Empower Yourself with Information, Tools & Resources
At Kat Kova Therapy, we believe that you already have everything you need to remain resilient in the face of life, relationship and business challenges. The following is a collection of our favourite resources and tools that can help you empower and educate yourself, further unlock your potential for healing and accomplish your goals at an accelerated pace. Please feel free to engage with the following curated list of resources outside of sessions to benefit from additional coping strategies and to boost your progress. If you would like us to add some of your favourites, please let us know!
Resource List
MEDITATION & MINDFULNESS
What do these terms mean? Contrary to popular belief that mindfulness or meditation are about needing to achieve a state of being completely free from thought (a very frustrating and impossible goal indeed!), what they are really about is "becoming familiar with" one's thought processes and emotions. Over time, when we sit in meditation, we develop greater mindfulness, a state of having greater awareness of our mind, body, and surroundings, which can often lead to feelings of greater peace, self- and other acceptance, reduced stress, gratitude and flexibility/choice in one's reactions to their thoughts, bodily responses/emotions and life's challenges. There are many different kinds of meditation, and we think it is always helpful to start with a guide, and so we created this list of guided meditations and book recommendations for you!
Guided Meditations
By Tara Brach:
By The Honest Guys:
Book Recommendations
By Jon Kabat Zinn:
Wherever You Go, There You Are
Mindfulness for Beginners: Reclaiming the Present Moment—and Your Life
By Thich Nhat Hanh:
The Art of Living: Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now
The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation
BREATHING
Breathing! It's one of our most powerful, already built-in, and absolutely free tools for managing stress, anxiety and increasing quality of life. Learning how to breathe better is one of the easiest, simplest, and most effective things you can do to help improve your mental health and well-being. You can use breath to both speed up and slow down, depending on what the situation calls for. There are slight variations in what the intended outcome of each breathing practice is, however, just simply being aware of your breathing (that is, paying attention to your breath each day) can be very helpful regardless of whether you use a specific technique or practice or not. Below, you'll find a list of our favourite breathing exercises and talks on why learning about your breath is so important and how you can use it to empower yourself.
Breathing Tips and Practices
Information on Breathing
SLEEP BETTER
Getting a good night's sleep on a consistent basis is the foundation of physical and mental health. Our bodies and minds need to rest and recover in order to tackle all the demands of our lives, and this is exactly the purpose that sleep serves. If you are wanting to invest in one thing to drastically improve your mental health right now, it should be on getting better quality sleep. And the good news is that there are many different easy and free ways we can help improve our sleep, rest and recovery. The following list of tools and information will help you do just that!
Book: Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
Tools for Recovery When You Have Lost Sleep or General Relaxation
Tools We Love
Information
Like mindfulness and meditation, the word mindset is one that most of us have probably heard before, but may not fully understand or appreciate. Mindset means an established set of attitudes held by someone, and you can powerfully transform your life by shifting your attitudes. The following podcasts, books and videos are meant to help you do just that. Shifting a mindset can take time, and we encourage you to adopt a "growth mindset" while you are at it, meaning if something does not stick the first time you try it, that you use that as a learning experience, not as evidence of "failure" or "lack" and keep at it. The only way to improve any skill is through practice, and the more skills we obtain (notice we did not say are born with, because skills are learned), the more masterfully we can navigate life, relationships and work. Having a growth mindset helps you to stay motivated, inspired and self-compassionate.
MINDSET
Books We Love
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck
You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero
Podcasts We Love
This often ignored, taboo, yet very important aspect of many people's lives can be vastly enriched with open communication, the right mindset, and accurate information. We hope these resources will empower you to learn more about your body, sexuality, and how to advocate for your sexual health. From the World Health Organization (2023): "Sexual health is fundamental to the overall health and well-being of individuals, couples and families, and to the social and economic development of communities and countries. Sexual health, when viewed affirmatively, requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence".