Mindfulness
When we get lost in our feelings and related, harmful storylines, we lose touch with what we are actually experiencing. By noticing thoughts and feelings where they are in the body and learning to sit with them, we are able to begin cultivating acceptance of ourselves and our capacity for distress tolerance. This allows us to work toward healthy, patient processing of our emotions. Even when feelings are painful, they do not have to feed a negative storyline. Painful feelings can be useful to help us understand what we need, and our stories can be altered. There is liberation that comes with being able to step outside of ourselves and see our thoughts and feelings for what they are - just thoughts and feelings. They can and should often be used as information, but they do not have to control us.
My mindfulness-based approach is informed by my seventeen years of being a yoga practitioner and five years as a yoga teacher. Eight years ago, I spent several months in South America where I completed a 10-day silent course in Vipassana, an ancient meditation technique which means “to see things as they really are”. This experience inspired me to complete a trauma-informed yoga teacher training with Community Yoga Austin, which led to me teaching yoga to kids in elementary schools. This powerful period of self-exploration shapes my clinical orientation and influences the tools I offer individuals to help them find acceptance, peace, and balance within themselves and their relationships with others.
COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY (CBT)
Do you easily find yourself lost down a rabbit hole of thoughts and feelings of deficiency? Do you have a deep-seated habit of unnecessarily scanning the environment for something you can focus your worry on? Do you have the tendency to make this place of worry your home-base? With CBT, we examine together your thoughts, feelings and behaviors to distinguish which ones are limiting you in your relationships with self and others. Which behaviors are helpful and which are ultimately hurtful? Which thoughts are perpetuating negative core beliefs and a shaming storyline?
I help you gain awareness of which thoughts are irrational, explore where they came from, and to reframe these thoughts of "not good enough" and "I'm not deserving" in a compassionate light to help you get unstuck and to move forward toward a more fulfilling life.
Relational Approach
Because we are humans and we need meaningful connections with others in order to survive, establishing a safe, trusting, nonjudgmental therapeutic relationship is essential for health and healing.
The therapeutic relationship is a microcosm of your relationships in the outside world. When we develop a trusting, nonjudgmental relationship, it becomes a fertile ground for learning, growing, and exploring your inner wisdom so that you gain more effective thought patterns and skills for deeper, stronger, and more compassionate relationships with both yourself and others. With trust, we are able to ask each other productive questions that sometimes feel uncomfortable in order to uncover your deep-seated needs and find healthy ways of meeting these needs both through self-care and relationships with others.
