about — Kara Braun

Redefining Health

Reimagining Happiness

what if curiosity and wonder were the values by which we lived and measured our days?

Enthusiastic, experienced psychotherapist in her office preparing for an online therapy session

Who I Work With

I am endlessly fascinated by the dance of communication that plays out within relationships of any kind, including the relationship between our minds and our bodies and who we perceive ourselves to be in relation to the people and world around us.

The individuals I work with are deeply committed to:

- knowing who they are and being able to meet what life brings them with courage and conviction

- expanding their capacity to withstand challenge

- enhancing their capacity to to enjoy life’s pleasures

- positive behaviour change

- strengthening relationships that matter to them

- growing their capacity to make a positive difference

Generally their goal is to experience an expanded sense of freedom and presence and to ensure their impact on the people and world around them is healthy and purposeful.

This was certainly my goal when I began learning to pay attention more than 25 years ago; a story that traces back to early childhood and has included illness, working with both eastern and western medicine, and being supported by the most beautiful of teachers and helpers.

Introduction

Over time, my sense of who I am and what my life is about tends to change. Sometimes the shifts are subtle and happen gradually. Just as often, things can change overnight.

Meditation and mindfulness fall within a spectrum of contemplative practices that seem expertly crafted to support my capacity for navigating life’s uncertainty with wisdom, grace, humility, and ease.

This is both the stuff of sacred texts and the art of adulthood.

As a mindfulness coach and Registered Psychotherapist (CRPO), Kara works with individuals seeking to maturely integrate authentic experiences of personhood within the broad and granular brushstrokes of their lives.

Appreciated for her capacity to hold space for both challenging content and rich celebration, your privacy will always be of highest regard.

How do I be with my neighbour?

This question inspired my training to become a multifaith chaplain working for more than ten years with patients and families in a variety of hospital settings, including palliative care and mental health. For three years I had the great honour of working with individuals transitioning into the community after periods of incarceration. I also have many years of experience as an occasional teacher working in primary through intermediate classrooms with a broad range of exceptional needs and gifts.

I have seen people’s lives turned upside down, sometimes in an instant and sometimes over generations. In all of these settings I have seen that with turmoil and struggle can come a depth of understanding and insight unparalleled in ‘regular’ life.

My Approach

“Mental health is about two things: having feelings that fit the situation and managing those emotions well.” – Lisa Damour, PhD.

I see therapy as a practice of being in relationship.

In the beginning this might be a relationship that forms around injury or suffering.

Around a desire to learn new ways or to limit unhelpful behaviours or patterns. There may be some skill learning in the beginning, along with some theory and conceptual understanding of events or circumstances. But it is the real life relationship that makes therapy different than reading a book or taking a course.

When I begin working with a therapist, the relationship is very much about navigating the sharing of myself with a stranger. As the relationship grows, I may begin to practice taking risks in that sharing.

In the presence of a therapist with whom I feel safe - in whose presence my body and nervous system feels calm and relaxed - I have the opportunity to practice a phenomena called attunement.

This is a quality of relationship that ideally I got to experience as a newborn. In the close care and company of loving adults who felt enormous delight to welcome me into the world. Adults who whole heartedly committed to loving me unconditionally and who had the social and emotional resources available to do so.

When there is a good match with my therapist, I get to practice feeling held with this same quality of unconditional regard and respect. With trust. With earnestness. With delight, and even with love. The goal over time is that in experiencing such care, I can begin to hold myself with the same regard and can begin practicing receiving and giving it with others in my life.

Attachment research shows that most of us experienced a’ good enough’ degree of attunement such we could go out into the world and create relatively productive and happy lives for ourselves. And yet even when more than basic needs are provided there can be a lingering feeling of something being not quite right. An uneasy feeling that there is something missing or askew in how I am experiencing either myself or the world around me. Even if I was shown lots of love and warmth, it’s possible that sometimes my caregivers were distracted. Or rushed. Or that competing demands meant there were times when I had to make do without the presence of a calm and relaxed adult who could both reassure and encourage me in just the right way. In some situations, even when the adults around me were providing far beyond what is essential, they might not have been able to model clear boundaries or healthy lifestyles. They may have been judgemental or punishing, probably without intending to be but in ways that nevertheless my young nervous system experienced as painful or alienating. There are endless ways for injuries to occur; some of them quite subtle depending on the temperament of the young person.

The beauty of being in a therapeutic relationship is that I can explore what it feels like to be seen and heard, valued and appreciated with a quality of attention I may not have otherwise known was possible. I can be supported in knowing my likes and dislikes and can experiment with sharing myself in ways that feel authentic and true.

Mindfulness as Preventative Health Care

In my practice, mindfulness isn’t a toolbox of techniques for being able to quiet the mind or let go of unwanted sensations.

It’s about recognizing that within the experience of being me, there is an implicit invitation to be curious about the nature of my being. To know myself.

At its core, I see mindfulness as an act of hospitality. It is about learning to welcome all of who I am. And all that is coming my way. Not for the sake of tolerating situations that are unacceptable. Or for liking anything that isn’t to my taste. But because inevitably life will throw curve balls. And why not be as prepared as possible?

Whether due to aging bodies or changing social circumstances I might not always have the capacity to manage change in the ways I once did.

What is it that I have when it feels like I have nothing? What unknown parts of myself might I bolster? What parts might I become a little more skilful in sharing?

From this lens, even the finest of details from all the chapters and seasons of my life become windows into some sort of greater intelligence potentially filled with wisdom and connection.

Mindfulness is about allowing the most wondrous, spontaneous, and passionate, as well as the more challenging, sorrow or anger filled parts of myself to flourish. Not for the sake of getting trapped or lost in either blissful of challenging states but for the sake of knowing all that I am.

More of Kara’s perspective on mindfulness can be found here.