[MissCharlotte]

T and I primarily use talk therapy for my sessions. Once he had me use a padded baseball bat to hit a padded table, but it was too reminiscent of my violent childhood so it didn't really work for me as a means of releasing anger. Now, we talk, talk, talk. Sometimes we breathe. (Well, we're always breathing but.........lol)

Recently I had a most difficult sesssion where I lashed out at T and barely got out of bed for two days afterward ( did go to work but that was it). Finally after two days I was able to call him and together we have analyzed the sesssion and what went wrong, for both of us.

If you saw my post about the haunted house yesterday, that is basically what happened. I arrived at therapy in a frightened and terrified state.

I told T that there was a clue to how we can proceed when I am in that state. There was some music on in the waiting room that soothed me. I told him that meant I needed some sort of external stimulation to soothe me. So, I suggested we do visualization to bring me to my "safe place." (This safe place was established about six months ago.)
He said yes, but we can also breathe together. We have done that on a few occasions and it is so intimate. It's just deep breathing, sort of Buddhist-ish.

That's all, just breathe. I love it, and it brings us together in a way that talking can't.

Sigh.

[lhanson]

Breathing can be really powerful. I struggle with shallow breathing and I have been doing a lot of work on it over the past year. I don't think we even realize how much breathing is connected to our well-being. It's especially important for those of us who have anxiety issues and inherently forget to breath. I'm glad that you and you T are able to share that together.

[sunrise]

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
sister said:
That's all, just breathe. I love it, and it brings us together in a way that talking can't.

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">Wow, that sounds great. So healing and calming. I would like to try it. Were you the one who started it with your T or was it his idea?

[tulips30]

I have a big problem with shallow breathing too. Deep breathing has actually helped me bring a panic/anxiety attack to a halt when I am able to get a grip on myself and do it. Funny thing, I mentioned to my T last week that I was considering having a small tattoo done on the inside of my arm that just said "BREATHE" in small letters. I am thinking it might be a constant reminder to myself to breathe slow & deep. I don't have any other tattooes, but this seems like a good "excuse".

tulips

[sunrise]

In the waiting room of my T's office, lying on the table is a smooth stone with "breathe" inscribed on it. Maybe it is a common problem for people in therapy to need reminders to breathe! There are 3 other stones too, with other words on them. One is "love", can't remember the other two. I'll check them out tomorrow when I sit there.

[tulips30]

Gee, I'd LOVE to have a breathe stone. I'd carry it my pocket all the time . Probably rubbing it smooth. Have a good session tomorrow Sunrise.



tulips

That reminds me of the safe place T created in session for me last week in which we did a visualization-- I went "into" the painting.

The breathing thing is wonderful. Sometimes the non-verbals say so much more. Sometimes there are no words. Sometimes things are indescribable.

[Kiya]

you know - that might not be a bad idea - for me on the inner wrist at an SI site.

[sunrise]

More on the stones. There are 4 at T's office in the waiting room--I was there yesterday. The stones say: breathe, love, relax, and be yourself. Yesterday I was very anxious so as I sat in the waiting room, I held the breathe stone in my hand and tried some slow, calming breathing. Thank you for that idea, sister. As I heard T coming to his office door to let the previous client out, I quickly put the stone back on the table. Well, that was weird, like I didn't want him to catch me holding the stone!

Here is a place you can buy stones with words engraved on them:
http://www.epicmerchandise.com/pocketrocks.html

(sister, I hope it is OK to post this here as it is leading your thread astray!)

[tulips30]

I am soooo excited Sunny!!!! I just ordered my "breathe" stone from the site you listed. They send 3 stones and give a whole list of words to choose from, I chose breathe, trust & harmony. These seemed to be the words that suited me the most. Thank you so much for posting this site. Guess I'll put the tattoo on hold.....for now anyway

ha ha

tulips