Learn to Create the Change You Seek
Each and every one of us learned how to function in the world from our families while growing up. Whether our families consisted of a single parent, a large family full of siblings, or an orphanage, our families helped us form blueprints of how to survive and flourish in the world.
Some of the experiences from our childhood were beneficial. Some of them may have limited our expression of ourselves. No matter what you might think, all of us have experienced hurt in different ways while growing up and were psychologically wounded, even if those wounds seem subtle. This is normal and part of what makes us human.
As humans, we also share the same concerns in regard to major life themes: safety and belonging, getting support and having our needs met, being loved and accepted for who we are and not for what we do, freedom and responsibility, honesty and trust, control and power. However, each of us is stronger in some areas than in others… Just another part of being unique human beings.
Who we are and how we relate to the world can be understood by discovering and working through our underlying beliefs, experiences, memories, and feelings. These, along with the choices we've made, shape our attitudes, behaviors, and reactions to the world around us.
By intentionally exploring our beliefs about the world, we can create a new perspective, begin to make new choices, and experience ourselves and others in a fresh way. This is precisely the goal of the work I do with my clients.
How Unique Therapeutic Techniques Can Create Unique Solutions For You
My name is Marti Elvebak, and for nearly 20 years I've been helping people discover who they are, what they want out of life, and how to achieve it.
In order to help clients achieve their goals, I offer body-oriented, spiritually-based, attachment-informed, experiential psychotherapy and trauma recovery work. In short, the psychotherapy services I offer are not about "talking out" your problems. I provide a transformation-based, healing-oriented model of therapy.
While many styles of therapy may be effective, my clients have found that my unique blend of Hakomi and Psychosynthesis therapy is the most direct and efficient way to heal their pain and move forward in their lives.
The Hakomi method is based on the idea that much of our everyday suffering is unnecessary and is produced by unconscious beliefs that are no longer relevant, true, or necessary. The method is designed to bring such beliefs into consciousness in order to transform them. Hakomi is a body-centered method of assisted self-study and discovery. It can bring normally inaccessible mental processes into consciousness gently and efficiently. Once mental processes — such as habits or beliefs — are made conscious, they can be examined and modified to provide a more realistic and satisfying way of living.
Psychosynthesis brings into awareness our various parts, our internal committee of "selves" that operate at different times. Some of these parts may feel like younger versions of ourselves within us — often the ones who got hurt, scared, or enraged while growing up. Through Psychosynthesis and the other forms of therapy I provide, you can get to know these parts of yourself and cultivate the ability to disidentify with aspects of yourself that are causing distress in your life. The Psychosynthesis method can also bring into consciousness your higher self… the spiritual aspect of who you are.
The process known as mindfulness is the route to our core material, and hence, to our healing. Mindfulness is a quiet state of consciousness that allows us to observe our internal experiences. Mindfulness is a deliberate state of paying attention, with the intention of learning about ourselves.
In therapy with me, your core beliefs will be evoked through different experiments. We might notice how you respond to a simple statement delivered in a state of mindfulness. We will explore the impulses stored in your body through movement. Through these experiments, emotions, memories, images, and beliefs can emerge. By bringing to light what has been hidden, you will be able to free yourself from the limitations of your past.
More Than Just Talking Through Your Problems — The Efficiency and Efficacy of Body-Oriented Psychotherapy
The body is the gateway to our internal world. When we discover our body, we discover our own particular wisdom. In each and every moment our bodies are expressing exactly who we are, not only in the present but also the reflections of our past experiences.
Body-oriented, mindfulness-based therapy is not about talking out your problems. We won't engage in a long, speculative, analytical conversation about your troubles or your emotional history. Your emotional history — the part of it that has created the unconscious beliefs and habits with which you meet the world — is operating right now. Your history is written in the way you do things every minute.
In therapy sessions, we will explore your body state in the moment, revealing the struggles and the growing edges. As you become immersed in the struggle, we can then add new healing information in order for you to experience what was missing in your life and how it feels to incorporate it.
Because this is a very direct route to discovering and healing the wounds from your past, the healing occurs faster than with most other forms of psychotherapy. This is not to say it is easier. The work we do together will, at times, bring up intense emotions that can be uncomfortable to deal with. However, as a professional I am skilled at containing the process, providing direction and stability, and helping you understand what's happening and how it can help.
How You Can Help Yourself —
Your Body, Your Healing, Your Life
I will guide you in the process of mindfulness in every session. By working directly with your nonverbal expressions of pain and your expressions of healing, significant progress often occurs in every session.
The work we do together will be even more effective if you can:
- Stay with and talk about your present experiences;
- Study your reactions to experiments in mindfulness;
- Get into a calm, inward focused state and remain open to your reactions; and
- Experience painful feelings and speak about them openly.
I am interested in what has happened to you. I want to hear your stories. It is important for me that you be given the time to share the events that have happened in your life, their implications, and how they've resulted in your current distress.
As you tell your story, your body spontaneously begins to tell a story of its own. You get a sensory reaction to the issue you've been talking about. You may experience tightness in your throat, a quivering in your belly, stiffness in your arms, or heaviness around your heart. We will pay attention to and explore your subtle body gestures and movements. These are the moments of opportunity.
Your body can be the doorway to your healing. By being mindful of your body's sensations, we allow the information to unfold and patiently observe what meanings emerge from the process. New insights present themselves. Problems are resolved. Solutions become evident and feel achievable from a deep knowing inside.
You can feel emotional relief and a more solid sense of yourself. Through mindfulness-based psychotherapy, you will experience a sense of the truth which promotes a deep self-acceptance and leads to positive, lasting change.
While the work can be difficult, the rewards are almost too numerous to recount. Relief from persistent distressing emotions and behaviors, a reduction in the intensity of painful memories, and a deeper understanding of yourself and your world, are just a few of the benefits you'll experience from our work together.
If you want more freedom to choose your thoughts and feelings, greater pleasure in everyday living, and the ability to engage in fuller, richer, more rewarding relationships, I encourage you to contact me today. I can be reached at 650-949-0456 or therapist@martielvebak.com. It's never too late to reclaim your life, but why wait another day?
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