Spiritual Somatic Therapist

12/11/2024

Over the last month, I have been talking to my clients about the importance of keeping our spirits high—especially when there is chaos and disarray within the systems in which we live.

This doesn't mean that we isolate inside a bubble of ignorance. It means that we become more intentional in how we engage with the larger systems meanwhile protecting our peace and our health.

If we allow ourselves to spiral into despair, we cannot be of service to ourselves or to others.

In recent weeks, I have been compelled to re-read Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings. Even amidst deep hardship during the Vietnam War and during his exile from his homeland, TNH maintained a rooted sense of inner peace.

Every evening, I have been reading his book "At Home in the World", a collection of stories about his life.

I want to share one of them with you:

🖊 In "At Sea On Solid Ground", TNH shares about his efforts in Singapore, rescuing Vietnamese refugees on crowded ships, waiting for a country to let them ashore.

Knowing that he was breaking the law by helping refugees, TNH and his colleagues had to make these rescue efforts in secret. One night, the police apprehended him and demanded that he leave the country within 24 hours; meanwhile 800 refugees were waiting for his help.

TNH wrote:
" I vowed that if I could not have peace at that moment, I would never be able to have peace. If I could not be peaceful in the midst of danger, then the kind of peace I might have in simpler times is meaningless."

After an evening of meditation, he found clarity and figured out how to advocate for a longer stay and complete this mission. 🖊

This story highlights how vital it is for us to stay grounded, calm and trusting of our inner wisdom during difficult times.

✨I invite you to meditate on this story. What practices will help you get closer to this state of being? ✨

📩Subscribe to my monthly newsletter: https://www.therapyinsandiego.com/newsletter-signup/

09/25/2024

❓ The most common question I receive from the public is: "What is somatic therapy❓"

This article explains the general principles of somatic-based psychotherapy & what you can expect when you work with a somatic practitioner.

There are many styles - but ultimately, the most important factor behind a positive therapy experience is your level of connection & safety with the therapist ✨

Over the past few years, the number of people asking me about somatic therapy has increased tenfold. While many are unfamiliar with the specifics of somatic therapy, they recognize it as a powerful and effective approach. Popular sources such as the book “The Body Keeps the Score” and psychologi...

09/19/2024

Hello, friends! I’m back after a long hiatus from posting.

Over the past year, I poured 100% of my attention into my practice, family (including my new 🐈‍⬛🐈) and creative endeavors—leaving little time for maintaining a social media presence.

I’ve been on a creative streak—writing both personally and professionally—and I'm excited to announce I’ll be regularly posting again.

For those of you who don’t know me yet, welcome! I hope you find something here that inspires or uplifts you.

A little about me:

I’m a spiritual (but non-religious) mental health practitioner, environmentalist, animal lover, and humorist. All of my content reflects those dimensions of my soul.

If you’re looking for a seasoned, non-traditional therapist, I’m your gal. I’ve been in the field for over ten years, working with adults across California, both virtually and in my San Diego office. I support clients in trauma healing, spiritual development, and navigating the emotional whirlwinds of life.

Feel free to check out https://www.therapyinsandiego.com/ to learn more about my practice.

Thank you for staying connected!

Want more content from me? You can:
📝 Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.therapyinsandiego.com/newsletter-signup/
🤓 Read my blog: https://www.therapyinsandiego.com/blog/

03/05/2024

I'm excited to share about a new group offering this spring 🌷
✨ Only 2 spots left ✨

🧘🏽 𝒮𝒫𝐼𝑅𝐼𝒯𝒰𝒜𝐿 𝑀𝐸𝒟𝐼𝒯𝒜𝒯𝐼𝒪𝒩 𝒢𝑅𝒪𝒰𝒫 🧘🏽
April 11-May 2, 2024
Every Thursday @6:30-7:30
At My Mission Hills Office

The intention of this workshop is to deepen one's relationship with positive spiritual sources while in meditation. Created for both beginning and experienced practitioners.

Want to JOIN us?
➡️ https://www.therapyinsandiego.com/spiritual-meditation-workshop/

01/02/2024

Hello friends,
I hope you are landing into 2024, feeling healthy and open to positive transformations that await you this year.

I wanted to share my reflection on 2023 and desires for our next cycle around the sun 🌞

💭...In December 2022, I was seated around a table with close friends at a potluck feast. One of my friends asked the group about our New Year resolutions. Without hesitation, I declared: "I am going to focus on dreams this year."

The week prior to that, I had dreamt a spiritually prolific dream. The mysterious nature of the dream inspired in me a great determination to decode it.

I have been fascinated by the dream world since I was a young girl but, being a more literal thinker, I always had difficulty deciphering their hidden meanings. This spiritual dream let me know it was finally time for me to dive in and learn.

So with DREAMS as my guiding word for the last 12 months, I allowed myself to indulge in the study and play of dreams. I have read over 20 books about dreamwork - ranging from writings about Sufi dream circles to the history of dreams. I worked with a dream therapist and fostered an informal council of people who can offer perspectives about my dreams. And yes...I uncovered the meaning of the spiritual dream that started this entire journey.

The theme of DREAMS also manifested in unexpected ways in my waking life. I allowed myself to entertain new, albeit scary, dreams for my life. As a result, I made some big but positive shifts in the latter half of the year.

My biggest lesson about dreamwork is that it is an invitation to confront our deepest fears. Our dreams want to show us - again and again - where we are stuck and push us to heal the wounds that drive our fears.

With my dream machine well-oiled, the theme I will focus on this next year is 𝕎ℝ𝕀𝕋𝕀ℕ𝔾. In 2024, I will be making more space and time to feed the Writer Part of me.

𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕓𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕘𝕦𝕚𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕 𝕠𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕦𝕡𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕤𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕤? 𝔽𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕗𝕣𝕖𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕤𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕞𝕖...🩵

07/19/2023

When people ask me to describe my work, I tell them: "I'm not a typical talk therapist. I offer an experiential approach where I help clients tap into their own bodily and spiritual knowing."

When I want to be more direct, I say: "I'm not a therapist who gives advice. I facilitate, I encourage, I reflect, I teach concepts. But if you need an answer to a big question or dilemma, I'm not one to tell you what to do. Doing so will only rob you of a valuable internal process."

Why do I choose this way of working and relating? After all, therapists are often trained to believe we are advice-givers. Won't it save everyone time and trouble if we just stated what some may deem "the obvious"?

During times of confusion and indecision in my own life, I too have had the compulsion to look to others for answers.

"Am I making the right decision?" "What would you do?" Or better yet, "Just tell me what to do!"

It is a knee-jerk reaction. I'll message a mentor, call a colleague, or - heaven forbid - search the internet, for answers.

Often the answer I receive is relieving. At least temporarily. "Thank goodness, I can rest now."

But when I sit on it for longer, I find that it doesn't actually sit right with me. Even though the source I have consulted is trustworthy, something tells me that the true answer is much more nuanced.

After I've hastily applied the advice of trusted advisors, I often find that the true answer - the one that best served me and my growth journey - was always within me. I just needed time to excavate it. This doesn't mean that outside perspective wasn't needed or helpful. But it needed to be carefully weighed with our internal parts.

Nowadays, instead of compulsively resorting to others for answers, I take time to meditate and listen to my internal guides. Sometimes these guides are parts of me. Other times, I listen to my spiritual guides.

When strong emotions get in the way of finding these answers internally, I seek the support of someone who is highly gifted in reflecting back to me what is happening. Talking to someone like this also offers great clarity.

As you can tell, this process of Self-guidance take time, intention and effort. That's because we typically have oppositional parts that want to go different directions and crave different outcomes. But when we learn how to sort out these voices and facilitate inner dialogue, we learn how to trust our Self.

What are your experiences of listening to your inner guidance? How do you balance out listening to your internal voice vs. voices of others?

➡️ This writing is from my e-newsletter. Receive these droplets of wisdom every month in your inbox here: https://www.therapyinsandiego.com/newsletter-signup/ ⬅️

06/01/2023

How often do you practice this language?

⬇️ I handpicked ones from this article that I particularly love. ⬇️

🗣“You may not like this about me, but I am okay with it.”
🗣“I’m not comfortable with that.”
🗣“I will work on that.”
🗣“I really care about this, even if you don’t.”
🗣“Let me think about that before I respond.”

Emotionally secure people are confident and comfortable in their own skin. But it takes work to get there. Dr. Cortney Warren, a Harvard psychologist and bestselling author, reveals the phrases that the most emotionally stable people say every day.

05/18/2023

A Buddhist teaching on navigating anger.

From Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’ book “The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep”
                           

05/08/2023

Our desire to help sometimes backfires and ends up causing harm. This especially applies to those of us in the helping profession.

We can take the time to ask ourselves, "From which parts of me is the desire to help being generated?"

If it is coming from a place other than compassion, let’s be curious about that and take time to reflect before taking action.
                           

04/30/2023

🐝 Happy Sunday 🐝 Here is a song for those of us hurting for the world. You can listen to it or just read the poetic lyrics below:

𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓈 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝓊𝓇𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓈.

𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒶𝓁𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉. 𝒾𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝓈𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉.
𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝓊𝒻𝒻𝑒𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒.
𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑜𝓃’𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓂𝑒𝒹, 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑔𝒾𝓋𝑒.
𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝒸𝓇𝓎𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝓁𝒾𝓋𝑒.

𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓈 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝓊𝓇𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓈.

𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓁𝒹 𝒾𝓈 𝒷𝓊𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒹𝑜𝓌𝓃, 𝑔𝑒𝓉𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝑜𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝒶 𝓈𝒶𝓃𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃,
𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝒶𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃, 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓈𝓅𝒾𝓇𝒾𝓉 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹𝓈 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓉𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃.
𝓈𝑜 𝑔𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓊𝓅 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑒𝓌, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝑔𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓊𝓅 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝒶𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃.
𝒽𝑒𝓎, 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒶 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔. 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃.

𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓈 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝓊𝓇𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓈.
𝓌𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒶𝓁𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉. 𝓌𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒶𝓁𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉.

𝐼’𝓂 𝑔𝑜𝓃𝓃𝒶 𝒻𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝒹𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝑜𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝓀𝓃𝑒𝑒𝓈. 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉’𝓈 𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝒸𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓁𝒾𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔.
𝐼’𝓂 𝑔𝑜𝓃𝓃𝒶 𝓈𝒶𝓎, 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝓂𝑒 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒. 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉’𝓈 𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝒸𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓁𝒾𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔.
𝐼’𝓂 𝑔𝑜𝓃𝓃𝒶 𝓈𝒶𝓎 𝐼’𝓂 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒶𝓁𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉. 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉’𝓈 𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝒸𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓁𝒾𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔.
𝐼’𝓂 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝓇𝓎𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝒾𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉. 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉’𝓈 𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝒸𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓁𝒾𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔.

The part of us that cries out in painThat says ENOUGHThat says HELPThat part Is a radical. That part is your personal revolutionary crying out for change. Th...

04/24/2023

04/22/2023

Every year on Earth Day, I think of my fifth grade teacher, Miss Jubala. A curly-haired, freckled woman with flowy skirts, she was the first person I met in this life who openly expressed her love for Earth.

She often exclaimed, "I wish my birthday was on Earth Day!" She taught us how to recycle and about the plight of manatees. She facilitated discussion circles in which we would pass a rainstick when it was our turn to talk. She was the first "hippie" I had ever met!

As a immigrant child who grew up watching Captain Planet on TV, I didn't know how much I craved meeting someone like her. She emanated deep respect for nature as well as love for each of us.

By being herself, she taught me it was okay for me to be myself. From there, I slowly sprouted into a full-fledged Lover of Earth. I connected to other sources of inspiration, reading books by John Muir, Jane Goodall and Rachel Carson in my teens. Their energy carried me as I organized recycling events at my high school, hosted vegetarian potlucks in college, and documented wildlife trafficking in Vietnam.

Miss Jubala and the other Lovers of Earth hold me today, as I'm growing into an Earth-centered, spiritual-centered, body-centered therapist.

During this time of The Great Turning, a term coined by Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy, I invite you to turn to those around you as sources of inspiration. When we see others living with high purpose and principles, it inspires the desire in us to do the same.

And I invite you to become a source of inspiration for those around you. Many of you are already inspirations to me - thank you 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

Happy Earth Day 4/22/23