This week Mason Lumpkins returns to discuss the final 3 stages of change.  What does it mean to be ready to take action?  Once I am in the action stage of recovery how do I stay there and prevent lapse or relapse?  What is the difference between lapse and relapse?  Is relapse inevitable and how do I get back?  All of this and more on this week's episode of Mindful Recovery.

The Podcast Returns. In this episode, we talk about what's in the future for the podcast, why I dropped out of sight for a while and we begin with the beginning...learning again how to relax and pay attention to the body and what it's telling us.

This Easter has me thinking a lot.  I don't normally share that I am a Christian but felt that it was time to step out as we discuss connection.  I want to connect with those in the Christian community still driven by fear.  Fear of other, fear of war, fear of death, fear of exclusion.  Fear is the real enemy that separates us from connection.  The real message of Easter is to let go of fear and brave connection.

In the final chapter in our exploration of connection we actually discuss disconnection. Specifically anticipatory grief or the grief we begin experiencing knowing a disconnection is coming. Death, divorce and other forms of disconnection begin affecting us way before we actually experience them and preparing for that event can help us cross the bridge more easily. It will not save us from the pain, but it will insure we meet the loss with eyes wide open and learn what it has to offer. This...

In part 2 of our series on connection we speak with author, Johann Hari. His new book, "Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression - and the Unexpected Solutions" is a deep dive into the healing power of connection. We discuss depression, grief, mental health and healing.

How trauma can change our ability to regulate emotion and connect with others and what we can do about that. Connection seems to be key, but how do we learn to connect when connection feels unsafe? We begin this series with the discussion of how the nervous system is shaped by trauma and how that affects our ability to connect.

After over half a year we are back. Working with you to study and learn to overcome trauma. The new format will focus on all aspects of trauma and the power of mindfulness to overcome it and help us regulate through is. We begin the new beginning at the beginning, with an exercise in grounding in our own breath.

Often trauma results in the loss of self esteem and even the failure of a sense of self worth to develop. In this episode we look at how important these are to setting healthy boundaries and living healthy fulfilled lives. Your worth is inherent. It has been there from the day you were born and is not dependent on external validation. It's time to start believing in it!

The Holidays can be a real challenge when we’re struggling with trauma and addictions. The constant barrage of images of what family “should” be and what “holidays” should look like just throws out there that we are not that. Avoiding expectations and choosing our family wisely are only two of the suggestions I make this week. In this episode I suggest some concrete things we need to be doing to get through the holidays without relapse.

In part 2 of my podcasts about sexual assault I interview Laura Reagan, LCSW. Laura specializes in trauma and sexual assault and is a fantastic therapist in the Annapolis area. We talk about blaming the victim and changing attitudes in this episode of Mindful Recovery.

Sexual assault is an issue much in the news lately. We cover what it is, the effects it has and hold accountable those who would excuse it in this episode of Mindful Recovery. This week's episode is a call to listeners to stand against such behavior.

Michael Weinberger tells a powerful story of trauma, mental illness, addiction and recovery which culminated in the development of his own app for recovery. Join me in my interview of Michael as we follow him through his journey to recovery and discuss the development of his app and program called "A Plan For Living".

In the last few episodes we have discussed the ways the child gets hurt and looking honestly at the places that hurt child still resides in us. Meeting that child’s needs is something we grew up unaccustomed to. Today, we look at the child within and it’s need for play and joy. Reconnecting with the joyous child inside us becomes the focus of our recovery from addictions and trauma in this episode.

Today we speak with Adena Bank Lees, PhD who specializes in the treatment of trauma and sexual abuse.  She has written two books, the latest of which is a book on covert sexual abuse or the use of a child as an emotional surrogate for the missing spouse.  This form of trauma can be very impacting and is often at the root of addiction.

This week we dig into those childhood places where we are broken. The ones we have been trying to numb. In this mindfulness exercise we try and show that child the compassion it has always needed in an effort to reconnect with our own healing sense of worthiness. In this way we can begin moving into healthy connection.

Trauma is at the root of all addictions.  Connection drives our recovery but healthy connection requires being vulnerable and risking hurt.  Learning to do this again is foundational in our recovery because connection is the key to healing.

Brokenness is part of the human experience.  We don't have to run from broken spaces.  We can learn to sit with the hurt and create spaces of healing from them.  The poet Rumi said, "The wound is where the light enters you".  In this episode we explore sitting with that broken space and allowing the healing to enter us and grow out from there.