World Mental Health Day and Self-Healing, with Alex Elle

(bright music) Headspace Studio. Hi, I'm Alex Elle, welcome to Radio Headspace, and to Monday morning. I'm guest hosting Radio Headspace this week and it's great to be here with you. In honor of World Mental Health Day we're celebrating this year's theme. Mental health is a universal human right which is a huge part of the show. On that note, I'm what you would call a restorative writing teacher, which means I love using words and language to help people heal, and I'm passionate about the importance of access to quality mental health care not just for a privileged few, but for everyone. So with that in mind, this week is all about healing and what it takes to get there. Today I am gonna talk about what self-healing looks like. How to deal with the fatigue that comes with healing ourselves, and why we should all have access to resources that can help us heal. I think equity and mental health is important because everyone deserves to heal. And therapy has helped me learn how to not only find myself but allow someone to hold space for me who is a neutral party As a black woman in my healing, I think it's radical to choose to go not only to therapy but to allow someone to care for us by listening, by being non-judgmental and by holding space for us. And so I believe that everyone should be able to lean into their healing through therapy, through mental health resources and also not be scared to ask for what they need in order to get the support that they need. To me, self-healing is this radical act of self choosing and self-advocacy. Whether that means you need to find a new therapist, or you need to start moving your body more. Whatever comes up for you and your needs, it's leaning into that and getting curious about it. Some ways to facilitate self-healing for me especially as a writer and a meditation teacher, is getting on the page. Opening up that journal and getting curious about your feelings, naming those needs and putting it down on paper. It wasn't until my late teens early twenties, that I found writing as a healing practice. I went to therapy for the first time, and my therapist, miss B was this amazing woman, this southern belle, so kind. She asked me to list the things that I liked about myself and I couldn't do it. And I got frustrated and I started to cry and I was just so beside myself because it's it was devastating to not have those answers, but to also feel really overwhelmed with having to sit and think about self-kindness. And she said, it's fine. She goes, think about it. And when you go home, try it again. She said, "It doesn't have to be true today, write down what you want to be true tomorrow or next year. You're allowed to dream of possibility."...