How I work with Clients
My therapeutic approach blends depth psychology (Jung, Hillman) with the nondual teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, and a profound respect for what the body is saying in the present moment. I’ve completed professional trainings in Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, and Systemic Family Constellation Work. Other methods I practice include Focusing, EFT, dreamwork, archetypal astrology, Voice Dialogue, and various forms of working with trauma and attachment. For the past 1½ years I’ve been working with The Temple of the Way of Light near Iquitos to develop a follow-up integration support program for guests.
My way of working is supportive, compassionate, and aims to get at the root of things, so that you can navigate through life with grace and an increasing sense of wholeness. I firmly believe that Shadow needs to be integrated with the Light, and have many ways of working with the rough stuff, the dark side, the unconscious and unknown. What I can offer you is not just transcendence, but grounded, practical approaches—spiritual, emotional, and somatic—to your integrative work, along with intuitive, intelligent support.
Treatment Approach
For the past few years I’ve been exploring at a personal level the practice of dieta with traditional plant teachers. In the Amazon tradition, certain special trees, shrubs, vines are regarded as plantas maestras or teacher plants. Although not psychoactive in the way that ayahuasca or huachuma are, master plants like mapacho, chiricsanango, noya rao, and lupuna are known to teach, heal, cleanse and release blockages.
Plant teachers work at the cellular level in a way that is at once subtle and powerful, transforming body, mind, heart and spirit. I’m finding dieta to be a tremendous complement to ayahuasca work. I’m particularly interested in the ways both ayahuasca and plantas maestras work with deeply embedded blockages and patterns—trauma, and what you might call karmic imprints—to gradually and gently (sometimes quickly and fiercely!) heal and release, opening us to higher levels of understanding.
Background
School: Pacifica Graduate Institute
Graduated: 2000
Degree: M.A. in Counseling Psychology
My first career (I like to refer to it as a ‘past life’) was as an author and freelance journalist based in Asia. Living in China, Nepal and France—and now Peru—has given me a broad multicultural perspective that I find invaluable in working with psyche. My writing career, which has yielded five books to date, continues to generate many insights into the hard work of the creative process. From 1985 to 1998 I lived in Kathmandu, Nepal, where I worked as author, editor, and sometimes trek leader, and had three children. During these years I was fortunate to receive teachings and meditation instruction from many Tibetan masters. The Dzogchen tradition in which I practice brings offers experiential teachings emphasizing the natural spaciousness and clarity of mind. The term Dzogchen or “Great Perfection” refers to the self-perfected state of our primordial nature, which is always present in the depths of our being. Portland: Buddhist-Oriented Psychotherapy Fast forward to 2000, when I completed a graduate degree in depth psychology and opened a private practice in Portland, Oregon. For 15 years I worked as a presence-centered psychotherapist, weaving together Buddhist perspectives of wisdom and compassion with depth psychology and a somatic understanding of trauma healing. Wisdom & Compassion: Buddhist Psychotherapy as Skillful Means describes my approach to combining spiritual and therapeutic work.
For me, ayahuasca and other teacher plants, including San Pedro, iboga, and the many plantas maestras encountered on dieta, offer a path of profound and powerful healing. In my current work as an integration therapist, I seek to bridge the worlds of plant medicine, Buddhism, and Western psychology to develop effective ways of working with ancient traditions and the modern mind.
- Pacifica
Payment & Insurance
$125.00 - $500.00
