Joya DCruz
MA, LMFT
My Approach
"Your healer, counselor, teacher and guide are within you"
I work with people at the level where transformation happens, at the heart of their fear, confusion, stuck-ness, pain or reactivity. My role is to pay close attention and allow myself to be informed by people's own processes as I guide them.
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The foundation of my approach lies in helping people to cultivate a caring and curious attitude towards themselves, their relationships and their lives. This facilitates the genuine desire and the possibility for any change that wants to happen.
Felt sensing, observed and named by Dr. Eugene Gendlin, is a natural somatic practice of attending to our life experiences in a physical, emotional, mental, and energetic way. This body-oriented mindful practice is at the core of my work.
We are deeply connected to each other and to all life, across space and time. We are also part of a complex web of political, social and familial systems, impacting our unique brain-bodies and personalities. This awareness grows in our time together, inviting true understanding and compassion for oneself and others.
When experiences are unbearable, we develop natural ways to cope. These traumatic responses may appear as reactivity, shutting down, violence to self or other, and what often gets diagnosed as ‘mental illness.’ Sometimes trauma manifests as physical illness or a diminished zest for life. I help people transform the suffering held in their bodies into healthy and powerful strengths.