At its heart, my work is really about helping people understand themselves by helping them understand their emotions. Culturally there are so many hangups around what it means to have certain emotions that people are afraid to express themselves, or to even acknowledge that they have emotions. There is so much emphasis on having the "right" emotions that there's a very narrow window of what the "right" emotions are, and that certainly does not include anger for women or fear for men. These biases are so deeply ingrained that many people don't even realize they're shaming themselves for having normal human emotions, or that they've cut themselves off from feeling their full spectrum of emotions because society deemed them inappropriate.

Inappropriate for whom? Inappropriate or inconvenient?

Having emotions is natural and normal. They give you information about situations, yourself and others, help you remember what's important, let go of what's done, and take in the beauty and magic of living life. Feeling emotions is what makes you feel alive. 

Here is a new set of ideas to ponder: 

All of your emotions are important and valuable, and have specific information just for you. 

Your emotions can be soft or strong, and you can feel more than one emotion at a time.

Intellectually, this might make sense to you, but how do you feel about feeling sad? Mad? Depressed? You might have emotions about your emotions because of what you've been taught consciously or unconsciously about which emotions are OK to feel, and which ones aren't. 

The more you look, the deeper there is to go into this tangled web of beliefs, behaviors, contracts, ideas, memories, shoulds, and ideals. What is true for you, and what have you absorbed from others? What have you consciously decided upon, and what have you unconsciously shouldered? How do these ideas change your behavior, and is this behavior you want to continue doing?

The answers to these questions are what I am trained to help you discover for yourself as you get to know each of your emotions as an ally. As a licensed Dynamic Emotional Integration Trainer and Consultant, I create courses and consult with clients who are trying to understand their particular tangle of emotions, beliefs, ideas, contracts, memories, shoulds, and ideals. My approach is experiential instead of intellectual, because understanding your emotions is an experiential process that requires full-body involvement. 

In my courses I incorporate visualization, personal reflection, group discussion of concepts, and experiential exercises. I strive to create a safe space for all of my students, and encourage them to participate to the extent that they feel comfortable, without pressure to perform or act a certain way. The beauty of an online class format is that it naturally creates a boundary that allows the student to decide to turn on the video or not, unmute or not, post in the chat or not. 

A consultation with me is a chance for you to tell your story in your own words, then hear them translated back to you in terms of how you're working with your emotions and what they might be telling you. A session might include education, an experiential exercise, some reflection time, or a suggested practice. 

Please remember that I am not a therapist, and that an emotion consultation is not an emotion processing session. An emotion consultation is an excellent support to seeing a therapist, as it can help you more deeply understand the emotions that may come up in therapy, and give you practices for working with them consciously. 

If you do have emotions that come up during a session, not to worry! All of your emotions are welcome, and they will have valuable information for you.

You may benefit from an emotion consultation when you:

-Need help getting past personal hangups that are keeping you from being who you want to be/doing what you want to do.

-Want to understand a specific situation and brainstorm possible actions or solutions.

-Seek to deepen your self-knowledge by understanding your particular relationship with your emotions. 

-Would like to learn how to better support yourself during a transition or when going through a difficult period.