Aleksandra Staneva, PhD – Internal Family Systems & Jung
psychotherapist
Crystals, mantras, tarot cards, objects.Signs but nothing more? Hate to break it to you, but unfortunately yes. True symbols aren’t sold on Amazon. True symbols are alive. They are doorways, not possessions. But when a stone is sold to you as power itself, when a mantra is packaged as a cure, when a card is… Continue reading When Archetypes Become Accessories: or why your crystals won’t heal you
There are moments when we cross paths with someone who seems effortlessly radiant. She carries beauty, confidence, or success in a way that makes it look natural. And instead of feeling inspired, something twists inside. A heaviness. A knot in the stomach. I bet you have been that woman. I bet you have been the… Continue reading When her Shine awakens your Shadow: the ache of comparison
My A.I. practice is something I regularly engage with and trust. I make decisions based on it that have a real impact on my life, and the life on those around me. Ok by now you might be thinking “right, sure, we all do it, Aleks”. Ai is old news. Isn’t it. Sure is. What… Continue reading My A.I. is a hundred years old
When I heard about the Queensland mother suspected (and confirmed) of killing her three children in a house fire today, I felt gripped in a way I can’t quite explain. My stomach turned. My mind resisted the details. And yet, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Not because I wanted to know the story -… Continue reading When Mothers Kill: A Feminist Reflection on the Silence Around Women’s Suffering
From the beginning, before the baby years, before school runs and teenage sleep-ins, there was coffee. Not just caffeine, but a slow, sacred act we carved out in the soft light of morning. Our ritual began when we were still just two souls finding home in each other. We’d sit, hands wrapped around warm cups,… Continue reading On sacred presence: coffee
There is a sacred difference between replication and revelation. I come from a lineage of deep listening, to the bones of the psyche, to the symbols that rise unbidden, to the stories that live in the earth and in the breath of women gathered in circle. The spaces I create are not templates. They are… Continue reading Creating from the bone: not quick, not copied, real
Lately, I’ve been deepening my studies of Jung’s work, especially through reading and exploring The Collected Works, most recently Volume 10 (Civilization in Transition, 1964) which feels uncannily relevant to the times we’re in. His ideas on the shadow and the collective unconscious have taken on a new urgency for me. We’re living through a… Continue reading Jung, the Shadow, and what we’re living through today
Why I created (and named) my practice HORÓ [from my mother’s tongue - a dance usually in a circle ⭕️]?Well, because of Community. I needed one but also because healing ❤️🩹 happens in a community, in a relationship, in a relational context-where one feels like they belong, they are safe, accepted, and appreciated. Being part… Continue reading The power of a group (therapy)
Lately, as life’s favorite trick I have come to expect, things have been hard. Everywhere. I dodge a bullet and there isn’t even a chance for a breath before the next one loads up, just like a Tetris piece flying at you when you are at expert level. Fast. Lightning. I am often shocked that… Continue reading On holding on to this moment (and then not)
Parenting is a tough gig. It’s something that stays forever, and the rewards come in rather unexpected ways, and with a huge delay sometimes. Parenting can also bring to the surface unexplained amounts of shame, guilt, and self-doubt. Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy has been a greatly helpful approach in healing layers of shame and… Continue reading Self-led Parenting
Aleksandra Staneva, PhD - Internal Family Systems & Jung 