Welcome to the Erica Barton Counseling Blog
A space for reflection, healing, and growth. Here you’ll find insights on trauma recovery, nervous system regulation, attachment healing, and somatic therapy written to support sensitive, intuitive people on their path toward wholeness. Explore topics like Anxiety, Relationships, Trauma, Brainspotting, IFS therapy, and embodied mindfulness practices that help you reconnect with your true, whole, authentic self.
Whether you’re seeking trauma therapy in Bend, Oregon, virtual therapy in Oregon state, or online Yoga Therapy anywhere you are, these articles offer guidance, education, and gentle encouragement for your healing journey.
The Ones Who Choose to Heal: What It Means to Be a Cycle Breaker in a World That Resists Change
Some people are born into patterns that are meant to end with them. Maybe you are one of them. Maybe you have felt it—that deep knowing that something in your family, your culture, your history needs to change. The weight of unspoken pain. The echoes of past wounds. The inherited beliefs that tell you who you are supposed to be.
You’re Not Bad at Boundaries: You Were Just Taught to Feel Guilty
Because the hard part isn’t setting boundaries—it’s building up the courage to speak one's truth, and then navigating what happens afterward. It’s the panic and shame (sometimes rage) that arises when others react to boundaries poorly. It’s the deep-seated belief that others' emotional responses mean they have done something wrong. That they are bad, mean, or too much. That maybe they are crazy for expecting their boundaries to be honored at all.
Embodying Self-Love: How to Cultivate Compassion for Your Body
Many of us carry deep-seated beliefs shaped by past experiences, trauma, or cultural trauma. These beliefs can disconnect us from our bodies and leave us feeling inadequate. But here’s the truth: your body doesn’t need to be fixed. It needs to be heard. By engaging in practices that center the body, you can begin to release these patterns and replace them with compassion and trust.
When Anxiety Feels Like Disconnection and How to Ground Through Your Senses
Grounding is simply a way to help yourself feel more steady and connected when anxiety makes you feel out of place or untethered. Think of it like pressing a reset button for your mind and body. When you’re grounded, you feel more present—like your feet are firmly planted on the ground instead of floating away on a cloud of worry.
Say Yes to Yourself: Boundaries for Emotional Balance and Autoimmune Support
Boundaries are not just about relationships or time management. They are about saying yes to yourself and your body and creating a life that supports healing from the inside out. Cultivating a trusting, loving relationship with your body is essential, and boundaries play a key role in that process. Think of boundaries as a practice that can help reduce stress, break intergenerational patterns, and create the emotional balance your body craves for deeper healing.
Integrating spiritual expression into your healing journey
Spiritual growth can help soften those layers and allow you to reconnect with the wisdom that’s always been there, even if it’s been clouded by fear or past experiences. When you create space for spiritual practices, you’re inviting that deeper connection to come through. Over time, this helps you feel more resilient, more in tune with yourself, and more aligned with your purpose. You learn to trust not only the healing process, but also yourself and your intuition.
Healing from Home: Why Online Therapy Might Be the Safe, Supportive Space You’ve Been Looking For
I know how hard it can be to carve out space just for you, on top of everything else you have to do. But picture this: you’re in your favorite spot at home, maybe wrapped in a blanket or sipping tea, and instead of rushing across town to an office, you’re showing up for yourself with a simple click. Online therapy for women isn’t just about convenience; it’s about creating a space where healing feels accessible, comfortable, and—most importantly—possible.
How Trauma Impacts Self-Trust (and Gentle Steps to Rebuild It)
Trauma doesn’t just affect what happened in the past—it shapes how we experience ourselves and the world in the present. Whether it came from a single life-altering event, ongoing harm, or subtle but persistent wounds, trauma can disrupt our ability to feel safe within ourselves. It can leave us second-guessing our perceptions, disconnected from our emotions, and unsure of our own inner guidance.
Why Women in Their 30s Are Seeking Spiritual Therapy and Connection in Their Healing Journeys
Spiritual therapy offers a gentle invitation to reconnect. Not necessarily to religion (unless that feels aligned for you), but to something deeply personal—a sense of inner wisdom, a relationship with your own soul, or a felt experience of connection with the vastness of life itself. This kind of healing goes beyond symptom management; it asks us to listen inward, to slow down, and to trust that our inner landscape holds truths worth honoring.
what is emdr and how does it help with anxiety?
EMDR works with your brain to address the root causes of anxiety, not just the symptoms. Instead of just managing the anxious thoughts or sensations, EMDR helps uncover and reprocess the experiences or beliefs that might be fueling your anxiety.
What is functional freeze, and how does it relate to anxiety and stress?
Functional freeze is a protective response from your nervous system. When you face stress or danger, your body has a few options: fight, flight, or freeze. Freeze happens when neither fighting nor fleeing feels possible. You have high peaks (anxiety, panic, overwhelm), and low valleys (freeze). Your system "freezes" to keep you safe by conserving energy and avoiding harm.
Expanding your window of tolerance
Have you ever felt like your emotions are a rollercoaster, swinging from feeling super anxious to completely drained? Or maybe you feel stuck in one place—constantly on edge, or totally checked out. These feelings aren’t random. They’re connected to how your nervous system responds to stress and past experiences. Understanding something called the window of tolerance can help explain what’s happening and how therapy can make a difference.
The profound simplicity, and radical resistance, of slowing down
These moments can create an opportunity for reparative relationship to the present- that it can be safe to slow down enough to watch a gentle stream of water fill a glass, for a few moments.