mindfulness

Finding Home in Motion: A Story of Place and Purpose

When I moved back to my hometown for grad school, I told myself it was temporary—just a couple of years, then I’d be off to find my place in the world. But grad school came and went. I started dating someone. I settled into the everyday rhythms of Santa Cruz. I had my community, my family close by, a climbing gym I loved, the ocean at my doorstep. Life was good. And yet, something felt... [...]

Sienna Forest2025-03-07T20:44:03+00:00February 28, 2025|Tags: authenticity, community, connection, gratitude, here and now, mental health, mindfulness, vulnerability|

Climbing has Transformed my Mental Health

Flow: “a cognitive state where one is completely immersed in an activity…it involves intense focus, creative engagement, and the loss of awareness of time and self”- Psychology Today (2021). “I kind of entered a flow state. I’ve been there before while climbing. You are not thinking ahead. You are just thinking about what is in front of you each second.”- Aron Ralston According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (2017), over 40 million adults in [...]

Sienna Forest2024-09-10T22:11:00+00:00March 8, 2022|Tags: anxiety, climbing, community, exercise, flow state, insomnia, mental health, mindfulness, resiliency, therapeutic bouldering, transient hypofrontality|