New Monday Evening Group Forming, 7:00-8:30

FREE INTROS- Mondays June 13, 20, 27, July 11, 18.   1197 Valencia email for door code or ring bell.

1 Opening still available in my Thursday 6:00 to 7:30 group

Come join us as each week we work on the issues that matter most to us

Here are some of the skills you wil learn and the themes you will explore:

• How to get less anxious, less stressed and more in touch with yourself in the present moment. 
• A communication method that will open new doors into your relationships and intimacy. 
• Somatic skills for centering & containment of emotions
• Tools to interrupt depression and the depressive response to stress and conflict. 
• Exploring and containing your anger, while at the same time openning to a more viatlized relationship to yourself. 
• Ways to avoid your triggers and how to get unstuck from old roles
• Patterns of intimacy and autonomy and deepening you capacity for satisfaction.
• Explore your patterns of the "authority issue" that impact your inner sense of authority and personal power, and that impact your ability to assert yourself in relationships, in parenting and at work.
• Learn the "secret Language" of group dynamics and learn to take these dynamics less personally, and even use them to support your development. 
• If you are managing an abuse or trauma history you will learn tools to stabilize and integrate emotional states and work with trust issues.
• This group is open to men who identify as straight, bi, gay or polyamerous. It's open to men of all ages, classes and ethnicities. 

Unique Persons, Universal Dilemmas: The symptoms we struggle with often come from a common source, an inauthentic relationship with our Self.  Whether you are anxious, stressed, tense, suffer from depression or uncontrolled anger, these come when you are out of a balance with your life energy. if you are stuck in repetitive patterns of blocked communication or old roles, dissatisfying intimacy or sexuality, this group can be for you. As you learn the life skills I train in the group, you will learn tools that gradually help you gain access to your authentic self.

Therapist Details

I bring 30 years experience in the helping professions to my work with groups, with advanced training in somatic (Bodynamic Analysis), developmental, psychodynamic, trauma and relational psychologies. I have studied for 10 years with Yvonne Agazarian in the Systems-Centered approach to working in groups, and am a member of the Northern California Group Psychotherapy Society.

I teach group dynamics at JFK University and California Institute of Integral Studies and offer on-going workshops in Denmark and the Netherlands. I also work with teams and organizations with a focus on helping task groups achieve their goals.

All my groups are relationship-centered, body-centered, present-centered and systems-oriented. These are hard-working groups in that you will explore deeply, work together with others deeply and learn powerful life skills that will impact your daily life. You will learn skills that will influence all kinds of relationship, from intimate partnerships to parenting to friendships and your work roles.

Most importantly you will change your relationship to yourself, how you experience yourself and your capacity to experience and contain emotions. You will get less stressed, less anxious, more present and at ease with yourself, and you will become more authentic and tuned into yourself and the world around you. Much of our suffering comes when we miss the context of the events in our lives. We take things personally and become triggered, rather than seeing the systemic nature of our relationships, families, and organizations. As you learn to take things less personally and begin to see more of the system dynamics that impact your relationships, you will become more free of the chronic repetetive patterns that bind you.

My groups are primarily presented-centered, meaning that we learn from the aliveness in the moment rather than the past. Our stories often divert us from the alive present which is our greatest learning laboratory. These groups are challenging but not confrontive.Members don't interrogate each other or offer advice. Instead, the engine of the group is working side by side finding a shared resonance with the systems communication method called "Functional Subgrouping".  

Please take advantage of the free introductions I frequently offer to get a sense of how I run my groups. Check my website for dates and for articles that further describe my approach to groups and the systems thinking behind it.