Rooted Soul Therapy - Amanda Alfaro, LMFT

09/25/2025

For those of you who have been around here for a while, it won’t be unfamiliar to hear that the first rain after a storm awakens something deep within me. And I think its petrichor.

The scent of petrichor - the pleasant smell that rises when rain touches dry earth….. earth meeting sky, soil drinking in what it has longed for - reminding us that change is rarely tidy. That its actually often damp, unsettling at first, and heavy before it softens into renewal. And for me, alive with possibility.

Much like our own healing, the transition from loosening our grip on what was to welcome what is becoming can feel fairly disorienting.
The dry ground receives the rain and BOOM - hitting us like last night’s thunderstorm washing away old patterns - stirring up the soil and preparing for new root growth.
Growth sometimes asks us to sit in the mud, to trust that the soil is doing its quiet work beneath the surface.

We’re not separate from this rhythm - we give back to the earth with every exhale, and she offers us her steadiness in return.

🌱Our discomfort makes space for new roots
🌱Our intentionality shapes what blooms next

So if you find yourself in the in-between, unsettled by the storm of transition - remember petrichor. Allow the scent of newness to bring beauty in its very messiness. And know that you’re becoming, that the earth inside you is shifting.

04/28/2025

Healing isn’t loud. It’s the soft and subtle return to yourself, again and again.

You’re not becoming someone new or different.

You’re unlearning what was never truly yours; returning to the version of you that feels most honest and true.
The one who trusts their own needs, honors their own rhythms, and belongs to themselves first.

Again and again.
Quietly.
Steadily.
Softly.

🌱Look at you grow

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Los Gatos, Anxiety, Self Improvement, Bay Area, Mental Health, Relational Trauma

04/21/2025

You don’t have to carry the weight of anxiety alone. Learn more in the new blog about how I like to use ISTDP and blend of Brainspotting to help you get unstuck.

🌱 Your body is wise

🌱 ALL of your emotions matter

🌱 And a rooted soul is possible

peep the biosite for the blog link

03/24/2025

Just like a tree weathers the storm by staying deeply rooted, we can navigate life’s challenges by growing & strengthening our own inner knowing.

In my more recent exposure to Brainspotting, I’ve learnd that it can make way for the brain’s natural ability to heal itself, allowing us to access and process the root causes of emotional pain. When we bravely get out of its way, and take steps toward building internal safety, we can truly trust our system to do what it was designed to do - heal.

Together we can create a space that allows you to navigate this process, allowing our relationship to our roots to act like an anchor when emotions feel overwhelming. When we root down, we create space for growth. Growth that lasts.

🌱Where in life do you need deeper roots to feel you can weather the storm?”

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Brainspotting, Los Gatos, Anxiety, Trauma, Cycle Breakers, Mental Health, Self Care

03/18/2025

self disclosing minute (or 3) 🌱

Today was unique in that it was my first day back in the therapist chair after a long weekend of challenging self work and reflection. I had the opportunity to get trained in phase 1 of a technique called Brainspotting (an approach supporting that where we look, affects how we feel emotionally & somatically). In short, it turned my world upside down in ways I’m still struggling to explain succinctly. The weekend itself shifted into something profoundly spiritual for me.

From the first to the last day I found myself reminded of feeling most grounded in nature, most loved, most seen & connected - whether it was marveling at the ocean waves, hair tangled by blustery cliffside winds, smiling with morning seagull songs, or just peering up at the sky for San Diego sunrises & sunsets that rival the best of them.

The last day however came with the clearest depiction of this message. I sat at the end of a session, emotionally depleted & somehow refreshed at the same time, cross-legged with hands involuntarily reaching toward the sky. I felt washed over and supported - grounded in nature, strong. Something I hadn’t felt in a while.

Before heading back to the bay, I stopped to peruse a favorite store for a trinket (as I often do), something that would help to serve as a reminder of the weekend’s experience and message I wanted to take home with me. Nothing really spoke to me so when they came on the loudspeaker to announce near closing, I made my way to the exit telling myself I’d remember the weekend no matter what.

There she was. Mere steps from the door. A woman, green, surely a goddess, sitting cross-legged, hands reaching toward the sky. She’s made of a stone I now know to be symbolic of “growth, renewal, and a calmness within nature’s cycle of life”. “Nough said, I thought. With that, I knew she was meant to sit on my desk.

Returning to this space, filled with gratitude and introspection; humbly excited to share this new technique, and eager to witness growth in anyone ready to step into the deep unknown of healing 🌱

03/04/2025

Imagine denying something physical on the regular - understandable, I think, that it would find elsewhere to go and usually with consequence.

This powerful statement speaks to the important connection between our physical and emotional well-being.

When we experience emotions that are overwhelming, confusing, or too painful to confront, our natural response might be to suppress or avoid them. Unfortunately, emotions don’t simply disappear—they find a home in our bodies.

Unprocessed emotions can manifest as tension, aches, pains, or even illnesses, particularly in areas where we tend to hold stress, like the shoulders, neck, or stomach.

Taking the time to turn toward your bodies alarms in therapy looks like learning to guide yourself through the process of releasing and healing those stuck emotions.

The more we learn to listen to our bodies and process our emotions, the less likely we are to carry unnecessary physical burdens.

When we courageously choose to show up to emotional pain we may have neglected, we not only improve our relationship with ourselves/others but also free our body from the weight of unprocessed emotion or trauma.

🌱Remember: therapy isn’t just a space to talk about your feelings - it’s about feeling your feelings and allowing them to move through you without getting stuck.

‘tension needs attention’

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Have you tended to your body today?

02/20/2025

What do you do when the tragedies of the world remind you of things not in your control?

These days it’s impossible to ignore the deep-running pain of never-ending conflict & divide. More than ever, it seems, can these experiences register as trauma for all of us. At the very least, highly activating. Sustained trauma like this, whether directly experienced or secondary, can insight a hopelessness difficult to bear, plummeting functionality.

🌱Breathe into reset.

My rec: Once reset, use whatever functions are left to show up for your neighbor. Create meaningful connection with vulnerability. Help someone else, in ways big or small.

> Secret from a professional helper: the kickback feeling will charge your battery too.

“May healing come and may our hearts be open enough to receive it” - Dr. Thema .thema

02/01/2025

reflecting with gratitude on 2 years of growth, support & connection, and the honor to witness brave healing.

happy birthday rooted soul! 🥳

a heartfelt thank you to friends, new and old, our thoughtful communities and all who have found ways to ensure rooted soul is a place for grounding support.

humbled to be apart of this community - thank you!

08/22/2024

08/19/2024

Anxiety ignored can act like rot beneath the bark of a tree… when we disregard our needs in subtle ways but long enough, the result can be catastrophic - sending the alarm to uproot & timber down (impulsive reactions)

Therapy offers the alternative of staying rooted, grounded and deeply attuned to those needs.. just enough to learn how to respond to them.

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07/18/2024

We don’t call it internal conflict for nothing - your challenge isn’t to force one out, and the other to the top. It’s to consider that honoring both allows for a balance that makes room for alignment.

🌱Alignment allows you to listen to your intuition. Strengthened intuition silences self-doubt.
All of the above pave the way for healthier relationships with others, and most importantly, with yourself.

Hot take for today: quit the practice of toxic positivity, and honor the balance instead. You just might find yourself along the way.

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07/17/2024

Speaking of, a different introduction of… me. Little me.

This picture brings up the full spectrum of emotions for me. Smiling, wide-eyed & mouth closed, with also quite a lot to say.

She stays with me each day as I enter this sacred space of support, both for myself & for my clients. Humbly reminding that each one of us has a version > I happen to be incredibly interested in meeting.

Sometimes I see all of me in her, other days I just see in all the ways I’ve changed. Either way, an honor to walk alongside her (& vice versa) in the ways I’ve learned, only I can.

🌱On the days it’s hardest to nurture self compassion - I think of this version: smiling, wide-eyed & mouth closed…
What would she ask for right now if she could?
And am I willing to respond?

Do you know your ‘little me’? If this is a tougher one for you, let me know if you’d like to try together.

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Rooted-soul-therapy.com
408.657.3002
rootedsoul.mft@gmail.com

*inspired by ! 🫶🏼