the enlightened mind website

Steven E. Smith, M.A., LMFT

The Enlightened Mind offers the following services:

Steve Smith is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. He graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in Economics in 1993. After working in the corporate world for several years, he began to realize that his passion was in pursuing his own psychological and spiritual development as well as helping others in the same process. He then graduated from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology with a Masters in Counseling Psychology and trained as an intern at the Process Therapy Institute. His focus is to help clients return to a state of well being by guiding them to become self aware, healing emotional injuries, releasing fears, and transforming limiting beliefs. He founded The Enlightened Mind with the vision of creating a sacred space that offered a variety of healing and spiritual growth opportunities. For more on Steve's personal journey click

Individual sessions are available to resolve any internal conflict which may manifest as stress, relationship difficulties, anger, depression, grief, etc., or for those wanting to generally become more conscious and Self aware. Learn valuable techniques to release fears, transform limiting beliefs, and return to a state of well being.
A free consultation and sliding scale fees are available.

For couples wanting to improve the quality of their relationships with each other. This requires a willingness for each partner to take a look at their role in the relationship dynamic. Partners often trigger us into reactivity such as blame and defensiveness. It can be useful and healing to explore this in the safe confines of a couples session. New and more effective ways of responding to our partners can be learned and practiced, leading to more joyful and fulfilling relationships.
A free consultation and sliding scale fees are available.

Use Paypal to purchase Individual or Couples Counseling Sessions

1 Hour Session $120

1/2 Hour Session $75

We are all striving to live in a state of emotional and spiritual well being, or we could say in alignment with our inner Self. When we are out of alignment we experience emotions that are uncomfortable, such as fear, anger, sadness, etc. These emotions are indications that we have some type of internal conflict or limiting belief. If the internal conflict is not resolved then we can become stuck and the uncomfortable emotions continue. This leads to more and more experiences that we do not want. These conflicts are often difficult to resolve because much of it is embedded in the unconscious, so we do not have easy access to all of the material. The irony is that we have all developed defense systems that try and 'protect' us from our own unconscious, which actually ends up preventing our healing. Therapy is a way to help resolve the internal conflict by illuminating it, relating to it differently, and eventually releasing it so that a state of well being can be experienced again. This can be accomplished with an individual, couple, or in a group setting.

My job as a therapist is first to be conscious of my own state of being and be free of any internal conflict, or resistance, within myself. This allows me to stay in the energy of love, which is the most powerful healing force available to us. If I become aware of any inner resistance then my job is to release it in some way and return to love. So my first and most important job is about Being. Next comes the doing. I use a variety of techniques drawn from psychological and spiritual traditions such as Psychosynthesis, Gestalt Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Process Therapy, and Shamanism. Much of the work that I do is experiential because I have found it to be the most effective. I use my intuition and inner guidance as well as the client's responses to determine which techniques to use.

Each day I continue to develop this perspective of therapy because it is based on my experiences, and I am constantly having new experiences. I consider therapy to be a sacred practice, and it is an honor for me to serve and connect with clients at such a deep level.

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Counseling Services--Sliding Scale Rate $100