March 2016 | Continuum Healing

Just Keep Breathing – A Return to Our Breath

Emotions, Erica McLaughlin, Mind Body and SpiritNo commentsbreath, breathe

Getting real. Getting real with myself.

That is what a year of ‘shit hits the fan’ will do to a person.

When the very thing that you have spent a lifetime working not to see or to feel stares you right in the eyes…. It gets real. Real quick.

What do I do with REAL?

Avoid? Distract? Numb? Feel?

Breathe. Just keep breathing.

When faced with the kind of fear or grief that feels like it is going to swallow you up… just keep breathing.

When the pain is so intense that you fear getting lost in it, never to be found again… just keep breathing.

Your breath not only sustains you physically, but it has the capacity to hold you mentally and emotionally. It binds you to yourself. It keeps you in the present moment and draws you into your body.

When we encounter strong emotions it is easy to run… even from ourselves. We run from the strong ‘feels’ of it all. We disembody. Our breath is that ever-present anchor that is there to be turned toward again and again, drawing us back into our body, into the moment at hand, and into our life.

I often remind …

The Delusion of Emotions

Guest Post, Mind Body and SpiritNo commentsEmotions, inner child

I’ve been contemplating my inner child and the emotions that arise from her lately. I hold the belief that emotions should be acknowledged, felt and processed, however, a recent encounter with a friend revealed a different perspective.

“What have you been studying lately?” he asked.

“I was just journaling about my inner child,” I replied, “and how she should be acknowledged when emotions arise from her.”

He thought for a moment and responded, “I see where you’re coming from, but I think emotions are delusions. They hold us back and are products of expectation. Depending on the extent to which our expectations are fulfilled, an emotion is felt.”

He is discrediting what makes us human, I thought. Does he not feel? I let what he said soak in and replied, “What about joy, excitement and awe?”

He said, “Those are also a product of expectation.”

I thought about this. “How our expectations are met cause us to feel certain emotions, but is this wrong? To expect? What about desire? And will?”

He responded, “I think they hold us back. They are delusions, attachments we cling to that prevent us from growing and moving on.”

As we parted ways, I said, …

Using the Enneagram in Relationships

Enneagram, Guest Post, RelationshipsNo commentsEnneagram, grand rapids, workshop

Mike Cohen, mediation coach, Enneagram coach and friend of ours here at Continuum Healing, will teach Using the Enneagram in Relationships in Michigan April 3. If you’ve attended Micah’s workshops (or not), this class will be a great opportunity to learn how to put it to use in your personal relationships and shift from conflict to connection. Here’s a story Mike shared about how the Enneagram helped this couple.…

The blurry line between self-love and sloth

Christie Kruisenga, Emotions, Mind Body and Spirit, NaturopathyNo commentsavoidance, presence, self awareness, self-compassion, self-love

A radical act of self-love doesn’t have to mean spending a fortune on yourself or masking pain with fun distractions. It can just be a willingness to check the intent of your loving action at the door to make sure its purpose is to truly nourish your soul.

There are quite a few actions that I categorize under self-love, such as relaxation, choosing foods that nourish you, respecting yourself and your intuition, etc. But what is considered self-love can sometimes blur the lines with our defense/coping mechanisms. …

Month: March 2016

Just Keep Breathing – A Return to Our Breath

The Delusion of Emotions

Using the Enneagram in Relationships

The blurry line between self-love and sloth