Meet Rachel Haimovich

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rachel Haimovich. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Rachel, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

Keeping creativity alive for me is synonymous with keeping a sense of curiosity, openness and wonder at the forefront of how I approach each day. This is way easier said than done because life moves at a million miles a minute and there’s always the next to-do or distraction. Regularly connecting with others who highly value creativity is essential for me. Some of my best inspiration has come from being a part of songwriting groups and accountability challenges. Equally important for me is making sure that I’m tending to my inner world and leaving enough unscheduled/unstructured space in my schedule. Free-writing, putting on music, dancing around my living room and meditation have all been helpful tools for overcoming creative blocks.

I think it’s also really important not to confuse creativity with productivity or outcome. As an artist, there is often pressure to produce and this can come from many places like expectations caregivers/teachers may have put on us when we were young, internalized capitalism, etc. In her wonderful book “The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron talks about reclaiming the creativity and playfulness inherent in us as children. This unfortunately will often get stifled and invalidated as we grow into adulthood, or we’re told that daydreaming and doodling (for example) are “wasting time.” Creativity doesn’t have to be complicated! In fact, stepping away from my primary form of artistic expression, which is music and songwriting and engaging my creative muscle in the garden or with my wardrobe can help remind me not to take it all so seriously!

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’m a psychotherapist and music therapist by day with a private practice in Philadelphia. I love helping sensitive and artistic souls work through complex trauma, anxiety and creative blocks to find relief and healing from imposter syndrome and never feeling good enough. My favorite ways to invite folks to engage in this work is through body-centered and creative modalities like EMDR and IFS and of course- music! Incorporating creativity into therapy helps makes what can be very heavy work feel a bit lighter, and tends to connect folks with healing qualities like playfulness, connection curiosity and healthy self-expression.

I’m also a musician and singer songwriter who performs regularly in the Philly area. Music, particularly songwriting, has always been a way for me to process my internal experiences and try to make sense of the world. The delight I find in connecting with others through music helped me overcome significant shyness as a child and continues to be a place of refuge and joy in my life. I recently released a new single called “I am Born” and you can find it on all streaming platforms under the artist name “Rachel Eve.”

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I think a sense of openness has been super impactful in both my singer songwriter and therapist journeys. My curiosity about people, what makes them do (or not do!) the things they do, is what propelled me to become a therapist in the first place, and grappling with what it means to be human – how confusing and overwhelming it can feel just to be a person in an overstimulating world with so much injustice and suffering – is often the catalyst for my songwriting inspiration. You know, light stuff!
But I think that brings me to the next quality – playfulness and a sense of humor, which can help balance out the heaviness of the state of the world – both our inner worlds and the world at large. Purposefully looking for the good, those glimmers of joy and connection and sometimes downright ridiculousness and delightfulness of synchronicities and encounters that we could never have imagined or pushed or forced to come to pass.
Learning to be kinder to myself, practicing self compassion has also been huge, especially as every time we grow outside of our comfort zone we’re inevitably met with fearful and critical parts of ourselves. I love how self compassion, as opposed to self esteem, is a resource I can draw on at any time, particularly in moments of self doubt, failure or confusion.
For those early in their journeys I say – practice and patience! As someone who doesn’t have the best frustration tolerance and wants to be able to master skills right away, I know how hard that can be and how both of those things (patience and consistent practice) have been necessary (and continue to be!) in my journey. Also support, both from mentors who have more years of experience under their belt as well as connecting with peers who are at a similar stage in their journey have been vital for me.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

The first thing I do when I feel overwhelmed is to honor it as information that my nervous system is in need of some regulating. Taking a break from whatever is currently feeling overwhelming and finding some quiet space to be still for a moment can help. Depending on the kind of overwhelm, I may need to block out as much incoming sensory input as possible for a while (think earplugs and eye mask) – one of my favorite practices to restore and replenish my energy is yoga nidra, a meditative kind of yoga involving a body scan that helps you access a liminal space between waking and sleeping and is deeply relaxing. It’s sort of like a mini massage for your nervous system. Other times, I’m more in need of active expression – journaling or going for a brisk walk, for example. Connecting with someone I trust and I know can hold space for my overwhelm can also be helpful and a great reminder that I’m not alone in the experience.

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Sonja Robson

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