Community Highlights: Meet Jimmy Cabrera Jr

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jimmy Cabrera Jr.

Hi Jimmy, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born and raised on the Central Coast in Santa Maria, CA. As a young person I was quiet, enjoyed solitude, and was inwardly focused. I loved drawing, playing video games, often 1-player, writing, swimming. Lot’s of solo stuff. For various reasons, I mostly lived with my grandmother until I moved out to go to college in 2001.

In 2003, again, for various reasons, I dropped out of Cal Poly SLO and moved back home to Santa Maria. For a second, I considered acting, so I got headshots, an agent, a manager, did a showcase, a couple of auditions. I thought I should learn dance, so for fun, I took a hip hop dance class in Fall 2004. I became enthralled by dance and the small but electric and carefree dance community in Santa Maria. Dance and this new tribe of friends shifted me from a primarily solo and cerebral person to more a socially integrated and embodied person.

In 2008, I moved to Long Beach to go back to college.… In 2011, I was about to earn my bachelor’s degree. I was seeing a therapist on campus because I was angry every day. The slightest thing would ruin my day. Something was wrong. I wasn’t myself. I was about to graduate, but instead of feeling joy, I felt anguish that I didn’t know what to do next. I felt like I still didn’t know who I was or what I was good at. I felt so, so old, at 28. My therapist showed me how to breathe, to count, to slow it down, and introduced me to meditation. … The idea of connecting my awareness to my breath was so profound. I learned to have a new and embodied relationship with my thoughts and emotions. One day my therapist said I should be a social worker, which meant grad school. So, I went. Normally I take my time with big decisions, but with this decision, I felt clarity and comfort that it was the right path. I entered grad school in 2012, at which time I concurrently began practicing yoga nearly daily. Yoga was a natural progression from the breath practice and meditation I was already using daily. Yoga gave me a calm and non-competitive space for inner exploration. I became aware of knots of tension in my body, places where I was subconsciously engaging subtle muscles in my body. I learned to release many of these knots and began to feel like I was occupying a new body, in which flowed new light and energy.

For pleasure, I began reading books about the neuroscience and quantum science of meditation while in grad school, piecing together a through-line where it pertains to overall health and wellbeing. I took the opportunity at my internships to show my clients what I was studying about the nature of the mind and using awareness and the body to find balance. In 2014, I graduated 2014 with a Master’s in Social Work degree with emphasis on community mental health. I worked exclusively with severely mentally ill and chronically homeless people during my internships and at my first job post-graduation. In 2015, I began working at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, the Los Angeles County jail, in the Inmate Reception Center conducting face-to-face mental health intake evaluations for inmate patients getting booked in. As a social worker, the inmates are my patients, my priority, and during the five years of working there, I have witnessed so much suffering and listened to stories that cannot be made up. After five years working in jail, I better understand how our carceral system is a machine designed to identify and punish a “delinquent” class of people, most of whom have experienced severe trauma, poverty, severe mental health, and drug problems. The terms of probation and parole primarily serve to keep the prison and jails at capacity, not to promote recidivism or healing for the arrestee or the community at large for that matter.

In 2017, I reached two major goals: I completed a yoga teacher training and I became licensed (LCSW). I immediately started doing private practice part-time with an agency in San Pedro in addition to the jail. I was doing actual treatment and incorporating all my clinical skills, as well as ancient contemplative practices and techniques that I had continued to study. My reading evolved to books about the power of the consciousness to create reality and primary role our thoughts and emotions play in our health. In 2018, I began studying Reiki level I, then Reiki II in 2019, and this past August 2020 I became a Reiki Master Teacher. I’ve expanded my services to psychotherapy and Reiki and following intuition and It goes without saying that 2020 has been a year of huge energetic shifts and reflection. After five years in the jail, I decided I would serve best by dedicating all my time to my private practice. So I left my county job where I was making a good salary, had a retirement, a 401k, for the freedom of self-employment. This is a new beginning; this feels so right. I feel like I’ve found my groove. I know now what I’m good at and why I’m here. I’m dropping fears, riding on a wave of trust, and fully stepping into my courage and light.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’ll answer that by saying I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m grateful for every challenge because I believe the obstacles I faced were divinely placed for me to learn, to adapt, and to ascend. I consider myself to be earnest and willing to be vulnerable and to ask questions and say “I don’t know.” Because of that, I think people were happy to help me all along the way. I was fortunate to have been born into a family that supported my every step. I’m choosing not to illuminate any “struggles” and to instead encourage others to others to find meaning in their suffering and discomfort. There is a strong possibility the suffering is only temporary. I believe there is always a way out of suffering. Seek to understand yourself, find mentors, find people that inspire you, and release things that are not serving you.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I practice psychotherapy, or talk therapy, from a holistic and spiritual lens, as well as Reiki. I offer in-person and online therapy and in-person and distance Reiki. I hold space for people to feel and to imagine. I’m a huge metaphysical nerd, and as I mentioned before, I immerse myself in studying and practicing healing technologies from various disciplines, across time, cultures, and belief systems searching for the through-line– the commonalties and essence of living a joyful life.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
This year, witnessing the resilience of the human spirit has given me so much hope. I’ve only been living in the city of angels for five years, but I have experienced so much kindness, compassion, and cooperation here. I love that there are so many creative people here interested in healing with a deep and authentic intention. With regard to what I like least, I’ll just speak to the current situation in which we are unable to be with loved ones or to socialize with others in the community, which is key to our physical, mental, and emotional health. There seems to be an increasing collective fear and feeling of isolation, two emotions that would compound our suffering if we do not take radical measures to mitigate them. These measures may include and are not limited to: healing our relationship with ourselves and with others and practicing gratitude and love in all ways we can.

Pricing:

• Psychotherapy session $175/hour
• Reiki session $200/2 hours

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: jimmycabreratherapy.com
• Instagram: @jimmycabreratherapy