Individual Counseling Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Sienna Forest • Somatic Ecotherapy

When a small trigger sets off a tidal wave

This week has been particularly intense. Clients have shown up to sessions experiencing breakups, flooding, grief, and pain, and I have sat there with an empathetic ear, bearing witness to each clients’ process of confronting, and embodying, all their emotions. I don’t think therapists talk enough about the toll that it takes to sit with so much vicarious pain and suffering. Yesterday, I finished my last session of the week feeling accomplished and proud to have [...]

Sienna Forest2024-09-10T22:34:32+00:00December 17, 2022|Tags: catharsis, dance, gratitude, journaling, mental health, mental health awareness, movement, secondary trauma, self-care, somatic therapy, trigger, vicarious trauma|

When Little Miss Sunshine feels anxious, things get intense

Over the past two weeks, I haven’t felt like myself. I injured my forearm due to an unfortunate collision on the dance floor, and this incident occurred right before moving into a new house. For a week my arm was constantly aching–the tendon on my inner right wrist creaking from the injury–and moving just exacerbated the symptoms. My arm was starting to feel a bit better, then last week, over two years into the pandemic, I [...]

Sienna Forest2024-09-10T20:37:30+00:00July 25, 2022|Tags: anxiety, authenticity, COVID-19, energetic, exercise, grounding, meditation, overwhelmed, self-care, self-regulation, shame, somatic therapy|

Anxiety can feel debilitating: What helped me regain presence in the midst of the monkey mind

Yesterday, I was having a bad mental health day. I had insomnia the night before because I was on my phone late at night and experienced a trigger, which lit my brain up to the point where I lay in bed for 5 hours wide awake, thinking about everything and anything. I woke up irritated and anxious, and I felt like my skin was crawling with tension. My mind could not focus because my body was [...]

Sienna Forest2024-09-10T20:37:21+00:00July 14, 2022|Tags: anxiety, authenticity, climbing, flow state, insomnia, mental health, mental health awareness, monkey mind, therapy, transient hypofrontality|

I’ve got a Pocketful of Sunshine that is Weighing me Down

As a therapist, I have studied addiction. I have worked at a residential substance use disorder inpatient treatment facility, and I have learned about how addiction can include not just physiological and psychological craving and dependence on substances, but also to videogames, social media, and even people. I have witnessed people who have become consumed by their addiction, and I have watched them struggle to gain a sense of autonomy and normalcy in the process of [...]

Sienna Forest2024-09-10T20:37:14+00:00June 14, 2022|Tags: addiction, body dysmorphia, body image, COVID-19, obsession, pandemic, self-esteem, sun addiction, tanning, tanning addiction|

Transient Hypofronta… what now? Why should I care?

I don’t know about you, but sometimes my brain feels like it is whirring so fast with thoughts that I can’t even think straight. For years, I have struggled with an overactive mind that seems to laugh in the face of meditation then look at me with a smirk and hit me with a big dose of anxiety. The only times I have been able to truly calm my monkey mind have been while swimming, running [...]

Sienna Forest2024-09-10T22:34:18+00:00August 28, 2021|Tags: anxiety, climbing, flow state, here and now, monkey mind, overthinking, peaceful, present, running, therapy, transient hypofrontality, walking|