My Approach to Therapy is Integrative and Client Centered
I am trained as a somatic therapist and combine many other different orientations as well as my life experience and intuition when working with clients. Working at your own pace allows me to guide you in the natural direction that is being asked of you. I will help you recognize your strengths and resources so that you can transform the obstacles and challenges that stand in your way of becoming your best self.
Clients describe my style as warm, compassionate, present and engaged. I also view myself as real and accessible, touched by both your painful as well as celebratory moments. I am sturdy and unintimidated by strong emotions or sensitive subjects. While holding the boundaries of therapy thoughtfully and professionally, humor and imagination are often present in therapy sessions, as are all facets of your humanness. All of you is welcome here…
Body, Mind, Spirit and Neuroscience
I use an integrative approach to healing with the foundation of my work resting in the neuroscience of the autonomic nervous system based in somatic psychology. Emotional regulation is the body’s way of being in a zone or “window” of feeling safe in the world, connected, passionate and at ease with the natural unfolding of life. While the human experience includes shifting in and out of the “window” prolonged states can cause a lack of well being including, but not limited to anxiety, depression, and negative self talk.
Our work together will be in discovering your ability to bring awareness to your own unique “window” in which you can reconnect with safety, calmness and balance in your body, mind and spirit. Blending neuroscience with a holistic approach allows for many avenues of deep healing and resourcefulness. Our individual nervous systems are affected by many things including unconscious body memories, thoughts and beliefs (interpreted or misinterpreted by the mind) as well as conscious ways of bathing in the abundant beauty of life.
Knowing how to find and grow the window of tolerance in the nervous system brings healing along with the ability to enjoy life. This process is empowering, gives you control, and is life changing!
Somatics
The body is always in the present moment and therefore is one of our greatest resources.
Somatic therapy is a holistic body based approach to healing that uses mindfulness and emphasizes the mindbody connection. Intellectualizing things is highly valued in our culture and as a result many among us live from the neck up. We think our bodies are only for getting us from point A to point B with no conscious connection to it. Somatic psychotherapy helps bridge the gap between mind and body so that we can live our lives from a whole self perspective.
The mind and body are one. Unconscious memories get encoded in the body through trauma, early attachment relationships, other affective experiences, and sensations. This wiring creates mental models or patterns of behavior and is how our negative core beliefs get embodied and continue to run our lives. Somatic psychology helps clients deepen into the internal landscape of their bodies to gain awareness of this process and to consciously create new embodied experiences.
A good part of my education and training is helping people with trauma learn how to regulate the mindbody. By using the latest research in neuroscience in regard to the autonomic nervous system I help clients access and come back into their “window” to be able to regulate and tolerate intense emotions, which eventually pass. The “window” is where healing from trauma takes place. Recognizing sensations in the body and responding to them in a positive and adaptive way allows space to choose healthy responses instead of impulsive reactivity.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Viktor E. Frankl
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment by using the senses, without judgment. There is a difference between taking a walk and being “aware” that we are taking a walk. The cultivation of this “awareness” is what makes mindfulness so powerful. Mindfulness is a skill that can be developed through practice. When we are aware and conscious about making choices we have the utmost freedom and a powerful tool toward self agency.
When combined with somatics, mindfulness allows us to develop the ability to listen to the important messages from our bodies. When we can slow down and listen to what is needed in the moment we gain invaluable insight toward self care. When we give ourselves the self care we need we can truly feel contentment, peace, and joy. When nourished and connected to ourselves we now have the energy and presence to be there for others or to achieve our desired goals.
Mindfulness can also help us manage and regulate our emotions by helping us be less reactive. We can learn how to “let the train go by” instead of always having to react by jumping on the train. Mindfulness also teaches us how to be curious rather than judgmental, a much easier way to be in the world.
