Ask not what the world asks of you.
Ask what makes you come alive, and go and do that.
Because what the world needs now is for more people to come alive!
– Howard Thurman
I’ve always felt inspired to help people find ways to become who they truly want to be. Now, with more than twenty years of experience, it is an honor and a privilege to help my clients develop the skills, tools and inspiration needed to go from just surviving each day to fully thriving in their lives.
The cornerstone approach to my coaching and therapy practice is helping clients develop a mindfulness meditation practice. I was first introduced to mindfulness meditation in college, and has it proven to be an enormously useful tool in my own personal self-growth. Mindfulness meditation can help almost anyone with almost anything. It allows us to become present within each moment and identify and shift ourselves out of the negative thought patterns and self-limiting behaviors that keep us from reaching our goals and living our full life potential. It’s both a practice and a life path, which, when practiced regularly, allows us to gain clarity about who we are, where we want to be, and to make lasting change. This self-awareness and the subsequent self-actualization that can occur when we are present in each moment helps us to recognize what’s really happening in our lives and within ourselves. With that insight, it becomes easier to let go of the habitual thoughts and behaviors that no longer serve us. This is where real, sustainable change occurs.
Whether you’re struggling with depression, anxiety, grief, a challenging life transition, a chronic illness or want to improve self-esteem, foster your creativity, find your intuitive voice, lose weight, stop smoking or make another significant change, I can help. With support, guidance and the right approach, you can discover the wisdom within the present moment and your personal potential, which can get you closer to meeting and sustaining your goals.
I’m also passionate about helping clients find innovative ways to make mindful use of technology. As a member of the last generation to remember what life was like before technology became ubiquitous in our culture, I feel it is my responsibility to help steward this new tool into our lives in ways that doesn’t usurp our attention span or lead us astray from our intuitive voices. I am dedicated to exploring new ways to embrace emerging technologies so that we can use them to our advantage and to help us live more meaningful and productive lives. We can use technology either to tune out or tune in. I am committed to helping people maintain the ability to step away from technology from time to time and to tune into the inner wisdom that only arises when we’re present and undistracted.
At the core of it all, both in my practice and in my personal life, it truly is my passion and life mission to help people come alive—to help my clients and the people around me remove obstacles and become who they want to and are meant to be. I love inspiring others to experience the world with creativity and mindfulness and to find innovative and exciting ways to engage with themselves and others. You don’t need to be an artist to experience the world creatively. It can be found in making a beautiful meal, learning how to knit or even within creating the space to find your inner child and push crayons onto pages in a coloring book— all three things I love to do! We all have the ability to make positive changes in our lives and in the world, which is why I am passionate about living authentically and creatively everyday and showing my children how to live in ways that help manifest the changes we want to see in the world.
Whether you are struggling and seeking insight and healing or want to feel empowered to reach your potential and become the master of your life, there is hope and a meaningful path forward. I have been providing coaching and therapy using a mindfulness approach for over 20 years, and I know both personally and professionally the power of this work. I offer a warm, nonjudgmental and safe space for you to identify what’s keeping you stuck and to develop the tools needed to make the most of your life regardless of the challenges that inevitably arise each day. I listen with compassion and offer practical, supportive guidance and tools as you set goals and develop the insight and techniques that can help you become who it is that you truly want to and are meant to be.
Samara Serotkin, Psy.D. received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies and her Bachelors of Arts in Psychology from the University of New Hampshire. Samara is a State of Washington Board of Psychology Licensed Psychologist, and has been coaching and providing therapy to clients using a mindfulness-based approach for 20 years. Samara completed and published her doctoral dissertation, “The Relationship Between Self-Actualization and Creativity” in 2010, and has presented at national conferences on topics ranging from mindfulness meditation to tobacco use. Samara presented at the Mind and Life Institute’s 2014 International Symposium for Contemplative Studies. The topics she presented were Mindfulness-Based Behavior Change: A New Model for A New Health Care System; and Scaling Up: Making Mindfulness Approachable Without Diluting the Practice. Samara has also served on advisory boards and worked as a consultant for multiple technology start-up companies. Samara is also the author of Mindful Willpower.