Answer Your Questions Regarding My Counseling and Therapy

- I am centrally located in Berkeley, California.

I offer premium concierge services available for discerning individuals. I travel to your home, office, or other convenient comfortable locations. Sessions are also available by encrypted videoconferences and telephone.

My concierge services and online zoom sessions are available on days and evenings.

I work with individuals, entrepreneurs and business owners seeking substance abuse relapse prevention… and individuals diagnosed by a physician with chronic pain.

I also help family relationships, improve family communications, and create collaborative family mission statements.

My program offers clients an alternative and complementary approach to western medicine.

In addition, with consent from their physicians, clients in the Help Heal Me program can work out a plan to wean off their medications.

Help Heal Me is a curriculum-style therapy and restoration program that is personalized to your needs – to your body and your recovery.

A block of ten (10) sessions is the standard treatment package, which gives the needed structure for timely, achievable goals.

Each session brings measured benefits in a step-wise program personalized to your condition.

I do not take insurance, but I am happy to provide an out-of-network provider documentation or “super bill” so that you can file for reimbursement with your insurance company.
Payment is expected prior to starting a block of sessions.

Please call or email me for a free 15-minute consultation. From there we can make your first appointment:
(510) 901-1200 / [email protected].

Clients who cancel 24 hours prior to their scheduled appointment will not be charged.
Clients who cancel with less than a 24-hours notice will be charged for the session time unless a verifiable emergency caused the cancellation.
For late arrivals, I am available up to 20 minutes into the session time. If the client fails to arrive within the initial 20 minutes, the session will be rescheduled. Should this occur, the session will be noted as a “no show” and be assessed one session time against the 10-session block.

In the first session, it helps to get a clear picture of your situation. We’ll do an intake that includes a medical and personal history. I’ll provide survey questionnaires to help you round out your story.

In the beginning sessions, you will learn the basic foundation of Qigong Standing to Moving Meditation techniques to reduce stress and rebuild your energy (Qi).

Beginning with soft, gentle, flowing meditative movements, it is possible to experience symptom relief, discover insights, and restore energy.

During our sessions, we’ll address themes or life issues you’ve identified. As we walk through your stories, I’ll guide you along the path in a way that will reveal clues that will positively affect your life.

This word in Chinese describes life force energy. We had a lot of it at birth, called natal qi. As we got on with life, we either blew it away until we ran out of it, or we were fortunate enough to find a master to teach how to cultivate and preserve the qi.

Cultivating your life force is called postnatal qi, or replenishing your life force through a proper amalgamation of techniques – breathing, visualizations, sitting and standing postures, meditative movements, and others.

Using this analogy, Qigong is like the gas in your car, and the car is Tai Chi, referred to as moving meditation. This means, if you don’t have the gas (Qi), your car (Tai Chi) cannot go very far. Indeed, the “Tai Chi car” might look fancy, but it’s not going anywhere without gas (Qi).

In good time, with consistent practice, the fluid Tai Chi movements become a natural part of your day-to-day movements. Balance and walking motions are light yet grounded. The breath flows naturally as a baby’s breath from the belly that fills the lungs completely. Circulation and cardio systems flow easily coordinated with graceful movements, like swimming in the air.

Philosophically, Tai Chi believes in the natural dynamic balance of the universe. This spontaneous state of dynamic balance includes the balance between light and dark, movement and stillness, waves and particles. Hence, as one performs the Tai Chi movements, the practitioner embodies the expansive philosophy and theoretical notions. Simply stated, it’s the union of yin and yang, concepts that speak to the profound natural balance of order of the universe.

There are three levels of attainment in your personalized recovery program.

1. The first level lays the foundation and basic elements used in Qigong and Tai Chi Chuan movements.
2. The second level weaves the foundation into movements and sets that hold the secret ingredients to your healing program.
3. The third level is reached when the movements and postures are no longer only in the practice but in your entire daily life.

The results will be profound. Sometimes unexplainable. Others familiar with you will notice the changes. You may have an unusually brighter vitality. Your endurance gives you more capacity. Ordinary colds seem to have no effect on you. Your movements glide gracefully. The aches and pains you had been so familiar with are noticeably reduced.

Research studies report that Qigong and Tai Chi Chuan “…activates the natural self-regulatory (self-healing) capacity, stimulating the balanced release of endogenous neurohormones.” Jahnke, Roger, et al. Am J Health Promot. 2010 JUL-AUG; 24(6): e1–e25. NCBI, A Comprehensive Review of Health Benefits of Qigong and Tai Chi

There are numerous benefits to practicing moving meditation forms. Among the many benefits, better physical health correlates with cardiopulmonary functions, reduces arthritic symptoms, minimizes stress responses, reduces pain reactions, and improves the quality of sleep. On the mental health side, it can lower anxiety, improve memory, repair cognitive loss, help raise endurance, and lift mild depression.

Practice exercises are part and parcel of your evolution. This is a change maker.

Every day of practice brings opportunities to discover hidden layers, like hidden gems that lay dormant waiting for your discovery. When you bring those discoveries to your sessions, we’ll polish them to reveal the value of their inner messages.

My Ph.D. is in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis on Organizational Development.

My 35 years as a professional mental health counselor and Qigong master have brought clients to me seeking alternative and complementary approaches to whole mind-body health. I’ve done this work with a variety of clients – from senior positions in startup businesses to individuals turning their life around from addictions.

I am qualified to instruct Qigong and Tai Chi Chuan on health; remediate client’s chronic issues with moving meditations; facilitate mental health counseling; coach spectrum autism behavior interventions for children and teens; and cultivate somatic dynamics between people and animals.

Required is a mind open to receiving benefits from alternative therapies and complementary practices.

Not required but suggested is a recommendation from a qualified medical professional for complementary and alternative recovery modalities.

Generally, accumulating Qi and the subsequent flow happens in proportion to the amount of time put into your practice. Like recharging your battery, a longer charge gets you more juice.

Inconsistent practice means you will gradually deplete your Qi reserves, like using up the principal in your bank account. Daily practice translates into building up your Qi bank account.

As you’ve accumulated more Qi, your interest grows in proportion to the time you put into practice. This saved Qi compounds in the same way your bank account grows with compound interest.

One thing: As your practice begins to slow down the aging process, people will ask, “How old are you, really!?”

Noticing a change in your condition, your doctor might ask what you’ve been doing. After you’ve explained that you’ve been in individual counseling and practicing a form of moving meditation and Qigong, say nothing more. Just wait and observe the reactions. Oh, and be sure and say, “Thank you.”

I love sharing my knowledge and healthy living practices with my clients and students; they reply that the reassuring and comforting tone of my voice offers them a haven of refreshing calmness.