Entries by Ginny Winn

An Ah-Ha Moment

How often do you experience being totally in the moment, fully focused on your work, a piece of art, running, an experience that you might describe as in the zone, a moment of bliss, nirvana? Did you know that a regular meditation practice can invite such a state to occur more often?

Listening and beyond…

Listening is an auditory skill, but the kind of listening we really crave involves all the senses, including feelings. So as you tune in to the words, try to remember to tune into the feelings behind them, too – this is where the true connections can be found.

Trading Places

Who is in charge you or your emotions? Would you like to trade places so that you are in charge? Our language identifies us with our emotions — we speak as though the person is the problem. YOU are not the problem. The PROBLEM is the problem.

Emotion Follows Motion Part II

Positive posture supports us to create positive states — internally and externally, mentally and physically. For insight and inspiration, enjoy this TED Talk from social psychologist, Amy Cuddy, on how your body language shapes who you are.

The Heart Remains A Child*

When you hear yourself saying, “I am so stressed”, or you feel literally uptight — that is, parts of your body are tense — first, breathe. Often when I hear or even speak the word “breathe”, I find I am holding my breath. Next, a phrase that might come to mind is: “The heart remains a child”. […]

Everyone is a Child

The child/parent relationship is so central to all relationships. You might ask yourself to describe a favorite teacher. What qualities would describe the best teacher? You are your child’s first teacher.

Mantras To Live By – A Gift from Ram Dass

“I am a beautiful soul.  Everything I do is enough.” In the 70s I was doing a meditation retreat with Ram Dass in the redwoods outside of Santa Cruz.  Five days of silence!  The thought terrified me.  The reality, however, was tremendously freeing.  Over the five days, I felt myself move in to a feeling […]

Are You Weighting?

Lose your mind and come to your senses! Get out of your head and experience the pleasure of smart foods that tickle your taste buds and feel good in your tummy, leaving you feeling light in body, mind and spirit.

Kissing Cousins: Hypnosis and Mindfulness

I wonder if you, as I did, believe that the difference between mindfulness meditation and hypnosis is that you are “in charge” during the mindfulness process, while the hypnotist is in charge during hypnosis? In the 80s I studied and practiced Vipassana, an early form of Buddhist meditation, which began to inform my work as […]

Why Weight?

The mind/body/food connection is made very clear in this to the point craving eliminator video by hypnotist Jim Katsoulis The goal is to want to eat what supports the body you want.  And YES, you can reverse programming that may have come from family, friends and thousands of ads on a daily basis, which link […]

Mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zinn

Talk at Google Headquarters In 1979 Jon Kabat-Zinn founded the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Clinic, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, to help patients cope with pain, illness and anxiety. In 1995 he founded the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, also at UMMS. In 2007 Kabat-Zinn gave the following talk […]

More of My Favorite Books

I really love all of these books.  All of them are guides to the ultimate goal — happiness — and  have helped me in my psychotherapy practice and personal development, which happily blend together.  All quotes are from the book covers. Calm and Compassionate Children, A Handbook Susan Usha Dermond Dermond is a teacher and […]

Robbins-Madanes Video, Inspiration and Motivation

Tony Robbins is endorsed by a variety of leaders in many different fields and has been a motivator and teacher from whom I have drawn inspiration for  decades. Over the years I have used lessons and drawn inspiration from Tony in presentations to teachers, the public, in my practice as a therapist, and in my […]

Tuning-In to Brain Wave Frequencies

Chart used with permission of Laura Silva Quesada, daughter of Jose Silva (founder of the Silva Method, in the 60s). I owned and practiced using the Silva Mind Control records, in the 70s.  Yes, real 78, LP (long playing), records.  Within the last year I purchased the Silva Life System and have found it beneficial […]

Beyond the Tip of the Iceberg

Through the therapeutic lens… You may have heard that the conscious mind is only the tip of the iceberg. Below the surface of the water is the subconscious, the submarine, where all of our programmed activity is going on.  Without being at all scientific, we have the autonomic nervous system taking care of basic body […]

Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative

Therapy holds a key to freeing your brain from self perpetuated negative thoughts. One of the most enduring and helpful psychological tips I ever learned was in the ‘60s from my therapist Albert Ellis.  I went to see Ellis at his Institute for Rational Emotive Therapy (RET), the first of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapies (CBT), […]

A New Lens

How is a photo session like a therapy session? On my way to becoming a psychotherapist I had a photography career.  In 1971 I moved from Woodstock to LA with a band doing the visuals for a mixed media musical and from that was hired at Warner Brothers Records to do the audiovisual presentations, and […]

Do you feel stuck?

When you are feeling anxious, angry, distressed, or other negative states, how can you be the change you wish to see in your world? It may not be as hard as you think. Therapy can help! People talk about generating the feeling inside yourself of where you want to be as a way to help […]

“A General Theory of Love” & Limbic Resonance

In A General Theory of Love the authors state: Adults remain social animals: they continue to require a source of stabilization outside themselves.  … Total self-sufficiency turns out to be a daydream whose bubble is burst by the sharp edge of the limbic brain. Stability means finding people who regulate you well and staying near […]

Community Can Reduce Stress

What is a great way to stress less?  Gather in the presence of others who share common interests. Pacific Palisades, a slightly remote corner of Los Angeles, between Santa Monica and Malibu is losing a little bookstore which as been a gathering place for community, a place for warm bodies to get together in an […]

Everday Creativity, with Dewitt Jones

“Creativity is the ability to look at the ordinary and see the extraordinary.” — Dewitt Jones This 22 minute video preview of a creativity program developed by Dewitt Jones — renowned National Geographic photographer — contains many metaphors for life and how to live it.  Focus, perspective, balance, passion, caring, and light, are all within […]

Stress Less with a P.I.E. Guided Meditation

Would you like to stress less right now?  Treat yourself to a 6-minute guided meditation.  The acronym for this exercise is P.I.E. Precision Notice the breath or sensation in the body as precisely as possible. Impermanence Change is always happening. Even a solid sensation such as pain is impermanent. Equanimity No judgment – no right […]

Would You Choose Psychotherapy?

On this site, and possible many others, you have read and watched materials designed to inspire you to transform negative energy in to positive, or manage your anger, grief, stress and other components of your emotional state.  The underlying assumption is that you desire to manage your emotions. Yes or No? Do you struggle with […]

Persuasion

Persuasion is defined as… the act of persuading (or attempting to persuade); communication intended to induce belief or action; inducement to act by argument or reasoning or entreaty; a conviction or belief. Persuasion is generally the subject of marketing and advertising.  However positive use of persuasion could enhance our communications. A masterful positive persuader, Martin […]

Tattoos on the Heart

The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle William Blake wrote, “We are put on earth for a little space that we might learn to bear the beams of love.” Father Boyle, Founder of Homeboy Industries, adds, “Turns out this is what we all have in common, gang member and non-gang member alike: we’re just […]

Imagine

We can create what we can imagine. Science recently discovered mirror neurons, which allow us to feel what another person is feeling, or at least provide a biological reference for this feeling. For example if a spider goes up another person’s arm, we react as though it is happening to us. The reaction depends on […]

A Few of My Favorite Books

A Whole New Mind, Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future — Daniel H. Pink As a dominantly right-brainer who has struggled to be more left brain to satisfy the conditions of society, I was thrilled to read this testimony to the future of right brain thinking. A breezy, good-humored read . . . For those […]

More Scientific Proof of the Power of Our Thoughts

More Optimism About Our Ability to Change at Any Age On the Sounds True recording of The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton the author says that if you want to change your life, you have to change your perceptions.  Lipton discovered that the environment activates cells, and our perceptions and beliefs mediate between the […]

Your Body Is Your Subconscious Mind

New Insights Into the Body/Mind Connection By Candace Pert We often hear about the mind body connection. From what I’ve learned, I believe the there can be no possible disconnection. I recently listened on CD to Scientist Candace Pert’s audio book, Your Body is Your Subconscious Mind. Click on the CD image to the right […]

Mindfulness Explored and Explained

Learning Mindfulness was one of the most transformational experiences of my life. That was in 1986. Mindfulness is now a top psychotherapy intervention method, and popular across many disciplines. The following video provides a nice overview on the topic of mindfulness.