My goal is to nurture a collaborative, supportive environment where I invite you to slow down and explore your values and experiences through your thoughts, emotions, sensations, and movement. My practice is influenced by mindful body-centered methods such as Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and the Feldenkrais Method. My work is also influenced by strengths-based philosophy, social justice and anti-oppression perspectives, Internal Family Systems, Emotional Freedom Techniques (“Tapping”), energetic imagery, Polyvagal Theory, and Interpersonal Neurobiology.  In general, I have many ways of working with people and we can explore what works best for you.

Click here for more information about my background and credentials. 

About body-centered psychotherapy

Our bodies are involved in all of our thoughts and emotions.  When there are no words to describe an experience, when words take us out of that experience, or when we feel our thoughts or emotions are out of control, it can be powerful to slow down and pay attention to physical sensations in the body. But it’s not so easy to do this at first. Body-centered psychotherapy is a way to learn how to tune in to physical sensation without being overwhelmed by it. The Feldenkrais Method® is directly movement-based and may include physical contact. It is a powerful way to become aware of physical/emotional habits and resources. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy uses mindful observation and description of sensations, thoughts and emotions to increase self-awareness, and invites spontaneous body reactions (trembling, pushing, yawning) to be enacted and released – usually in a subtle, gentle way.

Social Justice and Anti-Oppression Perspectives:

I have been interested in social justice issues since the mid-1980’s. As a social worker, I recognize that often our “psychological problems” are actually natural responses to an unhealthy, unjust society.  Many of us have experienced oppression or prejudice in the forms of racism, sexism, heterosexism, anti-transness, ablism, classism, anti-fat bias, anti-muslim sentiment, or anti-semitism, etc. – or are descendants of people who suffered in this way (ancestral trauma). From that perspective, psychotherapy is not meant to make you better at adjusting to or accommodating these social problems, but hopefully instead will help you find a way to live your values and feel where you do have power within the realities of the world as it is. Another aspect of this perspective is that I try to be aware of the ways that my own privilege can influence my work with others, and to minimize that influence.

Accessing counseling sessions:

To help you with your search for the right therapist, I offer a free half-hour initial consultation.  You can call me at 503 . 380 . 5437 or contact me here: https://next.paubox.com/public/johannarayman/upload