When the resistance is gone, so is the demon. - Pema Chodron
If you are facing your own "demons" (see the story below), you do not need to face them alone. Amanda can help you through internal conflict, intense emotion and relationship issues in a safe, confidential and unconditional space.
Some reasons clients contact Amanda:
Some reasons clients contact Amanda:
- Cultivate self-awareness
- Overcome obstacles
- Manage intense emotions like shame, anxiety, anger, or sadness
- Address conflict and power issues in any relationship
- Learn how to live with paradox
- Cope with grief and loss
- Explore shadow and learn to weave the light with the dark
- Move past sexual shame and explore sexuality (Note: no nudity or sexual acts occur in therapy)
- Help navigating polyamorous or open relationships
Modalities:
- Contemplative Psychotherapy
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Focusing and Somatic Exploration
- Life Coaching
Amanda's training in Contemplative Psychotherapy differs from other, more traditional methods of counseling in that she brings to the therapeutic relationship qualities of mindfulness and compassion in order to help clients access their fundamental goodness and natural wisdom. With years of therapeutic experience, a Master's Degree in Contemplative Psychology and a Doctorate of Psychology, Amanda has the education and experience to help you get back to balance.
720-938-8715 amanda@restorativeintegration.com
Milarepa's Story
Milarepa is one of the lineage holders of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He is one of the heroes, one of the brave ones, a very crazy, unusual fellow. He was a loner who lived in caves by himself and meditated wholeheartedly for years. He was extremely stubborn and determined. If he could not find anything to eat for a couple of years, he just ate nettles and turned green, but he never stopped practicing.
One evening Milarepa returned to his cave after gathering firewood, only to find it filled with demons. They were cooking his food, reading his books, sleeping in his bed. They had taken over the joint. He knew about non duality of self and other, but he still did not quite know how to get these guys out of his cave. Even though he had the sense that they were just a projection of his own mind - all the unwanted parts of himself - he did not know how to get rid of them.
So, first he taught them the dharma. He sat on a seat that was higher than they were and said things to them about how we are all one. He talked about compassion and shunyata and how poison is medicine. Nothing happened. The demons were still there. Then he lost his patience and got very angry and ran at them. They just laughed at him. Finally, he gave up and just sat down on the floor, saying, “I am not going away and it looks like you are not either, so let us just live here together.“
And at that point, all of them left except one. Milarepa said, “Oh, this one is particularly vicious.“ (We all know that one. Sometimes we have lots of them like that. Sometimes we feel that is all we have got.) He did not know what to do, so he just surrendered himself even further. He walked over and put himself right into the mouth of the demon and said, “Just eat me up, if you want to.“ Then the demon left too. The moral of the story is, when the resistance is gone, so are the demons.
-“From Start Where You Are” by Pema Chodron (Shambala Publications)
Milarepa is one of the lineage holders of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He is one of the heroes, one of the brave ones, a very crazy, unusual fellow. He was a loner who lived in caves by himself and meditated wholeheartedly for years. He was extremely stubborn and determined. If he could not find anything to eat for a couple of years, he just ate nettles and turned green, but he never stopped practicing.
One evening Milarepa returned to his cave after gathering firewood, only to find it filled with demons. They were cooking his food, reading his books, sleeping in his bed. They had taken over the joint. He knew about non duality of self and other, but he still did not quite know how to get these guys out of his cave. Even though he had the sense that they were just a projection of his own mind - all the unwanted parts of himself - he did not know how to get rid of them.
So, first he taught them the dharma. He sat on a seat that was higher than they were and said things to them about how we are all one. He talked about compassion and shunyata and how poison is medicine. Nothing happened. The demons were still there. Then he lost his patience and got very angry and ran at them. They just laughed at him. Finally, he gave up and just sat down on the floor, saying, “I am not going away and it looks like you are not either, so let us just live here together.“
And at that point, all of them left except one. Milarepa said, “Oh, this one is particularly vicious.“ (We all know that one. Sometimes we have lots of them like that. Sometimes we feel that is all we have got.) He did not know what to do, so he just surrendered himself even further. He walked over and put himself right into the mouth of the demon and said, “Just eat me up, if you want to.“ Then the demon left too. The moral of the story is, when the resistance is gone, so are the demons.
-“From Start Where You Are” by Pema Chodron (Shambala Publications)