Yoga can help relieve lower back pain and neck pain, as well as manage chronic pain. It can also be a great way to get into shape or lose weight (NCCIH, 2021). It helps build muscle mass, strength, endurance, and of course, flexibility.

Symptoms of autism spectrum disorder can include difficulties in communicating, rarely sharing enjoyment of activities with others, speaking for long periods without the awareness that others aren’t interested or being given a chance to speak, and making facial expressions that don’t match what they are saying (NIH).

“I can’t sleep. When I close my eyes, it’s like I’m back in that house. I can’t go back.”

“I can’t breathe. I just had a flashback. He was there, I saw him.”

“The holidays are hard. It just brings me back to those same feelings and hurt I went through 10 years ago.”

Discussing your physical relationship with the important person in your life is perhaps awkward, but definitely healthy for both of you. This conversation is important no matter your age or relationship with the important people in your life.

Another thing to watch is the voices in your head. They can be negative, critical, and downright abusive. Your own brain can be more brutal than an abusive “friend,” partner, or parent.

Teachers and administrators often say the same thing. But for whatever reason, the words “do your best” often translate to “don’t screw up” inside our heads.

“I need to rest.”

What’s the first thing that comes to mind for you? Is it a nap in a quiet room or a vacation to some far off locale?

At the end of a long, stressful day, the last thing you want to do is think about having to cook something. These days, it’s easier than ever to just pick up your phone and order your dinner through an app or pull a frozen dinner from the freezer.

I found it a chore that I’d rather not do. It just seemed silly, writing a note and thanking someone when I had already told them thank you in person when I had received the gift!

One of the greatest tools for battling anxiety and depression that can be brought on by quarantine turns out to be curiosity and engaging in what the researchers referred to as “flow.” These are activities that are completely absorbing such as running, painting, writing, or gardening.

It means talking about your religious beliefs and how they relate to the important people in your life. You may not share the same beliefs, or perhaps you do, but the depth of your regular practice varies.

I slid down onto the bathroom floor, cell phone tucked against my ear while tears streamed down my face. On the other end of the line, my husband did the best he could to comfort me. It had been an emotionally brutal season.

Know what they found? Participants greatly under-estimated the effect that their small compliment would have on a stranger AND over-estimated how awkward it would be.

There is an episode in the show, Friends (season 2), where Joey and Chandler get these Barcalounger chairs. They simultaneously sit down, pull on the lever, put their feet up, and groan in bliss as they relish in the comfort of the chair.

Oliver Rundell, the Chorus Master of Opera North, put it well when he said, “Everybody has a voice and everybody can sing. It’s a brilliant way of just giving yourself some time. Simply tune out the rest of the world and enjoy the physical sensation of breathing in and creating a note with your body” (Opera North, 2021).

Have you ever found yourself lying awake at night while your mind swirls around something again and again to the point where you feel paralyzed to do anything about it?

And you know what? That’s okay. It’s no fault to have simply not lived long enough. I wish we talked about this more. I wish we acknowledged that there is no 5-step manual that can ever match or make up for actual living.

Family can mean many things. It can refer to your immediate family, extended family, the family you create by living with someone, or the growing family you may hope to have one day.

You’ve almost certainly had a dilemma like this before. You’ve looked forward to something in the future, which ultimately caused you to not want to do what you had to get done.

You might ask. “What’s a vision board?” Well essentially it’s a collage, but it’s a collage that you create with specific goals in mind. The idea behind a vision board is that if you create strong visual representations of where you want to be in your life within a certain timeframe or what you want to do by a certain date, you’re more likely to do it.