My Approach and Journey
Recently I heard that a lot of therapists are attracted to the profession because they want to heal themselves. Although, there is some truth about this for me, the main reason I became a therapist was because I fell in love with the healing process.
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While doing graduate studies in educational psychology at the University of Florida, I began to meditate daily and started my own personal psychotherapy. In that process, I discovered that there were numerous layers within me that had never been experienced. Each layer pointed to whole new worlds, and each world led to sensitivities that allowed me to relate better to myself, others, and the world.
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In brief, that is my work as a therapist: to help people relate to their experience in ways that bring about more happiness, success, and satisfaction.
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I utilize an approach that is direct, fast, and effective. In the past decades mindfulness practices have become not only popular, but also powerful ways to deal with psychological suffering. Every year scientists release over 500 academic research papers showing how mindfulness can be used to treat chronic pain, anxiety, depression, addiction, trauma, and behavioral issues in teens.
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I have made it my journey and mission for the past 15 years to integrate mainstream approaches with mindfulness approaches to therapy. I have done this by dedicating 10 years to studying psychology in various academic settings, including two master degrees in psychology. In addition, I dedicated over a decade to studying the psychology of mindfulness in depth, which included becoming an ordained monk in the tradition of Japanese Zen. These two endeavors give me an in-depth and experiential understanding of how to bring the best of both worlds (East and West) together in the service of relieving the mental suffering of my clients.
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