Maria Kontzamanis Psychotherapy Services

01/06/2026

Once again, I do not have access to my blog from Costa Rica so I am posting my blog post here for now: When Decisions Come From a Deeper Place

There are times in our lives when we make decisions not from problem-solving or lists of pros and cons, but from somewhere deeper. A place we may not even be able to name.

For me, these moments have been pivotal.

The first was when I was called to go to India.

To put this into context, I had been to the Far East once before, and I absolutely hated it. So much so that I told my then-boyfriend—now husband—that he was more than welcome to go as often as he liked, but I would never join him again.

And yet, two years later, I found myself standing in our bathroom, knowing—beyond any reasonable explanation—that I had to go to India.

I knew I was risking being unhappy and ill the entire time, just as I had been on that earlier trip. I knew there was a very real possibility of discomfort, exhaustion, and regret. And still, I could not quiet the knowing. I could not control it. It had to happen.

The second time was when I was called to complete my MSW and become a therapist.

I had no plan for how I would make it happen. No clear roadmap. I only knew that I needed to be in private practice. That knowing arrived fully formed, without details or assurances.

It took six years of working in a hospital before I felt ready. And then last year, once again, the decision came not from strategy but from inevitability. It had to happen. And somehow, everything aligned just in time for me to open my practice on January 14, 2025.

Now, almost a year later, I find myself loving my work beyond explanation.

And I can feel the next pivot beginning to stir.

A yoga retreat.

Something, I think, most yoga teachers quietly dream about at some point. I’ve been asked to hold retreats before—by students, fellow teachers, and friends—but until now, the pull was cognitive. Conceptual. It made sense on paper, but it didn’t come from that deeper place.

So I knew it wasn’t time.

I talked it through with my husband for nearly a year, convincing both him and myself that I couldn’t do it. That it wasn’t practical. That it wasn’t realistic.

Until this morning.

Our last day in Costa Rica.

I woke up and I knew—it was going to happen. Not only that, but I knew the theme.

And now here I am, trying to contain this energy. Not because it’s bad, but because I’m so excited by it that it almost overwhelms me. If I let it, it would consume me entirely.

That, for me, is always the sign.

When something beyond my control is opening. When a growth I cannot yet name is taking place. When my only real job is to patiently allow it to grow—without forcing it, without rushing it into being, without demanding that it take shape right now.

Some things arrive fully formed.

Others need to be held gently, quietly, until they’re ready to reveal themselves.

And I’m learning—again—to trust that timing.

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01/06/2026

I am thinking of hosting a yoga retreat in Costa Rica, probably 2027. Not sure of when in 2027 just yet, right now I am just sending out feelers into the universe. The theme would be become your own therapist on your yoga mat: A 7-Day Immersion in Distress Tolerance, Nervous System Wisdom, and Self-Trust. If you would be interested in learning more, and participating in the retreat please reach out to me, or just like this post!

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12/31/2025

I originally wanted to write a blog post, but accessing my site requires a code from my phone and I am out of the country at the moment, so I have no access to that code. A post will have to do. And honestly, that is the theme that has followed me this year, to adjust my expectations, to trust the process, and let go. I started this year with a new private practice - a lot of planning and anxiety. Throughout the year, I questioned my choice for many reasons, some of them literal (like finances) others coming from self-doubt (places I needed to grow). I am ending this year in Costa Rica - having gone to a retreat I have dreamt about for fifteen years. And it does not escape me that I am here because of all of the decisions I have made that have brought me here - decisions that required courage and trust. And the retreat, the Gayatri gathering held by Deva Premal and Mitten, also required courage and a whole lot of trust in the process. So to, this trip, that was not without struggles and needing to adjust expectations and trust the process. So as we close off this year, I encourage you as well to go into this year with courage, with trust, even if you have unanswered questions, trust that you do not need to find the answers, the answers will come in the form that they do, sometimes that means being stranded on the side of a deserted highway in Costa Rica with your luggage. Trust and be true to yourself. Om Namah Shivaya ,

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06/25/2025

🌟 The mind-body c***ection is vital for recovery in therapy. Understanding this relationship can enhance your emotional and physical health. Dive deeper with me 👉 https://wix.to/W2W4CGo

We often discuss the mind body c***ection in therapy, for many reasons. In my practice it is an important component of recovery, if trauma can be defined in a simplistic way, it is the forced disc***ection of mind and body, and trauma recovery is the rec***ecting, and new understanding of that c***e...

06/10/2025

Every path to healing is unique. In therapy, we often focus on science, but let’s not forget the artistry involved! Discover more about this balance in our latest blog. https://wix.to/WDYea7w

There's one thing that remains consistent as I work with folks toward their healing, everyones' path will be unique. If you know about evidence-based therapy, then you might know that they are therapies that have been tested to treat certain conditions, and that are widely used to treat these condit...

06/06/2025

Hello! I recently opened my own psychotherapy practice, along with a web page, and a blog! Check it out!

Hello, and welcome to my website and blog! My intention for this blog is to be half a resource page (self-care, coping, beneficial information), and half my experience as a therapist working with trauma/PTSD, anxiety, and depression. This is not my first time venturing into blogging, various experie...

02/19/2025

Hello friends in Ottawa! I had no idea I'd be saying this again in this lifetime! I am going to begin teaching yoga (among other modalities) as a sub for now at Oxygen (Orleans location). This week, I'm teaching the Thursday 9 am yoga and core and Sunday 915 yoga and core. Come join me if you're around!

07/20/2022

I always aim to be transparent. If I'm going to write about my personal journey the least I can do is be honest about it. Last week I aimed to complete a 10k run by winter. Within that same week my running app had me running 9k. So 10k is just around the corner. I got excited. So excited I decided to aim for a dream that I never voiced out loud. Complete 10k at the army run in September. Today my self doubt and my body challenged me. During my morning run I recall thinking- what a mistake it was to try for 10k. I even tried to convince (correct that MY MIND tried to convince me) that this goal didn't make sense bc my morning run is making me 10 min late for work (which is not a big deal). It was hard. But I completed it. Our mind is not always on OUR side. Find the difference. Who hears the thoughts? YOU DO. You are not the mind. Stay focused tell the thoughts to shut the f**k up. Bc darlings you've f**king got this.

07/18/2022

Approximately 13 years ago my journey with yoga began. It started with poses then trainings and later as a compass. Fast forward to 2019. I just completed my graduate degree and scored the job I was aiming for as a long term goal (tbh pre 2019 it was a far away dream).

What I didn't know. Scoring my dream job right after graduating (and moving back to Canada just 1 year prior) with the addition of a global pandemic in early 2020 would flip my world upside down. Aside from the obvious (what we all experienced in our unique ways) somehow a decision was made. Unconscious. I needed to focus on work. I needed to let something go bc with the pandemic (and having just begun to learn the ropes of my job) I was also deployed to an urgent mental health clinic and ran a private practice. So what did I let go of?. Me. I poured everything into work and focused on the growing anxiety in my body.

I named 2020 the year of the what the f**k mantra running in my head.

Fast forward to 2021. I named this year the year of never ending levels of burn out. You can guess what that entailed. Basically it felt like everything was falling a part. I often asked myself the question who am I. Afraid to answer bc who I had become was not me. It was a shell of who I was. I was no longer making decisions based on my values but on what was convenient for my burn out.

2022. I'll be honest. January 2022 was worrisome for me. I had let go of do much to cater my burn out. Trying g to reclaim me seemed impossible. I felt trapped. I wasn't sure how much more I could take. But just like life, there was a crack of light. And I forced myself to look into it. It was so easy once i did. But trust me tye journey toblooking within was not easy to start. But once i did the answers were staring me in the face. And just like life - as I paid attention to the crack of light my life began transforming. I was again making decisions thoughtfully and with intention. I started teaching yoga once a week at my dream job (which I'm still rocking). And committed to me. It has left me curious. Now that we are settling to a new (and still uncomfortable) normal what habits or intentions do you want to bring back/focus on?

11/21/2021

When I started teaching/providing yoga for my colleagues it was due to my own sense of burn out. If I felt it, I was sure they felt it too - after two years of a pandemic coupled with the work we do - changing protocols and ways in which we do our work due to the pandemic - I had a sense we were all stretched way too thin. On my last post I discussed feeling burnt out and teaching anyway. The week after- I was not able to go to work I was so burnt out the idea of even getting ready for work seemed like it required moving mountains. I stayed home and took care of myself. Then I regrouped. I decided to take days off when required without feeling guilty - I also planned my Christmas vacation something my busy mind kept putting at the bottom of the lost of things I needed to do (case in point my needs were coming last). I also looked at the reasons why I chose to teach. It was to heal.- to give ourselves permission for half an hour to take care of the minds and bodies that take a toll in the work we do. I'll admit I'm also doing this to begin to speak through my actions to a system that continues to ask more of us without acknowledging the physical and emotional toll it requires. I don't need to teach every week - I could join the practice and use an app to lead us. And of course as a group of therapists my colleagues commended me in setting boundaries. An old lesson came up - one I thought I learned long ago - BE FLEXIBLE. What we are able to give cannot be the same from one moment to the next - bc we are not the same. In order to be effective we need to check in and ask what can I give today? Just like that morning which I chose to stay home- I decided I did not have what was required to get ready and sit with peoples traumas. I knew in order to get back to the work I love, I needed time to recuperate. And I did. And when I returned I allowed myself to be flexible to not expect "perfection" and to not allow my ego tell me I didn't try hard enough. Sometimes choosing to bow out can be the courageous thing to do ❤ and I so doing we can begin to listen to what we need not what we expect from ourselves - and that my friends can make all the difference when it comes to our health.

10/20/2021

Follow up: so I taught a yoga class after three years of putting that part of my life in a neat little box. It's hard to describe it. As I sat preparing to begin a flood of memories came to me of teaching. It was an overwhelming moment. As I began the class my first response was anxiety. I sat with it breathed and reached beyond that emotion. I found a deep stillness. Then an awareness of how dumbfounded I was when teaching before becoming a therapist. I couldn't understand how I knew what I knew how it came to me unexpectedly in the middle of any random class. Today I knew. Because I tap into this everyday as a therapist. Compassion and inner wisdom. And then it flowed. 8 happy faces at the end. Many more watching on the sidelines. And so I guess it begins.