OUR PHILOSOPHY

SAGE RIVER PHILOSOPHY

Working with one of us means focusing on your relationships–your relationship to yourself, to others, and to the world around you. We believe that all of us are fundamentally relational beings, and that therapy and mindfulness training are both processes of moving from automatic (reactive) relating to responsive relating.

Perhaps Victor Frankl captured it best when he wrote: “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

When we know how to find that space, and live from it, we feel more alive, and our relationships become safer, more compassionate, and more authentic.

Whether you are signing up for an MSC Course, or beginning couples therapy or individual therapy, we will be inviting you to let us help you to move from reactivity to responsiveness.

Perhaps you might take a moment right now to think about your habits in relating to yourself and those you love. Are you harsh with yourself–always telling yourself that you’re too this, or not enough that? Are you hiding yourself away in an effort to manage what others seem to expect of you? What does your body feel like as you think about your habits? Is your jaw tight? Is your brow furrowed? What’s happening in your shoulders? Your chest and stomach?

Now perhaps you might imagine a life in which you enjoyed safe, compassionate, and authentic relationships with yourself and others. What does that feel like in your body? If it feels hard to imagine that life, you’re not alone. Perhaps, then, our task is to introduce you to this experience for the first time. You don’t need to have any particular set of feelings, skills, or experiences to begin the journey with us (although we will certainly be interested in honoring the strengths you bring with you). The only requirement is a willingness to begin.