Has anyone seen the Jim Carrey film “Yes Man”? In this film, he decides to change his unsatisfactory life by saying yes to everything. While he ends up modifying his yes stance somewhat, he may have been on to something. Mindfulness practitioners for many years have understood the effects that saying “no” can have on the body, mind and spirit, especially when we are saying no to our emotions. And while we can’t agree to everything in life, the following exercise taken from Tara Brach’s book Radical Acceptance may help illustrate the effects of saying yes to our emotions: “Sitting…

Psychotherapy can be incredibly effective – we all know this. It is truly amazing how much can be accomplished between a patient and a therapist in each session. “Can we make the psychotherapy experience portable?” But the world outside the therapist’s door can often be cold, harsh, and lonely to vulnerable patients. Regression can occur while patients are still days or weeks away from their next session. We’re all too familiar with that scenario (and practitioners in other areas of healthcare can attest to this as well.) A patient leaves the office…they’ve made some progress, or sometimes they feel they…