Gail Johnson, LMSW, ACSW
Valentines Day and other holidays can be especially difficult for folks who are grieving or who have experienced trauma. Gail Johnson has some tips for how to regain a sense of calm and perspective when a holiday situation confounds and overwhelms you:


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​First, pause……..
Take a gentle breath in through your nose (like sniffing a flower) let it out as softly as blowing bubbles….repeat until you feel a change in body tension.
Second, notice the upsetting thing before you…
Put it on the left side of a split screen and give it a number (indicating from 1-5 the level of distress you feel).
Third…remember something that makes you feel calm…
On the right side of the split screen put a gentle calming event, place, person ,etc. that gives you ease.  Spend at least double the time on that right side.
Fourth, toggle…
Think back to the left side and stay there long enough to evaluate distress (indicate your level of distress with a new number).
Fifth, toggle again…
Think back to the calming right side and stay there long enough to get more ease.
Repeat until the left side goes to zero. Throughout the exercise, breathe gently and lightly, as though you were sleeping….

Gail Johnson, LMSW, ACSW
More Than the Mind and Body Can Bear: Trauma is just that—more than mind and body can bear without causing disruption of our lives.  We have finally come to recognize the trauma of our returning veterans, survivors of natural disasters, crashes, domestic violence, deaths of loved ones and friends.  These large shocks to the human mind-body system are BIG SHOCKS—Big “T” Traumas.

Gail Johnson, LMSW, ACSW






​It’s the physical symptoms that overwhelm us…

• Adrenaline pumping
• Fast breathing
• Heart racing
• Stomach churning
• Vision narrowing
• Muscles tightening
• Palms sweating
• Dizziness

Surviving this body onslaught seems impossible to halt. But you can handle it, and not just with the proper medications, though they may help this process. When your brain has been hijacked this way, thought itself is altered, hijacked, with reason and logic a distant memory. Whether it is worry, anxiety, trauma, or fear, you can learn to handle it.

And the physical skills that may help contain it:
First try a little experiment, right where you are. Take in a very gentle breath through your nose (just as you would for yoga) and sending it to the lower lobes of your lungs, under your diaphragm. (You remember your music teacher telling you to breathe from your diaphragm in grade school, right?) Hold that breath a few seconds, and now, narrowing your mouth to the shape of a straw, gently let that breath out through your mouth verrrrrrrrry slowly. Ahh! You have just begun to gain control over your anxiety.

Over the course of several sessions, you can learn many more skills to manage the “hijacking” and regain control. These are concrete skills, tailored to bring down anxiety and panic to a manageable level. Let’s work together to put worry and anxiety in their place.


Relaxation Techniques Testimonial:
​“You asked me …if I would write up something reflective of how this exercise has impacted my life. Blood pressure at this week’s appointment was 104/70. Used to be 145/84. Stopped taking sleep aids for the first time in 12 years (haven’t taken any sine November of 2011). My glaucoma pressures have dropped to within normal range (at last appointment). I can focus and read with greater comprehension, speed, and retention of information. I am articulating more clearly than I have in years. I feel happy, relaxed and my anxiety levels have greatly diminished. My ADD symptoms have dissipated significantly. I have been practicing (Progressive Relaxation) approximately four to five times a week since 2009.”