Since 1972 Selene Vega, Ph.D. and licensed psychotherapist (CA MFC #32604), has guided individuals and groups into the realms of psyche and spirit, bringing movement, trance work and ritual to the fields of addictions, chakra work, eating disorders, psycho-spiritual crisis and ecopsychology.
Selene Vega has been dancing since early childhood, studying ballet, modern dance, ethnic dance forms, theater, and later exploring yoga and other spiritually based systems of movement. Her work with movement evolved over many years of teaching dance technique and developing approaches that explore movement possibilities with a variety of populations. She holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from Saybrook University, a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology with a specialization in Addictions from J.F.K. University, and a B.A. in Ritual and the Arts from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Selene leads groups and individuals on movement journeys into the realms of psyche and spirit. With Anodea Judith (author of Wheels of Life: A User’s Guide to the Chakra System and Eastern Body, Western Mind), Selene developed the 9-month Chakra Intensive (the basis for their book, The Sevenfold Journey: Reclaiming Mind, Body, and Spirit Through the Chakras) which they taught together from 1985 to 1997. Selene and Anodea continue to teach a 9-day chakra training together annually at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.
Bringing her experience with movement and expressive arts to the addictions field, Selene helped develop the eating disorders program in a psychiatric hospital specializing in addictions. She has shared her experience and knowledge with graduate students and practicing therapists through seminars in Movement Therapy at J.F.K. University, and to naturopathic physicians in training at Bastyr University.
From Fall 1994 to Spring 1997 she explored her interest in psycho-spiritual emergence as the editor of the Spiritual Emergence Network Newsletter and through joining with other therapists to present a seminar on the subject at UC Santa Cruz. Selene has used movement and ritual to deepen the understanding and experience of Ecopsychology. Her concerns in this area led her in 1993 to coordinate a group of Santa Cruz therapists exploring the relationships between therapy work and social/political/environmental issues and to write a regular bimonthly column on these issues. In recent years, Selene has been working with the Self-Relations psychotherapy model developed by Stephen Gilligan, Ph.D., incorporating SR into her teaching and therapeutic work.
Through workshops, performances, lectures and directed groups, she has introduced movement for self-exploration and spiritual connection to universities, hospitals, high schools, performing arts centers and spiritual growth centers throughout the U.S.A. and internationally. In addition to her work with movement, Selene is a psychotherapist (licensed marriage and family therapist, CA Lic.#MFC32604) working with individuals, couples, and groups, although she is currently on sabbatical while she and her husband live in the Seattle, WA area for a few years. She has been adjunct faculty at Bastyr University, and is a past president of the Santa Cruz Chapter of CAMFT (California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists).
