Maryam A. Ansari

Maryam has an anti-oppressive and liberatory lens when it comes to healing. She believes each of us comes from a unique historical context and exists in a power structure that continues to shape our lived experiences. Individual healing cannot happen without truthfully naming the micro, meso, and macro systems we exist within. 

Maryam approaches working with clients with the belief that each of us is sacred and whole, just the way we are. She brings warmth and groundedness to each of her sessions. Most importantly, she believes in the healing power of laughter and tries to catch every chance to laugh at the absurdities of life.

A therapy session with Maryam is a heart centered and relational experience. She strives to be culturally responsive and follow you where you want to go, whether it’s exploring difficult thoughts, behaviors, experiences, sensations or gaining insight and awareness into yourself and your journey. 

When challenging emotion or an experience comes up in a session, Maryam slows things down to make room to explore what messages it brings with it. When we can expand our capacity to be with difficult experiences somatically, we can begin to take back the power they have over us. 

As a Muslim woman, an immigrant, a mother and the youngest child in a large and connected family, relationships have been a source of fascination all her life. Maryam’s upbringing in a collectivist culture and later move to an individualist society spurred her to examine how we relate to one another in healthy and unhealthy ways in these varying settings. 

Relationships can be both a source of love and wounding in each of our lives. The most foundational relationship is the one we have with ourselves. Therapy creates a space for reflection and transformation in how we show up in our most intimate moments, alone and with others. 

After almost fifteen years in tech, Maryam was laid off and began exploring alternate career paths. Her previous yoga and breathwork trainings motivated her to go further down the healing path and she is now completing a Masters in Integral Counseling at California Institute of Integral Studies. 

Ultimately it is Maryam’s belief that witnessing another persons’ inner world is an incredible privilege. Offering a compassionate presence to another, is one of the uniquely human gifts we can offer to someone else. 

Clinical Areas of Interest:

• Parenting transitions and parental identity development

• Anxiety, perfectionism, codependency 

• Immigrant experiences, adapting to new cultures, children of immigrants

• Navigating stress from job loss and career transitions

• Intercultural and intergenerational relationships

• Racial trauma and distress associated with existing in predominantly white institutions

Certifications and Training:

• Yoga Teacher Training (200HR) 

• Breathwork Training level 1 and 2 

• (In Progress) Masters in Integral Counseling Psychology, CIIS

• Masters in Creative Writing (Poetry) - NYU