative, critical thinking. How often do you look at social media and begin thinking terribly about yourself? How many times on social media do you compare your life to others? This summer reduce how much time you spend on social media. Give yourself a certain time limit if you must use it. Studies have shown that by reducing your time on social media, you are improving your overall mental health and wellbeing. By the end of the summer, you may not want to return at all.

Changing your life sounds like a big idea. It seems almost impossible. But the right type of change happens within. It isn't about the exterior, but the interior. In fact, by learning how to change yourself on the inside, you'll feel better about yourself on the outside too. Now more than ever, as we look at the world around us, we must begin to embrace that healing needs to start – and that leads to the best kind of change. Begin it today with me.

New Habits, New Life: Therapy’s Transformative Power

Sometimes you just need a new outlook on things. But there's more to it than just deciding to change your mind.

We, humans, are curious creatures – we are built with an amazingly powerful brain that has a lot of different infrastructure and twists and turns. As technology guru, Marvin Minsky used to say: our brains are not one machine; they are are a combination of 400 different machines!

That means that our instincts and emotional responses are difficult to change. That is unless you have the right technique. As doctors and others work on the behavioral side of neuroscience, we have uncovered many secrets about how to use the power of the brain correctly, how to heal problems with the mind, and how to advance mental health care for the average patient and the outlier, too.

Modern Therapy Modalities

New research into groundbreaking therapy modalities is changing the landscape of how we deal with habits and the handling of fear and trauma in our lives.

There's a lot that's new about how therapists are working to help people to re-craft their daily life and set themselves on a new course. Knowing a little more about these types of work gives those suffering from various kinds of mental illness hope. They can see the light at the end of the tunnel, instead of despairing that they may be stuck with their problems forever. 

The Power of Breathwork

Some of these modalities have a physical component. For example, there is breathwork where working at changing your respiratory process and body positioning can lead you toward better outcomes. This is where we often talk about the mind-body connection and how that works. Holistic care takes into account the power of the brain to change our physiologies over time, for example, working with the basic vitals (heart rate, blood pressure, etc.) We also think about the inverse: how our physiology can produce good effects on our minds, for example, with endorphins or oxytocin responses. 

Changing Emotional Responses for the Better

Then there are other techniques that are more geared toward a purely emotional framework. The process of envisioning a calm place, along with techniques which some people describe as "havening" is one of these approaches. As we learn to use our innate power of imagination to conquer fear and trauma, we get closer to eliminating the negative effects of conditions like PTSD and chronic anxiety from our lives.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what can be done in today's modern therapy model. Talk to Joe Langheim about what you're dealing with, and how cutting-edge science can help you to change your mentality and your mindset for better days ahead.

What are Common Symptoms of PTSD?

After a traumatic event, some individuals find that they experience numerous symptoms that impact their daily activities. The person may find that they have difficulty sleeping, memory issues, or experience ongoing anxiety. These symptoms can happen in patients of all ages that have experienced trauma and are not limited to a single gender. An individual also does not have to have experienced combat to be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Instead, they must have experienced a traumatic event and still be struggling with the after effects of said event.

There are several symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and a person may experience all of them, some of them, or different symptoms on different days. Some common symptoms include: 

Intrusive Distressing Memories 

 A person who experiences this symptom may find that as they're going about their daily activities, they remember the traumatic event. This can occur all in part, and it may be triggered by a sound, scent, texture, specific words, or nothing that the individual can determine. These memories are sometimes called "flashbacks." These individuals may also experience nightmares or distressing dreams, which can make it difficult to get the sleep that they need. 

Emotional Numbness 

Individuals who are diagnosed with PTSD may have difficulty expressing emotion or feeling emotion at all. They may feel numb or detached from their feelings as if they cannot match up the way they "should" feel in a situation with their internal dialogue. They may find that they have no emotion at all in many situations or that they struggle to feel the appropriate emotion for the given situation. 

Avoiding Specific Locations

People diagnosed with PTSD may find that they need to stay away from certain types of locations that remind them of the traumatic event so that they can avoid breaking down or experiencing intrusive thoughts. These locations could be similar to the place where the event happened, or they may have similar characteristics, sights, or smells. 

Hypervigilance 

For a person with PTSD to feel safe, they often must complete a specific series of tasks so that they know their environment is secure enough. They may be extremely concerned with their own safety and the safety of their friends or members of their family. Often trauma survivors use a degree of magical thinking, believing that if they can prepare enough and control their environment well enough, they can avoid future traumas. 

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a very complicated mental health condition that can be treated with a combination of medication and therapy. In many cases, individuals that suffer from these symptoms can experience a dramatic reduction in symptoms with treatment. Contact a mental health specialist today to find out more about treatment and to schedule an initial evaluation.

Enduring The Effects Of Trauma

Trauma can often be unavoidable, how we experience the effects of trauma can have lasting effects on our emotional and physical health. Psychological and emotional trauma results from experiencing extraordinarily stressful events that create feelings of helplessness that will shatter your sense of security and leave you struggling with anxiety and depression. 

For some people who experience emotional or psychological trauma, feelings of emotional numbness and disconnection can hinder relationships with loved ones. The anxiety produced from these feelings can be crippling, leaving people unable to properly manage their lives, which then creates a path to depression. 

What Is A Traumatic Experience?

While traumatic experiences can often involve a threat to life or personal safety, any situation that leaves you feeling overwhelmed and isolated can also result in trauma, regardless of any physical harm being involved. Your subjective emotional experience of the event is what causes the trauma, not the events' objective circumstances. 

The bottom line is that if an experience or event leaves you feeling helpless and frightened, you are more likely to be traumatized. Some people may experience trauma from simply viewing horrific images on social media and news sources. Seeing these images repeatedly can overwhelm your nervous system and create traumatic stress. 

Trauma In This Digital Age

In this modern era of social media and technology, we are seeing an increase in anxiety, stress, and trauma resulting from prolonged exposure to negative and frightening images and ideas. Children are often greatly affected by the negative messages that they are viewing and receiving through their connections with smartphones and computers. 

Trauma can result in an adolescent as rumors spread like wildfire with the simple touch of a button. For many victims of online bullying, the idea that many people are involved in a personal matter, whether the circumstances are true or false, can become too much to bear. The stress and anxiety of this trauma can have lasting and devastating consequences. 

Fortunately, trauma does not have to dictate the course of your life. Whatever the cause of your trauma, and regardless of how long ago or recently that it occurred, you can make healing changes that allow you to lead a fulfilling life. Recognizing that you are under pressure that you are unable to manage on your own, effectively, is the first step to healing. Contact Joe Langheim LMHC, LPC, CTT for consultation and help if you or a loved one has experienced trauma and is in need of help.

Miracles

I remember as a child being taught about miracles. The story of Jesus walking on water. He did the impossible and so it was a miracle. But He was the son of God, I was not. So I could not experience miracles, if I was lucky enough to experience one it was out of my control and it was one in a lifetime. So I was on my own living under the pressure of life without help from the universe. I was scared, vulnerable, and bound to fail.

Then my eyes were open a few years ago. My mentor taught me the truth. Miracles are the impossible happening, true. The impossible becoming possible. But that there were “degrees” of miracles. A change of thought. A different experience. Then I was taught that in spiritually there are no degrees. It is or is not. So if I experience a “little” miracle it is as important and valid as a “big” miracle. A change in thought was the SAME as walking on water.

My mentor asked me to look for three miracles within the week. A few days passes, I see nothing. And I am feeling down. Scared, depressed, lonely. I find myself at the gas station getting gas. I was so down and depressed. I felt hopeless. For whatever reason, I have this thought, “I would pay ANYTHING TO FEEL BETTER.” I go inside to pay, the woman behind the counter says, “how are you?” with a smile, nothing happens. I walk outside and I feel BETTER. There is a smile on my face. And I realize… MIRACLE. What seemed impossible, became possible. And my life opened like never before SLOWLY. I began to see more and more “little” miracles, and thank God. Because I couldn’t handle the idea of “big” miracles because I was caught up in being less than… being disconnected from God. Rejecting my godly self because I was scared. I was scared of being loved. I was scared of loving myself.

The more I experienced these little miracles knowing they were miracles, the more “big” miracles happened. It was about me. And that’s about it!

Now my job is literally about witnessing miracles! My life is about seeing and experiencing miracles! And the more I see. The MORE I want to give!

I get excited and want to share my excitement and joy. To me, that’s the point of life! It’s simple and yet so profound. I am grateful I was given what I needed, just at the right time. The more I see that, the more I can trust and allow. I no longer have to do it alone!

MIRACLE

Three Physical Effects of Anxiety

Stress and anxiety plague many of us in the course of our modern routines.

It's really a shame because anxiety has such a wide range of effects on those who suffer from it. Anxiety and depression are silent epidemics in America, and many of us struggle with the negative feelings and other effects that come with these conditions.

But therapy can help.

Here are some actual physical effects of anxiety that can be troubling those who suffer from untreated stress and anxiety in their lives.

High Blood Pressure

Millions of Americans suffer from hypertension, or as it's known colloquially, high blood pressure. Some of this can have to do with poor diet and lack of exercise. Smoking also promotes higher blood pressure – not to mention other health risks. 

But in many cases, stress and anxiety contribute to higher blood pressure, and so people are getting medicated for what's really an underlying condition.

Treat your anxiety at the root, and you may see your blood pressure go down. That’s a very important health result – because hypertension shows up in insurance underwriting and in medical records. It’s a key metric for health and longevity and getting it right can prolong your life. 

High Heart Rate

Along with hypertension, a high heart rate is seen as a warning sign of other problems. One of those is anxiety because unnaturally high stress and anxiety do tend to raise the heart rate. Again, it can be hard to unravel what’s causing this symptom, but when patients see a therapist and better understand the intersection of mental and physical health, they are often able to make more progress. 

Sleep issues

Those who are suffering from anxiety and stress in their lives often encounter sleep issues. Sometimes these can be misdiagnosed as sleep apnea or other conditions. Waking up at night may be a sign that the mind is being troubled by chronic anxiety.

At Joe Langheim’s therapy office, we work to treat each patient according to his or her life experience and unique needs. Our modern methods bring a holistic approach to our patients’ concerns and what drives their stress or anxiety on a regular basis. Come in and talk to Joe Langheim about some of the best practices in the field that can help alleviate your particular issues. We understand how to set forward on that path to better mental and physical health. As an established provider in the Kirkwood, MO area, we take care to bring our various modalities to the forefront to help our patients to thrive.