Body

Through observation, movement, and listening, I work to enhance and develop a healthful, nurturing relationship between you and your body. I draw on techniques learned as a Nia movement teacher, martial arts practitioner, student of breathwork, and yoga to instill a sense of safety, calm, possibility, wonder, and joy of being in one’s physical body.

Once again, EMDR is a somatic therapy and assists in sensing and inhabiting your body. It invigorates and stimulates movement releasing physical rigidity, and replaces the fear or dissociation with trust and insight into how the body has carried the experiences of our lives.

Mind

I use EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) to free the mind from self-defeating thinking that often results from trauma of one form or another. This proven technique activates left and right brain communication, memories, and neurological pathways, and helps to reprocess negative, limiting, and unproductive beliefs. The goal is to introduce positive, resourceful, and adaptive thinking.

I also work cognitively, illuminating dysfunctional thinking and challenging unproductive thought patterns, to develop more flexible thinking. Mindfulness tools are then introduced and practiced to help clients develop an inner witness to the nature of the mind. Strengthened and taken outside of therapy, these skills can create more objective perspective-taking and choice in one’s behavior.

Emotions

To address the emotional component, I use talk therapy to support the integration of the inner emotional landscape. We repeatedly strengthen a relationship to the nuances of emotions, until the feeling of life becomes a trustworthy barometer of needs, authenticity, and fulfillment.

In addition, I utilize EMDR to assist in accessing and then releasing previously “frozen” feelings that may have become lodged during a crisis or overwhelming experience. In a typical EMDR session, clients easily gain access to their sadness, anger, grief, joy, and peace.

Relationship

Given that wounding happens in relationships, I make use of the therapeutic relationship itself to provide a place for relational healing. Drawing on training and practice in object relations, early attachment theory, and a psychodynamic orientation, I assist clients to better understand how they engage in relationships and, from that understanding, to improve their quality.

Spirit

Recognizing the spiritual context of any healing work, I help clients illuminate for themselves their own sources of inspiration and “soul nourishment.” I actively assist clients in developing and engaging in a practice that is true, beneficial, and sustaining. Ultimately, I encourage tending the life of the soul … whether through silence, movement, creativity, ritual, nature, or myth … as a potent means to discover a greater and deeper sense of and purpose in life.