Sober Buddha Counseling

We can’t express enough how gifted, professional and supportive Dr. Michael has been with our family. We brought our daughter to see him for meditation and stress management. He has exceeded our expectations in every aspect of therapy. We could have gone to any number of counsellors in the area, but chose him because he is the best. He has the ability to provide outstanding techniques that have not only helped our daughter, but our entire family. He is extremely knowledgeable and provides a level of service we wouldn’t be able to receive by any other therapist. We Love his calming meditation counseling, his ability to understand our daughter’s stresses and his reassurance that healing is able to be achieved through this process he provides. We will forever be grateful for him and his care. She is well on her way to managing whatever stressors life throws her way. Thank you Dr. Michael.

Great guidance and teaching each «session» with Michael. His website contains so much good content and his Listening Room has proven invaluable to my growth. Follow Michael’s recommended readings, learn from his spiritual teacher Shinzen Young, and read Frankl’s book titled Man’s Search for Meaning (an easy read). You will gain clarity into yourself and become more at peace with life’s challenges.

I brought my son to Michael to work on his nervousness and self-​doubt. He is a high school varsity wrestler and honor student. Recently the pressure of athletics and academics made him full of worry and he was considering throwing in the towel for easier junior and senior school years. Since I know he is wonderfully bright and very athletic, I thought it might be wiser to conquer those issues before taking the easy way out of high school, thus setting a lifetime pattern for giving up when times get tough.
It has been 2 weeks since his visit with Michael, and the self-​defeat he was temporarily suffering from before hitting the wrestling mat has definitely subsided. His practice has returned back to normal and he is not beating himself up before sparring with his opponent (whose goal IS beating him up so to speak, so why get beat up twice!). He is also no longer nervous before speaking in his Spanish 4 class and has far less anxiety before taking his tests. All of this after only 1 session!
I cannot recommend Michael enough! I will also be seeking his guidance and hypnosis help in the near future for my own issues, and I’m excited to do so after seeing the results with my son. I am eternally grateful.

After being diagnosed with SSNHL I had to make a decision to get injections in my ear that were predicted to be quite painful. SSNHL is idiopathic for the majority of cases but stress plays a significant role in managing the condition. I was very stressed out and that was not helping with my recovery. I had been searching for some counseling to address this and after some emails from Michael he convinced me he could assist in helping me get a hold of my stress. He sent me an email to his listening room and I listened to the breathing rhythm trance and others. When I went for my first injection I invoked the breathing and got through it with flying colors. I since have been working on learning how to incorporate meditation as a daily requirement in my living as I was working and pushing myself to max. I know now to chill out more and make this apart of my life. Working on a journey to take better care of me. Thanks Mike.

This is where to go whenever you need any sort of help. The resources michael draws upon range vastly, from ancient hindi and buddhism all the way through Jung and Freud, and up to and including the most cutting edge information.
Somehow, Michael makes growing pains fun. The best thing you can do for your ‘self’ is visit sober buddha.

Excellent resource to learn about mindfulness and tools to manage stress, anxiety, and fear. Highly recommend Michael to anyone.

Michael taught me the mindfulness skills I needed to relax and see my concerns from an objective point of view. Then he showed me how complex problems can be simplified and solved with a here-​and-​now attitude. Michael’s friendly and compassionate counseling style is solution-​focused and encouraging, and his great sense of humor helps me through hard places. I never knew how healing Buddhist and Jungian counseling could be until I worked with Michael.

Michael is a gift. He is extremely present, skilled and supportive. And, I love this sense of humor. His knowledge of Vipassana meditation and ability to teach one how to tap into this natural healing gifts that we all have has allowed me to begin a journey to happiness that I have sought for years. This is NOT about Buddhism, but rather about learning meditation techniques that come from the Buddhist tradition. I feel so fortunate to have found him.

I suffered from insomnia for months and yes, the heavy duty drugs did put me to sleep but aside from dependency, the drugged feeling one gets the next day was almost as bad as not sleeping. I meditate, do yoga, tried acupuncture, Chinese Herbs and even medical marijuana but, it was not until going to Michael for hypnotism that I finally had a natural slumber. It took 2 sessions to really feel the affects and after the 3^rd I am sleeping normal.
His calm, assuring manner makes you feel completely at ease and the experience itself is very pleasant and you wake up from the hypnotic state feeling refreshed and energetic yet peaceful as if coming back from a wonderful dream or vacation.

As a professional in the field of Behavioral Health Treatment for over 14 years, and founder of Quality Rehab Resources, I consult to existing rehabs with a Goal to improve the quality of their services by expanding the spectrum of treatment delivery beyond the long-​term traditional approaches. These are rehabs who have exhausted the norms to treatment today’s individuals, and realize persons seeking help need more than what is available in the latest therapy approaches to help clarify their perspective and application to well-​being and living a quality life without substances. I keep an open mind to the latest Holistic Healing Practices and implementation of Eastern Philosophy techniques now being introduced in treatment programs. We come to realize that there truly is no on way to help an individual regain his/​her self-​respect, self-​esteem, dignity, self-​worth, and ultimately become a productive member of society. Sober Buddha, is but one addition to an integrated treatment system where we approach addiction, mental health, and medical barriers from all directions, including techniques used thousands of years ago to heal the mind, body, spirit, and soul. I’ve referred Michael to several of my clients striving to distance themselves from the tradition program-​driven treatment approach. In my opinion, opening the doors to alternative methods, thinking outside of the box, integrating these age-​old practices with today’s Evidence-​Based Practices and Person-​Centered Philosophy, is indeed making a difference in outcomes and how we select where to send our loved ones for help. I’m familiar with Mr. Hoffman’s curriculum and his books. He is a very determined therapist and dedicated to his work.

In my early stages of recovery, I met Michael and he posed a question: During all those times I was so uncomfortable in my own skin, what if, instead of escaping, I just sat and felt it?
That introduction launched me into the discovery of Vipassana meditation, and with it a heightened awareness and an acceptance of the people, things, places and situations around me. Michael was instrumental in accelerating the development of a framework with which I have built a sober life. I have met some wonderful people since, but none has struck the chord he has so immediately and enduringly hit.
In my experience he did not blindly treat patients as anonymous recoverers with all the same problems and requirements. Rather, he had sharp insight into each person as an individual, communicating in his own terms what he saw them going through and what he believed could help. In my opinion, he demonstrates a thorough conceptual, spiritual and scientific understanding of mediation and recovery practices.
He is a mentor and a constant source of guidance for me. And very importantly, he. has. a. sense. of. humor.