In practicing mindfulness-based psychotherapy for almost 30 years, I’ve had the privilege of working with a wide range of people (adults, kids, couples) experiencing many difficult challenges, including anxiety, panic, depression, relationship issues, grief, life threatening illness, chronic illness and pain, violence and assault, parenting and family issues, gender oppression, sexuality, and self-esteem issues.
Although we all want to be happy and free from suffering, through conditioning and traumas our minds develop habitual ways of reacting and perceiving reality. These deeply embedded patterns of beliefs, thoughts and emotional reactions, automatic and out of our conscious control, create suffering and a wide range of “symptoms”.
I approach each person individually, respecting that they are experts on themselves, and wanting to understand their unique situation. Because we each are trustworthy for ourselves, and our mind, body and heart are always trying to give us information that will help us move in the direction of our well being, I invite people to trust that whatever they are experiencing in the present moment is always valid. I help them learn to be aware of what they are experiencing without judgment, but instead with curiosity and acceptance.
The principles of Buddhist philosophy and tools of mindfulness are integral to this healing process as they naturally allow access to one’s deeper wisdom. The key to transformation is learning to change our relationship to the “symptom”/challenge and to our self. Instead of judging and fighting against our experience, learning to relate to whatever is difficult with curiosity, acceptance, kindness and compassion, allows our wisdom and authenticity the space to emerge and we find the answers within ourselves. The conditioned patterns that have kept us painfully stuck have room to shift and transform, and we discover wise, respectful and skillful ways of relating to our self and our situation.
