Love & Freedom
Counseling
Embodied Healing and Awakening
Welcome. Even when we are struggling, at the core of our being, there is a wholeness and completeness that no amount of hardship can take away.
When we are connected to this inherent wholeness, we experience aliveness in our body, clarity of mind and a joyous generosity of our spirit.
My name is JJ Kuo. I call my offering Love & Freedom, the natural experience of our being as we heal, transform, and awaken.
My core work brings together contemporary, somatic, and trauma informed therapies with Buddhist liberation teachings, and other timeless wisdom.
My offering is infused with the recognition that we are all connected and in this together. My work is offered on a sliding scale for BIPOC and those in financial need and strives to serve our collective liberation.
Offerings
1-Hour Sessions
Working together we will use contemporary and somatic healing therapies to bring resolution to both limiting beliefs and stuck traumas. It can help those experiencing anxiety and stress, struggling in relationships, or wanting help with major life transitions.
We can also use transformational practices to realize our empowered wholeness and feel more connection - so we can live a deeply meaningful life.
With the support of Buddhist liberation practices and other timeless wisdom, we can embody our fully free and awake, loving true nature.
My work is very relational and trauma-informed. My presence is solid and I am committed to the wholeness, happiness, and full expression of each person I work with.
Daylong Retreats
Daylong retreats provide a safe and supportive space for accelerated healing and lasting growth.
We begin with a number of preparation sessions where we connect with your intentions and allow me to get to know how to support you best. Our retreat day is a sacred ceremony where you are guided toward healing and aligning with what matters most to you in life. Afterward, we will have a number of integration sessions to promote lasting change.
This modality of work helps heal depression, anxiety, PTSD, and relational traumas. It also supports an embodied connection with our deepest Self and Spirit. For many it is life-changing.
JJ Kuo
A Buddhist adage says that in each of our lifetimes we will have 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows.
In my own life, I have experienced much fear and doubt, periods of depression, and times of loneliness and isolation.
By way of my own commitment to healing and with the support of wise and compassionate teachers and guides I discovered a truth about myself - and all of us. That we are inherently whole, that our essential nature is goodness, and that everyday peace and unconditional love is available to all of us.
Now in my late forties, I bring a maturity to my counseling practice based on both my training and clinical background, as well as the direct experience of my own path of liberation.
My primary counseling training is in the Hakomi Method, a somatic and mindfulness-based therapeutic approach to healing and growth. I also employ Re-Creation of Self (R-CS) - an elegant and powerful method for revealing our inherent wholeness. My work is trauma-informed and I am trained on bringing healing to both single-event and complex/relationship traumas.
I have a decade-long intimate relationship with Buddhist liberation dharma practices. My greatest influences come from the nonduality lineage of Ramana Maharshi and the contemporary teachings of Adyashanti and Rupert Spira. I’ve also studied numerous Buddhist traditions including Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, and Dzogchen. Upon completing the Advanced Non Duality Training, I led Awareness Exploration Groups with the Open Circle Center for numerous years.
I see racial and social justice work as deeply intertwined with my counseling practice. As a biracial cis-man, I have had to do my own work of unwinding and healing from toxic social conditioning. I have organized, taken classes, and facilitated with Showing Up for Racial Justice and STAND, while also sitting in restorative justice circles with men in San Quentin State Prison. Thanks to the work of teachers like angel Kyodo williams and Resmaa Menakem, I continue to learn how to do anti-racism work in an embodied way.
My study of psychotherapy, the Buddhist path of liberation, and social justice all came together in 2019 when I took the Bodhisattva Vow -- the commitment of my life to the Liberation of All Beings. This, my counseling practice, is the fruit of my life’s work and purpose. With great joy, I offer it to you and all.
Testimonials
Yoana Tchoukleva
“When I reached out to JJ, I was in a dark place. I had been feeling lost, chronically anxious and barely able to sleep. Not only did JJ help me reconnect with a sense of peace, he showed me how to return to that place of deep knowing and safety within myself by myself. I can now feel my own clarity in a whole new way!”
Lance Freeman
“JJ facilitated a very safe supportive space for me to go deep. His combination of attunement, skill, and humility has supported my growth and healing journey. I highly recommend him.”
Daniel Ari
“There's a deep knowing where healing happens, and there's a deeper knowing beneath that, a unity state that's grounded, confident, and at peace with both challenge and joy. It's hard to describe, but as a counselor, JJ gets me there. He has guided me gently into my own deepest levels of wisdom, creativity and love. His ways are masterful, and I'm very grateful.”