Kaif Mahmood

I work from the perspective of presence - that is, bringing a still and deep attention to the experience of the client at this moment, thus assisting them in fully experiencing the thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations that constitute the self in the here and now.

Deepening the quality of presence in the therapy conversation, when effectively done, has two effects. One, painful emotions that one has been struggling with find space to emerge in their full intensity, following which they are released, and one usually feels lighter and calmer afterward. Two, a sense of self emerges that knows what is meaningful for it, what it needs to do in its day-to-day life, as well as in the larger journey that it is on.

These are two fundamental aspects of psychotherapy - caregiving, which facilitates healing; and contemplation, which facilitates the emergence of personal meaning.

For therapy as an act of caregiving, I take from the humanistic tradition of psychotherapy, where empathy and deep respect for the client, rather than any theoretical knowledge, are the primary factors that facilitate the healing experience. Secondly, a lived awareness of the layers of the psyche, the defenses that human beings use to avoid the intensity of emotions, and the foundational role of childhood experiences in shaping the self - these help to intensify the therapy conversation, without losing a genuine presence in the moment to analysis and theory.

For therapy as an act of contemplation, my practice is similar to traditions of inquiry that human beings have always had, across culture and time, both within and outside spiritual traditions, and which some psychotherapists have taken inspiration from. This involves fully seeing the experience that the client is having, in all its elements of thought, emotion, and sensation, and asking, with the client, how one may live as a free human being rather than one who is compelled by his defenses, particularly those acquired in the past, to act in certain ways.

An infinite number of themes can emerge from the contemplative experience, taking from the uniqueness of each self. Some of these themes are - meaning in life, the inevitability of pain, the depth of our relationship to other human beings and to nature, our relationship to larger social forces around us. These reflections have very little to do with intellectual thinking, and their therapeutic value lies solely in the extent to which they are felt in the emotional and bodily experience of the person.

More often than not, the contemplative aspect of therapy arrives after sufficient time has been spent on the caregiving aspect, both in every session and in the long-term journey of inner work.

I try to work with a perspective where even though the therapist may possibly have more experience and knowledge regarding the inner life, the therapist and client are, psychologically speaking, equals. Therefore, one tries to undo the politics of experience, so that the emotional atmosphere of the session is not one of one person diagnosing, leading, and being an authority to another, but rather the client and therapist walking together in a reflective journey.

For those who may be interested, I help them learn and cultivate practices they can do outside therapy, which help them in caring for their selves and create a lifestyle facilitative to healing - meditation, somatic work, journalling, and working with dreams.