By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP

Spring is the time of the real new year. In the mainstream world, we label the new year as Jan. 1, but that “new year” is really a just a matter of turning the calendar page.

In the season of spring, however, we actually experience the new year in our bodies. It is feast for all of our senses.  The weather lightens. The dawn arrives earlier, and the days grow longer. New green sprouts push their way through the soil, claiming their place in our lawns, gardens and forests. Soft buds begin to make their presence known, ready to unfurl into a new season. We feel the warming breeze, and our eyes adjust to the deeper greening of the land.

In this season, we can feel new energies rising within us, much like the sap that is rising in our sister and brother trees. The indigenous people, as well as people in other lands, find ways to celebrate and welcome this new cycle and new life.  So do we -- watching for the first rust-chested robin, the arrival of the white snowdrops and the multi-color crocus.

By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP

Welcome to my new practice space!

Experiential psychotherapy and coaching  are different than your typical talk therapy and brainstorming coaching with markers and easels. We practitioners who use action methods and experiential psychotherapies use floor space, props, pillows and other "supplies" in our work with people and groups.

The props -- which may include chairs, stools,  mats, scarves and cloths, small figures, simple musical and sound instruments, and other items -- assist in stepping directly into  the problem or situation rather than just talking about it. People invariably find that the experiential approach helps them develop fresh insights and feel dramatic and useful shifts that never come with analysis, list making and the usual ways we tend to think about things. In other words, stepping into our experience has transformative power.