The Dragon Rises Wellness Blog

Looking for something in particular? Search our blog posts and site for answers!

Shen-hammer pulse diagnosis, Chinese medicine Dragon Rises Center for Wholeness Shen-hammer pulse diagnosis, Chinese medicine Dragon Rises Center for Wholeness

What are the Basic Parameters of the Pulse in Shen-Hammer Pulse Diagnosis?

One of the ways that we orient ourselves to understanding (and teaching) the pulse is through what are called the Basic Parameters: those most fundamental aspects of sensation by which any pulse quality can be categorized and interpreted.

The Basic Parameters of the pulse are:…

Read More
Dragon Rises Center for Wholeness Dragon Rises Center for Wholeness

Goodbye, Dr Hammer

A year has passed since our dear teacher Dr Leon Hammer departed from the land of the living. Since then, whenever the experiences that I shared with Dr Hammer have come to my mind, I feel a mixture of grief and gratitude. My feelings arise not only…

Read More
Counseling Dragon Rises Center for Wholeness Counseling Dragon Rises Center for Wholeness

Lovingkindness and Neuroplasticity

One of the things I love most about counseling is that I get to openly care about my clients and their struggles. And this care is essential to the effectiveness of the therapy I provide.

Read More
Counseling, Hakomi Therapy Dragon Rises Center for Wholeness Counseling, Hakomi Therapy Dragon Rises Center for Wholeness

Why I do Counseling

The most fulfilling parts of my career have been when I’ve landed in a role of helping others. From selling supplements at the local natural foods store in high school to becoming a psychotherapist over the past several years, I’ve always valued being able to bring healing into the world.

I do counseling because I believe in the human spirit, with all its inherent healing power.

Read More
Somatic Psychotherapy, Mental Health, Counseling, Hakomi Therapy Dragon Rises Center for Wholeness Somatic Psychotherapy, Mental Health, Counseling, Hakomi Therapy Dragon Rises Center for Wholeness

The Hakomi Principles: Non-Violence

According to Ron Kurtz, the progenitor of Hakomi therapy, “To work nonviolently, we must drop notions about making clients change and, along with that, any tendency to take credit for their successes… that doesn’t mean we have to be passive; nonviolence is not inaction. We can work without using force or the ideas and methods of a paradigm of force.”

Read More
Somatic Psychotherapy, Mental Health, Hakomi Therapy Dragon Rises Center for Wholeness Somatic Psychotherapy, Mental Health, Hakomi Therapy Dragon Rises Center for Wholeness

The Hakomi Principles: Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the fourth of the core Hakomi principles. In this context, the word “mindfulness” simply means the ability to have an experience and notice it at the same time. As Ron Kurtz, the progenitor of Hakomi therapy said it in his book Body-centered Psychotherapy (1990), “In psychotherapy, nothing is more useful than mindfulness”.

Read More
Somatic Psychotherapy, Mental Health, Hakomi Therapy Dragon Rises Center for Wholeness Somatic Psychotherapy, Mental Health, Hakomi Therapy Dragon Rises Center for Wholeness

The Hakomi Principles: Mind-Body Holism

“It is common in Western thinking to separate the mind and body. This separation, proposed by René Descartes, has not stood up well in recent centuries in philosophy, and has been thoroughly disproven by research in neuropsychiatry and psychoneuroimmunology.”

Read More