Whatever our life experiences, mindfulness can help us create more room in our lives, greater clarity and well-being – even in the midst of difficulty or crisis.
Because we tend to bring our past with us, our present can get quite crowded and more difficult than it needs to be. Our feelings and thoughts as much to do with experiences from the past, as to what’s actually happening now.
Whether we have experienced loss, trauma, or very adverse circumstances; these events can keep circling inside us until they are ‘met’ in a certain way. Even the ordinary stress and challenges of life can build up over time, creating confusion and diminishing our capacity to enjoy life, or to be present with ourselves and others.
Mindfulness helps us slow things down, helps us to become more aware of ourselves. We start to untangle and gain clarity about our pains and joys. The approach to psychotherapy I’m offering is rooted in the insights of Buddhist psychology and mindfulness practice, and combined with western psychodynamic traditions.
Put simply, my focus is on how we continually recreate ourselves (and our past) in the present moment. I help you bring awareness to these mind-body processes that are always whirling away in the background. And of course because how we are now depends so much on our past, I also place a lot of value on understanding that past – particularly early life. For this I draw on various psychodynamic traditions that have studied in great depth how our personalities develop.
Whilst I am guided by theory and knowledge, I also very much work creatively and intuitively. My focus is always on finding what resonates with you, and the ‘experience’ that is wanting to happen, in order to facilitate a greater conscious embodiment of an insight or issue.
Ultimately my approach reflects the belief that awareness itself is deeply healing – and presence in the therapeutic relationship is a vital part of allowing this awareness to flourish. It’s a kind of collaborative mindfulness that cultivates your ability to witness yourself in profound ways.
Whatever your reasons for seeking therapy I offer you a warm welcome, and a non-judgemental confidential space to share your problems, find healing, insight and growth.