And yes, the symptoms may be uncomfortable and something they want to alleviate, but I invite the folx I work with to think of those symptoms as indicating there's something right with them. I know that may sound odd, bold even, but the body and the psyche are intelligent.

Whatever you're judging yourself about, it's worth it to ask if maybe the judge is mistaken and practice accepting yourself as you, right now. You don't have to do it alone, if you look around you might find there are already people in your life who love and accept you without changing a thing. Seek them out and let them shine that love upon you while you learn to do it for yourself.

The pleasure-oriented approach emphasizes all parts of the sexual encounter, including what has traditionally been called "foreplay," a word I take issue with. Historically, foreplay has been a heterosexual relationship concern. Often, men assume they have to do this/these act(s) known as foreplay (digital stim, oral stim, etc.) in order to really get to “it” (intercourse).

This sort of behavior is not about relating directly to the crush and instead about getting a dopamine hit from the fantasy. The crush becomes an object for the person to project their hopes and dreams on without doing the hard work of actually engaging.

Open communication is the cornerstone of the triadic model. As the psychologist, I meet regularly with both the client and the surrogate to ensure that the process aligns with the client’s goals and emotional well-being. These meetings also allow us to adjust the pace or focus of the work based on the client’s evolving needs.

The natural world is all about balance. We have night and day, push and pull, seeds and sprouts. Human beings are part of the natural world, not exempt from it, and we, too, must seek balance to be well. Yet, annoyingly, balance is incredibly hard to achieve.

The yoga sequence is not only a philosophical death and rebirth, it’s an embodied one. Each practitioner moves through the death and rebirth cycle physically.

The Spiral Dance invokes nature by acknowledging the presence of our environment as a living being that we interact with. In that way, the Spiral Dance is spiritual, but also it mirrors healing taking place among community because people are joined together, holding hands, and supporting one another in the process.

Healing is also not swift, despite the numerous people in the world trying to tell you otherwise with their quick-fix products and programs. Awareness of an issue is one thing – something afforded by the use of psychedelics, for instance – but integration is another.

It may seem counterintuitive because romantic relationships are about intimacy and closeness, but what they really need to thrive and flourish is space. Happy, romantic relationships need space or one or both partners can feel suffocated, controlled, and dominated. Belgian psychotherapist Esther Perel discusses this topic extensively both in Ted Talks and her book Mating in Captivity.

There’s so much attention on men with multiple partners, but what about the reverse? What about a woman in a consensual relationship with multiple men?

In this instance, I’m referring to an altar. An altar can be as simple or complex as you’d like. It acts as a focal point for prayer, worship, ritual, and healing. It can be a specific place, or various places, in your home, or it can be something you make outside, with elements from the earth, which can be a component of ecopsychology.

Belonging contributes to self-worth, self-esteem, and a sense of who you are, even. And it starts young – not at school in terms of who you sit with at lunch, but before that, with your family. Yes, they may provide shelter and food but that’s simply not enough to engender a feeling of belonging.

"Practically everybody reports peak exper­iences if approached and questioned and encouraged in the right way,”

Ketamine is lumped into the same category as psychedelics but it works differently than classical psychedelics like psilocybin or LSD. Ketamine relaxes chandelier cells in the brain, which control pyramidal cells. The pyramidal cells are the “thinking” cells and pass on messages to other neurons. By relaxing that grip, ketamine can produce a dissociative effect; a person can feel “floaty” or like they’re in a different reality

Because of the unique situation for sex workers, they don’t have many opportunities for support, especially as a group. As a certified sexologist, sex therapist, not to mention proponent of social justice in general, I care deeply about sex and sex work. I’ve worked with people in this profession for more than two decades. It’s been important, deeply transformative work ranging from outreach to counseling.

Gaslighting can be unconscious. It can be so effortless you don’t even know it’s happening. It could be your normal way of operating and last for years unchecked because it thrives in the shadows. That also means by looking at the shadow, by doing shadow work, it’s possible to reconnect with reality and that internal light can shine forth like a beacon.

Your unconscious is consistently communicating with you and the more you work with the unconscious, the happier, healthier, and more integrated you may feel. That’s what Jung is speaking to in his famous quote, “There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own Soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

After expressing all the emotions that arise, be it anger, sorrow, disappointment, etc., the dying person may start to have acceptance that death is happening. It’s not something theoretical in the far, distant future, but instead here, now. The person isn’t “giving up,” but rather giving in or surrendering, accepting the inevitable, the natural order of life. Life is not possible without death just like light is not possible without shadow.

We’re seeing the shadow side of the Catholic church, the side they want to hide but must be dealt with. Carl Jung popularized shadow work in the West and emphasized that we all have different parts of ourselves that have been exiled, that we try to repress or keep hidden. One of Jung’s most famous quotes is, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”