DESCRIPTION OF CLINICAL PRACTICE
I help individuals and couples address relationship issues, challenging passages, and life concerns. Through a warm, engaging, collaborative style, I try to create a safe place to explore issues that need attention so that you may move toward more freedom, peace, and intimacy -- and less suffering. I encourage bringing mindfulness to the subtle flow of inner experiencing in a somatic, bodily-felt way. Opening to the aliveness and meaning inherent in our feelings creates a foundation for inner strength and wisdom. This loving-kindness toward ourselves also allows our more nuanced feelings and longings to arise, which then enables us to express these in a gentle non-blaming way.

Authenticity is a key to trusting, intimate relationships, but first we must be authentic with ourselves. Can we gently notice and embrace our genuine feelings, desires and longings without being ashamed of them? Can we communicate feelings and set boundaries with an open heart? Can we deal with hurts, shame, and broken trust in a way that leads to reconciliation and renews trust in life? Do we push people away in ways that are difficult to detect rather than invite them toward us? As we heal, grow, and relate to others from our authenticity, we feel more connected to people, life, and nature.

VIPASSANA/MEDITATION BACKGROUND
I have over 30 years immersion in Buddhism and spiritual wisdom. I lived in the New York Zen Center in 1973 and have been practicing Vipassana since 1974. I attended my first ten day retreat with Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, and Sharon Salzberg in 1975, and have attended many retreats since then, including with Stephen and Martine Batchelor. I was a contributing editor and writer for Yoga Journal for ten years.

RELEVANT CLINICAL TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE
I have graduate degrees in both Clinical and Transpersonal Psychology and have been a psychotherapist for over 30 years. I specialize in the areas of relationships and intimacy, grief and loss, and developing a psychologically sound approach to spiritual growth. I am the author of The Authentic Heart, which offers a spiritually-based path to love a intimacy. I also wrote Love & Betrayal, which explores ways that we betray others and ourselves -- and offers a path to heal our shame, hurt, and mistrust. I am coauthor of Being Intimate, which explores how intimacy grows by embracing and expressing our inwardly felt world through a process called Focusing, developed by Dr. Eugene Gendlin (see focusingtherapy.org). I am a Certified Focusing Trainer and have received training in the Somatic Experience work developed by Dr. Peter Levine to heal trauma. I've also had training in Emotionally-Focused Therapy for couples (EFT) with Sue Johnson, and co-authored a chapter with her on Buddhism and EFT in The Emotionally Focused Casebook. I have conducted workshops on couples therapy internationally, including Argentina, Chile, and China, and have been a featured media guest on programs including CNN, CNBC, Donahue, and NPR stations. I am an adjunct faculty member of Meridian University.