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A self-care journal is more than just a diary. It’s a focused tool where you can track your symptoms, emotional state, and the effectiveness of various management strategies. It also serves as a therapeutic outlet to express feelings, which might be difficult to articulate otherwise.

Benefits of Keeping a Self-Care Journal

Keeping a self-care journal offers several benefits:

•  Enhanced Awareness: Regularly writing in your journal helps you become more attuned to the patterns and triggers of your tics. This awareness is key to managing symptoms more proactively.
•  Stress Reduction: Journaling can be a great way to relieve stress. Getting your thoughts and feelings out on paper can reduce the intensity of emotions, clearing your mind and easing your body.
•  Better Management of Tics: By tracking what works and what doesn’t, a self-care journal can guide you to more effective strategies for managing your tics. Over time, this can lead to better overall control....

Over the years, I’ve explored various strategies to help manage tics, especially for those of us navigating the complexities of Tourette Syndrome. Today, I’d love to share how essential oils have become a key part of my toolkit, offering not just relief, but also a delightful sensory experience.

Living with tics is like having an unpredictable companion who occasionally takes the reins. Whether it’s involuntary motor movements or unexpected vocal sounds, tics can disrupt life in unexpected ways. My journey with tics began in childhood, and finding ways to coexist peacefully with them has been my mission ever since.

My first encounter with essential oils was at a wellness workshop that promised natural solutions for everyday health challenges. Skeptical but curious, I ventured into what I now consider one of the most transformative experiences of my life.

Through trial, research, and plenty of patience, I discovered three essential oils that significantly eased my...

Key Takeaways:

• Avoiding facing tics increased their shame/mystery; hiding didn't help
• Viewing video with self-compassion built acceptance of this long-rejected part   
• Facing discomfort brought unexpected healing after years fruitless fighting

As someone who has struggled with constant, embarrassing motor tics for over 20 years, the idea of videotaping my tics and watching them back fills me with dread. Like many dealing with Tourette's, I tend to avoid facing just how uncontrollable and pervasive my tics are on a daily basis. Out of sight, out of mind has been my coping mechanism.

But recently, I've realized that hiding from my tics has only increased my shame and isolation over the years. The more I pretend they aren't there, the more power and mystery they hold over me. I've decided it's finally time to turn towards this longtime foe with self-compassion as my tool.

So I set up my phone's camera, took a few deep breaths to calm my anxiety, and hit record....

Key Takeaways:

• Integration of Practices into Daily Life
• The Power of Breath
• The Continuous Journey Towards Peace

Today, I wanted to share something that touches on a common thread among many of us dealing with motor tics, chronic tics, or Tourette's. It's about the profound impact of our mindset and lifestyle on our condition and the real, tangible possibility of healing.

I received an email recently from a student of my course that struck a chord with me, and I believe her experiences and questions will resonate with many of you. She's been applying the techniques I share—finding peace and calm through yoga, meditation, and physical activity. Yet, she finds herself grappling with the resurgence of stress and, consequently, her facial tics, once the tranquility from those practices fades in the face of daily life's demands.

Her struggle is a vivid illustration of a challenge many of us face: maintaining a state of inner peace amidst the chaos of daily responsibilities and...

Key Takeaways:

• Tics knot muscle tissue; massage slowly untwinds decades of accumulated tension 
• Self-massage is embodiment; tending rejected areas fosters integration
• Loving touch transforms cries for attention into healing invitations 

As someone who struggled with constant full-body motor tics for over 20 years, I know firsthand how much pent-up trauma gets locked in the muscles and fascia where the spasms occur thousands of times daily. The areas around my tics have been knotted up for so long, they feel like concrete.

I’ve found regularly massaging and pressing into these tense spots helps break up that accumulated tension in a way nothing else can. It’s painful yet profoundly healing - like wringing toxicity out of my own body.

I recently had a massage where the therapist skillfully found each knotted muscle group associated with my various tics. Using fingers and elbows, he patiently worked out the layers of tightness with the perfect amount of...

Key Takeaways:

• Acknowledging Emotions is Crucial for Healing
• Releasing Emotions Breaks the Cycle of Frustration
• Inner Peace Comes from Understanding and Releasing

Having a motor tic for 20 years was an experience filled with frustration, confusion, and a quest for stillness. The involuntary movements—be it my arm twitching, my nose wriggling, or my neck jerking—were not just physical manifestations but also emotional burdens. The constant motion was a stark reminder of my struggle for control over my own body, leading to a deep-seated frustration with myself.

The pivotal realization on my journey was understanding the importance of not getting frustrated with my tic. It sounds counterintuitive, doesn't it? How do you not get frustrated with something that's so inherently frustrating? This was the crux of my battle. The frustration, anger, and annoyance at my inability to remain still were not just emotional reactions; they were fuel to the fire, intensifying the tics.

Key Takeaways:

• Modern medicine failed; ancient modalities succeeded helping heal holistically  
• Tools like yoga, meditation and chanting meet needs for mind-body integration 
• By honoring ancestral wisdom, I created inner peace once lacking  

As someone who struggled with constant motor tics for over 20 years, I tried every modern conventional treatment available to no avail. No pill or medical procedure could provide lasting relief from the thousands of daily spasms erupting through my body.

In desperation, I started exploring more holistic healing modalities from ancient traditions like yoga, meditation, and Qi Gong. And they have helped me achieve what medicine could not.

By dedicating time each day to simple breathing exercises, mindfulness practices, and movement rituals passed down for generations, I've learned to come home to my body and find an inner stillness that eluded me for so long.

When I take a moment to tune into my breath, rather than...

Key Takeaways:

• The Limitations of the Healthcare System
• The Power of Holistic Healing
• Empowerment Through Personal Journey

Hey everyone, Darren here from Motor Tic Mastery. It's been a hot minute since my last video, but recently, something stirred in me that I just had to share with you all. Yesterday, as I sifted through my inbox, I was once again reminded of the diverse group of individuals who reach out to me - concerned parents, adults who have lived with tics for years, and even those experiencing sudden onset of tics. A common thread among these messages is the despair and frustration shared by many, recounting tales of doctors and healthcare professionals who have dismissed their conditions as incurable. Every time I hear this, my heart sinks a little deeper.

Our healthcare system, with all its advancements, still operates within a rigid framework, often leaving those with conditions like tics or Tourette Syndrome feeling hopeless. The notion that certain conditions...

Key Takeaways:

• Tuning into physical source around throat region is key, not just sounds  
• Soothing tightness here through breath and compassion defuses intensity  
• Gaining power by transforming relationship, not forcing tic elimination 

As someone who has struggled with constant involuntary vocal tics for many years, I know how distressing the repeated throat clearing, coughing, or word repetition can be. These vocal outbursts seem to erupt out of nowhere, completely beyond my control.

In my journey to heal these tics, I’ve found bringing mindful awareness to the physical source of the vocalizations incredibly helpful. Although the sounds come from my mouth, relaxing the tension in my neck and throat is key.

I recently led myself through a simple mindfulness exercise focused on my vocal tics. Sitting quietly, I tuned into the area around my tonsils, larynx, and vocal cords. Slowing my breath, I visualized soothing that agitated area like a mother...

Key Takeaways:

• Bringing kind awareness to epicenter of tics releases accumulated tension
• Anchoring in body sensations of stability ripples calm upwards   
• Discovering stillness living within the chaos brings unexpected relief

As someone who has struggled with constant shoulder and arm tics for over 20 years, I know all too well the sense of inner agitation that drives these involuntary urges. It often feels like there is a part deep inside that is never fully settled in my body – a part always needing to jerk, flap, and spasm without my consent.

In my healing journey, I’ve found meditation focused specifically on the areas where I tic can help immensely. By guiding my awareness into the tics’ origin points with compassion, true relaxation emerges.

Recently, I led myself through a simple 15-minute grounding exercise for my shoulder tic. Sitting quietly with eyes closed, I first directed my full attention to the source of the spasms. Exploring the...