"Here we are two years later, with restrictions lifted, and we have technically been released from our confines, and yet we stumble and blink into the daylight without a clue how to be. We are still under a lock and key of our own creation. We still lack confidence, we are fighting with each other, and we are overwhelmed by our anxiety. There is no normal to return to; this is a new world which requires a new way of being."  Beyond Your Confines

Join psychotherapist and author Chris Warren-Dickins at the author symposium, hosted by Barnes & Noble (765 NJ-17 Paramus, NJ 07652).

Chris Warren-Dickins
Psychotherapist and author of Beyond the Blue and Beyond Your Confines
#BeyondYourConfines ​

The editorial reviews are flooding in. Check out some of these comments about Beyond Your Confines. Truly touching.

It is my hope that this book can help us all to reach beyond the confines of our mental prisons. With a little more awareness, we can challenge polarized thinking and work towards a safer, healthier society for all.

Chris Warren-Dickins
Psychotherapist and author of Beyond the Blue and Beyond Your Confines
#BeyondYourConfines 

I am delighted to announce the publication of Beyond Your Confines: A key to free your mind.
 
The pandemic confined you to your home, and now you have emerged, blinking into the daylight of hope. But to what extent has your mind kept you trapped within a prison of your own creation?
 
We have always constructed labyrinthian prisons of fears and assumptions, but the evolution of technology has taken us further from the wisdom and natural rhythms that we can find within. The less aware you are of your internal (mental) state, the more you become a prisoner of it, and this blindness can lead to challenges to your mental health, your ability to parent, and it can even threaten your career. Learning how to free your mind from an internal prison should be a high priority.
 
However, Beyond Your Confines is not just an exercise in individual growth. Your mind does not exist in a vacuum.  We live in a world of polarized views, discrimination, and privilege, and so no mind can be free without an assessment of the part we play in all of this. We are, after all, as interconnected to each other as we are to the environment we pollute.
 
Beyond Your Confines helps you find the key to free your imprisoned mind and discover your wisdom and natural rhythms from without and from within.
 
Thank you to the wonderful (and patient) Anabeth Bostrup for her cover design.
 
Beyond Your Confines is available now at all good book retailers.

Chris Warren-Dickins
Psychotherapist and author of Beyond the Blue and Beyond Your Confines
#BeyondYourConfines 

Time for my next non-fiction!

The editor has finished, and the cover designer is working away.

Would you like to win a free copy of a first edition? If so, use the link below to sign up for alerts.

http://eepurl.com/gD41jr

Chris Warren-Dickins
Psychotherapist and author of Beyond the Blue and Beyond Your Confines
#BeyondYourConfines ​

As a psychotherapist, I can get pushback when I suggest mindfulness and meditation. This is especially so when I suggest breathing exercises to my clients. 'Is that it?' they would say to me. 'I have been breathing my whole life, why do I need to set aside time to do more breathing?'. I must admit, when my own therapist suggested mindfulness and meditation, almost twenty years ago (before I became a therapist), I had the same reaction.

The good news is that we now have the research to support what might once have seemed like smoke and mirrors. Studies show that levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) reduce after a course of mindfulness and meditation (including breathing exercises). It only takes a handful of minutes to do, so why not make this part of your morning ritual, so you can wake up to better mental health. I have some free mindfulness and meditation exercises on my website, so why not start with these? I hope you find this useful.

According to Stanford Neuroscientist Dr Andrew Huberman, meditation and breathing exercises can help people to teach their nervous systems "to be comfortable in uncomfortable states" (Dr Andrew Huberman), putting their brain in an optimal state to function. The trouble is, so many say they don't have time to do this. However, research shows that the recommended 'dose' for meditation/breathing exercises is just 13 minutes a day. Check out Dr Huberman's fascinating video here.
 
Too often we find an excuse to avoid making any changes, and the most common excuse is ‘I don’t have the time’. Stop procrastinating and use the new day for a new way of being. You can do this by getting up 10 minutes earlier than usual, and using that extra time to follow these ten steps -

1. Find a quiet corner of your home (even the bathroom!)
2. Use that quiet corner to settle your attention to each breath as it comes in through your nose, and out through your lips
3. Adopt a sense of curiosity to each breath, and just notice it.
4. Don’t feel you need to change the natural rhythm, you are simply using each breath as an anchor to the present moment
5. If your mind starts to wander, that is okay, just bring it back to your breathing.
6. If you notice strong emotions rising up, just acknowledge them, and return your focus to your breathing.
7. The more you can gain a sense of distance from your thoughts and emotions, the more choice you will have over how to respond to them
8. As you notice each breath you will start to calm your mind and body, and thus helps to reduce the cortisol levels in your body (the stress hormone).
9. Studies show that the long-term build up of cortisol is responsible for heart disease, weight gain, high blood pressure, and a greater risk of a stroke.
10. Repeat this process as many times as you need, so you fill the whole of that extra 10 minutes you have given yourself.
 
Chris Warren-Dickins
Psychotherapist and author of Beyond the Blue and Beyond Your Confines
#BeyondYourConfines ​

We register trauma in our body before we find the words to express it. In the words of Bessel van der Kolk, we understand trauma to be a “speechless horror”.

If we can register trauma in our body, we can learn to heal through the use of our body. We can learn to sense safety, and we can distinguish the past trauma from present reality. At first, this might seem scary. Our body might once have been a place of danger, shame, or bewilderment. But in time, with the help of an experienced therapist, we can learn to trust those internal cues that help us to become regulated again.

When a therapist helps us to learn about our body, we learn about our triune brain. We learn that we have the neocortex (cognitive), mammalian (emotional), and reptilian (sensorimotor or body) brain, and this can help us to learn why we think, feel and act as we do. With this deeper level of knowledge, we can learn to regulate our responses to triggers in our environment, whether that is the sound of a slammed door or the face of an angry colleague.

When we learn about our body with a therapist, we also understand that our responses are a matter of survival or protection, not a matter of dysfunction or weakness. Shame or pathology has no part in a trauma-informed approach.

With the right help, it is possible to get Beyond the Blue of your trauma.

Chris Warren-Dickins
Psychotherapist and author of Beyond the Blue and Beyond Your Confines
#BeyondYourConfines ​

Psychotherapist and author Chris Warren-Dickins takes you Beyond the Blue of the male label, and beyond the blue of depression, anxiety, relationship conflict, and trauma.

For a healthier society for all.

Chris Warren-Dickins
Psychotherapist and author of Beyond the Blue and Beyond Your Confines
#BeyondYourConfines ​

Three years ago today, at the United Nations discussing gender-affirming healthcare.

​We still have work to do #healthcare #unitednations 🏳️‍⚧️

Chris Warren-Dickins
Psychotherapist and author of Beyond the Blue and Beyond Your Confines
#BeyondYourConfines ​

I had the honor of being invited by the Mayor to speak at Ridgewood's Pride.

In case you didn't get a chance to hear my speech, here it is.

Chris Warren-Dickins
Psychotherapist and author of Beyond the Blue and Beyond Your Confines
#BeyondYourConfines ​

Thank you to @doritkemsley for discussing eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR) (in particular, R-TEP), an 'A' level of treatment for trauma (World Health Organisation). As Peter Levine once put it, ‘trauma is hell on earth. Trauma resolved is a gift from the gods’.

Every working day in my psychotherapy practice I help people with the use of EMDR. You might have seen Prince Harry talking about it to Oprah, and I was overjoyed to see someone who is male labeled speaking out about psychotherapy, trauma, and EMDR. I hope this encourages more people who are male labeled to seek help, and get the right type of help.
 
Find out more about how you can get beyond the blue of trauma, and beyond the blue of the male label.
 
Chris Warren-Dickins
Psychotherapist and author of Beyond the Blue and Beyond Your Confines
#BeyondYourConfines ​