- mindfulness-based counseling
- body-centered counseling
- creative and expressive therapies
- behavioral medicine
- clinical hypnosis
- EMDR
(eye movement desensitization &
reprocessing)
LivingWell home
Director of LivingWell:
Vicki Gayton, LCSW
Founded in 2008
by Sally Bowden-Schaible, LCPC, CCMHC
LivingWell is not a corporation, professional organization, or separate legal entity, but a community of independent practitioners who share the belief that mind/body/spiritual health is best achieved and maintained through complementary approaches. The practitioners offering services at LivingWell are licensed or certified professionals (depending on the requirements of the profession).
LivingWell is a center for cultivating mind-body health and spiritual growth through practices of mindful awareness, creative expression, and integrated care. It is a center that offers holistic options for treating mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, addiction problems, and stress-related illnesses and conditions. In addition to the more traditional western approaches to mind-body health care, components of the center include: (current offerings)
COVID-19
A Reflection
Sally Bowden-Schaible
________________________
Dear Friends,
So much has changed during this month, these weeks, these days, these hours, these moments... even between the moments. During this time and as you read this email, molecules of moments of breath are being released into the air by one person and inhaled by another setting in motion conditions for health or illness or the odds of soon-to-be death. This is part of the karmic unfolding of life.
Looking through a lens of optimism, however, this scary time can offer (in a strange but powerful way) an opportunity to “reboot” how we live our lives, the choices we make— individually and together as a whole. This scary time is bringing us up close to what most matters.
For myself, I’m discovering an interesting kind of calm and ease —I think related to knowing the need (and having decided) to stay put at home. No big planning, no restless going here and there. A much simplified life right now. This, too, seems to be the case for several others I’ve talked with (clients, friends, family members).
And, I’ve noticed a kind of alchemy of love, kindness and compassion coming together in creative and generous ways (a “Next Door” 7:00 pm call for people to step outside their homes to say hello and wave to neighbors; on-line community yoga classes being offered for free or donation; parents volunteering to take turns picking up school supplies for kids in their neighborhood so to minimize the number of people going into schools and risking possible exposure; etc.).
Right now, in these actions, love has the upper-hand over fear.
Even though we may know (or think we know) that actions (consumerism run-amok, denial of climate change, etc) have consequences, it seems we are being hit on the head with the profound reality of it all. We have an opportunity to reconsider the choices we consciously make in living this life we have been given. We CAN influence the unfolding direction of our lives and the future health of this earth we depend upon just as we CAN help “flatten the curve” of the spread of COVID-19!
Perhaps it is possible to not only survive this crisis, but come out on the other side of it being better humans—Caring more for each other regardless of ‘identity’ or where we live in the world or all of the multitudinous ways we separate ourselves from each other.
May all beings be safe and free from harm;
May all beings be healthy and strong;
May all beings know love and kindness;
May all beings be peaceful, content, and at ease with the unfolding of life.
Sally
836 Main Street ~ Westbrook, ME 04092
(207) 854-0907
