Nice to Meet You

Taylor Pisel Miller
Sep 5, 2018 · 6 min read

Dear readers,

I believe every person and every body has worth. My name is Taylor and I am a therapist, yoga teacher, and lover of all things wellness. Join me as I begin a new journey toward advocating for mental, physical, and spiritual health! This post is intended to share with you a little about me, what I do, and why I do it.

I live with my little family in Winston Salem, North Carolina. I married the love of my life about six months ago. My husband and I have two rotten goldendoodles named Norman and Ozzie. We love them dearly, although they would both fail obedience school within the first few hours. Norman once chewed through a bedroom door and Ozzie has yet to visit the vet without immediately releasing his bowels on the floor. We support the Atlanta Braves and the Davidson Wildcats, the latter being our alma mater. In our spare time, you’ll find us in our garden, at a brewery, or in front of the television watching Ozark or Sharp Objects.

Mental Health

Counseling is my biggest passion, professional pursuit, and also my full time job. I currently work at a fantastic non-profit counseling center called CareNet Counseling. As a licensed professional counselor associate (LPC-A), I see clients for a number of clinical issues, including eating disorders, identity formation, trauma, women’s issues, and much more.

Unfortunately, our society stigmatizes mental health; as a result, people often neglect to seek services they need. I believe that everyone can benefit from counseling, simply because everyone deserves the opportunity to become a better version of themselves. I work to reduce the stigma associated with mental health by advocating for people to ask for help when they need it. Click here to visit my organization’s website and learn about the services we offer. CareNet has a number of wonderful clinicians with expertise in varying topics. If you or a loved one seeks mental health counseling, please consider our services!

Therapeutic Yoga

In a world of go, go, go and push a little harder, I say lets all stop and take a breath. Yoga invites us to pause and experience our amazing body. The yoga mat is a sacred space away from comparison, judgment, and competition. Your mat could care less about your weight, age, or appearance. Practicing yoga simply means showing up as yourself, exactly as you are. Yoga truly is for anyone who has a body.

Therapeutic yoga can heal a number of ailments. As a registered yoga teacher (RYT-200), I have seen clients who need an alternative therapy besides pain medication. They suffer from real pain, but they need to remove themselves from a dangerous medicinal cycle. Additionally, yoga/mindfulness has been proven to treat mental health issues that run rampant in our society, including depression, anxiety, and trauma. Through pranayama, continued attention to the breath, people can regulate their bodies and reduce stress. A person in fight-or-flight mode will notice immediate effects of breath work as their central nervous system slows down and the whole body begins to relax. I also teach yoga on the trauma unit of the psychiatric hospital in my city. These patients desperately need an opportunity to relax and to experience their own worthiness through therapeutic movement. I find joy in sharing yoga as both a joyful movement and a type of therapy. In short, therapeutic yoga is a fantastic treatment for both mental and physical issues.

I promise each client that I will provide a specialized, tailored experience. While the physical practice of yoga can target physical pain, my training as a counselor allows me to hold a therapeutic and safe space. I conduct research to discover the best asanas (poses) for a client’s specific ailments and then I provide a unique intervention during individual yoga sessions. Most importantly, I teach my clients mindfulness exercises and self-regulation skills they can use on their own time.

Natural, Non-Toxic Products and Foods

In addition to mental and physical wellness through counseling and yoga, I am also a huge advocate for using natural, organic products. My husband and I have a dream to eventually live on a farm and grow all our food. We tend to two large gardens, one at home and one in a community garden plot. Extensive research and trial-by-error has taught us valuable lessons about growing our food. We most enjoy growing and eating root vegetables, namely beets, radishes, and carrots. Vowing to always eat from a colorful plate, we attempt to successfully grow balanced, organic meals.

Beets from our home garden (long since eaten): June 2017

Professionally, I have the dream to help people overcome eating disorders by learning how to grow and nurture their food. Most people who experience eating disorders maintain an unhealthy fear of foods. These folks will commonly separate foods into categories, believing healthy foods to be “good” and unhealthy foods to be “bad.” As they desperately try to maintain a strict diet, the list of “good” foods becomes smaller and smaller as more foods become scary. Yet, food cannot be the enemy when you tend to it, care for it, and see it as a beautiful creation! What would it be like if we all viewed our bodies this way? By further exploring this metaphor, I hope to develop a specialty in horticulture therapy with an emphasis on eating disorder recovery. Be on the lookout for later posts about this idea.

Another essential component to wellness is the elimination of toxins and harmful chemicals. I am an advocate for using natural, organic products. Recently, my husband and I have had a huge issue with our dog eating household items and becoming sick. By switching over to all non toxic cleaning supplies, I feel much safer knowing that Norman has a safety net for when he decides to misbehave. Furthermore, I want to ensure that my future children avoid exposure to harmful chemicals! Don’t we all want our families to be as safe and healthy as possible?

Because I believe in this mission so much, I recently became a consultant for a small company called Pure Haven. Pure Haven makes all their products in their organic manufacturing warehouse in Rhode Island. They ensure 100% safety in all their products, guaranteed. Message me for more information about this fabulous company and how you might transition to using solely natural products.

Pure Haven Products

I have several passions but one mission: for human beings to honor their bodies by believing in their self worth. Join me in this new venture by following my content and sharing your input with me.

Here are some ways you can advocate for your own sense of wellness.

  1. Give yourself permission: build daily self affirmation into your routine by first allowing yourself to feel kind feelings. Perhaps you make a list of reasons you are enough or you commit to spending fifteen minutes each day walking outside. You are the only person who can ensure your well being!
  2. Take moments to pause and experience your body: begin by focusing on your breath, inhaling and exhaling. Notice the sensations associated with breath moving in and out of your nose or mouth. Place a hand on your belly and notice the natural rise and fall of the belly with each breath. Take some moments to sit in silence, simply breathing.
  3. Move joyfully: exercise need not be a time to punish or over work yourself. One of the best ways to honor your miraculous body is by enjoying yourself. Bike, swim, walk, play…all in the name of self care.

For more information, follow my social media pages @halfmoontherapy and DM me with your thoughts!

Taylor Pisel Miller

Written by

Licensed Professional Counselor Associate, Registered Yoga Teacher, avid gardener, supporter of holistic health and natural, non-toxic products.

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