Yoga in the Therapy Room: Tips for integrating trauma informed yoga

What is animal-assisted therapy? How can you learn to love your authentic self through animals?

MEET Annalisa Smithson

Annalisa is the founder and director of Unleashed Counseling. She is a board-certified counselor licensed in the state of Pennsylvania, specializing in cognitive behavioral therapy and animal-assisted therapy. She has presented research at national mental health conferences, including the American Psychological Association, the Association for Women in Psychology, and the Pennsylvania Counseling Association.

Annalisa is the author of two books, Emotional Support Animals (2021) and Unconditional, and has published research in several peer-reviewed journals including Psychology in the Schools and the Journal of the PCA. Prior to becoming a counselor, she worked as a fundraising professional for Lehigh University. She holds a Master of Education in Counseling & Human Services and a Master of Arts in the Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation.

Find out more about Annalisa at Animal-Assisted Therapy and connect with her on Facebook

Unconditional: Learning to Love Your Authentic Self by Annalisa Smithson

• What makes it hard for people to be authentic? 3:05
• Integrating animal-assisted therapy into your practice 7:25
• What are the benefits of animal-assisted therapy? 14:43
• How can therapists show up more authentically in their sessions? 19:27

• Assessing the messages that we receive growing up
• How does authenticity affect therapists just starting out?
• Learning to trust not only your knowledge but your intuition as well
• Overcoming perfectionism

• What kind of animals are best for animal-assisted therapy
• How to bring mindfulness into therapy with animals
• Learning to love ourselves unconditionally through animals
• Different ways to integrate animal-assisted therapy into your practice

• Learning to trust your animal to assist in guiding sessions
• Using animals to inspire new conversations with clients
• Utilizing animal-assisted rapport building?
• Adapting a supportive character technique with your therapy support animal

• The importance of having your own support system as a therapist
• Why self-care is so important for therapists
• Connecting with others in your field
• The importance of creating a mission statement about who you are

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

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Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

Can a tarot reading help you reconnect to yourself? How can you integrate tarot cards and imagery into your practice?

MEET Dreya Blume

Dreya Blume is a social worker, therapist, and tarot card reader. She is also a huge fan of incorporating holistic strategies into her healing practice, from Reiki to singing bowls, and EFT to tarot cards.

Dreya is the author of several books, including "The Tarot Activity Book: A collection of creative and therapeutic ideas for the cards," and "Tarot for Transformation: Using the major arcana to discover your best self and have a life worth living" (both under her former name, Andy Matzner).

Dreya is a transwoman who worked as a gender therapist for many years, serving the transgender community of southwest Virginia. She recently moved to Durham, NC, and is excited to begin a new chapter in her life!

Find out more about Dreya at Dreya Blume, Tarot With Dreya, and connect with her on Instagram

• What are tarot cards? 4:42
• Finding the ideal clients to use tarot cards in session 9:22
• Overcoming negative reactions to different holistic approaches 16:00
• Where to start on your tarot card reading journey 25:22

• Integrating tarot cards with expressive arts therapy
• How to use tarot cards in client sessions
• How to use tarot card reading in a more deliberate manner
• Learning to ask the right questions when using tarot cards

• Making tarot card readings approachable and comfortable for clients
• Ways to be upfront about your session offerings
• Being comfortable as a therapist when it comes to offering tarot card readings
• Being open to feedback when beginning tarot card readings

• Understanding where other's judgment is coming from
• Overcoming evidence-based objections to holistic approaches
• Creating a space for people to participate in holistic therapy
• Being approachable as a therapist in all aspects of therapy

• Doing your research and finding the imagery that resonates with you
• Thinking about your clientele when it comes to choosing a tarot deck
• 100 ways to use tarot cards in session in "The Tarot Activity Book," by Dreya Blume
• Using the imagery on the cards to initiate a conversation

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

How can you integrate crystal therapy into your practice? What is holistic hypnosis therapy and how can it be used in trauma-informed therapy?

MEET Teresa Cox Mayle

Teresa is a therapist affiliated with Thrivemind Counseling and Wellness in Jacksonville, NC. She reads tarot cards, reiki, aromatherapy, and other cool holistic counseling techniques.

Find out more about Teresa at Thrive Mind Wellness and contact her by Email

• What is crystal therapy? 1:05
• Teaching crystal therapy to clients 9:25
• What is holistic hypnosis? 18:30

• Using crystal therapy as a tool to focus on the mind
• Examples of positive affirmations using crystals
• What is anchoring?
• Understanding sacred geometry and the benefits

• Ethical concerns with crystal therapy
• Educating your clients about the potential benefits of crystal therapy
• Finding trustworthy information on crystal therapy
• Holistic techniques when using crystal therapy

• What is the Simpson Protocol?
• Using hypnosis with trauma-based therapy
• Guiding your clients through each level of healing during hypnosis
• Bringing clients out of hypnosis in a constructive and relaxing way

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

What is Somatic Intelligence and how are our psychological and spiritual experiences perceived by our body? Can knowing your body make you more mindful?

MEET Jen Degen

Hi, I'm Jennifer Degen. My work as a Somatic Therapist and Resiliency Coach draws on 30 years of eastern and western traditions. I will facilitate an experience that focuses on your needs:

-Nourishes your authentic desires

-Expands your creativity

-Sustains your life in a place of balance

All my offerings evoke alignment, embody mindfulness, and ignite self-leadership and growth. Prepare to gain greater insight, awareness, acceptance, and honor of comfortable change.

Mind Body Awareness is the intersection of somatic psychology, neuroscience, mindfulness, and personal growth.

Find out more about at Mind, Body & Awareness and connect with Jen on Facebook

• What is Sensory Motor Awareness? 8:35
• Supporting your clients with Somatic awareness 14:35
• What is Somatic Intelligence 17:14

• What are the different ways we experience mobility?
• Understanding how mobility integrates into so many practices
• What is Somatic Yoga?
• Examples of Somatic practices

• Using client feedback as a way to help them make the best decision for their health and wellness
• Understanding how to invite the whole body into the somatic process

• Understanding how or entire body interacts and works together
• Connecting mind, body, and spirit
• Teaching Somatic Intelligence to our clients
• What is embodied mindfulness?

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

What is Walk & Talk therapy and how can it open up the possibilities of your practice? Can bringing movement and nature into your sessions take away the stigma of mental health and traditional therapy?

MEET Nicole Osborne

Nicole Osborne is a licensed holistic mental health therapist and co-owner of Milk & Honey Therapy and Milk & Honey Merch located in Greensboro, NC (soon to be located in Honolulu, HI!). She specializes in working with teens and young adults from a variety of cultural backgrounds. She loves using creative and holistic approaches to help her clients overcome anxiety, depression, trauma, athlete concerns, low self-esteem, life transitions, and identity development issues. Nicole has over 10 years of combined experience serving as a coach, tutor, mentor, teacher, and counselor to children, teens, and adults from diverse backgrounds. In all of her various experiences and in the current work that she does, her deepest desire is to empower people to show up as their authentic selves.

In her free time, you can find Nicole taking a nap, sitting on her patio, trying new restaurants, traveling, and spending time in nature.

Find out more at Milk & Honey Therapy and connect with Nicole on Instagram & Facebook

Holistic Therapy & Wellness Cards can be found on: milkandhoneymerch.com

FREE 5-Step Guide on How to Feel Your Feelings:

https://milkandhoneymerch.ck.page/feelyourfeelings

FREE How to Forgive Guide:

https://milkandhoneymerch.ck.page/howtoforgive

• What is Walk & Talk therapy? 3:00
• Mindfulness strategies for a walk & talk therapy 6:35
• How to prepare for walk & talk sessions 16:22
• What is play therapy? 23:00

• How to handle patient confidentiality in walk & talk therapy?
• Understanding liability concerns with a walk & talk therapy
• What type of clients are walk & talk therapy for?
• What are the benefits of this type of therapy?

• Incorporating cards & worksheets as mindfulness prompts
• How to incorporate nature into therapy
• What is bilateral stimulation?
• Walk & talk therapy versus traditional therapy

• Ideas for planning ahead for these types of therapy sessions
• Learning to be flexible in scheduling your time with clients
• The importance of making your sessions accessible to your clients
• What are the downsides of walk & talk therapy

• Being open to the possibilities of what therapy can look like for kids
• The benefits of play therapy
• Ideas for incorporating play therapy into your practice
• Being prepared for play therapy sessions

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

What does it mean to connect with your higher self? Do we have the power to heal ourselves by raising our vibrational energy?

MEET Amanda

Shaman, Angelic light, and Reiki Master. I've been in alternative medicine professionally since 2006 with the intention to align mind, body, and soul with preparing us for these times. I am thankful to merge psychic abilities with education in anatomy and physiology, energy and frequency healing, and studying quantum physics and the laws of the universe. Merging science and spirituality as it was originally meant to be.

Find out more at Krystalline Light Body and connect with Amanda on Twitter

• How do you merge science and spirituality? 4:35
• Understanding the root cause of your symptoms 8:52
• How to protect your energy 24:18

• Understanding why science, spirituality, and religion are so disconnected
• What is limiting the consciousness of humanity?
• Why connecting to yourself through meditation is important to connecting to your spirit guides
• What factors limit our consciousness?

• Learning how to connect with the right energy to understand why certain symptoms appear
• How does energy get stagnant?
• What is a collective energy and how does this affect you and others around you?
• What is vibrational frequency and how to raise your vibration?

• How to bubble your energy
• Shielding your energy with intention
• How to be mindful of negative energy
• What is ascension?

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit and can't decide on just one idea to develop? Can you create multiple streams of income using your counseling skills?

MEET Tamara Howell

Tamara is a psychotherapist and private practice coach for therapists offering online courses, workshops, paperwork templates, and coaching groups.

Find out more at Practice With Tamara and connect with Tamara on Instagram

ACCESS HERE: TheraBundle

• What is a multi-offer ecosystem? 6:06
• Why have multiple streams of income? 7:52
• What are common streams of income for therapists? 15:15

• Understanding a standard sales funnel
• How to make each of your sales offers independent of each other
• Creating better offers for your ideal clients with this system
• Reaching more people by creating different and unique offerings

• Finding an outlet for someone with an entrepreneurial drive
• Creating connections and opportunities consistently
• Having flexibility when you have multiple streams of income
• The difference between passive income and scalable income

• Learning from your everyday routines and processes when generating ideas
• Examining how much time certain things take you and creating a more efficient system
• Different types of models for sharing this information with others
• Presenting your ideas in a new and different way than what is already available

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

What is sound healing therapy? How can you offer sound healing to clients with a history of trauma?

MEET LA Adkins

LA uses she/her/hers pronouns and is a creative, champion of solitude, storyteller, and certified sound practitioner and mindfulness meditation guide. She currently practices as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Holistic Wellness Therapreneur and is the Founding Owner of Reconnect With You, PLLC, a private mental health practice. She provides individual therapy, sound baths/therapy, and public speaking services, and she makes candles. She specializes in working with entrepreneurs, professionals, and corporations.

How she shows up in the world is shaped by her personal values, which are accountability, authenticity, autonomy, integrity, and transparency. She firmly believes that one's relationships with others are both an extension and reflection of the relationship one has with oneself, which is why she is so passionate about working with individuals to help them know, better understand, and more fully accept themselves. Some of her hobbies are karaoke, mixology, and candlemaking. She sends you love, light, and sunshine!

Find out more at Reconnect With You and connect with LA Adkins on Instagram

• What is sound therapy? 2:30
• What is a sound bath? 5:00
• What is trauma-informed sound therapy 12:00
• Trauma-informed sound therapy vs. traditional sound therapy 19:40

• What does it mean for your chakras to be aligned?
• Using sound therapy to connect with your body to determine the next steps to healing
• Benefits of sound therapy
• What are the different types of sound therapy?

• What to expect when participating in a sound bath
• How community affects a sound bath experience
• Integrating journaling into sound therapy
• Can you perform self-guided sound therapy?

• Why is trauma-informed sound therapy important?
• Shaping a sound bath experience for all types of trauma
• Understanding that trauma can come in many forms
• Why it is important to allow time for processing after a sound bath has ended

• How to remove any power dynamics in trauma-informed therapy
• Creating collaboration and community
• Learning to establish safety and trust when introducing sound therapy to clients who have experienced any type of trauma
• How can someone with a trauma history benefit from sound therapy?

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

What is mindful hypnosis and how can it be used in mental health therapy? Can you transform your well-being through hypnosis?

MEET Liz Slonena

Dr. Liz Slonena (slow-nih-nah) is a multi-media artist, speaker, clinical psychologist, and recovering perfectionist in Asheville, North Carolina. She helps creative professionals and entrepreneurs reclaim their power, banish burnout, and heal attachment trauma so that they can give the middle finger to perfectionism, people-pleasing, and self-doubt. Dr. Liz is the co-creator of Brief Mindful Hypnosis, a science-backed way to rapidly overcome stress to help you feel more calm, creative, and confident. With over 10 years of clinical research and publishing over a dozen scientific studies, Dr. Liz is unapologetically nerdy and interweaves the he(art) & science of meditation so you can easily merge mindfulness and flow into your life.

Find out more at www.drlizlistens.com and connect with Liz on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Insight Timer, and Aura App

• What is mindful hypnosis? 2:00
• How to teach mindful hypnosis to clients and practitioners 7:10
• How does mindful hypnosis help therapists with self-care? 12:11
• Finding motivation with mindful hypnosis 15:55

• How is mindful or self-hypnosis different from clinical hypnosis?
• Overcoming the stigma of traditional hypnosis
• How to be a guide for clients as a clinician
• Examples of everyday self-hypnosis

• How to teach what the mindful hypnosis state is like
• How to call upon mindful meditation at anytime
• What are auto-suggestions in hypnosis?
• How to integrate mindful hypnosis into everyday life

• Closing out your day in a productive, thorough manner
• Self-hypnosis for filtering negative energy from difficult casework
• Avoiding compassion fatigue when dealing with clients
• Using mindful intention to avoid burnout

• The correlation between relaxation and finding your way away from negative thoughts and energy
• Identifying what is the most meaningful to you and removing "stuck," beliefs that you are holding on to
• Defining mindfulness in hypnosis
• Being non-judgmental while practicing mindfulness

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

Does music have the power to impact your mental and physical health? Can you use music and sound to reach beyond your traditional therapy?

Fellow of the Association for Music and Imagery, Narrative Therapist MM, NMT, MT-BC Joyu Lee (she/her), is the owner of Music and Your Mind, LLC, and a founding member of Vida Strings. She is a Senior Therapist at UNC Health in Chapel Hill, NC, and primarily works with teens and young adults with eating disorders, anxiety and depression, and crisis intervention. She is also a music therapist at Pasadenavilla Outpatient treatment center and provides re-educative, insight-building music psychotherapy sessions for groups and individuals on a daily basis.

Joyu is a passionate and experienced therapist with 20+ years of combined international experience in creative/expressive arts therapy, cello performance, music education, and arts administration. She is trained in the Bonny Method Guided Imagery and Music (GIM- Music Psychotherapy) and is a Fellow of the Association for Music and Imagery. Joyu was mentored by Dr. Dag Körlin as an independent "Music Breathing" practitioner and completed the Narrative Therapy Certification through Narrative Therapy Initiative (NTI) in May 2022.

Since 2018, she has facilitated "Music Care", and trauma-informed workshops at the National Bornoff Workshop at the University of Kansas, NC State University, Meredith College, Durham Crisis Response Center, UNC Health, Queens University, and Current Wellness. Joyu has presented in SER-AMTA regional conferences in 2021 and 2022 and was the keynote speaker presenting on "Radical Listening" in 2022. Joyu was the recipient of the 2022 Innovation Award at the Rehabilitation Department of UNC Health, and the recipient of the 2021 "Linda Keiser Mardis Education" research grant. She is the primary investigator for the ongoing Music Breathing research at the UNC Center of Excellence for eating disorders inpatient unit (2021-2022). Joyu has developed and presented the new music program "Finding Meaning" at the International Association for Music and Imagery conference in Philadelphia, USA, in 2021, and will be presenting at the European Association for Music and Imagery in Denmark, in September 2022.

Joyu completed her Music Therapy degree from Appalachian State University (Boone, NC) and has been a Board-Certified Music Therapist (MT-BC) since 2014. She received a BM in Cello Performance from the National Taiwan Normal University, and a MM in Cello Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music (Cleveland, OH).

Find out more at Music And Your Mind and connect with Joyu on Instagram.

• What are the healing benefits of music therapy? 4:12
• How to use mindfulness with music 10:32
• Using music therapy when dealing with depression 20:33
• Guided imagery in music therapy 26:30

• What is music therapy?
• How do you as an individual interact with music in your everyday life
• How to incorporate music into your daily routine
• How to use music and the breath for healing benefits

• Focusing on the elements of the music
• How to monitor your headspace
• Being intentional when listening to music
• How to use music therapy with trauma

• Learning to reconnect with music when dealing with depression
• Using a minimalistic approach with music therapy and depression
• Integrating other creative outlets along with music therapy
• Learning to invite your clients into the process of music therapy

• What is guided imagery?
• How to use guided imagery in one on one client sessions
• Understanding the importance of music selection in this practice
• Guided imagery walk-through with a cello performance

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)