In May of 2010 my wife and I rented a little white hatchback and went on a day-safari in Kruger National Park—a wildlife game park on the northeastern edge of South Africa. Because it is a game park with wild animals in their natural habitat, there are no fences and no safeguards other than the car in which we were driving. It was a glorious, sunny day, and we saw a lot of wildlife—lions, elephants, African buffalos, and even a leopard—all animals that I had previously seen only in pictures or in a zoo. 

 

In the early afternoon, we came across a “tower” of giraffes near the side of a dirt road, stretching their necks to graze on some acacia leaves high on the trees. I had already seen many giraffes that day, but most at a distance of fifty meters or more. I turned the car off, rolled down the windows, and there we sat for about half an hour, mesmerized by what we were witnessing. 

 

What made the deepest impression on me—something that has stayed with me ever since that day—was that these animals were not the same animals I had seen in the local zoo. They moved in a way I had never seen before—not the motion of an animal within the confines of a cage, but rather animals who knew no other life than having both the freedom to roam and the imperative to work towards its own survival. And once you’ve truly seen the difference between a zoo giraffe and a giraffe in the African savannah, our own captivity to all the pressures and demands to be something other than who we most deeply are—becomes all that more apparent.

 

My goal as a therapist is to bring out that which is deepest within each of us—within you. This most often means not having to change yourself, but rather to begin putting language to what you already know to be true—to become less tamed and learn to trust and follow your instincts; to become more alive. To be less domesticated and less inhibited by the captivity in which we live our day-to-day existence. My work is about is releasing clients from a captivity that I have also known and experienced, and into a freedom in life, a joy, and a sense of being unencumbered. 

 

I look forward to joining you on your journey.