somatic
- somatics introduced by Thomas Hanna (1970), refers to an experiential study of the body
- “affective education” or “experiential education”, engaging the body as well as (or even rather than) the mind - Maupin (1998)
somatic psychology
In a book by British dance movement therapist and psychotherapist Linda Hartley defines “somatic psychology” as:
- “holistic approach to therapy and healing that embraces body, mind, and spirit within a changing social, cultural, and spiritual context”
- book review: contradictions, redundancies and confusion; style reads somewhat like a graduate thesis or dissertation; there are too many quotations, too much reliance on secondary sources; Hartley overemphasises some somatic practices (such as her own of mind-body cantering), while leaving out significant areas of other practices (she reduces dance/movement therapy to one practice known as authentic movement
- acknowledges an important dimension of psychology—the psychological body, rather than focusing on the reduction of symptoms as the outcome of therapy, somatic psychology:
- seeks to empower and educate people about their bodies
- teaches them to sense when there are problems, and how to cultivate a sense of well- being
- helps them understand the meaning and the unconscious messages of their symptoms, and integrate these into daily life.
- body as an object outside or subject inside
- cartesian mechanistic physics vs quantum mechanics
- somatic psychology helps people to access symbols and unconscious messages locked in the body and resolve blocks that are due to past trauma
- the early pioneers of somatic psychology: Ferenczi, Adler, Reich and Jung
- Adler’s notion of “expressive movement” — Anspacher, E.H., and Anspacher, R. (1956). The individual psychology of Alfred Adler
- Jourard’s “somatic disclosure and perception of the soma” — Jourard, S.M. (1994). Somatic disclosure and perception of the soma. In Lowman, M., Jourard, A., & Jourard, M. (Eds). Sidney M. Jourard: Selected writings.
- “somatic resonance” (Reich, 1970)
- related studies supporting somatic psychology:
- psychoneuroimmunology: Pert, C.B. (1999). Molecules of emotion. London: Pocket Books. Simon & Schuster;
- the psychobiology of the bodymind connection: Rossi, E.L. (1986). The psychobiology of mind-body healing;
- and visual imagery: Simonton OC., Matthews-Simonton S., Creighton, JL., (1980). Getting well again.
- work of the pioneers from psychology, physics, psychobiology and ecology include sensory awareness, Feldenkrais Method, body-mind centering and dance-movement therapy
- somatic therapy reveals the “sensory engram” (Juhan, D. (1987). Job’s body – A handbook for bodywork) that carries the template of each person’s history of learned experiences, as well as the “muscular armoring” that reveals “character type” (Lowen, A. (1976a). Bioenergetics)
- separation at birth can bring about both fear of life and fear of death (Otto Rank, in Brown, J.A.C. (1961). Freud and the post-Freudians, which is specifically addressed in therapies such as primal therapy, rebirthing, and holotropic therapy (Grof, S. (1985). Beyond the brain.)
- early experiences of attachment and separation that are critical for mature relationships (Attachment and loss, Bowlby) are stored in body memories, whereas traumatic memories are stored in state-dependent learning (Van der Kolk, B. & Van der Hart, O. (1989). Pierre Janet and the breakdown of adaptation in psychological trauma. American Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 253-265)
- early learned experience influence subsequent perceptions and experiences in what is called “preconceived expectations” and “pre-motor focusing” in body-mind centering (Cohen, B.B. (1993). Sensing, feeling and action. )
- energy psychologies that have developed ways to access these bodily memories include core energetics (Pierrakos, J. (1990). Core energetics.), dance/movement therapy and authentic movement (Whitehouse, 1958)
linked mentions for "somatic":
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human capacity for self-detachment
To detach oneself from even the worst conditions is a uniquely human capability. However, this unique capacity of man to detach himself from any
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body as an object outside or subject inside
behavioral psychology studies the body as an object from outside itself, somatic studies the body as a subject from inside itself, it de-emphasises
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cartesian mechanistic physics vs quantum mechanics
Somatics challenges traditional models of Cartesian dualism in which contemporary scientific psychology was born. Whereas Freud’s psychology was
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feldenkrais
Scientist, martial artist, and founder of the method that bears his name, Moshe Feldenkrais wrote several influential books on the relationship