Therapist Directory

Being a human being is challenging. We are all seeking some sort of reliable refuge. Unfortunately, most of us have internalized the notion that refuge is to be found in external phenomena–other people, places, and things. While these external phenomena can be pleasing, reality dictates that they are inherently impermanent and unsatisfactory. In addition, most of us have internalized our likes and dislikes in ways that have given rise to a crystallized belief in the existence of one’s self, the defense and protection of which may dictate much of our decision-making through adulthood.

I offer unique reality attunement therapy to help my clients move into greater alignment with the natural order of things. Through an integration of cognitive behavioral, Gestalt, and existential approaches, reality attunement therapy will help you move toward an internalized, felt sense of the true, ephemeral nature of things. You will become comfortable with the uncomfortable. You will come to embrace the not-knowing. It is through this attunement to present-moment experience that the discovery of reliable refuge becomes possible. It is my professional calling to help cultivate this grounded sense in others.

I am fascinated by human behavior. Through the years, I have had an endless stream of timely support and teachers for whom I am grateful. I have been a daily meditator for almost thirty years. After college, I attended Boston University School of Law and have practiced law and mediation since that time, integrating mindfulness and psychology into my practice (see www.holistic-lawyer.com). I recently completed a weekend graduate program at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, where I received my master’s degree in counseling psychology. I am a vegetarian, work out daily, and eliminated drugs and alcohol from my life several years ago. My actions today are driven by a consistent pull to help others and make the world a better place.

Following graduation from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst as a psychology major, I attended law school at Boston University. After law school, I worked as an attorney in a large law firm in addition to subsequent positions in litigation management and professional marketing for law firms. For the past several years, I have also offered mediation services and have worked to integrate mindfulness and psychology into my practice. In 2016 I completed a year-long, 300-hour mindfulness in law teacher training program, and in 2019, I received my master of arts in counseling psychology from the Wright Institute in Berkeley with a GPA of 3.74.

My unique reality attunement therapy draws from several classical theories including cognitive behavioral, rational emotive, client-centered, Gestalt, and existential approaches. These theories are informed by Buddhist psychology and mindfulness drawn from my daily 30-year meditation practice. The foundation for successful work together requires the creation of a safe, supported therapeutic environment conducive to the flourishing of a natural sense of curiosity. I work with my clients to move beyond dualistic thinking, entrenched conditioning, and habitual reactions. By connecting with a felt sense of what is, clients begin to open to new ways of relating to their experience. In feeling supported and safe to explore, we work to examine existential questions with which we all wrestle as human beings. We come to experientially realize what it means to be alive.

My guiding values include curiosity and an ability to open to life in its moment-to-moment unfolding. Obviously, these are concepts. Ultimately freedom and inner peace come more through letting go of concepts and settling into more pure awareness. I believe that true wisdom arises out of pure awareness, or what some would call intuition. Having been an attorney for several years, I understand the allure and potential minefields associated with entrapment in analytical, conceptual thinking. To some extent we all form ideas of how life is, or how life needs to be, in order to realize our internalized notion of “happiness.” My reality attunement therapy helps clients move beyond conceptual thinking and more fully embrace the unfolding of moment-to-moment experience. I understand the arising of resistance to this reorientation to experience and will provide the therapeutic environment necessary for this fundamental work to take place.

• Young Adult: 18-25
• Adults: 25-65
• Seniors: 65+

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• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

Traditional psychotherapeutic approaches embrace intellectual theories of behavior that have been developed and promulgated by practitioners and academics over the past century. While intellectual theories of behavior and change provide a conceptual framework for communicating about human behavior and experience, they do not capture the essence of what it is like to be human. Grounding, clarity, and inner peace cannot be found in these widely disseminated and adopted theories. I believe that true, meaningful change requires what is called a corrective emotional experience. This requisite experience happens within the arising of specific causes and conditions. My reality attunement therapy stresses the experiential conditions necessary for meaningful change. I understand that the nature of change is unsettling. But if you are truly ready, willing, and able to explore change I would welcome the opportunity to work with you.

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$160

$80-$120

No

(415) 508-6263

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lexthera.com

Oakland City Center 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 319 Oakland, CA 94612

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Please give me a call or complete the form on my website to schedule a session. I offer a free 15-minute phone consultation prior to scheduling our first session.

Rawna Romero, LMFT 41466

03/26/2020