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10/11/2017 3 Comments

Practice Feature - Psychotherapy: What is ACT?

At the moment, there are 155 different types of Psychotherapy listed on Wikipedia with over a thousand different methods claimed to be in existence. That’s a lot to choose from! Luckily, many of the methods are slight variations of more popular approaches, and the different methods can be grouped into a few broad categories of therapy. Each approach looks at problems from a particular perspective, and has a set of techniques aimed at improving well-being, mental functioning and eliciting positive change.

When I was studying Psychology and Psychotherapy at school, we learned about the most common categories of therapy. Each one provided a very useful perspective on how mental and emotional problems develop in humans. I can confidently say that the understanding and insight I got into my own problems at the time were invaluable, and in hindsight probably saved me from a lot of future pain and suffering. However, at the end of the day I often found myself wondering “So now what?” Having insight helped me to understand my problems, but didn’t help me change my situation. This is where one type of therapy really made a difference for me.

The type of therapy I eventually found myself gravitating towards, and the main approach I use in my own private practice, is ACT or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. This was not an approach that was taught in school, but one I stumbled upon by chance and really fell in love with. One of the things I love about ACT is that it’s an experiential type of therapy, meaning it’s not just about talking and gaining insight, but also about doing. For me, this answered that “so now what?” question.

The aim of the ACT practices is to change the way we relate to our thoughts and feelings without actually changing our thoughts and feelings. This is different from many of the other types of therapy out there, which focus on changing negative thoughts and feelings into positive ones. At this point you might be thinking “isn’t the whole point of therapy to improve our negative thoughts and feelings?” Well according to the ACT perspective, the problem isn’t our thoughts and feelings per se, but how we relate to them. If, for example, we were to have the thought “I’m not good enough” accompanied by the feelings of hurt and shame, this might lead us to engage in self-destructive behaviours, withdraw from others, and shy away from doing the things we really want to do in life. If, by contrast, we were to have the thought “I’m a banana,” we might be amused or puzzled by it but chances are it would not significantly impact us. We would simply dismiss it as a random silly thought and get on with our day. But what if we reacted to the thought “I’m not good enough” in the same way as we do to the thought “I’m a banana?” After all, they are really the same. Both thoughts are just phenomena produced by the brain, a string of funny sounds that make up words and sentences. We would then be able to get on with our day regardless of what types of thoughts and feelings arise in our consciousness. Rather than being tossed around by our difficult emotions and negative thinking patterns, we would be able to take back control of our lives.

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By shifting our focus away from trying to change our thoughts and feelings, we can instead foster acceptance, curiosity, and compassion for whatever arises. Dropping the inner struggle with our thoughts and feelings also frees up a lot of energy which we can then put towards taking action.

This is where the other aspect of ACT comes in, which is exploring what gives us meaning, what fulfills us, and what gives us a sense of vitality. And to boldly take steps towards that life. By shifting focus away from trying to change our thoughts and feelings to making space for them instead, we can take these bold steps towards a rich and meaningful life NOW, not once we feel better. ACT teaches us that we don’t need to put our life on hold until we “get better,” but rather we have the capacity to live fully and boldly even with all of our pain and suffering. This is exactly why I fell in love with ACT. It made me realize that to live fully is to be able to experience the full spectrum of human emotion, that to love fully is to inevitably feel the pain of loss, that to do what truly matters involves the courage and vulnerability of taking risks, that all of us at some point will experience pain and suffering, and that the amount of life in a moment of pain is the same as the amount of life in a moment of joy. To me, ACT is not just a type of therapy that I practice, but the way I live my life. Because at the end of the day, ACT is about helping people live rich, full, and meaningful lives regardless of the negative chatter of their minds or emotional pain in their hearts. And to me, this is not just mental well-being, it is freedom.


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Zlata is a Psychotherapist and Yoga Teacher practicing in Toronto. She weaves Mindfulness into her work with both her Psychotherapy and Yoga clients.

E | zlata@mindfullivinggta.com
W | www.mindfullivinggta.com
3 Comments

7/20/2017 1 Comment

5 Things You Should Know About Anxiety

1. You are not alone

Almost everyone experiences anxiety at some points in there life, be it worrying about their children, fear of public speaking or flying or some other form of generalized anxiety.
Almost everyone who comes into my offices suffers from some form of anxiety. To care about other people is to have anxiety. However, if your anxiety is starting to impede the way you live your life, it may be time to start thinking about what you can do about it.

2. Your anxiety has some benefits

Know that your anxiety is there for a reason. It could be that there is a real danger. Perhaps your anxiety is covering some other emotion that you are not ready to deal with yet. It could be keeping you off the streets and making sure you don't get hurt. Anxiety is adaptive when dangers are real and serious. We would never want to get rid of our anxiety completely.

Anxious people are reliable, they are planners and thinkers (which is what gets in their way sometimes). They will often have a plan and have thought of all the things that could go wrong and accounted for them. Anxious people are often very sensitive. They are super aware of everything going on, smells, sounds, people and possibilities.

3. Diet and exercise affect your anxiety

We all know there are many benefits to eating well and exercising but did you know that it could improve your anxiety?
Exercise can be a great way to release pent up emotions and physical tension while also releasing feelings of fear and worry. Additionally, maintaining a regular exercise routine has been associated with improved mood, enhanced self-esteem, and increased energy levels.

Caffeine is one of the most common dietary triggers that can impact people with anxiety. Even people that don't normally feel anxious will start exhibiting anxious behaviours after a few cups of coffee! Other foods that may trigger anxiety include processed foods and foods high in sugar and white flour.

4. Meditation can help with anxiety
(there are a lot of apps available for this)


It has been proven that mindfulness meditation can change the structure and function of the brain to make it work better. There are lots of apps available to help you with meditation.

A few of my favourites are:
Headspace - an app that teaches you and guides you through 10 minute mindfulness meditations. The first 3 weeks are free and after that you pay a monthly fee and have unlimited access meditations that focus on different areas of your life you would like to improve

Insight timer - this app is free. You can use it just as a timer for your own meditation and there are also tons of guided meditations available.

Gaia - this program offers yoga practices, meditations and educational videos.

5. Help is available.

The good thing about anxiety being so prevalent is that a lot of research is being done on it and there is a lot of help available. You don't need to suffer alone. The things listed above are some that can try on your own but there are lots of other resources in the city, and of course you can always enlist the help of a qualified therapist.

Upcoming Workshop...

If you are interested in learning more about your anxiety and how to deal with it consider attending my workshop on anxiety which is being held on July 27th at the Inner Arts Collective.

The workshop will incorporate mindfulness exercise, movement and creativity to help you get out of your thinking mind and give you some tools to use in your every day life. There will also be reflection and discussion to help you better understand your anxiety.

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To register or for more information, please see their event on Facebook:
Info & Registration

About Emily...

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Emily uses an Integrative Approach to therapy that draws on various modalities. It is holistic in that it deals with body, mind and spirit. The methods she uses will depend on what works best for you and your situation. Emily provides a safe, non-judgmental space where you can talk about your feelings and concerns, Many of which you may not feel comfortable talking about in your day-to-day relationships.
1 Comment

7/7/2017 2 Comments

Practice Feature: Mindful Yoga

If you are someone who has ever taken or even thought about taking a yoga class, you have undoubtedly been faced with a multitude of options. First you have your standard Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Iyengar, Bikram, Hot Yoga, Yin, Restorative, and Kundalini yoga classes. From there the titles get more creative as each studio and teacher put their own flare into their classes; combining, fusing, and supplementing yoga styles sometimes with other movement or spiritual traditions. A quick look at some of the top studios in Toronto gives us classes such as Functional Flow, Kundalini Vinyasa Fusion, Core Power Flow, Chakra Flow, Hatha HypnoZen, Yin Yang, Slow Flow Vinyasa, Moon Yoga, Yoga Conditioning, Detox Flow, Yoga Sculpt, Goddess Flow, Bliss Yoga, and Yogalates. Phew!!

And now I am writing to you about Mindful Yoga. What in the heck is Mindful Yoga, and are all these styles really that different? Are they even still yoga? As with many questions, the short answer is both yes and no. It’s true, the practice of yoga has evolved significantly here in the West and continues to do so, so much so that it is sometimes difficult to say that what we are currently seeing can still be referred to as yoga in the traditional sense. The same can be said for the practice of Mindfulness. Like Yoga, Mindfulness has gained much popularity in the West over the last decade or so since entering the mainstream. In addition to Mindfulness Meditation, we can now also find Mindful Eating, Mindful Movement, Mindful Conversation, Mindfulness Stress Reduction Programs, Mindfulness Based Therapy, Mindfulness Based Recovery Programs, and yes Mindful Yoga. It seems that Mindfulness, too, has evolved significantly since its traditional roots in Buddhist Spiritual Practice.

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Zlata weaves Mindfulness into her work with both her psychotherapy and yoga clients.

Photo by Simon Johnston


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