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Your Most Vibrant, Centered, and Grateful Self

As we approach the American Thanksgiving holiday, for the first time ever we have to use the term “American Thanksgiving.” We always have so much to be thankful for, but this year it’s a little different because we’ve made big strides in expanding how we perform our mission in the world.

For most of our existence, The Dragontree has been followed by the words “Holistic Day Spa.” But, beginning a few years ago, we became more than a spa when we launched our natural and therapeutic product line. In the past year, we started an online course in nutrition, we launched our whole-health magazine called WELL, and we published our Dreambook – resources to more effectively help you become your most vibrant, centered, and peaceful self. Our redesigned website just went live, which will make it easier for you to explore all the wonderful things we offer.

While we continue to devote ourselves to ensuring exceptional healing experiences for the patrons of our spas, our new offerings enable us to help clients in more diverse ways and to reach an audience far beyond our beloved cities of Portland and Boulder. We have emerging relationships with people in dozens of countries around the world, and we are delighted and honored to be able to make a difference in your lives.

We have the deepest gratitude for being able to dedicate ourselves to this work, and to be able to witness the healing and accomplishments of those who have crossed our paths.

Thank you.

Briana and Dr. Peter Borten

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It’s funny, because if we’re carrying around this baggage all the time, it already represents a certain “weight” that we’ve gotten used to, and the “dealing with it” part should amount to feeling lighter and freer. While writing our book, The Well Life, we felt it simply wasn’t possible to guide people to the wellest of lives without encouraging them to resolve and/or release the stuff from the past that may be undermining their best efforts to be healthy and successful today. But we anticipated that some readers might react to this agenda about as well as if we offered to give them an amateur root canal. I don’t have enough space in an article to explain our whole methodology – not to mention the approaches we use before and after to prepare for and stabilize this work. But I’d like to share an except on how we introduce this process, which I hope will help you feel ready to liberate yourself: “Now, before you think, “Oh boy, this is going to be heavy,” we want to tell you that this doesn’t have to be a heavy experience. In fact, it’s an opportunity to feel lighter. It’s just that, between the heaviness and the lightness, there’s often something that one of our former teachers calls a “veil of discomfort.” The discomfort is only a veil because it’s really quite insubstantial. As soon as we become willing to experience it, we readily pass through it. And on the other side is lightness and opportunity! Let’s talk about how these loose ends from your past can undermine you. One thing that may happen when you prepare to go for something big (whether it be a new relationship, a career change, or a cross-country move) is that your mind quickly runs through all your baggage—unresolved issues, past traumas, mistakes, losses—and tells you this is a bad idea. Rather than hating your mind for this, it’s important to remember that you programmed this mind. You started out as a baby with a clean mental slate, and little by little you trained your mind to look out for things that might threaten your survival or happiness. That’s how your mind is built to work. It just happens that most minds are overly eager to do this job (especially if it means that your mind gets to monopolize your attention). The more intense the bad experiences of your past, the deeper the groove they cut in your mental record. The mind looks for anything in your present that even remotely resembles these past experiences so that it can steer you clear from repeating them. It produces warning thoughts and initiates intense emotions to grab your attention. So what can you do? Thank your mind for its efforts to protect you, but inform it that it’s working from outdated beliefs and overly generalized data. There’s no purpose in blaming yourself for how your mind functions. You’ve done your best with the resources that were available to you in each moment. But if you want the freedom to show up to each moment without being restrained by your past, it’s imperative to recognize that your baggage impedes this. Limiting beliefs and the echoes of past emotions are an intrusion on your space and the peace that lies within. The key to identifying past incidents that get priority cleanup status is that when you bring them to mind and then check in with your body, you don’t feel altogether light and clean. Instead, you might feel heavy, tight, agitated, or constricted. Or a negative emotion might come up, such as guilt, fear, shame, anger, regret, sadness, or grief. It’s possible that something you did that was objectively bad, like stealing the Statue of Liberty and burying it in your backyard, doesn’t actually provoke an especially strong physical or emotional response when you focus on it. In such cases, it’s important to remember that the objective “sin rating” of an event is less significant than how much of a hook it has in you. On the other hand, you might have accidentally thrown away your child’s first finger-painting and experience a tremendous feeling of guilt when you think about it—this would be something worth addressing. Think of this process like cleaning your living space. When your house is filthy, there are piles of documents, dishes, laundry, and areas needing repair. It can feel so daunting you don’t know where to begin. You don’t even want to begin. But once you start, and then you have one room that’s clutter-free, it feels more manageable. Eventually, the whole house is pretty well in order, and then it’s fairly easy to stay on top of it. In the same way, as you clean up your life, you’ll find it both easier and more appealing to continue to clean, and to nip any new messes in the bud so they don’t impede your future.” If this sounds good to you, I encourage you to let go of something right now. If you feel into your body, are you totally at ease? If not, is the unease associated with something that’s unresolved? Something you want to be different? Something you’re holding onto? Why not let it go – even if just for this moment? First try feeling it without any resistance, welcoming the feeling completely. Then take a breath into the feeling and as you exhale, let it go. If you’re intrigued by where we’re headed, check out our book. Be well, Dr. Peter Borten [post_title] => Losing Your Baggage [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => baggage [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2016-10-25 20:48:58 [post_modified_gmt] => 2016-10-25 20:48:58 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://www.thedragontree.com/?p=6493 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) [1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 6707 [post_author] => 5 [post_date] => 2017-07-11 18:18:23 [post_date_gmt] => 2017-07-11 18:18:23 [post_content] =>

"When you aim to create a relationship of love with your body, you stop withholding approval and stop seeking from others what you are available to freely give to yourself."

Take a few minutes to make your list. Dive deep, and when you're ready we'd love if it you share one of your gratitudes with us in the comments

Want to go deeper? Preorder Rituals For Transformation today [post_title] => Rituals For Transformation: I'm Grateful For My Body [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => rituals-transformation-2 [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2017-07-11 18:33:27 [post_modified_gmt] => 2017-07-11 18:33:27 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://www.thedragontree.com/?p=6707 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 14 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 7894 [post_author] => 489 [post_date] => 2020-06-10 21:07:40 [post_date_gmt] => 2020-06-10 21:07:40 [post_content] => WE’RE BACK! Thank you for all your support and love over the past few months. We deeply appreciate having this community to share and process with during this unprecedentedly weird time. We can’t wait to see you in person at our spas! RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU COULD USE A MASSAGE RIGHT ABOUT NOW! The Dragontree Spa on NW Thurman street in Portland is OPEN! The Dragontree Boulder Spa is OPEN! At this time, we are delighted to offer 60 minute massage and skincare appointments to begin with. Thank you for all your support and love over the past few months. We deeply appreciate you being part of our community of health and wellness and cannot wait to see you again! We are committed to prioritizing the health and safety of our clients and staff. As a team, we have taken time to reflect, discuss, plan, assess, and prepare as a community to avoid any virus transmission. We ask you to join in our commitment to keep the health of our staff in mind when coming in, and also when you are away from us by practicing guidelines from the CDC. The Dragontree spa staff is our family, and we will protect them as you would protect your own family – we're committed to providing you the same level of protection. The adjustments we’ve made to our client experience is out of an abundance of love and caution. Rest assured, we are following state guidelines and taking extra precautions, including deep cleaning absolutely every surface of the spa throughout the day and prior to opening. We're following enhanced sanitization measures and physical distancing standards. We’ve made many internal changes to our procedures, but we wanted to share the ones that will directly affect your visit:

Please come alone to your appointment. We can’t accommodate extra family/friends. If they come with you, they will need to wait outside.
All guests will be required to wear a mask throughout their visit with us (all staff members will be required to wear masks as well).
When you arrive at the Spa, please text us for entry. This will help reduce the number of people gathering in our lobby and allow us to clean between clients.
As much as we LOVE you, no handshakes or hugs for us right now. We’ll be happy with that set of smiling eyes above your mask, or a hand wave!
When you enter the spa, we'll ask that you use hand sanitizer. We also have conveniently located hand sanitizer stations throughout the spa.
As per Colorado state requirements, all clients will have to sign a short form regarding personal health and recent contacts, and we’ll take your temperature (non-contact). All Dragontree staff will also have temperature checks at the beginning of each shift.
Bring your own water bottle. We cannot provide water, tea, or any other beverages at this time.
Our therapists will guide you directly to your treatment room to change. Steam rooms/locker rooms/sangha rooms/waiting areas are not open at this time.
Please bathe right before your come to your massage appointment.
Your therapist will be with you during your entire experience in the spa to help guide you through the new spa protocol.
After your treatment, your therapist will guide you to a designated waiting area to be checked out and will gather any product you request for home care. We cannot accept cash payments right now. Please pay ahead of time, or bring a card to pay with.
You are welcome to order Dragontree products online at www.thedragontree.com or by calling us at 503.221.4123 (NW Portland) or 303-219-1444 (Boulder) for curbside pickup.
If you would like to book a future appointment after your spa treatment, please do that over the phone. This is to expedite the check-out process and minimize people gathering at our front desk.
We have allowed plenty of extra time between appointments to thoroughly clean and disinfect all areas of the spa for the safety of our beloved clients and staff.
Thank you SO MUCH for your cooperation. We Love you and we will keep you safe.

We know these procedures aren’t part of anyone’s ideal spa experience, but neither is the unease of wondering if you’re going to get sick! We’re confident that these extra measures will ensure a safe experience for everyone involved, and we hope they put your mind at ease as well. As circumstances change, we will review and make the appropriate modifications for clients and staff. We thank you for being patient with us during this time We are so thankful to be part of a community who joins us in our commitment to Peace. We look forward to seeing you soon! Warmly, Briana and Peter [post_title] => WE ARE OPEN! Read how we are making our spas extra safe for YOU. [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => spa-reopening [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2020-08-02 22:24:43 [post_modified_gmt] => 2020-08-02 22:24:43 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://thedragontree.com/?p=7894 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 6 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) ) [post_count] => 3 [current_post] => -1 [in_the_loop] => [post] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 6493 [post_author] => 5 [post_date] => 2016-10-25 20:33:47 [post_date_gmt] => 2016-10-25 20:33:47 [post_content] => I bet that if I said, “Let’s start the process of dealing with your psychological baggage,” most people would tense up a bit and expect that they’re in for a “heavy” experience. It’s funny, because if we’re carrying around this baggage all the time, it already represents a certain “weight” that we’ve gotten used to, and the “dealing with it” part should amount to feeling lighter and freer. While writing our book, The Well Life, we felt it simply wasn’t possible to guide people to the wellest of lives without encouraging them to resolve and/or release the stuff from the past that may be undermining their best efforts to be healthy and successful today. But we anticipated that some readers might react to this agenda about as well as if we offered to give them an amateur root canal. I don’t have enough space in an article to explain our whole methodology – not to mention the approaches we use before and after to prepare for and stabilize this work. But I’d like to share an except on how we introduce this process, which I hope will help you feel ready to liberate yourself: “Now, before you think, “Oh boy, this is going to be heavy,” we want to tell you that this doesn’t have to be a heavy experience. In fact, it’s an opportunity to feel lighter. It’s just that, between the heaviness and the lightness, there’s often something that one of our former teachers calls a “veil of discomfort.” The discomfort is only a veil because it’s really quite insubstantial. As soon as we become willing to experience it, we readily pass through it. And on the other side is lightness and opportunity! Let’s talk about how these loose ends from your past can undermine you. One thing that may happen when you prepare to go for something big (whether it be a new relationship, a career change, or a cross-country move) is that your mind quickly runs through all your baggage—unresolved issues, past traumas, mistakes, losses—and tells you this is a bad idea. Rather than hating your mind for this, it’s important to remember that you programmed this mind. You started out as a baby with a clean mental slate, and little by little you trained your mind to look out for things that might threaten your survival or happiness. That’s how your mind is built to work. It just happens that most minds are overly eager to do this job (especially if it means that your mind gets to monopolize your attention). The more intense the bad experiences of your past, the deeper the groove they cut in your mental record. The mind looks for anything in your present that even remotely resembles these past experiences so that it can steer you clear from repeating them. It produces warning thoughts and initiates intense emotions to grab your attention. So what can you do? Thank your mind for its efforts to protect you, but inform it that it’s working from outdated beliefs and overly generalized data. There’s no purpose in blaming yourself for how your mind functions. You’ve done your best with the resources that were available to you in each moment. But if you want the freedom to show up to each moment without being restrained by your past, it’s imperative to recognize that your baggage impedes this. Limiting beliefs and the echoes of past emotions are an intrusion on your space and the peace that lies within. The key to identifying past incidents that get priority cleanup status is that when you bring them to mind and then check in with your body, you don’t feel altogether light and clean. Instead, you might feel heavy, tight, agitated, or constricted. Or a negative emotion might come up, such as guilt, fear, shame, anger, regret, sadness, or grief. It’s possible that something you did that was objectively bad, like stealing the Statue of Liberty and burying it in your backyard, doesn’t actually provoke an especially strong physical or emotional response when you focus on it. In such cases, it’s important to remember that the objective “sin rating” of an event is less significant than how much of a hook it has in you. On the other hand, you might have accidentally thrown away your child’s first finger-painting and experience a tremendous feeling of guilt when you think about it—this would be something worth addressing. Think of this process like cleaning your living space. When your house is filthy, there are piles of documents, dishes, laundry, and areas needing repair. It can feel so daunting you don’t know where to begin. You don’t even want to begin. But once you start, and then you have one room that’s clutter-free, it feels more manageable. Eventually, the whole house is pretty well in order, and then it’s fairly easy to stay on top of it. In the same way, as you clean up your life, you’ll find it both easier and more appealing to continue to clean, and to nip any new messes in the bud so they don’t impede your future.” If this sounds good to you, I encourage you to let go of something right now. If you feel into your body, are you totally at ease? If not, is the unease associated with something that’s unresolved? Something you want to be different? Something you’re holding onto? Why not let it go – even if just for this moment? First try feeling it without any resistance, welcoming the feeling completely. Then take a breath into the feeling and as you exhale, let it go. If you’re intrigued by where we’re headed, check out our book. 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You may also be interested in:

Losing Your Baggage

Rituals For Transformation: I’m Grateful For My Body

WE ARE OPEN! Read how we are making our spas extra safe for YOU.

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