Holistic, "new age" types that aren't flaky

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

I couldn't think of a better subject, so this is all you get.

I want to do something about my anxiety and negative thinking, and since nothing else seems to be helping, I thought I'd try going the route of "alternative medicine." I've tried a lot of it in the past, ususally unsuccessfully. I didn't have shady practitioners, they were just kind of flaky and not good matches for my really analytical mind. I had reiki with Joanna Scaparotti, who's on here, and she's fantastic, but I'm hoping to find someone who can help me work through things on my own. Perhaps someone who's a good meditation teacher or something like that would be a good fit. I'm not quite sure how to approach this.

I know what I don't want, though. My cranky skeptical side cuts in and says no to anyone who regularly recommends Bach's Rescue Remedy, no to anyone performing resonance repatterning, no to anyone who is a life coach (or anything else really vague), no to sand art therapy, no to anyone who tries to get me to ditch my prescription meds, no to anyone who will link my present problems to my past life and/or conception, no to anyone who recommends drinking my own urine, no to anyone who plays Norah Jones as meditation music, and no excessive use of crystals.

I've had all those things happen. Oh, and I don't like massages. They make me nervous.

Now, with all of that, does anyone have any recommendations to offer? :)

Comments

doing what you're doing

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you really don't need "alternative medicine" but instead to keep doing what you're doing - finding a good cognitive therapist is key, exercising, and also getting out and about to stay engaged. Meditation or yoga sound like good matches - they're not cures, but like exercise, they may help take you out of your head for a bit.

Two recommendations for reading:

When Panic Attacks (http://www.amazon.com/When-Panic-Attacks-Drug-Free-Anxiety/dp/076792083X/ref=pd_bbs_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213879784&sr=8-4) by David Burns, a cognitive therapist.

Full Catastrophe Living (http://www.amazon.com/Full-Catastrophe-Living-Wisdom-Illness/dp/0385303122/ref=pd_sim_b_1) by Jon
Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. His program, in a word, is meditation, rescued from the mire of mysticism that made it trendy in the 1960s.

Re: doing what you're doing

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm a big fan of David Burns already, but I'm not famliar with Full Catastrophe Living.

Re: doing what you're doing

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

I thought you might be!

Check the other selections by K-Z off that link - I know he's got one specifically on anxiety that a friend who struggles with anxiety tried and liked (it came with a CD).

Are you new to the area?

Re: doing what you're doing

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. I've only been up here a few months and I've never lived in the Northeast at all before, only the South and the Midwest. My anxiety was never this bad before moving up here.