Marilynne Chöphel, MA, is a psychotherapist and consultant with a diverse professional background. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (#MFT30442) specializing in depth psychotherapy for individuals and couples. Her areas of focus include managing anxiety, depression, stress-related conditions, PTSD, chronic pain and medical conditions, life transition, authentic self expression, conscious relationship, sacred dimensions of intimacy, and transforming life and relational trauma. She has trained in the treatment of trauma through the mind-body approaches of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute and EMDR through the EMDR Institute.

She brings to her work a holistic perspective combining a graduate degree in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology from John F. Kennedy University’s Graduate School for the Study of Human Consciousness, with over 25 years experience teaching meditation and yoga.

Marilynne has practiced Tibetan Buddhist, Zen, and Vipassana meditation for over 20 years, and studied through the Shambhala tradition. Her Advanced Studies Yoga Teacher Training was through International Yoga Studies, she graduated from the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco, and she has been a Registered Yoga Teacher-500 (inactive) through the Yoga Alliance standards for teaching. Her pranayama instruction has been through the Iyengar yoga tradition and with the master pranayama teacher Sri O.P. Tiwari, founder of the Kaivalyadhama Institute for research, training and therapy in yoga in India. Her training in sacred dimensions of intimacy has included certification as a teacher of Margot Anand's SkyDancing Tantra® methods for relational healing and transformation. Her somatic background included being a certified practitioner of Trager Psychophysical Integration body work for over 15 years.

She has taught yoga, meditation, and relationship classes, workshops, and retreats throughout the Bay Area and beyond. For over eight years she taught at Hakone Japanese Gardens in Saratoga, and for over 12 years at Century House for the City of Pleasanton. She has also taught for the Diablo Yoga Center in Danville; for the Cities of Los Gatos, Saratoga, and Livermore; has offered workshops throughout the Bay Area; and retreats at Land of Medicine Buddha in Soquel.

With a B.A. degree in Psychology in 1973, she has 35 years experience in counseling, teaching, management, and consulting. She has developed and administered a community-wide internship program for average, high risk, special needs, and gifted teens that won an award from the California State Department of Education for excellence in education. She developed and administered community-wide volunteer programs and business-education partnerships, and was a consultant for program and funding development for non-profit agencies. She was also a Deputy Probation Officer working with high-risk youth and adults and co-directed a Youth Treatment Program for at-risk youth.

She offers private sessions and small groups that draw from modern psychology and the ancient practices of meditation, pranayama, and yoga. She is deeply committed to expanding awareness as a personal practice and as her life work.

Continuing Education Units
All weekly classes, monthly Practice Days, workshops, and weekend retreats are approved for CEUs for Licensed Marriage & Family Therapists and Licensed Clinical Social Workers as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. (#PCE3734)

Marilynne's Given Name

Chöphel Llamo, meaning “Dharma Increase Goddess” was the Buddhist name given to Marilynne in 1994 by The Sakyong, Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche, the eldest son of the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who was instrumental in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West. He is the head of the Shambhala Buddhist lineage, the spiritual director of Shambhala a global network of meditation and retreat centers, and is the lineage holder of Naropa University.

Ethical Standards & Guidelines

Marilynne researched and co-wrote the SkyDancing Tantra Ethical Standards & Guidelines to preserve and uphold the highest level of integrity for teaching and practice.

For more information or to contact Marilynne:
Please call (415) 492-1042 or email marilynne@dharmaspirit.com.