Have you noticed that there is a dance craze going on? Conscious dance, Swing dance, Flash Mob, Zumba –these various dance forms are popping up everywhere from yoga studios to health clubs to public parks. Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise – communities have been dancing together as far back as we can trace human [...]
What is Psychotherapy?
A place where you can speak your truth, and not be alone.
A unique relationship devoted to tending your soul’s needs.
A place to sort out the complications of life.
A time to reflect on what matters to you most.
Psychotherapy can be many things. I work with people to help resolve the issues that keep them from living a full and satisfying life. Sometimes this means developing better relationships. Other times, it means finding the way through chronic depression. Or perhaps the task is to find deep self acceptance. Fear, anger, confusion, anxiety – these are all symptoms of a life out of balance. Psychotherapy is a process of developing inner balance and empowerment through discovering the deeper truth of oneself.
I am a licensed therapist (MFC31225) offering Jungian-oriented Depth Psychotherapy and Counseling for adults and teens in Petaluma, California, in Sonoma County.
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New Year Resolutions: It isn’t about changing yourself
by Felicia Matto-Shepard
What if you approached 2013 with a creative spin on the old New Year’s Resolution? What if you took the attitude that it wasn’t about changing or improving yourself, but about becoming more of yourself? This way of thinking is at the root of Jungian psychology. I like counseling from this perspective because it works [...]
Is it really that simple?
by Felicia Matto-Shepard
Some years ago, in a class on Shamanism, Angeles Arrien, said, “If the same message shows up three times, pay attention.” I have heeded this advice and it has often proven to be worthwhile. So today, I have spent the day contemplating the triple receipt of the message I have received: “Keep it simple.” First, [...]
Will, Surrender and the Will o’ the Wisps
by Felicia Matto-Shepard
I generally don’t seek out animated films, but in a move to avoid a snarl of a traffic jam, I pulled off the freeway and found myself watching “Brave”, a current Pixar-Disney production. http://disney.go.com/brave/index.html Before I realized it, I was engaged in the story, which is a mix of ancient themes woven into its own [...]
Dream Series: How to Interpret a Dream Image
by Felicia Matto-Shepard
or Keeping the Dream Alive… What does it mean to dream that I am falling off a cliff? Or that I am back in high school and I haven’t done my homework? Or that a wild animal is talking to me? Are these just bits and fragments from my day put into weird scenarios or [...]
Book Review: Just One Thing, by Rick Hanson, PhD
by Felicia Matto-Shepard
I seem to be surrounded by people who are committed to a path of meditation. Friends, family, teachers, colleagues – all of them having some sort of regular practice of sitting in silence, following the breath, centering. But not me. While I’ve done my share of silent meditation retreats (and, incidentally, benefited greatly from them), [...]
When we are filled with despair or anxiety, if we are weighed down by
regrets or hurts from the past, or if we feel trapped by the circumstances of our lives, we cannot thrive.
In my years of practice as a licensed psychotherapist and hospice worker, I have learned that, in the end, what seems to matter most to people is to know that one’s life has been lived fully, with satisfying relationships and a sense of meaning. As a psychotherapist, I will help you address specific life problems, as well as inner barriers that limit you, so that you can flourish and find greater satisfaction in your life.