About Me
Melanie Murray LPC, SEP, BCST
My focus is grounded in a psycho spiritual understanding of what it means to be a fully embodied human being. This comes from healing my own trauma and a deep spiritual investigation of the nature of consciousness and a practice of becoming a more conscious and embodied human.
My therapy style is a marriage of; Jungian Depth Psychology, 'The Work" of G. I . Gurdjieff, years of practice in mystical Christianity, study in the Course in Miracles, years of training and practice in Sufism, a comprehensive study and teaching of the chakras and energy healing, work with the Enneagram, years of training at a Sufi spiritual healing school and thirty plus years of immersion in Hatha Yoga and meditation.
I cut my teeth as a healer at a psychiatric hospital in Dallas TX, where I counseled suicidal patients and worked with dissociative disorders.
I was a professional dancer and choreographer for the first 30 years of my life. That has given me an embodied sense of being. I am also a Biodynamic Cranial-Sacral therapist, I can sense what is happening in your physical and energy body.
I came to be a therapist from a chronic life-long depression, a result of early childhood trauma. Then, in my forties, I lost custody of my 8 year old son, which propelled me into a spiritual crisis, a long dark night of the soul. That sent me on a search for a deeper understanding of ego, and my soul and what I was doing to contribute to my own suffering.
My own healing is the deepest credential I can offer others.
I have practiced many spiritual traditions and have come to an experiential understanding of the unitive nature of consciousness, hence, I can work with people of all faiths or beliefs.
Testimonials
Real testimonials
"Melanie is what a therapist should be. I feel my time seeing her has catapulted my growth, not only psychologically, but spiritually as well. She's highly intuitive and has a way of getting to the deeper issue at hand by supporting and guiding you to listen to your body and what it's telling you. She helps navigate you through the ego and get to the heart space. She provides a completely safe, warm and nurturing environment with no judgment. Melanie has a plethora of tools, wisdom and extensive training. Therapy continues past the hour with book recommendations, audio programs, yoga and meditation exercises to incorporate. But of primary importance she makes me feel cared for and valuable.
I am so grateful I found her and believe it was no accident...she's made such a difference in my journey?
K.B. (Austin, TX)
"My experience with Melanie has been amazing. She has given me many tools outside of medication that make a huge impact on my feelings of anxiety. I have improved so much over the last 6 months
I feel like she really has a sense of who I am and what I need to work through. Her sessions are held with such care, she knows just how to navigate through it depending on how I am feeling.
She has an incredible gift of tuning into your energy and knowing exactly how to get to the core of what is going on. I have a great sense of trust with Melanie, she is a remarkable therapist!"
E. B. (Austin, TX)
"I wanted to thank you for the spiritual foundation you guided me to and helped me build. So much wisdom and heart centered meditation, connecting and clearing and so much more. These teachings have become the most valuable knowledge and experience of my life. They help me love myself, appreciate my sensitivity, my body and my life.
You are a shining beacon of light that helped me find my path on this journey. Thank you a million times over."
C.P. (Austin, TX)
"I will always have an immense gratitude for being able to meet and work with you. I look back on the last 2 years and see rapid growth and spiritual expansion, and I know so much of that was because of your guidance! I truly feel the universe put us together for a reason. You helped me access parts of myself I didn't know were there, both the wounded parts and emerging strengths.
You encouraged me to become the best version of myself as a therapist rather than tell me exactly what to do and that has given me so much confidence and trust in my instincts!
Probably the most profound thing you have taught me is the art of surrender and faith, both in working with clients and in our personal paths. It is not easy, but it is such a relief to be able to let go. So thank you from my whole heart!"
S. B. (LPC Intern)
Thank you for the powerful and somatic experiencing healing session today! I kept chuckling afterwards because it felt so awe inspiring to feel what a seed and plant feels - for a bit, anyway!
My session felt like a journey. Before coming into my session, I could feel some deep sadness in both my physical and emotional body. The previous few days intense feelings of anger and powerlessness, as well as terror had been arising. So it was fortuitous timing. As the session went on, time seemed to stop and still. The best way to summarize my experience is by movement - I could feel movement - emotionally, physically, energetically, symbolically. Different feelings, sensations, images, and symbols arose and fell throughout the journey. I’ll touch on a few key experiences here.
At the beginning, what arose were feelings of ambivalence, of not wanting to be present in my body - a great fear of being in my body. Over the first few minutes, I could feel my body start to relax and feel more comfortable being in itself.
There was a moment when you asked me to feel into my aura - not just my physical body, but my energetic body. I could feel an intense energy, like a sun shining, expanding outwards from my physical body to fill up the entire room, and beyond. The expansion was palpable, warm, and powerful.
At one point my body began shaking. I felt it first in my shoulders and upper body, and then it traveled throughout my whole upper torso. There was a huge tension, a lot of heat and fire, both physically and energetically. There was a relief after this shaking, an opening up, a feeling of clearing. Afterwards, I felt an intense spiraling heat of energy at my sacrum - almost as if I were lying on a hot stone.
The end of the session brought a physical sensation of “growing roots,” almost like a video of a new seedling sending down roots into the ground where they speed up the time delay so as to show a long process in a few seconds. I could feel roots growing out of my sacrum and the bottom of my feet, tendrils spreading out far and wide and deep into the earth. The energy was moving very quickly, like in fast forward. Many images arose of belonging - of being surrounded in a circle by a village welcoming me into the world; of being blessed by this circle of people to both share my gifts and to receive the gifts of life - as I felt a feeling of warmth in my chest as if a rose was blooming in my heart, opening the area around my heart, like rose petals unfurling.
I left the session feeling grounded, peaceful, lighter, more centered, and a feeling of being at home in my body. It was both a powerful release and integration. It left me fascinated and awed and grateful!”
K. P. (Austin TX)