Suffering: The challenge of being

Life is composed of ongoing transitions, which can be bewildering, difficult and often painful. I am honored to work with folks as they grow, deepen and evolve their self-understanding. I am committed to accompanying you as we investigate the nature of suffering as it presents in your experience.

Cultivating greater awareness, emotional resilience and self-compassion begins with truly feeling your feelings–this is the challenge of being. As a trauma-informed therapist I prioritize safety and believe that our real-time human relating can reveal important underlying psychic patterns related to attachment.

Cultivating self-compassion: Awareness and Curiosity

In therapy we may explore how you first learned love, developed an identity, expressed boundaries and sought connection with others. Each of us is unique: in emotions, bodies and minds. Every person experiences the world through a singular lens. Our reality is profoundly shaped by the body, culture, class and family system in which we were born and raised. By patiently bringing curiosity to how you internally relate to yourself and the world at large, compassionate psychotherapy is an enlivening, pragmatic and liberatory practice.

Whole-hearted effort: Practice being human

There is nothing wrong with you, and you may want to make a few improvements (paraphrasing Zen teacher Suzuki Roshi). In therapy we honor your whole self; however complicated, confusing, wounded or hopeless that self may feel at times. In therapy everything is welcome: shame, confusion, sorrow, joy, bewilderment, grief, uncertainty. The whole spectrum of darkness and light are vital aspects of your incomparable humanity.

Services Offered

Healing soul wounds begins by asking for help and not being alone while carrying the weight of the world.

Individual Therapy

Finding yourself anew by turning toward what is difficult, gathering resources and internalizing new coping strategies.

Relationship Counseling

Intimate relationships (of any type) are where we act out our attachment styles and can see most clearly how our desire to be loved is complicated by our histories. My counseling aims to encourage seeing your relationship as a two-person (or more) system where each partner’s needs can be more clearly understood. In this empathic space, it’s possible to build more secure functioning and mutual respect for the rich differences that make you each unique.

Regular meetings either in person at my office or via telehealth.

About Me

Hi, I’m Qayyum (pronounced “kai-yoom”)

I am a son, oldest of three brothers, husband to a contemplative artist, raised by counterculture parents. I’ve tried many pursuits, embodying different working class identities (video editor, organic farmer, Zen monk, prison and hospice volunteer, co-director of an arts community, carpenter, reading tutor, mailman) and what I’ve always been most interested in are the big questions about human life.

How can we experience love, harmony and beauty when there is so much confusion, stress and distraction? How can we be happy with ourselves when we have harsh inner critics? How do we navigate the big changes: love, grief, conflict, sickness, aging and death?

I view compassionate psychotherapy as a relationship where we explore your life with depth and curiosity. I am deeply present with you in the landscape of inquiry as we feel what it’s like to be you in all your complexity.

I have been a Buddhist meditator for over 25 years and believe in the wisdom of the body as a site of healing and self-knowledge. I have an abiding faith in each person’s integrity, wholeness, and basic goodness.

Get Started

If you feel ready to begin exploring together in therapy, let’s get started.

I offer a complimentary 15 minute phone consultation.

We can discuss what you are seeking and I can answer questions that you may have.

I look forward to hearing from you.

628-265-3290

qayyumjohnson@gmail.com

Work with me

Book a free 15 minute consultation