Evidence-based practices emphasize cognitive behavioral approaches to mental health—for good reason. Research shows these strategies can quickly interrupt dysfunctional behaviors and alleviate symptoms. This is the surface of emotional well-being: important but incomplete. On the journey to health, I’ve learned to appreciate the difference between conceptual knowledge and felt truth.

This is where experiential therapies such as Gestalt, relational psychoanalysis, and attachment/emotion-focused work allow direct experience and reprocessing of emotions, rather than just talking about them intellectually. 

Neuroscience increasingly demonstrates the interdependence of our bodies and minds. While biology affects our subjective experience, our experiences also affect our biology. Just as lifting weights strengthens muscles, mindfulness strengthens our nervous systems. Restoring harmony between mind and body promotes wisdom, enabling us to access new levels of intuition and self-trust.

The apparent contradiction and intuitive truth of paradox highlight the limits of logic to define our reality. Carl Jung famously said, “What you resist, persists.” That is, the energy we invest in suppressing a thought or feeling is exactly what makes us get stuck. Humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers wrote that “when I accept myself just as I am, then I change.” Attachment theorists describe the paradox of dependency: “The more effectively dependent people are on one another, the more independent and daring they become.” 

Similarly, walking is…
• A stroll in the gardens and trek through the wilderness
• An act of devotion (pilgrimage) and resistance (protest)
• Connecting with our bodies & getting lost in thought
• A new beginning in each step and journey in a lifetime

Trauma results from experiences that overwhelm the body and mind: it’s too much, too fast to metabolize. Whether a single horrific event or prolonged exposure to stress, trauma causes nervous system dysregulation that undermines our well-being and ability to function. The antidote to being stuck in a vicious cycle of hyperarousal, dissociation, and despair is slowing down, creating physiological safety, and exploring painful emotions with gentle curiosity.

Core Values

Slowing down

I like walking because it is slow, and I suspect that the mind, like the feet, works at about three miles an hour. If this is so, then modern life is moving faster than the speed of thought, or thoughtfulness. – Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking

Prioritizing Experience over Theory

Integrating Mind & Body

embracing Paradox