TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO FILE:

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT:

CLIENT: Hi.

THERAPIST: How are you?

CLIENT: Good. I feel like a lot has happened since the last time I was here. My sister got engaged over the weekend.

THERAPIST: My goodness. That’s great news.

CLIENT: Yeah. And it was funny because her fiancé – I’ve got to get used to saying that – wanted to ask my parents for their blessing a week ago and that was when Todd and I were driving up to drop off Trae so they could watch him for the night and we were headed to Bar Harbor. And as soon as we rounded the corner and saw his car in the driveway we were like, ‘oh!’ And he knew we were going out so we really didn’t intrude on anything but then we got to be in on the secret too.

THERAPIST: So you knew.

CLIENT: Yeah, but for a whole week so it was so hard – I purposely did not see them all week and when we were up there with my parents when he first asked for their blessing we were joking with Trae, saying now he calls Matt “Meep”, but now you have to call him “Uncle Meep, Uncle Meep.” And so he started saying that and we got home and we said, ‘great – now Helen can’t see Trae all week either, like he’s totally going to blow it.’ So it was like so hard to keep the secret and she ended up popping over on Friday night and this all happened on Saturday when he proposed. So it was like so hard to keep it from her and Trae did say. “Uncle Meep” while she was there, but we were both kind of like covering it, yeah. But it’s fun now to have like this big, exciting thing to –

THERAPIST: Yeah, something positive to look forward to (unclear).

CLIENT: I think it will be great and my parents are like so excited, too, and I think it’s nice just thinking about my mom, too, now that we have this big, happy exciting thing to be focused on is nice.

THERAPIST: It’s just a nice reminder too, of – you’ve had a lot of big events that have highlighted the support that is available in your family, but it’s nice to have a positive support where you also get to lean on that.

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: A reminder sort of the cycle of life.

CLIENT: I think it will be good. I notice myself like thinking about my grandmother so much. And just thinking about like when Todd and I got engaged and like our two first calls after we talked to our immediate family was calling, both of my grandmothers and Todd’s grandmother and it was just like that – so Helen called me and like my stepdad’s mom and then it was just like that like there’s this –

THERAPIST: Little void that you can’t share with your other grandmother.

CLIENT: Yeah. And knowing like that my mom, the first call that she would make would be to talk to her too. [00:02:44]

THERAPIST: So there is a piece that is missing.

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: But happy in so many ways.

CLIENT: Right. I think it will be great. And it’s fun – like she lives just down the road from us.

THERAPIST: So you get to be as involved as you want probably.

CLIENT: Exactly. I think she’s going to want me to be a little more involved because she doesn’t really see herself as an organizer and definitely sees me as like the planner and organizer which I think is pretty accurate. So it will be funny to see like –

THERAPIST: You could help her hire a professional.

CLIENT: Exactly.

(Cross talk)

CLIENT: If we didn’t have Trae and life wasn’t so busy I’d be ready to take that on. I think I’ll just – there are little things I’m just so excited to help her with and then maybe I’ll (cross talk) –

THERAPIST: To a professional?

CLIENT: Exactly. I think that will be good. So it’s been such a relief now to just have it open like being just – we were joking the whole time like so worried that we were going to say something.

THERAPIST: And ruin his moment.

CLIENT: Yeah. I know. And so, it wasn’t. It was perfect and she was totally surprised.

THERAPIST: That’s wonderful.

CLIENT: Yeah. I think it will be really fun. So we had that exciting news and then Todd and I had such a nice time in Bar Harbor, too. So it was so – and it was funny because I think when I was here the last time it was so hard for me to leave Trae the first time and now I’m not feeling much sadness at all. I’m feeling so ready and I definitely felt that way and then like the Friday before we left I was like, ‘oh I’m just going to miss him.’ Like that twinge kind of feeling you get.

THERAPIST: You were surprised.

CLIENT: Yeah. And it’s funny – it’s like Todd and I would always joke too. Whenever Todd goes away for like long periods of time I can’t help it. I’ll just cry when I’m saying good-bye to him. I just can’t help it. And he same thing – like I didn’t do it in front of Trae because I didn’t want him to be wondering, but I guess not really. I was kind of far away in the driveway. I was kind of laughing through it but it’s just so funny that that – I don’t know, but the saying good-bye piece is always so hard for me. And as soon as we left –

THERAPIST: We’re you anxious? Because I know when Todd goes away you sometimes talk about feeling a little bit anxious about just being on your own, or –

CLIENT: Yeah. I wasn’t feeling anxious at all. I think just sad to leave him. [00:05:17]

THERAPIST: That’s okay.

CLIENT: Yeah. Yeah.

THERAPIST: It’s interesting how complex the feelings can be and how you can be sort of excited and looking forward to having time as an adult independent person.

CLIENT: Right.

THERAPIST: And also sad at the same time as a parent because you’re sad to leave him even though you’re looking forward to spending time alone with Todd.

CLIENT: And Todd was kind of laughing. Like we were in the car kind of driving away and I’m just sitting there like crying and we started talking about Helen getting engaged and then I was like but then we can’t call (unclear) and then I’d start crying because I felt like this is really awesome.

THERAPIST: (Laughs)

CLIENT: This is a great weekend away with my wife. But then yeah, but then I totally – was fine but it was funny because I was kind of – as we were driving to drop him off, I thought oh, I think I’m a little more sad than I thought. But then it all was fine.

THERAPIST: You were able to go through it.

CLIENT: Right, and checking it. And it’s nice that like worrying about him, I’m not at all. Like my mom is with him every week. She knows all of his little (cross talk) likes and dislikes and everything. So it’s nice. There wasn’t like a shred of me that was worried.

THERAPIST: Just that he would be okay.

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: So I think it’s good though. Because I know like I think that Todd’s parents may have gone away more often and that was like more a part of his growing up because it was more like –

CLIENT: More like normal for him.

THERAPIST: Yeah.

CLIENT: His parents to have their time alone and I think that is like important to him and it is important to me too to have that time but for me, like my parents never left. Like I can remember like one weekend maybe when they left. So that just wasn’t a part of my growing up. We would go lots of places, but we would go as a family pretty much or we would do like away like the girls would do like father and daughter weekend and things like that, but I can’t remember except for one time I remember my parents leaving myself and Helen home. It will be interesting to see how that goes forward because I know it is important to Todd to just be like he can get away even if it is just an overnight and we can have that time together. And it feels like that too but like there’s part of me too that really wants it and another part of me that, ‘well, maybe I don’t want that all the time.’ Like we can bring Trae with us for half the time, whatever. So I think it will be interesting to see how that plays out.

THERAPIST: What you decide is sort of the right formula?

CLIENT: Yeah. Yeah.

THERAPIST: It might look different than what Todd may have had or what you had.

CLIENT: Right. Yeah. And I don’t think Todd’s parents were really going off all the time on these crazy vacations but I do think it was just like a little bit more normal for them to do something like that.

THERAPIST: There’s lots of different ways to raise a family.

CLIENT: Yeah. But I think the more we do – even just the little overnights, because I think it is starting to feel a little more comfortable. It definitely was easier to leave him than the first time so that’s like a good little –

THERAPIST: And it sounds like it was successful.

CLIENT: Yes, it was really nice. We just ate and drank like the entire time. There are so many great restaurants in Bar Harbor and it was so fun. So yeah, we definitely had a good time, too. And it was nice to just – I felt like we had just such a nice long stretch of not having any time together, so –

THERAPIST: Yeah. I mean you had all these plans that had to get pushed back for different events.

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: So it had been a long time that you’d been planning to go out and have –Whether it would be your birthday or his birthday.

CLIENT: Yeah. I know we’d been joking around – like we’re probably on this list of like people not to let make appointments at the place – like we were planning on getting massages and cancelled so many times and (unclear) we’re going to be going down to Arizona to visit Todd’s parents next weekend. And last year when we did that we went on a couple of little day nights once Trae was asleep or whatever before because all the restaurant close so early – so we did leave early before he was asleep but it was nice to like – I feel we’ll have a few more little (unclear). [00:09:35]

THERAPIST: By yourselves.

CLIENT: Yeah. So that will be good. And then I just feel like school, now that this semester has started and everything – it definitely does feel busier and I feel myself like – Fridays now has become like my day for TF’ing and so we have our teaching team meeting from 9 to usually 10:30 or 11, so far. This is only the second week. Or this is the third week so we haven’t quite figured out the routine but we meet in the morning and then it feels like we have this mad dash to get everything ready and then class meets at 1 from 1 ‘til 4. And so I just notice that the first day of class it just felt like there was so much adrenalin like trying to get everything ready and David works like such in a different way than I do then everything is last minute. Like even to have a teaching team meeting on the day of class doesn’t really make sense, but he’s only on campus for one day so that’s kind of how we have to do it. But I felt like there was this scramble and then like being so focused in class and being on in class and by the end of the day it was just like emotionally draining. And in between on that first day, in between on that first day, I had like this deadline to submit a little proposal for a conference at school. So there were other things to do too and it felt like there was all this energy and it was hard to like let go at the end of class. Like I came home and felt like, noticing myself thinking like back to little things from like last year, like what was I saying at the end of class and was the video recording still going and how did I introduce this one thing and did I say it in a way that worked for every student. Like letting myself hash over the class like almost trying to find things to worry about. And so last week was much better just because it didn’t feel like that. In between time there wasn’t that much to do. But that’s just one thing I noticed that it feels like now Fridays are my high energy, stressful day just to get everything –

THERAPIST: How do you wind down after class?

CLIENT: I don’t know that I have –

THERAPIST: What do you do between classes going home?

CLIENT: I haven’t really figured that out yet really. Because I think on the first week I had, I was taking like a 5 o’clock bus home or maybe Todd was picking up Trae and coming to get me at 5. So I had an hour but I was kind of like scrambling to answer e-mail and do stuff I hadn’t done all day because the whole day was kind of devoted to class. And last week was better because Todd had a meeting in the Square so he ended up popping over at the end of class and I found him outside, which was so funny, and it was so nice to see him. So then we went back home together and that was like a little bit better too.

THERAPIST: Is that something you can plan or was that totally bizarre that –

CLIENT: That was kind of bizarre, yeah. It just like randomly happened that he had that meeting around campus. But I think finding something to do like after class – [00:12:43]

THERAPIST: I think creating a ritual in some ways it’s some ways similar to finding a ritual for soothing yourself and coming down before bed. The point of that is just having a transition from sort of like the day during which you’re thinking about things and juggling things and, whether it be work or Trae or something, and then at nighttime when you want to relax and settle down and drift off to sleep. So I think the same thing – finding a ritual that helps you transition from this day when you’re very on and it’s high energy and you do have some adrenalin from teaching. Because you don’t want to minimize that. That actually helps you have something that helps you to transition when that’s over to the next part of your day where you’re going to want to leave some of that adrenalin at work and feel more centered or calm.

THERAPIST: Yeah, I think I do need to figure out some kind of strategy for that because I was home that first Friday and I was like, it’s funny, it’s been such a long week but I felt like I couldn’t really relax. And so last week I think was different because there wasn’t do much to do in that in between. But I have a feeling in the future it –

CLIENT: You might not get to control that as there may be weeks when there is a lot to do and then there may be weeks when there is not. So finding something that is in your control for after –

THERAPIST: And it might be something like meeting with a friend like if there’s somebody else that’s available so you can maybe go and sit someplace and share a coffee of tea and just kind of process.

CLIENT: Right.

THERAPIST: You know, what happened during class so you can leave it at school. Or maybe it’s finding a yoga class or someone to take a walk with or something you can put in place to be a buffer.

CLIENT: Yeah, I think that would be good. Because again, it’s only been two weeks but I’ve just kind of noticed it and I think the same thing happened last year too and it was the same – I think we met in the morning and then it was that scramble and then class and then it was the weekend when I wanted to be feeling relaxed and I’m like, but I’m not. So, yeah, I think that will be good to think about, like what I could do. And it is kind of nice that I en have that – sometimes it feels like we’re always staying late after class like talking to students. But I have at least a half an hour or something to –

THERAPIST: So you’ve got a couple of days where you’re rushed to go pick up Trae?

CLIENT: Yeah. Yeah. And usually Todd will end up picking him up, on Fridays anyway. So that will be good.

THERAPIST: So then you don’t necessarily need to sort of be someplace on the dot.

CLIENT: Yeah. So I think that will help. But that was just like one thing that I have noticed at the start of the semester that feels like this crazy day needing to feel like I, like on Thursday feel like I have to gear up for this crazy day that’s going to be happening the next day. So I think that will help to just think of something that will be in that in between time.

THERAPIST: How have other days been going? Like is there space for taking care of yourself?

CLIENT: I feel like I haven’t. I miss that Zumba class I’d been going to and I haven’t gotten back into that. I really want to but January was just such a weird month because classes weren’t in session and it didn’t feel like a routine really, but now that the semester is here it does feel like that’s missing. But it’s just like the past couple of weeks I’ve had – I think I was better last semester about just trying to reserve that time on Wednesdays and then since I hadn’t been doing it all of January and really December, too. It’s been a while since I’ve been to that class. I’ve kind of let that slide and was making meetings and stuff at that time.

THERAPIST: So it might be picking a new time?

CLIENT: Yeah. [00:16:41]

THERAPIST: Figuring out, sort of, what is the schedule going to be? You’re just a couple of weeks in and it will take a couple more week before it starts to take shape and you can see sort of how long things actually take.

CLIENT: Right.

THERAPIST: So I think this is really time to look at, ‘well, what happened the last couple of weeks?’ Because that should be a pretty good indication of what the semester’s going to look like and see where you can kind of structure some down time for yourself or a class to take.

CLIENT: Yeah, because I love doing that class, so I’d love being able to do that again. Or there is another time but I think my work – but even to have those two options each week and figure out which ones would work –

THERAPIST: Like (Unclear) the other [00:17:54]

CLIENT: Yeah. And now, I keep saying to Todd, I can’t wait to be outside, like I’m just like just bad, it’s only the beginning of February and I’m like so ready for spring because it was so nice and last semester too getting home and sometimes going for a run with the stroller and just not being able to do that, it’s like feeling so cooped up.

THERAPIST: Well, it’s been a tough winter so far.

CLIENT: But now that Trae’s so much bigger he’ll be heavier to push I n the stroller going jogging with him but yeah, I feel like I do need to find a way to fitting that back in because just going to that class just once a week just felt better to have like something that I was consistently doing like some form of exercise like once a week.

THERAPIST: Yeah, it sounds like you miss it.

CLIENT: Yeah, and I think now is the first time I’ve realized it too because it was like December.

THERAPIST: Things were so irregular and now you can see that there may be some regularity to schedule again.

CLIENT: Yeah, I think that will be really good. It made me feel like – like how I’m sleeping is like always on my mind, too. And it has been pretty good but I feel like there are – I’ll still have like those little things that I’ll let myself worry, ‘oh, is this going to mean that I’m going to have trouble falling back to sleep?’ Like I’ll still –

THERAPIST: Looking through the day for things that fit that bill?

CLIENT: That and little things that I think, in the past, I’ve fallen asleep on the couch and then sometimes it’s hard for me to fall asleep so that’s something that I never let myself do but then if I am so tired and Todd and I are watching TV and sometimes I’ll like jolt myself awake and say, ‘oh no, don’t fall asleep on the couch.’ Little things like that. And there was one night when Trae woke up in the middle of the night and I had trouble falling back to sleep and now I almost feel like that’s another thing in my head, like if he wakes up thinking like don’t let yourself think about anything, just act like you’re going to bed. So I feel like there are those little things that keep coming up. Like I feel like I can never feel fully confident that I will sleep well.

THERAPIST: How often do those things actually get in the way? [00:19:43]

CLIENT: Yeah, they haven’t really. It’s been nice not to really have that. Like and there have been a couple of – I don’t know, a couple of nights in the past like two weeks but nothing compared to like when I would be up for this long stretch of time, but awake enough to be like, ‘I hope this will be okay.’ But then I’ll wake up in the morning like well, I did get myself back to sleep, so that was good.

THERAPIST: Yeah, so that last thought is the one you want to hold onto and try to call up at those times, thinking about the times when those things went well rather than thinking about the times when things didn’t – the “what-ifs” – seeing if you can replace those with, ‘remember that time I was able to fall back to sleep?’

CLIENT: Right.

THERAPIST: And there are some theories that evolutionarily it is more important for your brain to recall things that could go badly and use those as information, right? If you get eaten by a bear once it’s like a really bad threat. And all the times you didn’t get eaten by a bear don’t really seem to count anymore.

CLIENT: Right.

THERAPIST: So it makes sense why you’re sort of primed to think about the what-ifs and to try to guard against disaster from happening. But it’s really not as useful for us anymore because the things that are real dangers to us, if you don’t fall asleep that one night, it’s not really as bad a problem as being out in the wild and getting hunted instead of being the hunter. So it’s okay. It’s not dangerous for you to retrain your brain to think about the things that go well and the successes that you’ve had and not to necessarily be ruled by this anxiety. The disasters just aren’t the same kinds of disasters that we need to worry about.

CLIENT: Right. Yeah.

THERAPIST: Those thoughts might come up and then your job is not necessarily to engage those thoughts but to think about the times when it’s been successful and to remind yourself of your success. That can give you a real sense of confidence. So when you hear Trae at night it’s likely that like, ‘oh no,’ comes up and then – I think we talked about this passing. You don’t have to explain against it to yourself and you don’t need to chastise yourself for having the thought. Those are ways of engaging it. What you can do is say, ‘oh, there are lots of times when Trae woke up at night and I went back to sleep. Which, when you think back – is totally true.

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: And you just tend to disregard those. You know, all those times when he as tiny and he woke up multiple times a night and he went back to sleep.

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: And working to remember those and each time you do that, it gets a little bit easier to go that direction.

CLIENT: Right. I know and I feel there was a stretch when he was waking up and I know, like I knew if I went to check on him then it was easy for me to get back to sleep and it would be those times when I would wake up and would be asleep and I would just be lying in bed thinking if he just woke up right now and needed me to go pat him, like that would help me get back to sleep. So it’s like it sometimes feels like I switch on and off like what are those things that are going to be hard to get back to sleep for. So I do. Like, and it’s nice that I do have lots of memories from when he was little that –

THERAPIST: Yeah, and you can do this. And the same thing with falling sleep on the couch and yes, there may have been times when it was hard to get back to sleep but there are lots of times when I was able to fall asleep in one place and then another – and trying to stick with those thoughts and repeating those consciously to yourself so that you can feel confident and secure and pretty calm about what you can do. [00:23:02]

CLIENT: Yeah. Yeah, I think that will help. Because I think it’s nice that I haven’t I don’t have like this huge, long (unclear) like having to read and everything like I was doing before. But I do feel like I still have all these set things that I’ll want to do before I go to bed so it does feel still like I have that routine but at least it’s not quite as long as –

THERAPIST: Does it feel like too much of a routine? Are there too many things that you need to hit in order to feel comfortable?

CLIENT: I don’t think so. To Todd it is because he’s always like, ‘come to bed,’ because the light is on and he’s kind of waiting for me to come to bed, but yeah it definitely feels much better but it does feel like there are all of these – but things like I was always doing before, too (unclear) aware of them now, yeah. [00:24:23]

THERAPIST: If it’s working, that’s great.

CLIENT: Yeah, I think it’s okay.

THERAPIST: That’s great.

CLIENT: And it doesn’t feel like it’s too burdensome.

THERAPIST: If it becomes too cumbersome then you can start to eliminate one piece from the routine and whittle it down to something that feels more manageable but it sounds like it feels pretty manageable to you.

CLIENT: Right.

THERAPIST: You may need to start it, to be five minutes earlier –

(Cross talk)

THERAPIST: Or he can start five minutes later?

CLIENT: Exactly.

THERAPIST: I think if it’s working for you right now, then sticking with it and if it becomes too much then you pick one piece to kind of eliminate at a time.

CLIENT: Yeah. I think that sounds good.

THERAPIST: And you know you can do that because you have sort of taken a routine that was a little bit too involved and whittled it down.

CLIENT: Yeah. I felt like with that though, it was so helpful to have like this huge length – like it was Trae being born. (Cross talk) So I think that helped to whittle that down. But now I think it’s okay but I’ve definitely like noticed there are certain things that I want to make sure are part of like getting ready to go to bed that I’ll do every night and but that it does feel okay at the same time.

THERAPIST: Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with getting a routine.

CLIENT: Yeah. I know, I think it’s maybe just because I’m a person who loves her (unclear) and I think Todd could care less about those that really have (unclear) (cross talk). [00:26:03]

THERAPIST: During the day it doesn’t matter so much because you’re off in separate places working in your own kind of style. And bedtimes is one of those times when the mismatch in your styles is more evident.

CLIENT: Yeah, definitely. But I think that was like, I don’t know, I think that was like, that was kind of the main thing, just thinking about something that I can do after Friday.

THERAPIST: When you wind down after the week.

CLIENT: Yeah. And it hasn’t really been like sleeping hasn’t been too bad, but I just noticed those things kind of pop up.

THERAPIST: Do you ever get to read for pleasure?

CLIENT: No.

THERAPIST: Could that end of the day on Friday be a half hour when you read something for pleasure? Or don’t you want to read for pleasure anymore?

CLIENT: No, I would love to. I feel like that’s something I miss. I was reading something like this wonderful book, like I would say if I had the chance to finish it it would probably be one of my most favorite – but then I kind of like stopped reading it and now it’s been like a month and I only have like 50 pages left and I never finished it and I just found it in the car yesterday. But yeah, I definitely miss that part. So that o be a good idea too.

THERAPIST: I wonder if that might be a time when you kind of slot out – even if it’s 15 minutes to find a corner and be able to read something that’s just for pleasure, just kind of creating a little window for yourself as a way to – that might be one type of thing you could do.

CLIENT: Yeah, that’s a good idea too. And that’s easy to just do right after, it’s not like it takes coordinating (unclear). [00:27:45]

THERAPIST: Some of the other ideas that came to me initially kind of have to depend on other things and then it’s easy for that to get lost like if one of those pieces falls out, it’s harder to say (Unclear). [00:27:58]

CLIENT: Right.

THERAPIST: But if reading something pleasurable would be a way that helps you to kind of calm down or let go of the frenzied work pace, then that’s not dependent on (unclear) cancelling or (unclear) not cancelling or a class scheduled that you want to be at.

CLIENT: Yeah, that’s a good idea.

THERAPIST: Yeah, so if you could maybe experiment with that, see how it works. Another thing that’s sort of independent from everything else would be finding a place to like listen to some music that you like.

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: Or just something you can do on your own that will help you get into a different zone.

CLIENT: Right. And I even think that once it’s nicer out to just be able to like walk home, take a walk. Because it’s a far walk in the snow and everything. And when I have a heavy bag. But I can plan when it’s nicer (unclear) and do that because I think that might help, too, to have the time to walk home. [00:29:04]

THERAPIST: Yeah. That will be a little bit easier, say a month from now.

CLIENT: I know. I’m ready. It will be fun to have Trae back on the playground now. He would be so much bigger. I feel like he’ll be doing like these different things.

THERAPIST: Yeah. Well, anything else we should catch up on?

CLIENT: I think that’s everything, yeah.

THERAPIST: Let’s take time some time to do some relaxation. Are we all caught up scheduling-wise?

CLIENT: I’ll just double check. I think so, though.

THERAPIST: I think we are too, actually. You tried to schedule around your Arizona trip.

CLIENT: Yes.

THERAPIST: I vaguely remember that.

(Pause): [00:29:46 00:29:54]

THERAPIST: I next have you on Wednesday the 26th at 3:30.

CLIENT: Yeah, great.

THERAPIST: And then we did not schedule for March as far as I can see.

CLIENT: Yeah, I don’t think so either.

THERAPIST: Do you want the Monday at 12:30 or do you want the Wednesday at 3:30?

CLIENT: Now, Monday at 12:30 might be best.

THERAPIST: Okay. That works fine for me. So do you want to do probably the 10th?

CLIENT: Yeah, that sounds good.

(Pause): [00:30:32 00:30:44]

THERAPIST: And then the 24th?

CLIENT: Great.

(Pause): [00:30:46 00:31:04]

CLIENT: Here’s a check.

THERAPIST: Oh thank you. Alright. Let yourself get comfortable. Settle into a position that feels good for you. Close your eyes and let yourself kind of tap into whatever your natural rhythm for a full, deep breath would be.

(Pause): [00:31:23 00:31:34]

THERAPIST: Taking a few deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling fully. Just notice as your breath slows down, your body relaxes, letting your mind clear. Letting go of the thoughts that you’re holding onto. Knowing that important things will come back to you as you need them. For now you can allow your mind to be fully present, noticing just what’s going on in the moment.

(Pause): [00:32:08 00:32:19]

THERAPIST: Letting yourself become aware of what you’re feeling, acknowledging those things and then letting go.

(Pause): [00:32:24 00:32:34]

THERAPIST: And then as you breathe, take a mental scan of your body noticing places where you might feel uncomfortable, a spot where you may be holding on to some tension and as you notice that, think about using your breath to help let go of it, inhaling and squeezing those spots even tighter, really noticing the tension, exhaling and releasing all that tension, allowing your body to relax.

(Pause): [00:33:03 00:33:10]

THERAPIST: Repeating that process as many times as you need to to feel relaxed, inhaling and tightening up any place that is uncomfortable, shifting however you need to, exhaling and letting it go.

(Pause): [00:33:23 00:33:44]

THERAPIST: Now do that same process with your thoughts, scanning your mind noticing what’s popped up or what’s refused to leave. Just think about letting it float away as you exhale, letting your thoughts float away with your breath, letting your mind be free and clear.

(Pause): [00:34:06 00:34:15]

THERAPIST: Now go someplace in your mind letting you travel to a place where you feel comfortable, calm, and relaxed, immersing yourself in the details of what it feels like to be there, maybe even imagining the sounds that you’d hear there, the smells that might be present, allowing yourself to be fully relaxed in a space that feels peaceful and calm and comforting.

(Pause): [00:34:48 00:34:56]

THERAPIST: Noticing how your body might change as you let yourself be more present in that space.

(Pause): [00:35:03 00:35:13]

THERAPIST: Letting yourself be more relaxed with each breath, noticing anyplace that tension has crept back in, noticing it without any judgment and then letting it go.

(Pause): [00:35:25 00:35:39]

THERAPIST: Allowing yourself to take a few more full, deep breaths and memorizing what it’s like to be relaxed. Memorizing what the breath feels like when it’s full and deep knowing that you can bring yourself back to a more relaxed place just by taking a few deep breaths that match these.

(Pause): [00:36:05 – 00:36:33]

THERAPIST: And when you feel ready let yourself slowly and at your own pace come back to the room carrying the relaxation with you so you can take it through your day. Alright. We will see you in a couple of weeks.

CLIENT: Sounds good. (Pause) All these layers (unclear).

THERAPIST: It was chilly this morning.

CLIENT: Yeah, (unclear), but when I was walking over here it was like, ‘oh my gosh, I’ve got to take off –

END TRANSCRIPT