Aaron Rasor Therapy
Cultivating Relationships That Empower Transformation
Whatever life circumstances brought you to taking this courageous action toward change, welcome….
Psychotherapy with Adults
Life has a way of presenting us with intense challenges. Often, these experiences and feelings are recurring and rooted in the ways we were wounded in the past. And while as a culture we tend to be averse to discomfort, embedded within these very struggles is a tremendous opportunity for deep healing, freedom, and transformation.
As your therapist, my intention is to offer a safe and supportive space to intimately explore and make sense of your internal experience. Integral to this process is dropping below the conditioned thinking mind and developing a curious and compassionate relationship with your heart, emotions, and body as a gateway to a deep intelligence that resides within your own being.
This process of learning to access and live from your own inner guidance systems (your truth, needs, feelings, and heart's desires) is an authentic, coherent, and elegant way to create a life you love, where your outside world is aligned with your inner truth. This is what I call true self-actualization.
In this capacity, I privilege working creatively and intuitively, utilizing mindfulness and other experiential somatic exercises, as an enlivening way of facilitating this inquiry and cultivating your own inner knowing. As a result, you will begin to see with more clarity and disentangle from the limiting stories, negative thinking, and conditioned behavior that are causing you suffering. Along the way, you will be empowered to choose and integrate more satisfying and true self-actualizing ways of being, thereby transforming your experience in the world.
Children & Families
In addition to my work with adults, it brings me great joy and purpose to work with children and their families. My approach is best described as playful, creative, and intuitive. Fundamentally, I believe that the process is rooted in helping children move through challenging feelings while developing tools and strategies to better navigate life.
With younger children (9 and under), my experience is that the feelings and/or behavior a child is struggling with will naturally emerge into the play so long as the right conditions are met. In this light, I offer a warm, empathic, attuned, and playful space where children feel seen and safe to fully express themselves. When the struggles surface, I creatively connect with the child drawing upon an array of interventions (expressive arts, role play, mindfulness, sandplay, etc.). In these moments, the intention is to help the child come into contact with, process, and move through the experiences, affect, and/or beliefs underpinning the struggles. Moreover, through an intimate understanding of your child, I can find unique ways to tailor and integrate powerful tools and ideas to support the child's specific challenges.
With older children (10+) who are developmentally inclined to process their experiences through language and metaphor, the work takes on a different shape while holding true to the same underlying intentions. Here, I meet the child where the child is focusing on the connection and building trust en route to cultivating a new type of adult/child relationship. Unlike most adult relationships in a child’s life where there tends to be a hierarchy (parent, teacher, coach), I invite the child to experience our "equal ground" relationship uniquely.
In essence, this is a place where children are completely free to express themselves in an environment sans judgement, control, or hidden agendas. I am unequivocally on their team. And in this space, we can be real, have fun, and ‘figure life out" together. Along the way, as essential ingredients to the process, it is my goal to empower children with emotional intelligence skills and tools to “train the brain,” as a pathway to improving their relationships (with themselves and others) while enhancing their overall well being.
Furthermore, I contextualize the process through a family systems lens, working intimately with parents in parallel while still honoring the child’s confidentiality. I see this time as an opportunity to collaborate (bridging the work from the office into the home), impart valuable parenting skills, and discover how we can all be an integral part of the healing process.
A Little About Me
After 15 years in the business world, I made a radical decision to pursue a career that was more aligned with my heart's desire. This incredibly meaningful and rewarding path has led to discovering and living from my purpose. Now, what I do is who I am. As a psychotherapist, I am deeply inspired and fulfilled by the intimate connections and transformation I have been a part of on this journey. My work is rooted in an ongoing devotion to personal growth, richly interwoven with an unfolding spiritual path of discovery that ushers me forward through life.
In addition, I am excited to introduce my 'puppy for life' bernedoodle, Zuma. With children in particular, Zuma is pure magic. Her exuberant playfulness, joy, and cuteness help children warm up to and feel safe in the space.
During the pandemic, our family experimented with relocating from San Francisco to our happy place in Carmel Valley, California. I am delighted to tell you that we have now decided to call this place home. Presently, I am offering teletherapy services over zoom from our home in Carmel Valley, California.
I look forward to the opportunity to work with you, and am happy to offer a free 20 minute phone consultation should you have any questions or are curious as to whether we might be a good fit. I wish you all the best!
Contact
Aaron Rasor, MFT
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist #106475
15286 Via la Gitana, Carmel Valley, California
415.378.7990
