Tag Archives: counseling

Nite Rain, a Composition for Relaxation and Reducing Stress.

Posted on by Dr Harry Henshaw

When I started out in counseling I practiced a great deal of hypnosis.  I also used music in the trance and hypnosis work.  The music I used was not mine initially.  When I got the idea to create and use my own music I created Nite Rain.  It was the first composition that I used in counseling and the practice of hypnosis.

Since I created Nite Rain years ago I have always wanted to release it again given the advancements that I have made in recording and editing.  This I have done now and have released it on Itunes.  I hope that people enjoy it and find it as relaxing as I do.

Since the original release of Nite Rain I have created several other relaxation music compositions, all designed for helping people to relax and reduce the stress of living. All of these compositions can be found on Itunes now.  The music that I have created can be used for a variety of things creating a general state of relaxation, meditation and reducing stress.

Weekly Homework for Individuals in Recovery.

Posted on by Dr Harry Henshaw

Many individuals going into treatment for drug and alcohol dependency have questions about what to do when admitted to a program.  While the opinions and suggestions given to them will vary from program to program and even person to person, the following are five things that someone can stay present to as they move through treatment.

1.  To read and take notes from either the NA or AA text.  In addition to needing to know what the program of recovery is truly about, it also important to take notes as one read either the Basic Text or the Big Book.  There will be a tendency to forget, hence the need to take notes.

2.  Attend AA or NA meetings daily.  Attendance helps keep one in the conversation of recovery.

3.  Work on and complete “Step One.”  While the person will do it again once they get a sponsor after the treatment program, it is good practice to engage the process while in treatment.

4,  Write out your “Counseling Agenda” each week before your counseling session. Having an agenda written down allows you to stay focused on what you need to talk about and work on and also creates the space for being responsible for your situation.

5.  Work on and complete your “recovery plan” one week before your discharge.  Having a plan helps to ensure that you will actually engage the program immediately upon your discharge.  Having no written plan will usually amount to little action on the individual’s part.

The idea is to review these five things with the staff and especially with your counselor in order to evaluate your progress in the treatment program.

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The Final Component of Holistic Counseling

Posted on by Dr Harry Henshaw

The final component of the Holistic Counseling is the use and practice of acknowledgement.  Once the negative experience has been transformed and the breakdown has been resolved it is important for a person to fully understand the difference of what his doing this work and creating a possibility has made for himself.  Acknowledgement is about getting how the created possibility has transformed the breakdown from what it was to that which is truly a breakthrough for the individual.  Acknowledgement is about getting the power of our word and thoughts for allowing us to transform breakdowns into breakthroughs, to once again become our possibilities, to be what we truly want in and from life.  It is this acknowledgement that strengthens the process of transformation thereby leaving ones sense of power restored.  Acknowledgement is about standing in ones possibility, celebrating ones power and freedom and in the process having given up being a victim.  Acknowledgement is about beginning to live life from ones possibility and not from the experience of being in the breakdown.

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Creating a New Self is the Way to Transform a Breakdown.

Posted on by Dr Harry Henshaw

The fourth component of Holistic Counseling involves creating a possibility or new self given the breakdown experience.  This powerful act of creation can be to develop a new view of oneself or get back into previously chosen possibility or goal of who you want to be in life.  Creating possibilities or a new self can be life transforming.  However, once we are convinced that we are being our self limiting belief, that the source of the breakdown is the self limiting belief and not that which the story tends convey, it is at that moment that we can develop a new self or possibility to be at that moment, a new self given the breakdown experience.  It is by creating a new self or possibility by our spoken word that the experience itself will begin to transform.  The breakdown only happens because of who we are being. It is by causing a new self to come into existence through our word that our inadequate way of being will begin to completely dissolve and with it the breakdown itself. It is with the creation of a new self or possibility that the person’s power and freedom are once again restored.

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Your Self Limiting Belief and Breakdowns.

Posted on by Dr Harry Henshaw

The third component or aspect of Holistic Counseling with respect to breakdowns involves becoming present to ones self-limiting belief, to the source, to that which actually created the breakdown.  Becoming present or aware of ones self limiting belief, to that which has determined ones life up until the process of transformation began to take place, is the first component in the process of Holistic Counseling.  Even though the awareness of ones self-limiting belief will create the space for the person to begin to create his life anew, it does not go away, become fixed or get cured. The self-limiting belief, much like a virus that has appeared in the human body, continues to exist.  As with any idea that we have or create about us, it is also a way of being.  We be or exist by what we think and more specifically by what we think about ourselves. What we are familiar with is being our self-limiting belief in the world. It is familiar for us to think and feel that the world is more powerful and real than we are and furthermore, that it is something that must be controlled and even survived. We will eventually experience a breakdown given our sense of inadequacy with respect to the world as this is how we have been in the community in the past. However, once the self-limiting belief is again distinguished the inauthenticity begins to weaken or be dissolved.

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The Story within the Breakdown.

Posted on by Dr Harry Henshaw

Another component of gaining insight has to do with becoming present to the story that the person is creating with respect to the breakdown.  While the emotional state of the individual is very important to become aware of, listening to the story that he is creating is also of equal importance.  Within holistic counseling, every emotion is created by a thought.  When there are negative emotions present in a person’s life as he is experiencing a breakdown there are also corresponding thoughts taking place.  The thoughts that are taking place will appear as a story in the person’s mind.  Within the breakdown the story will be other oriented, involving external people, places, things, circumstance or situations.  Within the structure of the story, inherent to it, will be the belief that the external events are the real and the true cause of how the person is feeling.  It is with these thoughts that the breakdown and inauthentic way of being exists, something that is made up about another, hiding what it is truly about.  Blame and resentment will eventually result.  Becoming present to the story is vital if one is not to impulsively act upon it and as a result bring its destructive consequences into existence with respect to his life.  Becoming present or an observer to ones story is crucial to transforming a breakdown and getting back on track with ones life.

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More on Dealing with Breakdowns in Recovery.

Posted on by Dr Harry Henshaw

Within the work of holistic counseling, the process of gaining insight will assist the individual in becoming authentic and also allow that person to stay in his recovery.  Gaining insight is a very important component of holistic counseling, the utilization of which allows the individual to move out of his self-limiting belief and back into being his created possibility.  When one begins to experience a breakdown he has gone back into being his self-limiting belief.  Their will be the story which is made up about what is happening in his life and also that which is hidden from him, that which is truly directing and creating his life, including the story. The technology of the insight process allows the individual the ability to transform his experience by being authentic and as a result letting go of being his self limiting belief thereby regaining his power and freedom through being his possibilities.  Utilization of the process of insight as with transformation itself is a practice that requires a great deal of commitment.  As with any skill the structure of gaining insight is taught and it is in communication with the persons coach or even sponsor that its implementation is brought forth into the individual’s life.

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Self Discovery through Holistic Counseling.

Posted on by Dr Harry Henshaw

Becoming aware of that which has been hidden most of his life, to that which has been truly determining his very being in life, allows one the opportunity to change his life. Once one gets who he has been being in life, the second component of the holistic process is for the individual to begin to create his life as a possibility. Once the understanding of the self-limiting belief is realized, the individual is now able to truly create a new possibility for himself and his life.  Getting the self-limiting belief creates the space or an opening for a possibility or even possibilities to be created not as a result or product of the internal barrier but from or out of nothing.  It is only from knowing that which has limited us that possibility can truly be created.  As with the self-limiting belief, possibility exists in language.  Once one gets the language that he has been being, that has defined and limited him through being his self-limiting belief, it is at this point that he can begin to recreate himself through the power of his word. Who we are is our word.  In is in ones language or word that one has access to changing his life, and creating possibility and change for himself.

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Holistic Counseling and Transforming Ones Life.

Posted on by Dr Harry Henshaw

Holistic Counseling is about assisting another to transform his life. Transforming ones life is not about changing it. While life is much about doing differently, the genesis of the transformation is about a person altering or transforming his belief or thought of who he thinks he is.

We tend to believe that our life is determined or influenced by people, places, things, situations and circumstance and that who we are is the mere accumulation of our past experiences but this is not so. Rather, it is our thoughts and beliefs that determine our experiences and life and also that we are completely and solely responsible for their creation.

What we think and believe, especially about ourselves, determines our emotions and behavior in the world and it is our behavior that merely validates what we think and believe about ourselves. Furthermore, we believe or think that we know who we are in life but the reality is that we truly do not. Much of who we are really being we are simply not present to. Much of our life is spent in pretense and who we are really being is hidden from us.

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The Use of Therapeutic Relaxation Music in Counseling.

Posted on by Dr Harry Henshaw

Music has always been a very important part of our lives.  As a part of our experience, music can have both a physiological and psychological affect upon us as human beings.  Music also has many therapeutic qualities and has been utilized in promoting a variety of healings throughout the ages.  As we know further, music can be a very powerful medium for altering our state, of changing how we actually feel.  Music can be very effective in producing a very deep and healing state of relaxation and in the process, reduce stress and even promote sleep. Music can also be used to assist one in improving his or her self-esteem and furthering an individualís personal growth and development, transformation.

As a therapist I have always used relaxation music in my clinical and counseling work with others.  I have found that when I use relaxation music during both an individual and group counseling session that my clients do more productive work, are able to focus more effectively on themselves and the issues that they are becoming present to because they are more relaxed, focused and centered and as a result, better able to concentrate.  Being relaxed during the counseling process, at least initially always tends to generate more productive results for the individual being counseled.  Relaxation music can be a very effective and powerful aid for assisting a client to reach resolution with respect to that which he or she is working on with their counselor.

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