Do you work with health insurance?
Yes, I'm a contracted in-network provider with Blue Cross Blue Shield (PPO), AETNA, United Healthcare, and CIGNA. Several other contracts are being added, so don't hesitate to ask about your plan.
What if I don't have health insurance?
I have a standard private pay fee, and I do offer a sliding fee scale to those clients who may be facing a financial hardship.
What are payment options for sessions or co-pays?
Payment can be made by cash, checks, credit card, and PayPal.
I'm taking a prescription medication, or it has been recommended that I take a medication for my condition. What is your approach with that?
I believe that medications can be very helpful when prescribed and supervised well by a competent physician. Some clients are looking to eventually transition away from their prescription, either due to side-effects or their own hesitation to take a medication. I work closely with a referring psychiatrist who recognizes the evidence that the yogic techniques that my clients practice often make a huge difference for them in their recovery.
Can you describe your office setting?
It is a serene, light-filled loft space. It is shoe-free(!), allowing a sacred ‘lotus-space’ — to be more comfortable and to accommodate yoga when that is part of the treatment session.
What does your therapeutic process look like?
I avoid a 'cookie-cutter' approach, each client or couple is seen as unique. Treatment is custom-tailored to suit the case, but typically, there is verbal 'check-in' and therapeutic conversation, and then over the course of treatment, I introduce clients to techniques that I recommend to meet goals such as decreasing their anxiety, relieving their depression, and improving the quality of their communication with their partner. Therapeutic 'homework' is often assigned, so progress is made between sessions.
Do you teach yoga in sessions?
Quite often yoga, meditation, and breathing techniques have been successfully integrated into the treatment plan with positive outcomes. Not every client is interested in practicing these techniques, and in that case, there is a more traditional verbal emphasis. These self-care tools are often first introduced while seated in chairs.
I'm currently seeing another therapist, who suggested that I learn more relaxation techniques. Can I see you and still stay with my current treatment?
Yes, I work with several clients as an adjunct to their current primary psychotherapy. I do encourage clients to let their current psychotherapist know that they are also meeting with me.
Why do you wear a turban and have an unusual name?
I am a Sikh, the world's fifth largest faith tradition, which teaches that all things come from the same source. The way of dress was originally designed to denote and support a path of service. I'm expressive of my faith, but I do not proselytize or force my beliefs on others, nor am I dogmatic, instead working to make it safe for clients to express their own spiritual beliefs if it is appropriate to their therapeutic process. My name translates to ‘Princess of the Divine Vibration.’
My Writing
Below are links to articles which I either wrote, or that pertain to me.
Khalsa, Shabad Kaur (2003). Reclaiming Your Innocence Recovering from Sexual Abuse through the Technology of Kundalini Yoga. Aquarian Times Magazine, 3HO.
YogaChicago Magazine Online: Steffensen, Sharon (November, 2008). Shabad Kaur Khalsa: Serving Others. Retrieved from http://www.YogaChicago.com.
Please don’t hesitate to email me with any other questions you may have:
shabadkaur@shabadkaur.com