Attending the Soul:
Psychotherapy &
Spirituality
The
Labyrinth Is A Symbol of the Inner Journey.
CLICK ON IMAGE for an introduction to
labyrinth tradition.
For another good labyrinth site CLICK HERE.
Jim Moyers, MA, MFT
Offices in Berkeley & Hayward,
California:
- 2424
Dwight Way, Suite 1, Berkeley, CA 94704
(mail address for both offices)
- 1345 B
Street, Hayward, CA 94541
- Phone:
(510) 843-2424 for both offices
-
Fax: (510)
843-2423
- email: jimmoyers@mac.com
I am a
psychotherapist practicing in the East San Francisco Bay Area where I
work with adult individuals and couples. I also supervise interns in
clinical training at The
Psychotherapy Institute and the Berkeley Creative
Living Center, a unique day program for
mentally ill adults where I am the clinical coordinator.
The Greek word, psyche,
translates as "breath, life, or soul" in English. "Therapy" is derived
from therapeia, the attendant who served both gods and humanity
in the temples of ancient Greece. Psychotherapy can thus be
said to be the sacred work of attending the soul, carefully nurturing
the most essential aspects of who and what one is. This is the idea at
the heart of my work as a psychotherapist, an "attendant of the soul."
According to the great Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung,
modern culture has lost contact with soul along with traditional means
of honoring it through myth, ritual, and spiritual practice. But, as
reluctant as we may be to acknowledge it, our secular society continues
to suffer affections of the soul. As Jung put
it, the gods who shaped the lives of the ancients have become the
dis-eases that afflict us. Psychotherapy as practiced by Jung and
those
who follow in his footsteps is, at its best, a means for reconnecting
with a mysterious Something deep within our being that gives
life purpose and meaning. It springs from much the same place as does
religious experience. However, psychotherapy differs from
institutionalized
religious practice in not imposing a dogmatic structure on human
experience. Rather than trying to shape the client to fit some
preconceived notion of what one should be, depth psychotherapy honors
the unique quality of each individual experience of self and the world.
Soul focused psychotherapy is rare in these days of
quick fixes, measurable outcomes, and cost effectiveness. It takes time
and effort to connect with soul. The goal of depth psychotherapy is not
not so much symptom relief as it is the discovery of meaning in
symptoms which, as
Jung repeatedly pointed out, are the soul's means for getting our
attention.
Something special happens when two people regularly meet over a period
of time to
explore the life of one of them. There is something almost
magical
about the process of telling one's story to a carefully attuned and
caring listener. Change comes not so much through learning new
ways
of being, connecting past experience to the present, gaining insight,
etc. although these things and more do occur. Rather, healing
comes through the experience of having one's soul carefully attended
to and understood.
In my
practice I use a variety of techniques such as dreamwork, sandtray,
artwork, and attention to bodily felt experience, but more than
anything else I very carefully listen to the particular story each
person has to tell. I make suggestions from time to time, ask
questions, and share my thoughts as we go along. But always my
primary
goal is to help each client discover the particular meaning of her or
his unique journey. It is an honor and a privilege to be asked to
attend someone for a little part of their journey through life.
It is a
work unlike any other.
Curriculum Vitae
Click
here to view a statement of my privacy policy as required by federal law (HIPPA).
My
Clinical Interests Include:
- RELATIONSHIPS -
How we come together with others. Communication patterns in
relationships. Learning to value and respect differences. Intimate
relationship as a way to heal old wounds and move towards greater
wholeness.
- TRANSITIONS AND
LIFE CYCLE CHANGES in individuals, couples, families, and groups.
- GENDER ISSUES
in individuals and relationships, sexual
orientation and identity; how we think about masculine and
feminine.
- MENTAL ILLNESS
- While this is not a major aspect of
my private practice, I have a great deal of experience working in
treatment programs for those afflicted by severe and persistent mental
illness. The National Alliance
for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) has up to date
information and resources reflecting a mainstream, primarily medical
model perspective. Originally formed by parents and siblings of people
suffering from major mental illness, NAMI is a very active and
effective lobbying group for issues involving mental illness. The Beyond Madness Webring has about
200 sites with both mainstream and alternative perspectives on mental
health issues.
- JUNGIAN
PSYCHOLOGY - Carl Jung's pioneering work has
been very important in shaping my view of the psyche. There is
lots of information on Jungian psychology on the web. The C. G. Jung Page is an excellent place to begin.
- CONTEMPORARY
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY - While
I am not a trained psychoanalytist, I find recent developments in
psychoanalytic ideas fascinating. Psychoanalysis has come a long
way since Sigmund Freud began modern psychotherapy in 1900 with the
publication of his book, The
Interpretation
of Dreams.
The past few decades have seen major revisions of psychoanalytic
theory, moving away from Freud's emphasis on instinctual drives and
their frustration to the role of empathy and the experience of being
understood in the context of a caring relationship as key factors in
shaping as well as healing the psyche. There are many diverse but
also convergent threads in contemporary psychoanalytic thought, much of
which was prefigured in Jung's work, which ironically has been mostly
ignored by the psychoanalytic meanstream. Most recently the hard
science of brain research and contemporary psychoanalytic theory have
been brought together in the work of people like Daniel Segal and Alan
Sloan at UCLA.
If you are
looking for a psychotherapist here are some online therapy
referral resources:
Religious
Studies & Spirituality
Links
My
undergraduate degree is in Religious Studies and I continue to have a
strong interest in the scholarly study of religion, especially early
Christianity, heterodox movements such as gnosticism, and new
religions. A few of the many interesting sites on these topics are:
- Spiritual Minds.com (lots of New Age type material) & Belief Net.com
(more traditional religions) offer a wealth of information as well as
links to a vast range of religion/spirituality sites.
- The Virtual Religion Index is a wide ranging list of links to scholarly material
(much of which is accessible to non-scholars) on religion and related
topics. Lots of fascinating browsing.
- Biblical
Archaeology Review - Biblical scholarship
made accessible. This journal was instrumental several years ago
in
breaking the monopoly a few scholars had on the Dead Sea scrolls and
continues to be active in covering and sometimes creating controversy
in a field that is full of disputes.
- Society of Biblical Literature was founded in 1880 to further the scholarly study of
the Bible and associated literature. Membership is open to any
interested individual with membership fee based on a sliding
scale!
- The
Jewish-Roman World of Jesus has a wealth of
information by noted Biblical scholar, James Tabor on early
Christianity, its cultural context, and apocalyptic tradition.
Tabor is also the co-author of an important book on the apocalyptic
Branch Davidian group and the FBI's tragic mishandling of the events at
Waco.
- Gnostic Society Library - has information, including lectures and ancient
texts, from a fascinating early rival of orthodox Christianity.
Jung was very interested
in Gnosticism as an expression of what had been repressed by mainstream
Christianity.
- Unitarian-Universalism is a liberal religious tradition based upon freedom
of conscience, social justice, and respect for individual pursuit of
truth. While Unitarian-Universalism has its origins in heterodox
Christian movements rejecting the dogmas of the trinity and eternal
damnation, its members now embrace a wide range of diverse beliefs.
- Grace Cathedral offers a refreshing alternative to the dogmatic
Christianity I grew up with. The Labyrinth Walk at Grace is a profound meditative experience.
- Buddhist Virtual
Library has lots of information and
resources. You can follow the Zen Webring to explore the Buddhist tradition that has perhaps
had the greatest success in America.
- Introduction
to Hinduism is an excellent guide to the many
varied strands of the primary religious tradition of India. The Hindu Webring has many links to sites relating to many aspects of
Hinduism.
- Parabola Magazine - "Myth, Tradition, and the Search for Meaning." A
wonderful quarterly devoted to just what the subtitle says.
- Gnosis Magazine
- "A Journal of the Western Inner Tradition." High quality and always
fascinating articles on a greatly neglected subject area. Sadly Gnosis
is
no longer being published. However the web site is still up and
back issues are still available.
- The Skeptical Inquirer
published
by the Center for Skeptical Inquiry can help in keeping at least
one foot on the ground amid the multitude of contending and contrary
truth claims. Fascinating browsing even if
you are not a skeptic!
But
all this fades into nothingness when measured against the
incomprehensible whole relative to which our world appears for a brief
instant with no more significance than a speck of dust. Just to keep
things in perspective, check out the Astronomy
Picture of the Day or the Hubble
Gallery Page.
A sample
image from the Hubble Gallery follows:
Two
Spiral Galaxies In Near Collision
Click on image for more information.
This page created 4/1/98
Updated 11/30/07
Original Material © James C. Moyers
mail to:jimmoyers@mac.com