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Breathe

Therapy to build resilience, mental & emotional health

Read About Our Individual Therapy

Move

Moving with you through change, challenge and growth

Find Out About Our Walking Therapy

Nourish

Training and resources for healthy minds

Explore our training and resources

Connect

Nurturing healthy minds through healthy relationships

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@positivemoveswellbeing

The brain is like an electrical and chemical garde

The brain is like an electrical and chemical garden. Within our skull the structures of the brain has branches reaching out to each other. The neural pathways reach towards each other and don’t touch but emanate currents of neuromodulators to speak to one another. Just like an electrical current sometimes there are surges, sometimes there are limitations in supply, and sometimes the supply gets glitchy. One thing that alters the flow of neuromodulators is meditative breathing. When you breathe you affect the electrical and chemical messages within your brain. What you ingest and digest affects communication within the brain. When we understand the intricacy of our anatomy we are better informed about how to maintain the garden of our mind. The brain is flesh and healthy flesh needs to be irrigated by the blood vessels that comprise our vascular system. If the sprinkler system irrigating our brain gets clogged then parts of our brain will atrophy just as the lawn will wither without water. Our neurons are like seeds in the garden of the mind and as those seeds germinate and radiate their tendrils they need nutrients to build their branches and wrap them in a protective sheath to improve their efficiency. We need to fertilise the ecosystem in our skull and tend the seeds we are planting. Our growth and development is continually impacted by how we irrigate and fertilise the garden of our mind. Which areas do you tend or neglect? Which weeds are prolific and choke out new growth? Which seeds do you nurture to flourish and bloom? #melbournepsychologist #breathwork #telehealth #brainhealth #integrativetherapy #mentalhealth #mindbody #thebodykeepsthescore #habitsofhealth #growyourmind #therapy #nervoussystemregulation

We exist in a world that brings wave after wave of

We exist in a world that brings wave after wave of content, events and images and it can be a challenge to exercise non-reactivity. Developing this skill helps us to deal with the inevitable ups and downs in life and remain open and curious to what is coming up, accepting our experience without judgement, commentary, reactiveness, or resistance. This practice helps us experience sensations in a non-reactive way, to feel without getting swept away by the energy the emotion generates within us. In time our habitual reactivity diminishes and offers our nervous system a reprieve from the onslaught. The small stuff does not seem quite so threatening, the setbacks and hurdles don’t elicit the same extent of disappointment and frustration, and the wave retreats a little quicker. When we are not fighting the reality of the present moment we move with the ups and downs a little more easily. This beautiful decorative tile called to me from @thenookatflinders last weekend. It serves as a visual reminder that all waves pass and there is power in letting some roll through, and consciously choosing which we ride and which we let go. #nonreactivity #permissiontofeel #emotionalintelligence #nervoussystemregulation #mentalhealth #bringingpsychologytolife #howemotionsaremade #melbournepsychologist #walkingtherapy #brainhealth

Our body is our home and our brain creates meaning

Our body is our home and our brain creates meaning from sensory input we are exposed to in the present moment as it is filtered through the lens of our past experience. It constructs meaning and prescribes action based on what it believes our bodily sensations mean (Lisa Feldman Barrett – How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain). We now understand our emotions aren't universally pre-programmed in our brains and bodies but rather are psychological experiences that each of us constructs based on our unique personal history, physiology and environment. Our interpretation of these bodily sensations are worth examining as what our brain believes and the stories we are telling ourselves inform our emotions - our emotions are made BY us rather than happening TO us: * What meaning have I made of this emotion? * Was there a problem my emotion was getting me to solve, overcome, or avoid? * What function or goal is this emotion serving? In the past we may have learned to negate, dismiss or minimize our emotions and so do not trust our present experience of emotions and sensations when they arise. This can perpetuate in adulthood as a kind of emotional loneliness that accompanies avoidance, shutdown and shame. As Lindsay Gibson (Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents) comments “the loneliness of being unseen by others is as fundamentally painful as a physical injury”. As adults we might have to refurnish our home, resourcing ourselves with what we need to make sense of our bodily sensations and our lived experience. We might learn that pain is no longer a threat to our survival, and discomfort no longer needs to overwhelm us. We have agency in re-establishing safety in our body and building a secure base from which to operate in adult life. #mentalhealth #bringingpsychologytolife #howemotionsaremade #nervoussystemregulation #emotionalintelligence #melbournepsychologist #walkingtherapy #brainhealth

Autumn is here and the trees are letting go, makin

Autumn is here and the trees are letting go, making way for another season of growth. Our breath is a great guide in our own letting go. With every inhalation we expand and make room and with every exhalation we release and let go of what is no longer required by our body. Each breath can serve as a reminder to let go of thoughts or worries we might be carrying with us. The natural ebb and flow of the breath reminds us to release any gripping and tension. As you breathe, check in with your shoulders, your jaw, and that crease in the centre of your forehead and let go of any tension you find there. There might be something you need to let go of. Perhaps a habit, a quality, or a pattern of behaviour that no longer serves you. There is so much we can learn through our breath, without a single conscious thought the body knows what to do. Like our exhale we can let go of unwanted habits and tendencies - our preoccupation with what others think of us, our hesitancy towards meeting new people, our tendency to judge others character, or our historical patterns of response. Then our inhale creates the space required for new understanding and new choices in how we show up in the world. Be mindful of your breathing - it’s unique pattern has the power to move you in all sorts of ways. #melbournepsychologist #breathwork #telehealth #brainhealth #integrativetherapy #mentalhealth #mindbody #thebodykeepsthescore #habitsofhealth #growyourmind #therapy #nervoussystemregulation

When we are exposed to events that cause distress

When we are exposed to events that cause distress and overwhelm our coping capacity the emotional energy can get lodged in the body and as a consequence, we can become stuck. Stuck reliving memories and past experiences; stuck in repetitive patterns of thought and behaviour that might soothe in the short term but cause long term discomfort; stuck in a state of heightened alarm unable to relax; or stuck closed off in a depression that keeps our life small. Given this knowledge, it makes sense to incorporate movement in therapy so we might get unstuck and mobilise. Through incorporating gentle movements of our body, moving our limbs as we walk, scanning our eyes as we process, and shifting the breath around our body, we can mobilise stuck energy and ready ourselves to embrace the @positivemoveswellbeing we want to incorporate in life. #nervoussystemregulation #mentalhealth #walkingtherapy #polyvagaltheory #brainhealth #integrativetherapy #nervoussystemregulation #mentalhealth #bringingpsychologytolife #melbournepsychologist

Addiction is a continuum. It might suit many of u

Addiction is a continuum. It might suit many of us to believe it is a genetic predisposition or a moral failing restricted to the realms of those who use alcohol and other drugs to excess. In reality, it is more accurately seen as a case of our human need for bonding and connection gone askew (thanks to the work of @dr.gabormate @johann.hari and Professor Peter Cohen). We are all prone to seek self-soothing in the face of fear and discomfort and when we find ourselves experiencing disconnection from those around us, we will find a behaviour to bond with (whether it is eating, gaming, shopping, pornography, gambling, exercise). Of course, addictions differ in degree of severity, the extent to which they impact our ability to show up in the world, and in the level of moral judgement applied to the already heavy weight of bearing the addiction itself. Ironically society is more comfortable with the use of alcohol and tobacco despite them being implicated in many more deaths. Indeed, @michaelcmoss in Hooked suggests no addictive drug can fire up the reward circuitry in the brain quite as rapidly as our favourite foods and yet there are no restrictions and penalties applied to protect the unsuspecting public from the impact of processed food on brain circuitry. Addictive tendencies arise in the circuitry of the brain that govern our most basic life-sustaining functions – motivation, physical and emotional pain relief, the regulation of stress, and the capacity to feel and receive love. Rather than question why the addict continues to use, we might more helpfully bring nonjudgmental curiosity and explore the origins of the pain they are struggling to escape. #lostconnections #addiction #compassionateinquiry #interpersonalneurobiology #nervoussystemregulation #mentalhealth #bringingpsychologytolife #melbournepsychologist #walkingtherapy #brainhealth

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