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"How else is life made real, but by story and song and fiery dance?" – Sena Jeter Naslund

Working with Dr. Jan Fisher

What might you experience?

  • Relationships that feel more peaceful, loving, and fulfilling
  • Ability to pursue unexplored dreams
  • Feeling better more often
  • Reduced anxiety or depression
  • Ability to articulate your experiences and to feel understood
  • Exploration and healing of early traumas
  • Making changes in your life that will increase your joy and authenticity
  • Responding more flexibly and openly to life's challenges
  • More joy and vitality in daily living
  • Achieving personal goals for your life
  • Increased creativity

Jan Fisher, Ph.D.

"Every part of reality expresses its own perfection, not by meeting anyone else's standards,
but simply by being itself." – Chris Roth
What Does Dr. Fisher Offer?
  • A caring, supportive relationship that gives you a new experience of yourself
  • Ways to build on your strengths, and limit self-defeating patterns
  • Concrete exercises and ways to improve your life
  • Access to a variety of expressive arts media to directly access your inner being
  • 10 years of psychotherapy experience, and 20 years of psychological and spiritual exploration
  • A transpersonal perspective that honors the importance of the spiritual dimension in personal growth
  • Training in cognitive-behavioral therapy, psychodynamics, object-relations, Jungian approaches, and expressive arts therapy
  • Experience working with depression, anxiety, shyness, social phobias, caregiver demands, 12-step approaches, spiritual exploration, and authentic movement
If you would like more information about working with Dr. Fisher, please call her at (650) 261-6692. She will return your call right away. She can also be reached via email at JFisher@itp.edu.
About Me
Before I started today, to sit down in my studio to tell you about myself, I went for a walk on the beach. One of those magical sunny winter days, the waves tossed up on the shore; parents tucked their babies in their arms, on their backs, in papooses; castles and fairylands formed in the sand. Feeling the pounding of the waves fill my heart, reverberate through my being, I wondered... What can I possibly say? How can I convey this work to you? What do you need to know about me?
            That the ocean reverberates.
            That love reverberates.
            That all of this is a mystery.
I am here today, creating this website, connecting with you, because I dreamt of working with people like you.
I have had a lifelong obsession with relationship, healing, and connection with spirit. For me, these all come together in the art of psychotherapy.

For me, psychotherapy remains a mystery. Yes, neurological studies and theories, and studies in anthropology and religion, substantiate the power of a healing relationship. But what is it about this unique relationship that heals? What is it about the experiences in expressive arts therapy that heal? What is unique that I bring to your experience?

I offer psychotherapy because a direct, caring relationship can help people learn new ways of being in the world. I offer expressive arts therapy because nonverbal expression directly reaches emotions, traumas, and self-limiting patterns. I offer psychotherapy and the expressive arts because the greatest joy and healing I've experienced have been through relationship and the arts.

"Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads."
– Erica Jong
Professional and Academic Background

At the age of 30, after a divorce and a career in banking, I decided to pursue my dream of graduate studies in psychology. I chose the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology because, from my own personal exploration, I knew that I needed a school that combines commitment to academic scholarship, personal growth, and spiritual practices. In my studies at ITP, I discovered the expressive arts as a powerful and joyous way to facilitate my own growth and express my spirituality. Jennifer Yane said, "Art is spirituality in drag." I can relate to this! For me, the expressive arts exist at the mysterious intersection of body, mind/emotion, and spirit. In finding this joy at ITP, I focused the rest of my studies in the area of creative expression.

I now teach at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology as a member of the core faculty, in the residential and global divisions. I have the honor to act as Director of Creative Expression for the residential program. I also spent two years as Clinical Director of the Shyness Clinic in Palo Alto (see www.shyness.com) and have been working with clients in therapy for over 10 years. For more details on my academic and professional training, please click here.
"Creativity is another name for Spirit and is essential to have before anything else
because Spirit gives rise to form." – Ken Wilber
Creative Background

All my life, I have felt like a creative person. It would seep into my life here and there: I would find myself writing a poem, coloring in mandalas, or taking time off from work to write short stories. I studied the piano. But it wasn't until my experiences at ITP that I began to seriously nurture my creativity. I spent years exploring dance as a spiritual practice, rollerblading while meditating, painting, drawing and writing about my experiences in movement, and taking as many classes and workshops as I could in dance/movement. Now the arts are an integral part of my life, in my professional practice, as an academician, and in my ongoing work in the expressive arts. I continue all forms of expression at a nearby studio, and continue to work with authentic movement in ongoing peer groups.

While studying dance as a spiritual practice, I also stumbled upon the Dances of Universal Peace. I immediately fell in love with this form of embodied prayer, and have been a practitioner for over 10 years. I am now leading these dances with my husband in Palo Alto, California. For more information on the Dances of Universal Peace, or our local dance meeting, please see www.DancesofUniversalPeace.org.
    I am wandering
    Wondering
    Tears flow from nowhere
    I read about slavery and poverty
    Terrorism and corporate greed
    The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer
    I wonder
    In my wandering
    What do I possibly have to offer?
    My tears are flowing.

    – Jan Fisher

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