As a mindfulness and somatics coach, I aim to empower my clients to bring awareness, curiosity and playfulness to their practice, and to discover and experience themselves with compassion and authenticity.
What is Mindfulness Meditation?
Mindfulness refers to nonjudgmental, present-moment awareness of our direct (embodied) experience, and it is developed through intentional practice (often, but not always meditation). In mindfulness practices, we practice curious, and non-judgemental inquiry into our present sensory experience, noticing the thoughts/ emotions/ images/ impulses/ sensations that take hold of us, and our reactions to them (e.g., fixing, planning, remembering, analyzing, avoiding). Through the practice of mindfulness and somatic oriented practices (e.g., authentic movement, dance, martial arts), we become increasingly aware of our embodied experiences, instincts/ impulses, and our habitual patterns to dealing with pleasant and unpleasant experience. We learn to shift our patterns through equanimity, expression, curiousity, and self-compassion, thereby lessening the negative consequences (e.g., stress, anxiety, depression/ collapse) that come with our tendencies to avoid or cling to specific experiences and releasing what is no longer needed.
What happens in
a mindfulness session?
After a thorough assessment of your difficulties and goals for treatment, we will develop a treatment plan that best addresses your needs. This plan may include a combination of psychoeducation, guided practices tailored to address your difficulties (in stillness, movement, silence and with sound), discussion about the difficulties that arise for you during the practice, psychotherapy and skill training to cope with blockages, and personalized home meditation practices that may be integrated into your daily life. Throughout this process, you will develop a solid understanding of mindfulness and its benefits, concrete tools to develop and maintain your practice, strategies to cope with problems or stressors that arise, and the skills to continue this practice beyond our work together. As a mindfulness guide, I aim to empower my clients to bring unaltered awareness, curiousity and playfulness to their practice, to courageously maintain the practice in the face of obstacles, and to discover and experience themselves with compassion and authenticity.
