I want to explore a buzzword that's been going around for the past couple of years. What I have found is that when a buzzword is used collectively, it usually involves identity projection. What does it really mean to be your “authentic self”? I want to explore three ways I have seen people around me be more authentic than usual. I say this because I feel we don’t really know what true authenticity, or another word that I feel describes this state, innocence, is. We have wrapped our being up...

Do you ever wonder why, even when you know a feeling isn’t healthy, you still cannot shake it off? You can tell yourself, "Don't feel it," until you are blue in the face, but it persists. Why is it that when you work through emotions, knowing the emotion and naming it isn't enough to make it go away? My teacher used to say a wound never permanently goes away and will always be painful when it comes up. But I am realizing that the body has an amazing power to digest emotions. It almost feels...

When I was in my mid-twenties, I would go to a local massage school that held lectures accompanied by demonstrations every Wednesday evening. After the weekly lecture, you could receive free bodywork. For me, it was a treat that I looked forward to after work on Wednesdays. On one occasion, a hypnotherapist was giving out mini hypnotherapy sessions to build her business. On this particular night, there were many different practitioners there offering treatments, but I wanted to try out...