We interview Dr. Megan Clapton, a licensed professional counselor and the founder of Mindful Therapy, about mindfulness, resilience, and coping techniques to get us through difficult times.
Dr. Megan Clapton is just the person we want to talk to right now, and we’re so grateful for this conversation with her. In her practice, Megan uses mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help clients develop positive coping skills. build resilience and increase self-efficacy. During the COVID-19 quarantine, she’s been meeting with clients virtually and sharing tips on social media about finding calm during this difficult time.
Megan talks about what mindfulness is and how practicing it in small ways can help us through moments of stress and anxiety. She describes mindfulness as both a philosophy and a practice: paying attention and being fully present in whatever we’re doing, and using breathing and meditation techniques to stay in the moment.
Megan shares strategies and lessons learned from a tough personal experience – being in medical isolation with a serious illness – that are relevant for all of us right now. She encourages us to ride the emotional waves, feeling all the feelings, getting curious about them, and knowing that they’re temporary.
She says that she strives to connect with her mind, body, spirit, and others every day – which inspired Melia to make herself a grown-up work plan around those four elements. Megan also talks about finding balance, looking for spots of joy during suffering, and giving yourself permission to do what feels right in each moment.
Steal This Tip: Dr. Megan Clapton Edition
The simple 4-7-8 breath is something I use a lot in my practice. It’s a wonderful way to start mindful breathing or meditation, and you can practice it any time. It’s good for the mind because it can distract you from whatever is going on, and it’s good for the body because it allows oxygen to get into your blood.
Breathe in for four seconds through your nose and hold it for seven seconds. And then breathe slowly out of your mouth for eight seconds with a whooshing sound.
Thank you so much for joining us and sharing your wisdom, Megan!
Get It Together / Got It Together
We each share something that we’d like to work on and something that’s going well for us right now.
Melia Get It Together: Being compassionate and mustering the hope and energy to hack Avery’s poor sleep
Melia Got It Together: Clearing out the front yard to make a sitting area
Gill’s Get It Together: Being in a generally cranky mood
Gill’s Got It Together: Planning weekend cooking projects to look forward to
Gill’s potstickers (using this recipe as a guide)
Get In Touch
Tell us about the ways you are practicing mindfulness or riding emotional waves. Email us at podcast[at]semitogether.com, or send us a voice memo. You can also leave a comment on Facebook or Instagram.
You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/semitogether and getting all kinds of fun extras. If you haven’t already, please subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. If the podcast has brought joy to your life, why not share it with someone else? And sign up for our e-newsletter.
Resources
- Find Dr. Megan Clapton on the web, Instagram, and Facebook
- Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness by Jon Kabat-Zinn
- Calming Your Anxious Mind: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Free You from Anxiety, Fear, and Panic by Jeffrey Brantley MD
- When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chödrön
- Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion by Pema Chödrön
- There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
- Headspace and Calm apps
- Brené Brown on Comparative Suffering