Mindfulness
We hear the term mindfulness used quite a bit these days, but what does it mean? Although one can find many different, nuanced definitions, broadly speaking, mindfulness is a state of nonjudgmental attentiveness to and awareness of moment-to-moment experience. As such, the practice of mindfulness is highly compatible with contemporary psychodynamic psychotherapy. My approach to psychotherapy specifically fosters states of heightened awareness of one's moment-to-moment thoughts and feelings. Such an ability to tune in to and observe one's ongoing emotional states is a first and necessary step toward developing an enhanced ability to effectively regulate one's feelings and emotional states.
We don't come into this world knowing how to peer into ourselves and our emotional states. This is a set of skills that we learn and refine, usually within the context of supportive relationships, over the course of our lifetime. My integration of mindfulness practice into the therapeutic process is designed to enhance your ability to better identify, articulate, and ultimately, to regulate your feelings and emotional states.
Typically, feelings and emotions are layered experiences in which our ongoing emotional reactions to the world around us are subtly embedded in additional layers of thoughts and feelings. It is in these additional layers of thoughts and feelings that ongoing emotional experience comes to have the meaning it does for us; that is, whether a particular experience registers as pleasurable/painful, valid/invalid, empowering/disempowering, etc. My mindfulness-based approach to psychotherapy specifically focuses on developing the ability to observe these layered emotional states, to suspend judgment on them, and to ultimately understand the meaning that comes along with them.
There is a growing body of empirical evidence for the effectiveness of mindfulness-based psychotherapeutic interventions. For more information on mindfulness and psychotherapy, click here
"My integration of mindfulness practice into the therapeutic process is designed to enhance your ability to better identify, articulate, and ultimately, to regulate your feelings and emotional states."
Serving: Individuals & Couples
- Address:
- 445 Bellevue Ave, Suite 203
Oakland, CA 94610
Phone: 510.381.3090
Email: Vitek-deleteme[at]-deleteme-sonic [dot] net