At Alternative Therapy Center, we support the following styles of therapy and leisure activities: Aromatherapy A Relaxing Reiki Session Art Therapy Authentic Movement Dance Therapy Emotional Photography with Anthony Colella Herbal Products Workshops with your healing spirit, Dot McKeen Journaling Meditation Model Toy Center, Dave Currier Music & Vibrational Therapy North East Trains, Don Stubbs Old Time Radio Lover's Group with Dixied Poetry Therapy Psychodrama Self Care Workshops Yoga

Art Therapy - Art can be whatever it manifests itself to be; what is paramount is what we give value to.  Engaging in a creative process, using painting, drawing, and sculpture can be perceived as an immense force of transformative action.  "From its first appearance on the earth the human race has used it creative energies to survive and prosper.  The act of creation has documented the human situation from the cave people to the present - expressing loss, filling voids, coping with confusion, concretizing abstract religious and mystical beliefs and providing support for self-awareness and actualization allowing us to rise above any other life form in existence."  (Jean Winslow) The arts enable you to work with material and the creative process to engage in imagination functioning as the :"phenomenon of the third" which explores creative and healing transformation.  The arts will take you on a journey to explore love, sadness, joy, fear, despair, confusion, rage, isolation, elation, and creativity. The process will provide a means for you to discover both the self and the world, and how you relate, the two.  Art therapy uses various art materials, such as pint, clay, crayons, oil sticks, fabric, magazines, and paper to create and explore imagery using visual form. Come on an experiential journey in Art Therapy.

Body Psychotherapy

• Anusara Yoga is opening the heart with love and being in the moment.  It uses the principles of attitude, alignment, and action.

• Ashtanga Power Yoga  is the most athletic style of Hatha Yoga.

• Bikram Yoga is an approach that is fairly vigorous and requires a certain fitness level for participation. 

• Iyengar Yoga is the most widely recognized approach to Hatha Yoga.  This style is characterized by precision performance and the aid of various props, such as cushions, benches, wood blocks, straps and even sand bags.

• Kripalu Yoga, inspired by Kripaluvandaji and developed by his disciple, Yogi Amrit Desai, is a three-stage Yoga tailored for the needs of Western students.  In the first stage, postural alignment and coordination of breath and movement are emphasized, and the postures are held for a short duration only.  In the second stage, meditation is included into the practice and postures are held for prolonged periods.  In the final stage, the practice of postures becomes a spontaneous "meditation in motion."

• Kundalini Yoga is a systematic and complete technology comprised of rhythmic exercise, postures, breath, meditation, and deep relaxation.  It works on your entire nervous system and glandular system.  It prepares the mind for optimal clarity and use.  It enlivens your sense of awareness and gives you greater energy to express your creativity.  

• Viniyoga is balanced activity that is used to maximize strength, flexibility, and structural integrity.  It works with what is called "sequential process," or vinyasa karma (vee-nyah-sah krah-mah).  The emphasis is not on achieving an external ideal form, but on practicing a posture according to one's individual needs and capacity.  Regulated breathing is an important aspect of Viniyoga, and the breath is carefully coordinated with the postural movements.

Meditation - According to Sankya philosophy, meditation is "the liberation of the mind from all disturbing and distracting emotion, thoughts and desires."
Patanjali: "When all thoughts get diverted to the point that the mind is fixed without creating any other flow of thought, it is called dhyana by wise people."  It is the kriya (purification) and chitta (mind).
Bapuji: "Meditation is the inner journey, the spiritual journey, the journey toward the Absolute, or the journey of divine love.  During meditation one is conscious only of the meditator, the meditation and the object of meditation, everything else is forgotten."  
Meditation cannot be taught.  It is a process, a happening from witin.  There are many methods and techniques to work with to prepare for meditation.
The Purpose of Meditation:
The purpose of meditation is to draw mental energies within in order to tap the sources within.  This process of stilling and eventually transcending the mind will allow the experience of our true nature to be revealed, which is: truth, consciousness, and bliss (satchittananda).
Benefits of Meditation:
The benefits of the regular practice of meditation (years) are multiple: emotional and mental stability which leads to clarity in decision-making, peace of mind which will influence communications and relationships, a freeing up of creative energy, and a sense of self-worth rekindled. All these benefits will influence the whole lifestyle of tan individual who will naturally radiate these qualities into society.  On a physical level it has been proven that regular meditation greatly influences the metabolic processes in the body.  Regular meditation reduces high blood pressure, depression and anxiety.
The Meditation Process:
As thought come and go, they consume energy and create emotion and disturbances.  The process of withdrawing the senses to a point of focus, leads to concentration which then will merge into meditation.  There are various methods of concentration to achieve this: concentration on the breath (physical), concentration through a mantra (mental), concentration of the image of a deity (emotional, spiritual).
Prerequisites for Meditation:
The meditator needs patience, perseverance, enthusiasm, and sincerity.  An attitude of non-expectation and constant self-acceptance are important. Meditation is meant to be a joyful process although there will be painful experiences.
Physical and Mental Preparation for Meditation:
Choosing a particular place and particular time for meditation is most helpful for meditation process. The place should be clean, comfortable, well-ventilated and without stimulants such as sound and light.  Preferably you should be facing east or north.

Source: Kripalu Center 1994

Psychodrama - is an action method for individual and group psychotherapy.  Participants in psychodrama recreate life situations from the past to examine conflicts, problems, and/or unresolved issues.  The action method structures spontaneity and aids individuals in experiencing, understanding, and overcoming blocks.  Desired changes become possible.  Each participant elects a time when she/he feels ready to have a personal psychodrama, guided by the Director, and assisted by the group.  During a psychodrama, the protagonist receives unqualified attention to explore whatever basic issues or problems he/she wishes to; the participant decides the depth, duration and extent of the exploration.  The mode is spontaneous improvisation.  The objective is insight and catharsis.

On the stage, the protagonist plays out his/her drama.  He/She selects members of the group to play key figures in the scenes he/she decides to explore, and sets up the scene with the help of the director.  He/She may choose an additional member to back him/her up as a "double."  He/She may "reverse roles" with each of the key figures in the senses he/she enacts.  The rest of the group is around him/her; an intimate participant "audience," watching to see if and how their lives and their concerns are mirrored in the unfolding of the psychodrama.  In the sharing that follows, others indeed bring to light what resemblances his/her psychodrama has to their own lives.  However, each psychodrama is as unique as a fingerprint.  

The basic difference between this form of therapy and the primarily verbal modalities, is that psychodrama both encourages and provides a direct vehicle through which the individual actually re-experiences the central issues of his/her life.  Instead of talking about his/her problems, the protagonist immerses her/himself again into the midst of emotional reality, as in the original experience.  It is here that the true power of psychodrama lies.  The emotional catharsis and realizations that can take place in a psychodrama can be so vivid, immediate, and intense, that the impact is lasting.  A crucial dimension of the experience is that as the psychodramas are enacted, the group is evolving a life of it's own. The intimacy and trust which develop in turn provide a secure contact within which further explorations of interpersonal feelings are possible.

During the journey within the group, and in journeys that have taken place in the past with similar groups, there are times psychodrama emerges at least as much as an art form as a therapeutic tool.  There are precious moments when each participant recognizes the resonance of his/her own struggle, pain, and joy as the drama unfolds.  There are times when the entire group - without speaking - is aware of the basic mythic archetypes of human experience; that the primal underpinnings of what it is to be a human being are suddenly illuminated, and concretized before them.  It is at those times that psychodrama fulfills the original, ancient function of drama; the healing and elevation of the human spirit as a communal and spiritual experience.

Psychodrama is the professional discipline utilizing action methods that incorporate the theory, philosophy, and methodology of J.L. Moreno.  The discipline uses action, sociometry, group dynamics, role theory, and social systems to facilitate change in individuals and groups through the development of new perceptions or reorganization of old cognitive patterns.  Current applications of psychodrama include, but are not limited to clinical, social, educational, and research activities.

• Anusara Yoga is opening the heart with love and being in the moment.  It uses the principles of attitude, alignment, and action.

• Ashtanga Power Yoga is the most athletic style of Hatha Yoga.

• Bikram Yoga is an approach that is fairly vigorous and requires a certain fitness level for participation. 

• Iyengar Yoga is the most widely recognized approach to Hatha Yoga.  This style is characterized by precision performance and the aid of various props, such as cushions, benches, wood blocks, straps, and even sand bags.

• Kripalu Yoga, inspired by Kripaluvandaji and developed by his disciple Yogi Amrit Desai, is a three-stage Yoga tailored for the needs of Western students.  In the first stage, postural alignment and coordination of breath and movement are emphasized, and the postures are held for a short duration only.  In the second stage, meditation is included into the practice and postures are held for prolonged periods.  In the final stage, the practice of postures becomes a spontaneous "meditation in motion."

• Kundalini Yoga is a systematic and complete technology comprised of rhythmic exercise, postures, breath, meditation, and deep relaxation.  It works on your entire nervous system and glandular system.  It prepares the mind for optimal clarity and use.  It enlivens your sense of awareness and gives you greater energy to express your creativity.  

• Viniyoga is balanced activity that is used to maximize strength, flexibility, and structural integrity.  It works with what is called "sequential process," or vinyasa karma (vee-nyah-sah krah-mah).  The emphasis is not on achieving an external ideal form, but on practicing a posture according to one's individual needs and capacity.  Regulated breathing is an important aspect of Viniyoga, and the breath is carefully coordinated with the postural movements.