I started going to acupuncture many years ago at the behest of a friend who was, you guessed it, an acupuncturist. She spent an hour with me as I described my minor aches and pains that seemed irrelevant and not connected at all from a Western medical perspective. Much to my surprise, she told me they all fit together from a Chinese medicine perspective, and she designed a treatment of herbs and acupuncture that had me running in tip-top shape.

I noticed during many sessions that painful emotions would arise. As I lay on the table, needles sticking out of me and tears running down my cheeks, I wished there was someone in the room with me to talk through the emotions and thoughts I was experiencing; that the acupuncture helped me access.

Our physical and psychological traumas are stored in the whole body, not just the brain, and acupuncture is a powerful tool to help access and release them. But this can be a scary process to undergo alone, which is why it is helpful to talk it through with a mental health professional. I love the idea underlying Chinese medicine -- to create harmony in the body so it can heal itself. This is very much in line with my approach to therapy, in particular my use of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to heal trauma. I have found that many people with psychological trauma often manifest symptoms of physical pain. Some have even been diagnosed by Western medical doctors at having psychosomatic pain or conditions -- there is no known medical cause, so the origin is likely psychological.

While I am able to work with somatic issues using talk therapy, many of the physical treatments I know would be helpful to my clients are out of my scope of practice. This is where Shaun Menache, LAc, MTOM, of Golden Mean Acupuncture comes in. When we met, and started talking about our healing work, Shaun expressed a similar frustration: that his clients often wanted to talk through their emotional experiences with him, but it is outside his scope of practice to provide talk therapy. With this shared perspective, we immediately saw the value and potential benefit of combining psychotherapy and acupuncture to provide our clients with maximum emotional and physical healing and relief. 

So we decided to join forces to provide co-therapy: Shaun working on the body and me working on the psychological aspects. We are calling what we do Mind-Body Integration Therapy, but are still looking for a good, descriptive name. (I jokingly call it "psycho-puncture," but that's just my bad humor.)

Shaun and I work with people who present with both physical and psychological concerns. Using our unique Mind-Body Integration technique, we work on clients simultaneously. We consult with the client and each other on the specific physical and emotional concerns present and develop a complementary treatment plan. After Shaun applies the acupuncture needles, I stay in the room with the client to address the memories, emotions, and negative beliefs that arise so they may be integrated with the physical experience. Then the three of us reconvene to debrief and discuss future treatment options.

Right now we are providing Mind-Body Integration therapy at Shaun's office in Silver Lake every other Saturday by appointment. If you are interested in this experimental treatment method, please feel free to speak with me or Shaun to see if it may benefit you.

www.thegoldenmeanla.com
www.drsandypeace.com

Every Monday night I lead a 90-minute mindfulness group from 8:00-9:30 PM. Starting May 2, 2016 we are beginning a 14-week dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) series. DBT is a highly effective offshoot of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) that integrates somatic and emotional components.  DBT teaches clients four types of behavioral skills, including: mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and emotional regulation.  Learning these skills helps reduce levels of stress and anxiety, improve brain processing, sleep patterns, emotional regulation, and self-awareness.  It can even decrease the impact of depression and support weight loss goals.  

By providing practical tools in this safe, small group environment, you are able to feel at ease and equipped to take steps of progress wherever you are at on your journey.  Everyone is encouraged to participate for the entirety of the series, though even if  you can come for just one week to experience mindfulness and DBT you will get a useful tool, concept, or experience that you will benefit from.  This is an experiential group, so individuals do not share personal experiences, but rather participate in conversations and practices surrounding each topic.  

The skills in the group are referenced in Marsha Linehan's DBT Skills Training Manual. This is an invaluable resource and reference guide for learning and practicing DBT skills. I've had many clients flip to the index of the book when they are in freak-out mode to find a skill to help them effectively navigate it. There is a link to purchase the book on my website: http://www.drsandypeace.com/shop.html​
​or you can pick it up at most bookstores.

I want to wholeheartedly extend the invitation to you to join us for the Monday Mindfulness Group DBT series, starting this week and running for the next 14 weeks. Please call my office at 323-432-0676 to reserve your space, and plan to be at the US Bank Tower 26th Floor Conference Room at 633 West 5th Street, Los Angeles, CA. 90017 from 8:00-9:30 PM this Monday night.  

I look forward to meeting you there and sharing a magical, mindful experience together.