Sonera's Practice is Bhūta Vidya

Bhūta vidya is the balancing of our body, mind, senses and consciousness and it can be understood as the knowledge of the five elements that constitute us – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Bhūta or the pancha (five) maha (great) bhūtas (elements) in Sanskrit refers to the five primary states of matter – agni (fire), vāyu (air), jala (water), ākāśa (ether) and pṛthvī (earth). They are the prima materia of everything in the cosmos. 

In Vedic thought, the combination of the five elements gives rise to multiple and unique variations of infinite forms in the universe including our body-mind. We can develop vidya or knowledge of the bhūtas that constitute us energetically by balancing them through Āyurveda, Jyotiṣa and psyche-therapy or all three. When one balances the panchmahābhūtas, one directs oneself to a state of harmony and wholesomeness – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

 About Sonera:

Sonera, a psychotherapist in Mumbai likes to refer to her practice as Psyche-Therapy, thereby removing any stigma associated with psychiatrists. We help people with mental disorders using cognitive behaviour therapy.

Services:

Online Pyschotherapy

Relationship & Depression Counselling

Therapy for Anger & Stress Management

Online Jyotisa & Vedic Astrology

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Mental Health Treatment in Ayurveda

Ayurvedic Health Counselling

About Sonera Jhaveri

 

Sonera’s practice emphasizes the unity of the body, mind and consciousness. She specialises in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Existential and Somatic psychotherapy. She is trained in several body-oriented modalities such as Hakomi, Bodynamic therapy, Somatic Experiencing and Integral Somatic Psychology. Sonera integrates her therapeutic approach with  Yoga, Jyotiṣa and Āyurveda to give clients a more nuanced map of their subtle bioenergetic structures. Her therapeutic approach weaves in diet and lifestyle guidelines and combines east and west, body and mind, digestive health and mental health. 

Sonera engages clients on how to unravel blocks to their personal growth and enhance their wellbeing physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. She works with individuals and couples and also facilitates therapeutic groups. Sonera has conducted workshops and trainings for corporations, private organisations and institutes. She lives between Mumbai and Copenhagen and undertakes online, telephone and in-person sessions. Sonera is a consultant psychologist at the Nanavati Hospital, a Chartered Member of the British Psychological Society and is a Counselling Affiliate to CiC- EAP, UK.

About Sonera:

Sonera, a psychotherapist in Mumbai likes to refer to her practice as Psyche-Therapy, thereby removing any stigma associated with psychiatrists. We help people with mental disorders using cognitive behaviour therapy.

Services:

Online Pyschotherapy

Relationship & Depression Counselling

Therapy for Anger & Stress Management

Online Jyotisa & Vedic Astrology

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Mental Health Treatment in Ayurveda

Ayurvedic Health Counselling

Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/about

Jyotiṣa or Vedic Astrology

 

Jyotiṣa or Vedic Astrology is the study of 'Jyoti,' which, means light in Sanskrit. Jyotiṣa, then, is a quest to understand how the light of the sun, moon and stars illuminate the self through the lifespan.

Jyotiṣa kindles our self- awareness to our subconscious patterns and the archetypes we are embodying and offers us remedial measures to balance the bhūtas within us to ensure we face the mysteries of our lives with harmony. As an esoteric science, Jyotiṣa has traditionally always concomitantly been practised with Āyurveda to restore the balance of the bhūtas that inform the well-being of the mind, body, senses and consciousness.

Jyotiṣa readings will illuminate anyone to know more about: 

• Deeper aspects of their personality 
• Relationships 
• Mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing 
• Life transitions and challenges

Services:

Online Pyschotherapy

Relationship & Depression Counselling

Therapy for Anger & Stress Management

Online Jyotisa & Vedic Astrology

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Mental Health Treatment in Ayurveda

Ayurvedic Health Counselling

Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/therapy/jyotisa

The Psyche-Therapeutic Process

 

Psyche is an ancient Greek word translated as mind, soul, spirit, prana, chi or consciousness. Psyche is what animates us and breathes life into us and helps us make sense of the surrounding world. Conversely, the psyche is also what can trouble and disturb us.

 

Psyche-therapy, then is a therapy that soothes the distress of the mind, body, senses and consciousness and equips an individual to skilfully navigate their internal landscape and external world of social relationships and professional responsibilities. By confronting one’s inner malaises, intruding memories, disturbing emotions and traumas, one moves beyond a state of being plagued to that of harmony. 

Working with the psyche is an alchemical process where one transforms the dark lead of one’s pain to the wisdom of illuminated awareness symbolised by the philosopher’s stone.

• Psyche-therapy will be beneficial for anyone wishing to liberate themselves from:
• Emotional, physical or mental stress
• Anxiety and panic disorders
• Mood disorders
• Self-esteem issues
• Anger management
• Eating disorders
• Grief from the loss of a loved one
• Feelings of loss, loneliness and/or alienation
• Depression or lack of interest in life/every day activities
• Relationship problems with a spouse, boss or anyone significant in your life
• Addictions and chemical dependencies
• Search for a deeper, existential meaning in your life
• Recovering from surgery or severe illness
• Coping with life transitions such as divorce, empty nest syndrome, a move or retirement

About Sonera:

Sonera, a psychotherapist in Mumbai likes to refer to her practice as Psyche-Therapy, thereby removing any stigma associated with psychiatrists. We help people with mental disorders using cognitive behaviour therapy.

Services:

Online Pyschotherapy

Relationship & Depression Counselling

Therapy for Anger & Stress Management

Online Jyotisa & Vedic Astrology

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Mental Health Treatment in Ayurveda

Ayurvedic Health Counselling

Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/therapy/psychetherapy

What is Āyurveda

 

Āyurveda is an ancient form of mind-body-spirit healing that originated from South Asia. 'Āyur' means life and 'Veda' is knowledge. Āyurveda is the knowledge for the maintenance of life. 

Āyurveda integrates the individual and the cosmos in its definition of well-being and holds an alchemical understanding of the body-mind as it is constituted by the five elements or bhūtas. 

Āyurveda is for anyone who is interested in self-care and wishes to empower themselves with the alchemy of preventative and behavioural medicine. It is a form of medicine that counteracts the body from pre-maturely decaying, ageing, falling victim to diseases and propels one towards a state of svastha (i.e. to be established in oneself mentally, physical, emotionally and spiritually).

About Sonera:

Sonera, a psychotherapist in Mumbai likes to refer to her practice as Psyche-Therapy, thereby removing any stigma associated with psychiatrists. We help people with mental disorders using cognitive behaviour therapy.

Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/therapy/ayurveda

Remembering Dreams

 

Many indigenous societies, over space and time have given importance to dreams and have regarded them as messages from the Gods, oracles, spirit communications, a reservoir of important symbols, sources of deep wisdom and portals of spiritual experience. 

Different cultures, ranging from the Dream temples of the Hellenistic era to Tibetan dream yoga practices to the practice of Dreamtime, prevalent in many Australian aboriginal cultures, have given dreaming a central place in their religious and healing traditions. Dreams represent the mytho-poetic and aesthetic processes of our psyches . . . 

Dreams are embodied images that reflect where we are in our lives, and what our most intimate and existential concerns, hopes, and fears are. Dreams don’t tell us what to do, but point us towards where we need to give attention to in our waking lives. Bridging the dream life to the waking life, then, is an important kernel of psyche-therapeutic work as dreams are, as stated by Freud, “ the royal road to the unconscious.”

About Sonera:

Sonera, a psychotherapist in Mumbai likes to refer to her practice as Psyche-Therapy, thereby removing any stigma associated with psychiatrists. We help people with mental disorders using cognitive behaviour therapy.

Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/blog/psyche-therapy/remembering-dreams

What is Psyche-Therapy

I am often asked why do I call my practice “Psyche-Therapy” as opposed to “Psychotherapy?” Psyche-Therapy is a particular orientation some practitioners of mental health have when they work with their clients, where attention is given to the whole person instead of being isolated or reduced to a DSM-V diagnosis.

The word Psyche-Therapy comes from two ancient Greek terms “Psyche” and “Therapeia”

Psyche: is an ancient Greek term which can be appreciated as soul, spirit, life force . . . or more expansively the animating principle of the kosmos. Psyche in modern psychology encompasses both the mind and the brain and the conscious and unconscious aspects of the Self.

Therapeia: is another ancient Greek term that connotes healing, treatment, curing . . . Therapy, the modern English term is etymologically derived from Therapeia and encompasses vast fields such as pharmacological therapy to physiotherapy. Therapy then is a generic word that simply underscores a mode or method of working with a field to help catalyze results within the individual that are rejuvenating.

So Psyche + Therapy = Psyche-Therapy= a holistic therapeutic facilitation engaging the myriad conscious and unconscious layers of the Self.

About Sonera:

Sonera, a psychotherapist in Mumbai likes to refer to her practice as Psyche-Therapy, thereby removing any stigma associated with psychiatrists. We help people with mental disorders using cognitive behaviour therapy.

Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/blog/psyche-therapy/what-is-psyche-therapy

Making friends with our emotions

 Most of us are pegged on the pleasure-pain continuum bobbing up and down the scale between hedonism and agony. We do not want to feel sadness, loneliness, and alienation; instead we want to feel happy, peaceful and content. Our instinct is to resist, get rid of, repress, dissociate or defensively do away with difficult emotions as they hurt. Yet these efforts to dispense with emotional distress are often clumsy and psychologically ineffective. As the pain we feel will return and and we can feel it deep in out bodyminds’ if we pay attention.

Another way, to deal with emotions, even disturbing ones might be to practice what the Sufi mystic Jalaluddin Rumi says to “welcome them all!” By allowing difficult emotions to arise and by simultaneously training our capacity to tolerate distress, we can become equanimous in the face of any mental storm.

About Sonera:

Sonera, a psychotherapist in Mumbai likes to refer to her practice as Psyche-Therapy, thereby removing any stigma associated with psychiatrists. We help people with mental disorders using cognitive behaviour therapy.

Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/blog/psyche-therapy/making-friends-with-our-emotions

Mindfulness and Eating

 

For those of us seeking meaningful and healthy ways of being-in-the-world, our relationship to food, (equivalently) along with other quotients of well being, such as spiritual practice, psychological growth, exercise, time spent in nature, nurturing relationships, and aesthetic appreciation, to name a few, is of paramount importance. Below are some guidelines to help restore us to consciously eating:

1)      Before eating do a baseline self- check on your hunger level before eating. Ask yourself where do you feel the hunger? How hungry are you?

2)      Involve all your senses when you eat i.e. really see, smell, taste and feel the food you are eating

3)      Serve yourself moderate helpings of food

4)      Really chew your food and break it down

5)      Eat in a slow fashion to prevent over eating

6)      Don’t skip meals

7)      Avoid all distractions when you are eating

8)      Eat an organic plant based diet as much as possible for yours and the planet’s health

9)      Therapeutically work with yourself or with a mental health professional to reduce your stress, depression, anxiety, anger and boredom levels

About Sonera:

Sonera, a psychotherapist in Mumbai likes to refer to her practice as Psyche-Therapy, thereby removing any stigma associated with psychiatrists. We help people with mental disorders using cognitive behaviour therapy.

Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/blog/psyche-therapy/mindfulness-and-eating

Mindfulness: more than just a buzzword

 

Mindfulness is an ancient Buddhist practice of paying attention to moment to moment experience in a nonjudgmental way.  Contemporarily, it has been highly regarded and recognized by western psychology, psychiatry, and cognitive neuroscience as having a deeply therapeutic value and literally transformative impact on the mind/brain. Mindfulness is about developing self-awareness and is the cornerstone of all psychological and spiritual work.

Before starting a session, I always begin with mindfulness meditation to help gather and center my client. This is because mindfulness allows one to get in touch with oneself as an observer behind the whirlpool of distracted thought, emotion, and sensation. It deeply anchors one in the present moment and allows us to really experience and study our selves.

Research states that mindfulness or rather the capacity of the mind to direct the brain, through trained attention and focus, can shift our neural architecture. Through mindfulness we can dis-identify with negative thoughts and behavior patterns and allow us to replace them with positive ways of being-in-the-world. It gives us choice and frees us from our habitual modes of reacting and judging. Today mindfulness has been used to treat many disorders from depression, anger management, addictions, anxiety and panic disorders, chronic pain and stress reduction to name a few areas.

About Sonera: Sonera, a psychotherapist in Mumbai likes to refer to her practice as Psyche-Therapy, thereby removing any stigma associated with psychiatrists. We help people with mental disorders using cognitive behaviour therapy.

Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/blog/psyche-therapy/mindfulness-more-than-just-a-buzzword

Meditation and Psychotherapy

In today’s post-modern era, cutting edge understandings of mental health are emerging through an integration of both eastern spirituality and western psychology. Both traditions work with the mind, subjectivity and consciousness in different and complimentary ways. To do psychological work, one needs to be fully present in the moment and conversely, to do spiritual work, one needs to make peace with one’s personal wounds and traumas. Together like two wings of the same bird that move synchronically, they bring about self-knowledge and transformation. Combining meditation and psychotherapy will go beyond the individual limitations that shore up against each approach, namely, the shadow (i.e. disowned, split of aspects of one’s personality which are either positive or negative), which meditation does not integrate and conversely, the exaggeration of the wounded ego in conventional psychotherapy.

In my own therapeutic practice, I have noticed that by both, supporting my clients in their mindfulness practice as well as facilitating psychological processing with some cognitive and behavioral shifts, has helped their capacity to self- regulate, become aware and integrate their rejected parts and most significantly, suffer less or as Freud has eloquently stated " learn to suffer better."

About Sonera:

Sonera, a psychotherapist in Mumbai likes to refer to her practice as Psyche-Therapy, thereby removing any stigma associated with psychiatrists. We help people with mental disorders using cognitive behaviour therapy.

Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/blog/psyche-therapy/meditation-and-psychotherapy

NATURE AS MY CO-THERAPIST

I always encourage my clients to grant themselves solitary time in nature and moreover,  like to do retreats or therapeutic work in the wilderness with them. Consciously, spending time in the natural world is one of the most healing presents you could give yourself. Being-in-nature with a client serves as a holding environment, where a client can let go, relax and go deeper into their process. Since most of my work is in urban environments, occasionally, just doing a session in a park has a profound effect on the therapeutic exchange.

Scientifically, research has shown that time spent in the biosphere helps lift depression, brings down blood pressure, alleviates mental fatigue, relieves stress and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, to name a few benefits.  Although, there are definite psychophysiological shifts when immersed in nature, if we are busy with our smart phones, iPods, iPads or are engaged in compulsive thinking the positive effects of being in nature are reduced.

About Sonera:

Sonera, a psychotherapist in Mumbai likes to refer to her practice as Psyche-Therapy, thereby removing any stigma associated with psychiatrists. We help people with mental disorders using cognitive behaviour therapy.

Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/blog/psyche-therapy/nature-as-my-co-therapist

Health Psychology

 

The term “health psychology” pertains to our emotional and psychophysiological responses to our personal conditions of health and illness as well as thoughts, emotions and  behaviours  that either contribute to or hinder our well-being.

Often in the  Cartesian world of conventional  bio-medicine, individuals are split up as bodies and minds, implicitly  implying that the mind and the body are separate entities and not connected. This is because whatever the ailment whether it is cancer, auto immune diseases, irritable bowl syndrome, obesity etc.  the physical body is always treated with surgery and pharmaceutical drugs but the mind or rather the psyche is often left out and rarely given therapeutic attention.

This is unfortunate on two accounts, firstly,  people have very strong emotional reactions to their illnesses and physical disabilities,  which need to be treated as individuals could spiral into clinical depression, severe anxiety, anger or frustration in relation to not “feeling well,” which could hamper their recovery.

Secondly, our bodymind is an integrated system whose reciprocity needs to be acknowledged. Today, illnesses  such as fibromyalgia as well many neuro-endocrinological disorders are all pointing towards psychogenic causes of these conditions, as is the whole field of psychoneuroimmunology which emphasises the inter-connections between the psyche, nervous system and immune system.

The role of stress and anxiety in the cause and proliferation of illness ranging from cancer to coronary disease to diabetes  is getting highlighted, as last year in the US alone more 300$ billion dollars were spent on stress-related medical ailments. It is interesting to note that in contrast to conventional western medicine,  nonwestern medical systems such as Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese medicine have always given importance to and have inquired into the subjective states of those who were sick and have underscored a deep connection between the mind and the body.

Contact Sonera Jhaveri for online psychotherapy, jytoisa for health and well being, ayurvedic health counselling and relationship astrology in Mumbai, India

Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/blog/psyche-therapy/health-psychology

Understanding Stress

What is stress?

Stress is an ubiquitous and multilayered phenomenon that is an entrenched reality of our daily postmodern lives. In effect, the stress response has played a significant role in the evolution of our nervous system and was crucial for our survival on this planet. As hunter gathers we experienced acute stress when there were life-threatening perils from the environment confronting us for e.g. a wild animal that crossed the path of our foraging ancestors. In such instances, the human body would mobilize itself defensively and activate the autonomic nervous system to a fight, flight or freeze response to meet the demands of the situation.

When an organism is stressed and in either fight of flight mode, there are profound alterations due to the enervation of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. Noticeable psychophysiological shifts take place such as an increase in the heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, muscle tension, sweat activity in conjunction with a cascade of neuro-endocrinological alterations. The adrenal-hypothalamus- pituitary axis gets activated and there are rapid secretions of the stress hormone cortisol along with blood moving from the periphery of the body i.e. the limbs to the core i.e. to the heart and lungs.

These psychosomatic shifts allow the organism to speed up the action that needed to be taken, which in most cases was either confrontation or agitated escape. However, in freeze mode, which occurs in profound experiences of trauma, the parasympathetic nervous, system dominates and the body drops in pressure, temperature, and mobility simulating a corpse. From an evolutionary perspective, the freeze mode was useful as on occasion predators may loose interest if the prey is already dead.

If you are looking for psychological treatment for depression, stress, anger management, mood & eating disorders. Sonera Jhaveri provides the mental health treatment by best psychotherapist online counselling in Mumbai, India

Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/blog/psyche-therapy/stress

Self Esteem in Romantic Relationships

 

Often we think that relationships, especially, personal, intimate and romantic one’s, would nurture and nourish us and in turn boost our self-confidence. However, sometimes, this is not the case, if we have inadvertently spiraled off into a destructive or passionless or simply dead and boring relationship quagmire. What drives one to persist in (and with) a painful and unsatisfying set of circumstances, in what was once a romantic relationship that was supposed to give you pleasure and joy? As when we get into a relationship, we are generally not signing up for prolonged physical, emotional and sexual neglect or abuse.

What then could be the motivation to subject oneself to the agony of continuing to be willfully involved with a violent alcoholic or a sex addict or an emotionally unavailable workaholic who just does not have time for you? In other words, what is that kernel within ourselves that enables us to remain, consciously and unconsciously, in self-damaging situations with a dysfunctional partner while staying frozen in a maladaptive relational pattern?

How we embody low self-esteem

On some level, the reason why we choose to persist, and I would reiterate the choice in the matter, is perhaps, on some deep level we believe that we deserve no better, having a low opinion of ourselves and our capacities to be an independent and likable individual. These kinds of negative assumption of ourselves tantamount to a subliminal form of self-hatred. Latently or even manifestly, the voice of one’s inner critic, ensures that we remain embroiled in emotional anguish ad nauseum, while we continue to live our lives as gluttons for punishment as we feel that we deserve to be slapped, cheated on or mistreated because we might be ugly, fat, old, stupid, unattractive, unintelligent etc.

Contact Sonera Jhaveri for online psychotherapy, jytoisa for health and well being, ayurvedic health counselling and relationship astrology in Mumbai, India

Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/blog/psyche-therapy/self-esteem-in-romantic-relationships