Jungian Psychotherapy and C.G. Jung
This site explains what Jungian psychotherapy is.
Jungian psychotherapy is the special process that C.G. Jung (1875-1961) developed to explore the unconscious. After Jung separated from Sigmund Freud, he established a unique form of psychotherapy that explores the unconscious through dreams, myths, archetypes, the creative imagination, art, and spirituality.
Jungian psychotherapy is a method that transforms consciousness and fosters what Jung calls "individuation," the process of self-discovery by which individuals have an opportunity to become what they are meant to be in life.
The Jungian method emphasizes images that emerge spontaneously in dreams, fantasies, and other forms of unconscious expression. From a Jungian perspective, the value of these images is in the impact they have in transforming consciousness.
Individuals in Jungian psychotherapy engage these images through interpretative and experiential techniques. Two of the most important Jungian techniques are "amplification" (a comparison of images from the unconscious with similar images from other sources, such as myths, in order to demonstrate archetypal parallels) and "active imagination" (a dialogue between the ego and the images that emerge from the unconscious).
Maria Taveras
Maria Taveras is a psychotherapist in New York City, where she is a Jungian psychoanalyst in training at the C.G. Jung Institute of New York. Taveras has been in private practice as a psychotherapist in New York City since 1991. She has a master of social work degree from New York University and is a licensed clinical social worker. Born in Santiago in the Dominican Republic, Taveras has lived in New York City since the age of seven. She is bicultural and bilingual in English and Spanish.
For information about how to enter Jungian psychotherapy, e-mail Maria Taveras at mdtaveras (at) hotmail (dot) com or telephone her at (212) 683-7253.
"Dream Art"
Taveras is also an award-winning sculptor of what she calls "Dream Art." She has a special interest in the unconscious sources of creativity. She explores these sources in an intimately personal way, using images from her own dreams to create sculptures that illustrate the process of psychic transformation. These are archetypal images from what C.G. Jung calls the "collective unconscious."
Maria Taveras with her "Dream Art" paintings and sculptures at the 2007 conference of the International Association for Analytical Psychology in Cape Town, South Africa.
In the early 1990s Taveras had a series of dreams after visiting the C.G. Jung Institute of Zurich. When she returned to New York City, she had several "single image dreams." In one of those dreams, a voice told her to sculpt her dream images.
Her sculptures feature dream images of the emergent feminine. They also often include dream images of serpents, some of them with wings.
When Taveras sculpts her dream images, she experiences what she calls "interactive morphing," which is similar to what Jung calls "active imagination." This is a dialogue between the ego and the unconscious and between psyche and matter. It is a kinetic conversation that is mental, verbal, visual, tactile, and visceral. When she interacts with her dream images, they "morph," until they ultimately materialize as sculptures.
Her sculpture "Transformation of the Feminine" won a 2004 Gradiva Award from the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis. Her sculptures have been exhibited at the 2005 conference of the International Association for the Study of Dreams in Berkeley, California, and at the 2006 conference of the International Association for Jungian Studies in London.
Taveras also paints her dream images. Her paintings have been exhibited with her sculptures at the 2007 conference of the International Association for Analytical Psychology in Cape Town, South Africa.
Serpent Woman
Serpent Handling Woman
Arrival of the Winged Serpent
Arrival of the Winged Serpent (close-up)
Maria Taveras with The Golden Woman
For information about how to purchase her "Dream Art" directly, e-mail Maria Taveras at mdtaveras (at) hotmail (dot) com or telephone her at (212) 683-7253. Her sculptures and paintings will also be available for purchase in the bookstore of the C.G. Jung Foundation at 28 East 39th Street (between Park Avenue and Madison Avenue) in New York City.
Maria Taveras, L.C.S.W.
Jungian Analyst in Training, C.G. Jung Institute of New York
E-Mail: mdtaveras (at) hotmail (dot) com
Telephone: (212) 683-7253
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