About SABRINA SANTA CLARA
MA, R-DMT, RMT, RYT

It's probably not relevant that I live on Kashi bars and that I adore animals. But if you're thinking about coming to see me, which is pretty vulnerable on your part, I think it's only fair that you know something about me. I've tried to put things here that will help you get a feel for who I am and how that will be relevant to our time together. I hope it's helpful.

Body & Movement

I've always been a body/movement-oriented person. I took my first dance classes when I was 4, lost dance in my childhood, and found it again in my late teens, about the same time that I found bodybuilding. I began to study dance more seriously when I was in community college. I eventually changed my dance major because I really hated performing. It made me too aware of the outside form of me, and for someone who was recovering from an eating disorder, that wasn't a good thing. What I loved (and still love) about dance was the feeling I got while moving. I love being able to put on music that matches my mood, and literally move through my sadness or happiness or whatever I'm feeling. While I continued to dance off and on throughout my life, it wasn't until I entered graduate school in my early 40s that I appeared again on stage again. This time, I kept my focus internal and thought of my "performance" as an offering - something personal and vulnerable that I was giving as a gift.

I became a massage therapist when I was 25, and still continue with the work, though no longer as a full-time practice. I've also been practicing yoga since about the same age and am a registered yoga teacher. Both my experience as a massage therapist and a yoga practitioner/teacher, have deepened my awareness of my own internal experience and has sensitized me to perceiving the internal experience of others. What this means is that I often have a good sense of what my clients' are going through - emotionally, energetically, and physically. I never, however, assume that my perceptions are my clients' reality. It does mean, though, that I'm likely to "get" you, understand you, and be even more compassionate perhaps than other therapists who don't have this ability.

Multicultural

I grew up in California next to the Mexican border. The experience of being a White minority has shaped me in ways I've only recognized since moving to a predominately White state. I experience myself as a bicultural person, with all the complications associated with that, such as feeling a pull and attachment to both cultures, but also never fully fitting in either one. I spent most my adult life in San Francisco, a highly diverse city. My family is culturally and racially mixed. What this has given me is an appreciation for and acceptance of difference. This appreciation for and acceptance of difference makes me, I believe, a better therapist.

Spirituality

Spirituality and my relationship to what I call god/spirit is a really important part of my life, and has been since I was pretty young - although how I experience and practice my spirituality is very different than it was when I was younger. For me, god is experiential. I'm not so interested in hashing out the nuances of what god is or isn't. For me god is a feeling I have when I am connected to others or the planet. I feel it most often when I'm chanting, dancing, doing yoga, loving friends, out in nature, etc. The path that I follow is Tantric in nature. I am involved in Buddhist, Jewish, Pagan, Hindu/Yogic, and Neo-Christian practices.

I have, however, studied a lot of religions so I can speak the language of a variety of religions. I have a deep respect for others' experience of god/spirit. My respect for difference and my ability to speak the language of god and spirituality means I am able to work with people who have a diverse range of beliefs and values, including those that are atheist.

Creativity & Artistic Expression

I am not an artist. I don't have loads of artistic training, but that doesn't stop me from being creative or artistic. In fact, artistic expression has been a constant throughout my life, though the medium changes. Sometimes it is poetry or prose, drawing or painting, making art from discarded items, making jewelry or making a home. I do believe that creative expression is healing, regardless of the final product.

For me there is a state of mind I enter into when being creative that I think of as a stillness of mind. It's not that there isn't any movement in my brain. Rather, I experience it as an ocean with waves and ripples, but also a vast sea of perpetuity. I enter that sea and it heals me, calms me, and grounds me. I also find creative expression healing because I am often moving through some conflict or some internal process and there is something cathartic about seeing my internal state externally expressed. When helpful and desired, I help clients to connect more with their innate creativity and teach them ways to incorporate creativity in their personal exploration.

Healing & Psychotherapy

I love my vocation and feel called to do this work. I always tell people that I have the best job because I get paid for loving people, being compassionate, and helping others out. Being of service and caring for others has shown up in my employment since I began working as a Massage Therapist. It continued in my work as a Human Resources Director. In fact, it was the coaching and counseling aspect of human resources that I loved the most and part of the reason I decided to study Hakomi and Internal Family Systems, and eventually to get my Masters in Somatic Counseling Psychology.

I actually had a desire to be a psychotherapist when I was doing my undergraduate work in Sociology. I didn't think I could be a psychotherapist because I thought I had to be perfect before I could help someone else. What I have come to learn since then is that I am never going to arrive at perfection. I'll evolve. I'll get better and wiser. But, I am going to have issues throughout my life and I'm not going to be grounded and sane every moment of my life. What I do know now is that I can observe my moments of ungroundedness and nuttiness and that those moments don't have to take over me - I can keep my wise woman with me even while I'm experiencing difficulty.

This is the wisdom I offer my clients. I help them resolve childhood issues and old wounds, but I also teach them how to work with those issues in the present, and how to work with current life drama from a mindful state so that life's challenges don't overwhelm them.

March 2010 Update

The new office on Main Street in Old Town Louisville is now open . Please call for a free 30 minute consultation. Weekend and evening appointments are available.

Something to ponder

The thought manifests as the word.
The word manifests as the deed.
The deed develops into habit.
Habit hardens into character.
So watch the thought and its ways with care
And let it spring out of love
Born out of concern for all beings.
As the shadow follows the body,
As we think so we become

Dhammapada. The Buddha

Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There's a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.

About SABRINA SANTA CLARA MA, R-DMT, RMT, RYT

March 2010 Update

Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering.
There's a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.

About SABRINA SANTA CLARA
MA, R-DMT, RMT, RYT