Relational Mindfulness: Where Relationship Science and Spirituality Meet – HPP 22

Episode 22

Ted and Gabrielle Usatynski

If you want a new perspective about what it means to have a spiritual relationship this episode will shed light on the subject. There are a lot of preconceived notions about spirituality and mindfulness. Many people assume that it’s really a solitary practice. However, when mindfulness is applied to relationships a powerful process can unfold where you can heal old wounds from the past, deepen into a secure foundation and, ultimately, thrive as a couple.

Our guests, Ted Usatynski and Gabrielle Usatynski, go into detail about mindfulness practices for couples, the truth behind health in relationships, how to truly make a relationship a spiritual path, and lots of other really important information about how to grow as a couple within a spiritual context.

Show Notes:

What is relational mindfulness [9:30]

What is a healthy relationship [13:30]

Spiritual growth between partners [20:30]

A personal story about co-regulation [23:30]

How is your partner your mirror [32:00]

Relational mindfulness and sexuality [41:30]

Ted and Gabrielle Usatynski

Ted Usatynski and Gabrielle Usatynski are married and founded Wake Up Together LLC, a digital education company devoted to bridging the gap between the realm of spiritual development and human relationships. Their online education course called Sacred Intimacy is the first attachment-based program of spiritual development for couples. Ted is the author of Instinctual Intelligence and academic articles on transpersonal psychology, the neurobiology of Tibetan Buddhism, and healing trauma as part of spiritual development. He teaches and leads workshops across the world. Gabrielle is a couples therapist and relationship expert. She has been clinically trained for the past 7 years by Dr. Stan Tatkin in A Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT). She is also inspired by her education from the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute and her in-depth studies of many spiritual traditions throughout her adult life. You can find more information at: https://www.wakeuptogethernow.com

Previous PostHow to Awaken Your Genius as an Entrepreneurial Therapist - HPP 23
Next PostThe 9 Things You Must Know to Thrive as a Single Dad - HPP 21

Will Van Derveer, MD is co-founder of Integrative Psychiatry Institute (IPI), along with friend and colleague Keith Kurlander, MA. He co-created IPI as an expression of what he stands for. First, that anyone can heal, and second that we medical providers must embrace our own healing journeys in order to fully command our potency as healers.

Dr. Van Derveer spent the last 20 years innovating and testing a comprehensive approach to addressing psychiatric challenges which transcends the conventional model he learned in medical school at Vanderbilt University and residency at University of Colorado, while deeply engaging his own healing path.

He founded the Integrative Psychiatric Healing Center in in 2001 in Boulder, CO, where he currently practices. Dr. Van Derveer regards unresolved emotional trauma as the most significant root cause of psychiatric symptoms in integrative psychiatry practice, along with gut issues, hormone imbalances, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and other functional medicine challenges. He is trained in Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, Internal Family Systems, and other psychotherapy techniques. His current clinical passion is psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, which he mentors interested doctors in providing. An avid meditator, he has been a meditation instructor since 2004.

For the past several years Dr. Van Derveer has taught psychiatrists and other psychiatric providers integrative psychiatry in a number of settings, including course directing the CU psychiatry residents’ course as well as with Scott Shannon and Janet Settle at the Psychiatry MasterClass. In addition to his clinical work and teaching, he was co-investigator in 2016 a Phase II randomized clinical trial, sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). He continues to support this protocol, now in a Phase III clinical trial under break-through designation by FDA.

Dr. Van Derveer is a diplomate of the American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine (ABoIHM) since 2013, and he was board certified in the first wave of diplomates of the new American Board of Integrative Medicine (ABIM) in 2016.