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Holistic Counselling & Psychotherapy, Penang – Transformational Therapy with Sarah-Joy

Holistic Counselling & Psychotherapy, Penang – Transformational Therapy with Sarah-Joy

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Holistic Counselling & Psychotherapy, Penang

Holistic Counselling & Psychotherapy, Penang – Transformational Therapy with Sarah-Joy

Transformational Therapy with Sarah-Joy

I am delighted to now offer holistic counselling and psychotherapy services as part of a professional training programme with the Australia-based Metavision Institute Intern Clinic. This will complement the current transformative coaching and energy healing services I’ve been offering for the past five years. This article covers why and how holistic counselling and psychotherapy can help you, the nature of my service, the arrangements and offer for participating in the Metavision Intern Clinic, as well as a brief background about the school of psychotherapy I’m coming from.

Why consider holistic counselling & psychotherapy?

Everyone needs support at some point or another in their lives. Support can come in many ways through family, friends and the community. Sometimes, however, more informed, trained and objective support through holistic counselling, free from prejudices and judgements, can take you much further in healing, resolving or transforming a personal problem, family or relationship conflict or dilemma.

Furthermore, deep rooted patterns within your unconscious, often unknown to you, can also cause repeated mental and emotional stress. Or, you may seem to be attracting similar unwanted life situations and don’t know why. Here psychotherapy can help you become aware of the root causes of your problems and gain more clarity in addressing them.

Holistic counselling and therapy is an approach which helps clients heal by taking the entire human being and their experiences into consideration during assessment and treatment. It treats a person’s physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs in an integrated way!

How can holistic counselling and psychotherapy help you?

Holistic therapy can help you with:

  • personal, family or work stresses;

  • relationship conflict with a family member, employer, colleague or friend;

  • a health or life challenge that may be creating mental and emotional anxiety, uncertainty and drains you of energy;

  • recurrent dreams, nightmares, childhood memories that may be disturbing and troubling and you would like to understand and resolve it;

  • a crossroad in life related to your job, marriage, work partnerships, moving or shifting residence or country, etc. – when you need to make a major decision that will have a long-term impact; and also

  • any spiritual experiences that may be confusing or even elating but you feel you need more clarity and guidance.

Through holistic counselling you will feel heard, acknowledged and supported.

Relevant guidance and tools will be offered to you where appropriate.

Through psychotherapy you will learn to develop increased personal awareness and better understand repressed thoughts, emotions, and experiences that may be negatively affecting your life. Understanding more about the unconscious parts of yourself is part of your journey to recovery.

Through the therapeutic process, you may discover appropriate solutions for yourself and learn to hear and trust your own intuitive guidance.

What can you expect from a therapy session with me?

Using the techniques of Holistic Counselling and Process Oriented Psychology (see below for description) I aim to support people from all walks of life regardless of race, religion, class, age, gender or sexual preference. All my sessions are totally respectful, caring of your needs, private and confidential. I abide by the Code of Ethics set out by the Psychotherapy and Counsellors Federation of Australia (PACFA) as well as the Malaysian Association of Psychotherapy (MPA).

My mission is to ensure that ALL clients are supported on a healing pathway that is personally uplifting and empowering to them! My motto is TRANSFORMING LIVES into Wellness, Freedom and Joy!

If you’re looking for a holistic, caring and intuitive approach to therapy then contact me for further information or to book a session.

How much is a session?

My rates for Transformative Coaching and general consultation is usually RM150 per hour. For the counselling and pscyhotherapy services as part of Metavision’s Intern clinic, I am offering a 30% discount or a package rate for several sessions. Students and those from lower income groups could be considered for a further reduction.

How to contact me? What days and times am I available during the week?

You can email, me at sarahjoyamin@gmail.com, send me an fb message via https://www.facebook.com/TransformingLivesPenang/ or whatsapp message or phonecall at 016-488 9328. I generally reply quite promptly but for longer emails or messages please allow a day or two latest especially over the weekend period.

I offer my services at The Space, 39-01 Lebuh Lembah Permai, Permai 32, Tanjung Bungah, Penang, Tel 012 447 0072 on Mondays 2-5pm and Fridays 1-4pm, or at my personal consultation space also in Tanjong Bungah on Monday, Tuesday and Friday mornings or Monday and Thursday evenings, as well as alternative Saturday afternoons, with the exception of public holidays. For specific times, this will be arranged by appointment.

What institutional basis supports the counselling and psychotherapy sessions?

My services are part of the Metavision Institute Intern Clinic. Metavision is an institute based in Bowral, Australia, offering graduate and post graduate professional training courses in Holistic Counselling and Psychotherapy. Its methods are “rooted in conscious and spiritual awareness; while their teachings are geared towards mental wellbeing.” Furthermore, its focus “extends from healing despair to unleashing the power of human potential.”

For more information about Metavision Institute, do check their website: https://metavision.com.au/courses/holistic-counselling-and-psychotherapy-course/

“Transformative change for the body, soul and spirit, where inner change generates outer change.” Metavision Institute, Australia

How reliable is the service provided by the Metavision Intern Clinic?

Metavision is accredited by the Psychotherapy and Counsellors Federation of Australia (PACFA). It runs an Intern Clinic for professional students in the two year Holistic Counselling and Psychotherapy Professional Training Programme, and includes serving clients such as yourself. This Clinic is overseen by Metavision’s professionally qualified staff and supervisors. Metavision also provides all clients who participate in the Intern Clinic with a counselling contract and feedback mechanism to contact the Institute should they have any questions and feedback about the therapy offered. Metavision has professional indemnity insurance coverage for all professional students in its programme.

What tradition of Psychotherapy is being offered?

The psychotherapy approach used here is called Process Oriented Psychology, also known as Process Work. This is a holistic psychotherapeutic approach which works on both the conscious and unconscious minds. Through working with the unconscious parts of you, deeper aspects not always obvious are revealed and brought into your awareness.

What is Process Oriented Psychology?

Process oriented psychology was developed in 1970s by Dr. Arnold Mindell, a physicist and psychologist. ”It is a trans-disciplinary approach that integrates principles from Jungian psychology, physics, and information theory”. It also draws from the wisdom and teachings of Buddhism, Taoism, and various indigenous traditions that recognise we all have underlying psychological patterns. These patterns influence our mental, emotional and physical states, and thereby our actions and personal and relationship experiences.

According to its founder, Dr. Mindell “Process oriented psychology uses awareness to track psychological and physical processes that illuminate and possibly resolve inner, relationship, team, and world issues.” [http://www.aamindell.net/process-work ]

If you are interested to learn more about Process Work and the Process Work Institute, see the following website: https://www.processwork.edu/

Today, process oriented psychology is a widely practiced and respected therapeutic approach. The International Association of Process Oriented Psychology (IAPOP) acts as the supervising body for training, accreditation, and certification worldwide. For details, do check https://www.goodtherapy.org/…/t…/process-oriented-psychology.

LIVING IN A NEW EARTH – WAKE UP… THE TIME IS NOW!

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LIVING IN A NEW EARTH

WAKE UP… THE TIME IS NOW!

I’m so excited to embark on a new project with my dear friend and soul sister, artist and soul activist, Jennifer Mourin, called LIVING IN A NEW EARTH! While the project is still in it’s infancy and still taking shape as a fetus morphs every day in its mother’s womb, so too is this project. Yet as I write up sections of the project content today I’m feeling a calling to share the early draft pieces. Inner guidance is telling me that it is not just the final product that will be of support and inspiration to people, but even the early etchings and ideas will be positive and helpful to those who will read and hear these words in the NOW! Hence my first contribution 

 

“WAKING UP”:

(Note the above image is a painting by Jennifer Mourin called THE RAPTURE, Mother Earth series)

The TIME IS NOW to Wake Up. Make a Change!

Wake up! The time is NOW! If you have been going through life pretty much the same and often with one challenge 
after another, whether personal or in the collective then it’s time for change. Many people live life with all kinds of 
dissatisfaction yet stay in the same situation, complaining or putting up with the situation. This is an old energy 
matrix. 

Life does not need to be painful, mundane, up and down or, at best, OK. Life in the New Earth is meant to be Amazing.
... fulfilling, meaningful, mysterious, joyful and abundant. If you haven’t felt any of these emotions in a long time then
something deep needs to change. 

Review your work or career; take stock your your relationships, personal and other; assess your daily routines and 
check if these bring you joy or just more of the same; are your belief systems and religious ideas expanding or 
constricting you and your Mind? Is the way you look at Life and Reality bringing you more positive emotions or just 
creating more doubts, worries and constant fears?

All these can change, and you have the power to Make the Change! Start with the first step!

* Take time to pause and assess how your life is going? At whatever age or situation you are in life, change is possible. 
Choose the path towards greater peace, ease and happiness.

* Wake up early each morning. Take time to be in sunlight or at least to gaze out of your window for a few minutes 
and breathe. The sun not only brings heat, solar light and new energy but new light codes that will help rewire your brain 
and nourishes your physical and etheric bodies.

* Do something different each day. Find a new path to walk or drive on. Take a new course. Listen to a different kind 
of music or youtube speaker. 

* Make a decision to change what is painful in your life. Once a DECISION is Made, the next steps are easier. Take the 
first step and the Universe will support all your steps forward!

 

 

 

Empowering AJNA, your Third Eye chakra, through chakra yoga practices

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Welcome to my intro video on AJNA, the THIRD EYE Chakra which governs your Mental energy and Thought Patterns. The Third Eye chakra influences your Pituary gland, the master gland for your whole ENDOCRINE System and thus how effective your hormonal function is. It also influences your Cerebrum, the thinking aspect of your brain.

As Ajana chakra is situated between the Left and Right lobes of your brain, it helps to ensure more balance in your thought processes by expanding right brain function. This enhances Visual Perception, Imagery, Imagination, Intuition, Insight as well as Dream recall among other more psychic senses.

In Chakra Yoga classes we use visual concentration and guided meditation techniques to activate the Third Eye among other techniques. Check out the video to learn more, join the Chakra Yoga course or on-going classes in Penang, Malaysia.

Understanding Vishuddha, your Throat Chakra through chakra yoga practice

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Welcome to my mini series introducing Chakra Yoga and the respective chakras. The THROAT Chakra or VISHUDDHA in Sankrit, is a very interesting, yet complex chakra, as it is the purview of d VERBAL MIND n sound.

At the physiological level, the Throat chakra influences the Thyroid and Parathyroid glands governing one’s metabolism, body temperature, rate of vibration of organs n cells, as well as the efficient movement of calcium in and out of one’s blood stream.

At the mental emotional level d Throat Chakra governs the energy of your Words, quality of your Voice, energy of your Verbal Thoughts and everything to do with your verbal mind and Manifestation. Chakra yoga practices use Sound such as toning, humming, Affirmations, mantras and a variety of concentration techniques to shift your mental energy and thus your overall frequency from a lower state to a higher vibrational state. It also teaches how your can change your life by changing your thoughts n words… As u learn about the Throat Chakra you enter more deeply into the realm of body-mind connections and the higher chakras. Namaste!

Activating Anahata, your Heart Chakra, through chakra yoga practices

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Presenting the HEART CHAKRA in this mini series of Chakra Yoga videos. ANAHATA, in Sankrit is the centre chakra connected to your physical heart, lungs and skin. It is also the energy centre for your Social Identity and allows you to live life from a Heart-based centre. Heart chakra movements involve heart openers, back bends and flowing arm movements that are in sync with your breath. The Heart Chakra is connected to the AIR element and does best with deep breathing into the mid chest or rib cage area.

Come join me to learn more about the Heart chakra and other chakras to live life with more balance. Check out my website www.transformwithsarahjoy.com and facebook Chakra Yoga & Energy Healing for more details. Namaste!

Empowering Manipura, your Solar Plexus chakra, through Chakra Yoga

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Welcome to d SOLAR PLEXUS or Manipura Chakra connected to your Digestive system and your Ego Personality Self. Having a strong solar plexus chakra ensures a healthy digestive function as well as energy, confidence and vitality to carry out your daily activities and plans. Here’s some ideas on how to work with your solar plexus chakra via Chakra Yoga by Sarah-Joy Amin.

This video is part of a mini series of CHAKRA YOGA videos. Check all seven videos

Connecting with your Sacral Chakra through chakra yoga practices

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Introducing the Sacral Chakra and how you can activate your sacral chakra and embrace the water element in your body. What better way to work with your SACRAL CHAKRA than to be in the cool, flowing reinvigorating energy of Water. Water is the element of the Sacral Chakra inviting you to flow with life, to be flexible, move, dance, breathe n enjoy a balance sense of pleasure. It’s your Emotional Identity. This is the second of a 7 part series of mini videos on Chakra Yoga.

For more info check out my Chakra Yoga & Energy Healing fb n website: TransforwithSarahJoy.com. Namaste!

CHAKRA YOGA HEALING RETREAT JUNE 2018

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CHAKRA YOGA HEALING RETREAT JUNE 2018

Reflections post Retreat – June 2018

Writing this on my first day back to home ground in Penang after spending almost a month in Koh Phangan at PYRAMID YOGA CENTRE, my former yoga teacher training school, for a 3 week intensive Healing Retreat. While I went as an apprentise to learn, support and to observe the various healing processes, I also immersed myself in the programme, allowing myself to heal, at the time from a bout of bad sinusitus and an ear infection which kept me half deaf for more than half the retreat.

 

 

The 3 weeks intensive programme put me through a fairly thorough internal cleansing process from a 2 day papaya fast, a day of salt flush, followed by a 3 day Master Cleanse diet and finally another 3 days of Juice fast. And, how could I forget the coffee anema and the sweat lodge that came at the end of it all clearing whatever remaining toxins still in the liver as well as in the pores of the skin! While these internal cleanses would have been rather impossible for me to have managed on my own, yet in a supported healing environment, I was so grateful that it was all done with relative ease and even with some fun and jokes! 🙂

I have come to learn how important intermittent internal cleansing and fasting is to the human body, especially to heal. So much of our energy is taken up with digesting and physical activity, that there is not much left for the body to focus on healing and regeneration. Our oxygen first goes towards physical and demanding activities, including digestion if we are constantly eating 3 or more meals a day, such that there is little left that can be diverted towards nourishing our white blood cells which is essential for the body’s healing.

If one looks at the animal kingdom, animals instinctively know how and when to fast. When they are ill, they don’t eat but rather hybernate in a corner and rest. When they recover they regain activity and only then look for food. Yet, human beings are the only mammals who need to be told to when and how to move, how to breathe and how and when to rest. Yoga is a natural way to help us restore our body rhythms and teaches us how to listen to when we need to eat, move, rest, and rejuvenate.

In this article I have yet to mention the fantastic healthy vegan foods that were prepared daily after our week of fasts. The food itself requires a separate article and mention, but it would be an incomplete sharing to not at least shed light on the careful and loving preparation of delicious healthy food that we received at the retreat as well.

There is a lot one can share and say about the Chakra Yoga Healing Retreat at Pyramid Yoga and how every part of the programme contributed towards one’s physical, mental, emotional and spiritual healing and growth. I am highlighting aspects that stood out for me so am in no way offering a comprehensive review.

Given the breadth of the retreat I would say the programme would have been a challenge for those who have not done chakra yoga before or who came with some ailments and dis-ease. Yet, it was designed to progressively help participants learn the basics of yoga from the breath, gentle yoga movements – that stimulate and massage internal organs, move lymphatic fluids around the body and which enhance various chakra centres to ensure the endocrine and nervous systems are activated – to more deeper pranayama, concentration, and sound techniques.

Of significance, the programme put participants through the EKADASI – an 11 days mental emotional cleanse through a breath work technique, followed by a lot of reflective time. While it was the second time for me to undergo Ekadasi and thus less mental-emotional issues came up, for the other participants there were significant purges that helped people become aware of and release old traumas, negative thought and emotional patterns that held them in states of pain, dis-ease, unhappiness, anger, resentment, and the range of stuck emotions.

Any healing programme that aims to heal a person, must necessarily address the whole human, and not just the physical body. This feature made the healing retreat more complete and profound when it included the next phase of reprogramming our mental and emotional patterns, such as creating more space for forgiveness, letting go, acceptance, freedom, trust, love and gratitude among other equally positive emotions! The retreat offered several thought provoking documentaries on the placebo effect, the neuroplasticity of the brain, how thoughts control our body and life, and much much more showing participants how we can regain control over our life and health.

David Goutlet, yogi of 46 years, ran the programme with a support team of other trained Chakra Yoga teachers making it possible to offer one on one assistance and support almost daily to each participant. This included help in proper breathing, relevant asana exercises for each person’s healing needs and condition, to counseling sessions, sound healing sessions and weekly massages.

Participants learnt over the 3 weeks how to empower themselves through appropriate asana movements, proper breath practices, changing thoughts and belief systems, and through a range of other yogic techniques to rebuild their lives. These included Raja Yoga practices of visualisation concentration techniques on chakra mandalas to reset and activate each chakra centre, savitri breathing with retentions at different points and variations of the Three Part Breaths from fast to slow depending on the purpose.

Having done my teacher training and chakra yoga healers course in 2013 and teaching and offering chakra healing for almost 5 years now, I came back reflecting on how the BREATH and various pranayama techniques continue to be so powerful in restoring a person, not just her/his health, but his/her life and sense of Being! … Throughout the healing retreat, daily breath work several times a day and even in between formal group sessions were done and recommended especially before long periods of shavasana and restoration periods.

Slowing down the body and the mind for significant periods was an essential part of the healing. I personally would have liked more quiet time as one participant in particular had excessive throat chakra issues creating rather discordant energies in the group. So my main recommendation would be to have more periods of silence that go with the healing and reflective process. However, this is always possible by taking meditative walks around the jungle environment of the Pyramid Yoga Centre. As it was often the case, the group would be led in mindful walking around the centre grounds or within the practice space and one time even at the beach 🙂

One more aspect stood out for me in this healing retreat: unlike many other healing or detox retreats, the emphasis on the role of SOUND, and how immersing in the right kind of sound frequencies can be healing to both the human body, and one’s energy field. Within the Chakra Yoga tradition, the entire programme is premised upon the fact that the human body and person is essentially made up of energy and that energy is in a constant state of vibration. Illness or dis-ease is when one’s vibratory fields and frequencies are off balance or in dissonance. Healing and health therefore requires restoring one’s vibratory field, starting with one’s chakras, in order to reset and realign one’s frequencies to that of perfect health and vitality. Regular sound sessions is therefore a strong feature of the chakra yoga healing retreat together with good breathing practices.

Being an avid proponent of sound healing I hold a deep appreciation for the role of sound. The sound bed sessions that David and his assistant, Marcelle Visser offered, as well as the other sound sessions using natural instruments and mantras, were all so beautifully woven into the 3 week programme. I was delighted to have been able to offer a few sound healing sessions together with Marcelle at the stunning Sound Dome at Pyramid Yoga Centre…

But the most important sound we were taught every morning to listen to and appreciate was the sound of the jungle, nature sounds and the internal cosmic sounds of the A-U-M.

Sitting writing this I still hear the rustles of the jungle, the crickets and cicadas and the breath of Mother Earth herself blowing through our pores, entering our nostrils into our lungs, and feeding our very blood, organs and glands. I AM forever grateful for this opportunity and healing path with an honourable teacher and dear friend.

Love and Namaste! Thank you David and your team at Pyramid Yoga!