Holistic Bonfire

Suruchi Saini, MA, LPC, CCTP, TMHP, CYT

Articles

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Are you restless and overwhelmed but have no idea why?

Relaxation

There’s a high chance you’re suffering from anxiety internally even though you are functioning fine externally. Stop living the dual life and working hard for two people when you have energy and resources only for one.

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is state of feeling emotionally and behaviorally frustrated, restless, overwhelmed and tense. Most of us suffer from at least one symptom of anxiety such as lacking the ability to focus, having disturbed sleep, having a fear of failure, lacking the ability to socialize and to have positive relationships, etc.

How is anxiety manifested?

Self-doubt sets in, and maintaining personal, professional and social relationships becomes challenging. It becomes easy to forget minor and major things, and blanking out frequently occurs. This leads to an inability to retain new information or readily learn new skills.

Physical issues start to occur, and there is typically an increase in migraines, headaches, back pain and exhaustion. Breathing often becomes irregular, and sometimes digestive issues can set in.

Emotions become tenuous as well, and sensitivity to criticism becomes heightened. Living a contented life is no longer possible.

Common disorders related to anxiety:

  • Generalize Anxiety Disorder (GAD): The act of worrying about almost everything in life, even without any specific reasons. People who suffer from GAD may frequently visit the doctor, complaining of multiple ailments, but test results yield nothing.
  • Panic Disorder: Having surges of very intense fear—at least one attack a month—without stimuli. Some examples of attacks are a pounding or skipping heartbeat, chest discomfort, trembling, hot/cold flashes, breathlessness, sweating and numbness.
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Having unwanted thoughts, images and impulses that must be acted upon like washing hands, cleaning, checking locks, re-arranging furniture, over-exercising, etc.

What can be done?

We don’t have to live with these symptoms, nor do we have to suffer with the frustration of not achieving personal and professional goals. We don’t have to doubt ourselves and our potential simply because we are unable to access it again due to anxiety, and we don’t have to agree with others who say we can’t be successful.

I’m fully aware that eradicating anxiety is a process and will take a considerable amount of time and effort. The earlier we start, the better. We can make small changes and move at a gradual pace.

Over the years, I have seen people make huge changes by investing only a small amount of time, say, two to four hours per month. Many clients have mentioned that reaching out for help and spending about two to four hours per month has been “one of the best investments of time and money”.

I believe we all have the potential, intelligence, wisdom and resources needed to achieve our goals. Due to our own limitations, however, we’re unable to explore them. Once we do, the sky is the limit.

To reach the sky, you must fly—carefully but fearlessly. Anxiety is one of the biggest hindrances to being fearless, so get rid of it as soon as possible.

If anxiety is plaguing your life and holding you back, you can diminish your suffering by investing only two to four hours each month. Those few hours might be the most beneficial to your overall happiness and well-being.

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SAMHIN Health Fair

SAMHIN Health Fair 2015
SAMHIN Health Fair 2015

On November 1, 2015, an annual health fair was held at BAPS in Robbinsville to provide the community with basic education about potential health concerns. The setting for such a noble event was beautiful and serene. I had the opportunity to participate in the health fair as a team member of South Asian Mental Health Initiative and Network (SAMHIN).

Founded in 2014 by Dr. Vasudev Makhija and co-led by Dr. Prakash Amin, the aim of SAMHIN is to educate the South Asian population on the importance of appropriate mental health care and to provide them with resources that are available in the community.

SAMHIN attempts to address a broad range of mental health concerns of the growing South Asian population nationwide, starting in New Jersey. Its mission is to:

  • Educate, engage, and empower the South Asian community to promote mental health literacy.
  • Serve as a resource to provide consultation to health care policy makers and health care delivery facilities.
  • Increase collaboration between existing mental health organizations that address specific aspects of mental illness, increase awareness of the existence and roles of these organizations, and decrease fragmentation in services provided to the community.
  • Promote and conduct research on mental health to serve the South Asian community in the U.S.
  • Develop a searchable database of South Asian mental health care providers, social services, and mental health resources to improve access to mental health care.
  • Overcome stigma of mental illness.
  • Explore ways of making affordable treatment services available.

Visitors to the health fair were of various ages and backgrounds, yet they all seemed motivated to obtain as much information about mental and physical health issues as they could.

SAMHIN screened numerous people, and educated them about depression, insomnia, substance abuse, and other mental health issues that can easily go unnoticed by family members and friends.

It was a great affair in which many volunteers—including Psychiatrists, counselors, social workers, and nurses—offered their skills, knowledge, and time in an attempt to help the community become healthier and more educated.

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Our incomplete devotion?

Suruchi Saini, MA, LPC, NCC, CCTP

Does the word “devotion” exist in our minds only in relation with the higher-self or God? If so, I believe it is incomplete.

My Introduction to the Word “Devotion”

While growing up, I remember family, friends, and visitors talking about my father’s devotion to the cause in which he believed. Many people used the same word on the day he un-timely passed away, and even years after he was gone. That was my introduction to the word “devotion”.

As a child, I thought I simply loved my father’s love for me. But now I know that more than the love he had for me, I most loved his qualities of devotion and passion. After his death, I kept looking for people with similar qualities. Fortunately, while growing up in India and traveling to other countries, I was afforded opportunities to meet numerous people who were devoted: to their families, their work, their communities, social causes, science, arts, academia, medicine, and more. They continuously inspired me and helped me keep my father alive in my mind.

In the past few years, however, while working as a therapist and a speaker, I have been feeling that our devotion is subtly getting lost, especially to our relationships. On one hand, we intend to provide to our relationships more than what we can, which is admirable, but the relationships we have with our family members, our communities, and the larger cosmos seem to be losing depth. We are making visible progress in areas like technology, housing, cars, foods, etc., but we seem to be quietly getting depleted of qualities like devotion, authenticity, integrity, wellness, and morality.

I believe we need to slow down, self-reflect, and process where we stand in our relationships, understand our loss of devotion as individuals and as communities, and take steps to bring devotion back into our relationships.

We are capable of exhibiting devotion, but we need to access it more and mindfully direct it to our relationships. Can we do that?

 

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The (un)authenticity…

Suruchi Saini, MA, LPC, NCC, CCTP

We learned to learn but forgot to apply
We learned to compete but forgot to help
We learned to manage but forgot to lead
We learned to look outside but forgot to look within
We learned to look at people but forgot to look inside them
We learned to blame others but forgot to take responsibility
We learned to get upset but forgot to have compassion
We learned to watch TV but forgot to observe nature
We learned to act faster but forgot to slow down
We learned to build communities but forgot to hold hands
We learned to show confidence but forgot to be grateful
We learned not to feel emotions but forgot to be happy and/or sad
We learned to become the result but forgot to become the purpose
We learned to create wealth and forgot to enjoy good health

As we evolved, we made and learned many things over the years. We made progress in some areas but forgot for whom the progress was made – us

Let’s unlearn what is not natural and make authenticity/happiness our priority!!!

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How often do you use sense of touch to de-stress?

Deer

Today I am going to share about our fifth sense – “Sense of Touch”. Why our sense of touch works and how to use it to de-stress.

We have over 500,000 touch detectors and 200,000 temperature detectors which helps us to feel, and also make us aware of our existence. After birth, we learned about our surroundings and safety by the way we were held by adults around us, at least for the first few months (parents and grandparents pay attention). Later of course in school; college; work, we have to learn new (appropriate) ways to touch.

We naturally crave for a gentle touch! However due to our individualistic life styles and certain man made laws with (due respect), physical proximity among people seems to have decreased over the years. As a result, we have become habituated to not to be too close to people, even to our near and dear ones. Mostly we no longer notice other’s touch. We seem to have become numb.

How it works

Its reversible, to the point where we can feel the touch and also use this sense to de-stress ourselves in daily life.

When stressed and feeling low (even while having low BP), simply rub hands together for few minutes until they are warm, while breathing normally. Now we can use the touch of warm hands in two ways – a) by crossing them in front of our chest and hugging ourselves, or b) by gently pressing our hands on our face for few minutes with our eyes closed. However, if we are feeling anxious or having hyper/racing thoughts or high BP, we put our hands under cold water and then either hug ourselves and/or press hands on our face for few minutes with our eyes closed.

We may use hot or cold hands to help our dear ones – by gently hugging them; by holding their hands with a moderate grip; by putting hands on their shoulder (if they allow of course). Like I mentioned in the beginning, with a gentle touch we get the same feelings that we had after birth, the feeling comfort and our existence.

Few other ways of using sense of touch for comfort – touching soft toy, pet, holding a baby, flowers, plants, soft piece of cloth, clean sheets etc.

When we are less stressed our brain function improves; our bodies perform and appear better; our skin become radiant. Quality of our brain and body chemicals improve, and our energy/vibrations also change.

Don’t we want that? So let’s start paying attention to these five senses and start using them to de-stress ourselves and our loved ones!!

Feel free to write to me, I will be happy to answer your questions.