I believe our most important job right now, is to learn how to live in our bodies. How to manage all the distracting input of our physical senses – our unruly, roller coaster emotions, our busy drunken monkey minds, the stresses and strains of living on a wobbly planet with it’s own agenda and weather patterns, and still remember that we are more than all of it.

How do we deal with gravity and digestion and inflammation and enlightenment? It’s a full time job! Fortunately, we have lots of tools. We have healing foods and medicines, we have energy systems and meridians, we have our amazing capacity for imagery and metaphor and meditation and laughter. And we are not alone…

I named my blog “Living In Your Body” because we are here, on Earth, in these amazing and frustrating physical forms with no owner’s manual, no training wheels and no reset button. My intent is to address different aspects of our experience that randomly catch my fancy and share with you my experience, knowledge, intuition and the wisdom of both ancient and modern teachings to be of service to you on your journey.  ~ Carol

Moods Are Like the Weather… Seasonal Affective Disorder
OK, so if from a spiritual perspective, you are really the sky. then your emotions are really just the clouds that come and go. Sometimes they frame the sun and create a beautiful sky, or a spectacular sunset. Sometimes they seem to block the sun and  you can feel gray as ashes. But then the wind blows, air currents shift and suddenly you are your true radiant self again… Read more

It’s What You do With It…
When I was 13 years old, I went to a summer camp where I studied theater and dreamed of being an actress. It was my third and last year there, and the years before I had had some pretty good roles in small plays. That year they decided to produce The Wizard of Oz. Read more

Being at peace with choices…
So many people seem to be stressed about making choices these days. Whether it is a major life change or decision – health issues or decisions about treatments, divorce or separation, career changes or simply the myriad of lifestyle choices we face on a daily basis – it is so common to feel unsettled and stressed and keep second guessing ourselves. When we make a choice, we want to feel a sense of peace and resolution. Read more

You Are Not Your Diagnosis…
Dr. Bernie Siegel says “A diagnosis is just an opinion.” But it is so easy to take on a label; my Irritable Bowel Syndrome, my arthritic knees, my breast cancer… When is a diagnosis helpful information, and when does it take over our identity? Read more

Transformation, Toxins and Butterflies
The milkweed plant is celebrated as the favorite food of the monarch butterfly caterpillar. It’s also quite toxic, and in munching its way through many leaves, the caterpillar stores enough toxins in its body to render it, and the resulting butterfly unattractive and dangerous to predators. We all absorb toxic experiences, relationships, patterns in our early life.How much do we hold onto as protection? Read more

Changing Our Story – Reality is Relative…
We have experiences in our lives, and then we tell ourselves stories about what they mean, and then we live our life around the stories. So often the stories are not so happy, not so inspiring, and tend to leave us disempowered and upset. But if it’s my story, why can’t I just change it? Read more

Letting Go of Our Old Stuff with Guided Imagery…
We talk about letting go in a lot of different contexts, but what does it really mean? We take stress and trauma into our body and energy field, and that’s fine, it is how we function as physical beings. Where it becomes a problem is when we keep it and carry it with us for the rest of our lives. Our traumas and experiences and beliefs – whether they are conscious, or buried deep in our unconscious – continually impact how we function in the present. Read more

Finding Balance – EFT and the Bigger Picture
We humans tend to focus on what’s wrong, and like a dog licking a sore paw, we go over and over our stuff. The Energy Psychology technique EFT is one of my favorite techniques for clearing stuff and finding balance. It provides a unique way to expand your focus, to broaden your view and create some welcome space for healing. Read more

The Presence of Absence…
When someone leaves your life, there is a space left behind, which we often perceive as absence.  But is it really absence? My experience of that space is that it has a very palpable presence to it, it is something in it’s own right. When someone close close to me died recently, it left that kind of presence, that sense that this is not nothing, it is something.  Something very new, very unknown, very mysterious, very profound… Read more

Quick Stress Relief Tips…
Trying to find the time to implement stress relief techniques can be stressful itself, so I wanted to share with you some quick stress releasing ideas. It really doesn’t take long to shift your energy and calm your nervous system and access a sense of relaxation and peacefulness. Here are a few of my favorite, very quick stress releasing tricks. Read more

Where Does the “Four Steps to Center” Meditation Come From?
People have asked me how I came up with the Four Steps to Center™ process that I use in many of my guided imagery meditation CDs and mp3s. It evolved out of my understanding of who we really are; not just physical beings, but beings of multiple levels, of heart and mind and spirit as well as body. I try to incorporate this understanding into all aspects of my life and my work, though of course, like everyone else, I frequently forget! Read more

The Gratitude is Greater Than the Grief…
My beloved companion dog Satika died of a very aggressive cancer. We had 5 bittersweet weeks to enjoy together after he was diagnosed. I woke up each morning grateful for another chance to gaze into his dark soulful eyes and bask in the the calm joy and deep love that radiated from his whole being. Read more

Every problem has a gift for you in it’s hands…
Health and healing are like life – filled with mystery and complexity and change. It makes the whole question of analyzing symptoms, getting diagnoses, of fixing and curing things quite complicated. Richard Bach wrote, in his remarkable book Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah “Every problem has a gift for you in its hands.”  I add to that “and every illness and symptom has a lesson.” Read more

Being at peace with choices…
Many of my clients are dealing with a major life change or decision, such as serious health issues and decisions about treatments, divorce or separation, relationships and marriage, decisions about having children, abortion, or adoption. It is so common to experience many different and often conflicting feelings, like anxiety, fear, anger or guilt, as well as excitement, hope, joy, relief. Read more

Opening and completing your day…
“Opening and Completing Your Day,” is a set of morning and evening guided imagery meditations created that give you an energetic container for your day. In our busy lives, with electric lighting and 24/7 access to everything we have lost our connection to sunrise and sunset, lost the sense of a real container that frames our work lives, personal lives, and our time for rest and turning inward.  Read more

What should I eat? Nutrition and health…
Your nutritional and lifestyle patterns can nourish your spirit as well as your body. How we eat is as important as what we eat. I believe any food eaten with love and gratitude, in a peaceful setting will always be more healing than the most stringent, politically correct diet. There are so many diets, and so many people saying that their way is the only way to eat… Read more

Flow…
Well, I’m finally back to writing… I’ve missed the connection with you through this newsletter, but it’s been quite an unusual and stressful year. I think for many of us. Maybe for most of us! It does keep our brains more stimulated – which is always a good thing – when we constantly have to adapt to new circumstances and the un-expected, but it is exhausting, and wearying to the spirit. Read more

Imagery, meditation and the inner dog…
What do imagery and meditation have to do with dogs?  I share my home and my office with 2 wonderful large dogs, who as I write this are lying in front of the woodstove, basking in the warmth and feeling safe and content. But I also have an inner dog, who lives deep in my brain, in that ancient mysterious part of the nervous system that we humans share with all mammals. Read more

Tossing and turning…
I can’t sleep, I just toss and turn for hours” is such a common complaint in my office these days. Thirty five years ago, when I began my private practice, I was working in New York City, and seeing a lot of people in high stress jobs. But curiously, people slept OK. Now I work in a peaceful rural setting in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, and insomnia or other sleep disturbances are disturbingly common. What’s happening? Read more

Detox and Cleanse Your Body and Mind…
Everyone is talking about detox these days. We are suddenly obsessed with how polluted our bodies are and what strange concoctions we must drink to purify ourselves. But detoxification is something that our bodies do all the time, every moment. Detoxing is not something that we need to do to our bodies, but a process that our bodies do that we need to support… Read more

Understanding Viruses: Colds, Ebola and Louis Pasteur
Viruses can be uncomfortable, like the common cold or potentially deadly like Ebola. But what they share in common is the requirement for a host in which they can take hold. On his deathbed, Louis Pasteur admitted that he had been wrong to focus on waging war against germs… Read more

Spirituality and work…
What makes a person spiritual?” And how do we – whatever our job – bring our own sense of spirituality into our work? There are so many different definitions of spirituality, and ultimately, it is only our own, personal definition that matters. But it is really just about how you function as a spiritual being in the world. All of the world. All of the time, not just Sundays… Read more

Where Has Carol Been? In Reality…
Now there’s a complex question! The Universe has taken me on my own personal Magical Mystery Tour these past two years, complete with hurricanes and floods and other acts of the Goddess, death and more death, broken bones, amazing love and support and surprising moments of joy. Read more

Stress, Peace and Falling Leaves…
The autumn leaves are just moving past peak color where I live in the Catskill Mountains. This time of year  has a bittersweet quality as the trees draw their energy in – protecting and conserving it till spring. This year, there is an eerie quality, as every falling leaf, every  drop in temperature, evokes how I felt last fall. Read more

Tapping World Summit
The world of Meridian Tapping has grown these past several years, and I am continually finding new and exciting ways to incorporate it into my work with my clients.  Balancing and releasing stress, trauma, health issues, emotional issues, limiting belief systems, fears and phobias are all possible with this powerful process of tapping on acupuncture meridian points and creatively exploring our stuff. Read more

Springtime Allergies…
The weather has been crazy in the Northeast this year. A heat wave in March sent all the plants and trees into premature flowering, and then April’s cold weather seemed to prolong the blooms. It made for a spectacular display, but also an onslaught of pollen which has left people sneezing, coughing, and running through Kleenex at unprecedented rates! Read more

the pursuit of the positive…
Our brains are such busy little things, always looking for something to notice to comment on, to judge. When we think a lot about something, like “I don’t have enough money” “I don’t have enough time” “I’m lonely, I don’t like my body, I’m clumsy…” our brains start looking for things to notice so they can validate those thoughts. And we start seeing all kinds of things that seem to validate our belief. So what if we flipped it around? Read more

Give a Gift that Decreases Your Stress…
My partner and I are celebrating Valentine’s Day this weekend, so I am still figuring out the best gift. Arielle Ford, author of “Wabi Sabi Love” came up with a fantastic idea; give your partner amnesty for the thing that you most complain, argue or  harass them about, and gift them with your vow to let it go. Pick one infuriating thing they do that you are chronically annoyed or crazed by Read more
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