Gabriel Garcia,LMFT
Transformative Psychotherapy
In person: Hancock park
Virtual: Throughout California
You've built the structure of a meaningful life. Now, you hear a quiet or bellowing yearning within the walls.
You know the ache of the paradox: deep gratitude for all you’ve attained—the career peak, the foundational relationships, the intellectual breakthroughs—yet a persistent sense that something crucial may remain.
It is the dizzying complexity of being human, the achievement simply amplified those underlying human patterns. The inner critic that followed you close behind, difficult to outrun. The ancestral vestiges that color your closest bonds. The feeling that your hard-won security is built on shifting ground.
This is not a failure of character. It is a call for deeper clarity.
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I don't treat symptoms; I illuminate the systems—the elegant, intricate web of relationships, history, and narrative that shapes your reality.
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Together, we’ll transform the feeling of 'more' from hollow yearning to resonant, authentic alignment.
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Ready to translate your vulnerability into an unshakeable inner foundation?
You've built the structure of a meaningful life. Now, you hear the quiet yearning within the walls.
You know the ache of the paradox: deep gratitude for all you’ve attained—the career peak, the foundational relationships, the intellectual breakthroughs—yet a persistent sense that something crucial may remain.
​
It is the dizzying complexity of being human, the achievement simply amplified those underlying human patterns. The inner critic that followed you close behind, difficult to outrun. The ancestral vestiges that color your closest bonds. The feeling that your hard-won security is built on shifting ground.
​
This is not a failure of character. It is a call for deeper clarity.
I don't treat symptoms; I illuminate the systems—the elegant, intricate web of relationships, history, and narrative that shapes your reality.
​
Together, we’ll transform the feeling of 'more' from hollow yearning to resonant, authentic alignment.
Ready to translate your vulnerability into an unshakeable inner foundation?
​
You have done intense personal work. Perhaps you've embraced your shadow, explored your wildness, and expanded your world through travel, plant medicines, or deep self-inquiry. You know who you are, yet stand at the precipice, unsure of who you are becoming or how to channel your hard-won power.
The truth is, progress is not perfection. Despite your growth, past partners, old habits, anxiety, or stifled creativity still linger. You may look in the mirror and question why the external self hasn't caught up to the wisdom within. You don't come to my practice because you must; you come because you crave the next, deeper layer of growth.
You value therapy as an integral part of your creative and emotional process—a tool for ongoing discovery, not a quick fix toward problem-less oblivion. You seek kinship with someone who can converse around the deeper, philosophical resonances of your life.
My practice is a refuge for this work. This sanctuary is where we dive into your systems of value, identity, sexual expression, and spirituality—all the threads that lead you to feel more authentic and situated in soma.
The work is like the life of a tree: your crown is verdant and reaching, but the necessary work now is underground. Your roots yearn to extend wider and settle deeper. I provide space for this morphology of healing, which is not a final state but a permission to fully inhabit your own becoming—finding acceptance, compassion, and confidence in all your successes and struggles.
About me
I grew up among the golden hills and oak-filled outskirts of Los Angeles, breathing in the briny sea breeze, infused with scents of sage and the unmistakable magic of Southern California. Spending my youth embedded in punk, skate, and surf culture, I was quickly drawn to the arts, becoming immersed in woodworking and classical guitar. The communities of folk music and punk rock surrounded me with makers and mentors, instilling an early appreciation for the unique expressions art can have on the world.
Even before graduating high school, I began touring internationally with metal, hardcore, and emo bands, playing excitedly on makeshift punk venues all the way up to arenas. By selling 7-inch records, handmade zines, and t-shirts, I extended my personal relationships into an interconnected and supportive DIY scene, making lifelong friendships and playing a tiny, passionate role in the DNA of the underground music community.
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While on the road, I was lucky enough to be exposed to self-studied intellectuals and a kind of brilliance only gained through deep engagement with a dynamic sea of ideas. I consumed Nietzsche, Lao Tzu, Adrienne Rich, and Alan Watts in the back of dusty vans and on motel floors, exposed to ritual magic, esoterica, Buddhism, and Taoism. Somewhere between tours, I took classes in philosophy at Moorpark College, and though it would be years before I put touring behind me, those rigorous inquiries planted the definitive seeds of my future.
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By my late twenties, perhaps influenced by my parents—one a professor, the other a therapist—I recognized a gift for listening deeply to people’s desires. My time in music had trained me to be keenly attuned to others and to collaborate effectively. As I got older, I was drawn to academia, and after my mother passed away from cancer, the sublimity of loss and the unexpected explosions of kairos inspired me to enroll and finish my degree at Antioch, a college founded on radical thought. There, I immersed myself in Eastern wisdom traditions, American Utopian movements, and post-modern philosophy, traveling to sacred sites across Mexico, Spain, Japan, and South America to conduct fieldwork.
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After receiving my B.A. in philosophy, I started the non-profit Rogue Scholars, a radical experiment in pushing experiential learning to its zenith. I ran the group for two years, utilizing a non-hierarchical model to facilitate interpretation of critical works by figures like Maggie Nelson and Guy Debord, committed to making challenging, free-thinking ideas accessible regardless of scholarship level. This project cemented my commitment to systemic thought and collaborative illumination. I returned to Antioch for my Master’s, finding profound alignment with Michael White’s Narrative Therapy—which drew its ideas from anthropology and critical theory—and the Humanistic core of Carl Rogers and relational Gestalt therapy. Yet, it is the Taoist tradition, with its wild subversion of language and beautiful potential embedded in rich poetry, that remains the primary influence in my practice.
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I interned at the Southern California Center and Narrative Counseling Center, and upon completion, I opened my own practice, which is now running for its 12th year. Through this rich and varied journey, I moved from writing about obscure cults towards the vital intersection of ecology and psychology. I’ve hosted the scholarly podcast Shoot The Dancing Bear, led workshops on psychedelic psychotherapy, and trained talented, fledgling therapists. All of these threads—the collaborative punk stage, the contemplative wisdom of the Tao, and the rigor of philosophy—inform my work as an LMFT, where I seek to illuminate the intricate systems that hold your life in place.
Themes I see most often in practice:
• All forms of Stress
• Anxiety and Panic
• Life Purpose and Career
• Depersonalization and Derealization
• Substance Abuse
• Sexuality and Identity
• Life Transitions and grief
• Mindfulness and Acceptance
• Creativity
Offerings:
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Individual Psychotherapy:
This option typically works for most people. The therapeutic process emphasizes understanding your current circumstances by looking at who you've needed to become in context of your life up til now. This exploration allows you to explore many facets of your being and allows you to zoom out in order to have a deeper understanding and compassion for yourself in regards to what your specific challenges are. After understanding is achieved we work towards examining the beliefs that have arisen to help you adapt to life and we start to gently change these through your own hidden wisdom and by my sharing and teaching, Finally, we work to shift the material conditions in life, your circumstances. Change starts from within and radiates outward, just like any birth. There is no set time work is done, I continue to be there for you until you measure the work complete. I see clients weekly until your goals are reached.
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Couples and Family Therapy:
This option is for any unit of care of more than one individual. Examples might be a married couple, siblings or even creative partnerships, basically any group that has a desire to function with more ease and grace. It is important to understand that in this modality, I serve the unit, not any individual. I work as an outside influential force to coax the individuals out of their separate egos and into a deeper sense of acceptance, compassion and healthy inter-dependence. We focus on letting guards down, communicating lovingly and authentically, and learning how to accept love and love the other. I work with you weekly with you until your goals are reached.
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Masculinity and men:
Men want to love, they need to love and be loved. Men want to know themselves, they need to know themselves. What are the forces that keep men from knowing and loving themselves and others, what are the narratives about masculinity that act to create “men”? Masculinity is a starved affair, men’s desires have been shaped to pressure them into constriction. They are taught to feel anger and humor, but not much else. They are taught to give primacy to the intellect and not their feelings. Men are sometimes asked to share their feelings, then may be shamed for it. This is not how it should be. This group works towards deep connectivity, so that men can be more fully accepted for just themselves and not what they provide. The acceptance of their beautiful sensitivity, emotional intelligence, and vulnerability. Contact me to find out more about this group.
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Supervision for new practitioners and healers:
I provide clinical supervision for newly licensed therapists and healers of all kinds that are starting their careers. Having practiced for over ten years, I consider myself a "junior elder" who can help guide you into a sustainable and thriving career, help you avoid burnout, assist you in setting up your own self care, and offer my own unique approach to the problems you face helping people. This offering can be ongoing or single consultations.
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Panic and Anxiety Coaching:
I suffered from panic attacks with prolonged exposure to heightened anxiety and came through it. You don't need to live with a panic or anxiety disorder, you can heal from it, no matter how long you've suffered. Healing is relatively simple in its essence, yet I know how challenging and distant healing seems when you are in the midst of it. If you have intrusive thoughts, health anxiety, otherwise unexplained physical symptoms... if you struggle to even find the words to describe your experiences, this may be a good option for you. When I was in the midst of it, information and perspective was key. I have a deep desire to guide others through this experience in life which always leads to more wisdom about the life you are meant to lead.
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Bask in the unencumbered, multidimensional exuberance of your radiant energy. Your nature is health and wellbeing.
P: 323.334.0464
321 N. Larchmont Blvd. Suite 506 Los Angeles California 90004