Relational Implicit & Somatic Therapy: Recent Episodes
Proactive Mindfulness
In this conversation, Gregory Kramer compares the perspectives that psychotherapy and Buddhism have on dealing with human suffering.
Gregory Kramer teaches, writes, and is the founding teacher of the Insight Dialogue Community. His primary focuses are sharing a relational understanding of the Dhamma and teaching Insight Dialogue, an interpersonal form of Buddhist insight meditation. He has been teaching worldwide since 1980.
In his new book A Whole-Life Path, Gregory invites us to see the noise, complexity, and challenges of today’s world as doorways to fully embodied Dhamma wisdom. Drawing on decades of meditation, study, and teaching, he explores the essence of each factor of the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path. He looks at modern life and offers to put all the Buddha’s teachings into practice—individually, relationally, and socially. More than 50 experiential practices allow us to test his guidance—right here, right now. See website.
Published March 1, 2021
Francesca Maximé talks about how to find mindful, embodied responses to racialization and racism.
Francesca Marguerite Maximé is a Haitian-Dominican Italian-American embodied antiracism educator, somatic psychotherapist, award-winning poet/author, certified mindfulness meditation teacher. She also hosts the ReRooted podcast on Ram Dass’s Be Here Now Network focusing on neuroscience, trauma healing, social justice, and the creative arts. Francesca integrates secular mindfulness wisdom practices on gratitude, forgiveness and compassion with Buddhist psychology, attachment theory, modern neuroscience, psychoeducation, positive neuroplasticity, Nonviolent Communication, Focusing, narrative expression and somatic “bottom-up” approaches. She's certified in Relational Life Therapy for couples, Somatic Experiencing, Focusing-Oriented Therapy, Indigenous Focusing-Oriented Therapy, mindfulness, and has also completed Brainspotting 1 & 2 and several Coherence Therapy trainings. She practices privately seeing adults, couples and groups around the country and world as an antiracism educator and somatic coach through her Maximé Clarity, LLC offerings, also working with a group somatic psychotherapy practice in Brooklyn, New York: Brooklyn Somatic Psychotherapy. See website.
Published November 2020.
To be effective, therapy has to address the implicit pressures that shaped our clients and continue to shape them. This includes the implicit messages people derived from their upbringing (e.g. parent implicitly encouraging child to act out while explicitly not doing so). This also includes the social milieu which exerts implicit pressure for them to keep conforming.
David M. Allen, MD, is professor emeritus of psychiatry and former director of psychiatric residency training at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, TN. He has carried out research on personality disorders, is a psychotherapy theorist, and is the former associate editor of the Journal of Psychotherapy Integration. He is the author of "Coping with Critical, Demanding, and Dysfunctional Parents: Powerful Strategies to Help Adult Children Maintain Boundaries and Stay Sane", "How Dysfunctional Families Spur Mental Disorders" and other books, as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters.
Published October 2020.
The other day, I saw a poster. It's the iconic picture of Rambo with bulging muscles and a bazooka. But, instead of the head of Sylvester Stallone, it has the head of Donald Trump. The caption goes, "Trump. No Man. No Woman. No Commie Can Stump Him."
My first reaction was to think of it as satire, making fun of Trump's exaggerated opinion of himself. But, no, given the context, this was meant as a prideful statement by one of his followers.
Do his followers not know that he is obese and averse to exercise? Is it possible that they don't know that he avoided the draft? How could they believe in something that is so far from the truth?
Pausing for inner experience
I pause a moment as I'm pondering these questions. I pay attention to my inner experience. I notice that what this brings up for me is some mixture of outrage and smugness. Outrage: how dare they represent something that is so far from the truth? Smugness: the sense that I am more in touch with reality than these people.
I know that, if I stay with my sense of outrage and smugness, all I do is reinforce my preconceptions. So I try, for a moment, to shift into a different perspective. I tap into a sense of curiosity about what this picture might mean to the people who proudly display it. Does one need to take it as literally true to be inspired by it?
Probably not. We, human beings, have an enormous ability to use symbolic thinking. We use metaphors. Sometimes, the metaphors we choose are very carefully related to the topic. Occasionally, we voluntarily choose metaphors that present a stark contrast to highlight an aspect that is especially important to us. For instance, I remember how Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa liked to use the metaphor of warriors to reflect the quality of courage. Mindfulness practitioners are certainly not warriors in the typical sense of the term. They are not belligerent, far from that. The warrior metaphor serves to draw attention to their hero quality.
But what if the metaphor is so over the top that it loses any power? When Vladimir Putin displays pictures of himself bare-chested, it is consistent with his background as a judo practitioner. But what could the man who avoided the draft because of bone spurs possibly have to do with a Rambo-like figure?
Calvin & Hobbes
To better understand this, I find it helpful to think of one of my favorite comic strips, Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin is a little boy, and Hobbes is his tiger. Clearly, for Calvin's parents and all the other characters in this strip, this is what Hobbes is: a stuffed animal, a toy. But, whenever Calvin interacts with him, Hobbes is represented as fully alive. A magnificent, powerful tiger. More than that, a tiger who is also able to speak and play with Calvin.
You could say that all of the stories take place in Calvin's imagination. So what? Saying that misses out on what gives these stories their charm. They don't just talk about the fantasy world of the kid. They draw us into it. To enjoy the story, you suspend disbelief that this is a stuffed animal. You see and experience Hobbes as a full-fledged character, not a toy but an animal. Actually, an animal who is also a person. But also a stuffed toy, because the story works on many levels. You have to follow it on all the levels as it unfolds.
The story that unfolds does not have an "as if" quality. It would be boring if it were possible to reduce it to what's happening in Calvin's imagination. What makes it captivating is that it is also happening in our imaginations. The power of good stories is that they draw us into the world of fantasy. What makes a story enjoyable is not how closely it hews to literal truth. It is how it captures something compelling that literal truth cannot capture as well. It is akin to how a simple drawing can capture a sense of a person...
Merete Holm Brantbjerg talks about working with low energy states and our "invisible parts" in the context of Relational Trauma Therapy.
Merete Holm Brantbjerg developed Relational Trauma Therapy, a psychomotor and systems-oriented approach. She is an international trainer, group leader, and therapist based in Denmark. See website.
See also:
– PDF of ROST presence skills.
– A resource for clients: Video and PDF transcript of Merete Holm Brantbjerg for the general public.
Published August 2020.
In this conversation, Eric Wolterstorff draws on a systems approach to describe how the pandemic has elicited a "stress chain reaction." He sees a parallel with the model mapped by Murray Bowen in the context of family dynamics. He also talks about how to dampen the chain reaction each time it passes through you. See also PDF transcript.
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Dr. Eric Wolterstorff works at the intersection of psychology, trauma, culture, and group behavior (“A Speculative Model of How Groups Respond to Threats,” 2003). In the 1990s, Wolterstorff helped formalize Peter Levine’s work and placed it in the context of a memory-systems approach to healing trauma. He studied the work of Murray Bowen and Arnold Mindel, and created a approach to working with trauma and transference (Wolterstorff and Grassmann, “The Scene of the Crime,” 2014). With Glen Strathy, he is writing Better Parents, Better Children (2021) based on the work of Lloyd DeMause. He leads Sovereignty First, a social-impact LLC that helps organizations generate solutions to big problems that cross sectors, borders, cultures, & factions. He advises Cooperative Capacity Partners, a social-impact LLC that increases power sharing, cooperation, and performance in global public-sector partnerships. Wolterstorff lives in Boulder, Colorado, with his fiancée, Jodi Simon, and her son, Liam. See website.
Published June 2020.
This recording is different from most other recordings in this podcast series. Instead of a conversation, it features Serge Prengel in a short talk.
Transcript:
The giant "pause" that we are going through is an opportunity to reflect on what our basic assumptions are as to what we do and why we do it. I am sharing my thoughts with you in the hope that they will stimulate you to formulate your own.
What is it that we aim to achieve in therapy? I am starting with the assumption that, in many if not most cases, the desired outcome is lasting, sustainable change.
How do we accomplish that? I see therapy as a transformative experience, which leads the client to learn new patterns of responding to life’s interactions.
We can conceptualize this as a rewiring of neural circuits. If we were able to see the wiring, we would presumably notice the change. In any case, the transformation is not an abstraction. We can very much see it in the way it manifests. Essentially, the client is now reliably able to be responsive, rather than reactive, in situations that were triggering them.
The change in behavior is concomitant with a change in which circuit of the autonomic nervous system is involved. Reactivity occurs in sympathetic or dorsal vagal modes. Responsiveness, in social engagement mode. These are not abstractions, but very observable phenomena: in the course of therapy, we can track the client’s somatic experience to monitor where they are on this roadmap. We can also coach the client to improve their somatic awareness.
I do not see the notion of “meaning“ as a philosophical concept, but an experience that is colored by the circuits in the autonomic nervous system. That is, in dorsal vagal mode, the experience is that of an overwhelming threat. In sympathetic mode, it is that of fighting or fleeing threat. In social engagement mode, we have access to many more nuances of meaning.
Looking at change within the context of the autonomic nervous system reminds us that what we are dealing with is the human ability to manage interaction. This is a relational perspective, as opposed to a "one-person psychology". Hence the following implications:
– The therapeutic interaction requires fostering the safety and relationality that facilitate the social engagement mode, where experience can be assimilated.
– The changes will only be lasting to the extent that external factors, such as family pressures, or social pressure, are addressed.
Please share your comments, suggestions, or alternative views through the feedback form.
Serge Prengel
Published May 2020.
In this conversation, Michael Changaris talks about how crucial touch is to our sense of self and our well-being. He refers to research as well as examples in clinical practice and in everyday life. The conversation concludes with an invitation to a simple way to experience this in your life.
Audio recording:
Bio goes here.
Published 2020.
In this conversation, we talk about how the coronavirus and social distancing are affecting our work as therapists. We discuss practical details, such as how we use video-conferencing, as well as putting things in a larger context.
Dave Berger, MFT, PT, LCMHC, MA, SEP is a senior faculty member of the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute and on Dr. Peter Levine’s legacy faculty with Ergos Institute. He teaches SE and his own BASE work, Relational Bodywork and Somatic Education for trauma practitioners, internationally. As a somatic psychotherapist, physical therapist and bodyworker he understands the broad range of knowledge and skills required of a trauma practitioner. See website.
Joshua Sylvae, PhD, is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist from Oregon City, OR. His therapeutic focus is on trauma healing and somatics, and he is a faculty member at the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute as well as Peter Levine's Ergos Institute of Somatic Education. He is also the Executive Director of the (r)evolve Foundation, a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit dedicated to illustrating the many ways our modern world fails the human organism, our inherent tendencies toward regulation and wellness, and how to become more resilient and less destructive in our interactions with each other and the Earth. See website.
Published April 2020.
With the pandemic, people have to avoid unnecessary contact. Social distancing dramatically affects people's ability to find comfort in connection. We cannot directly give emotional support to all who need it. But we can teach people simple tools they can use to support each other.
In the video below, Stephen Porges eloquently makes the case of why this makes sense.
As therapists, what can we do to help?
Active Listening is a very simple and effective way to help people hear themselves think and feel. Not to mention communicate better with each other. This is a tool that works in these times of social distancing. People need not be physically together to do it. They can use the phone, Skype, or any other form of videoconferencing.
We do not need to be physically present with people to let them know about it. We can let them know through electronic media, social media, whatever we have at our disposal to communicate.
How you can do it
There is no prescribed way of doing things. You conduct this in a way that feels right for you.
You set up virtual gatherings by phone, Skype, Zoom. You can invite your clients, friends of clients, or members of any community you are connected with. For instance, parents at a school, church members, etc.
You can make each training a one-time thing. Or you can make it a group that meets several times. Either way, virtual gatherings are an opportunity to address questions and help people share their experiences.
If you'd like to have material that people can use to jog their memory, you can refer them to the simple description of Active Listening at activepause.com/active-listening. Or you can make your own. And, as we compare notes, we can make new material as we move along.
See Frequently Asked Questions.
Even if we all do very different things, it feels good to know that we are part of a larger movement. Hence the suggestion that we stay connected through this. It can be as limited as simply knowing that we are part of a larger group. It could also be a way that, by sharing our experiences, we become better at doing this.
If you are interested in being part of this, please register through the subscription form.
If you are already a subscriber to the Relational Implicit newsletter, you can either use the subscription form, or the link at the bottom of any newsletter email, to update your subscription (add a check on "Volunteer").
See Frequently Asked Questions.
If you have comments or suggestions about the Volunteer program, please use the feedback form.
Social distance and separation are a big part of what is needed to deal with the pandemic. In this short conversation, we talk about how to counter their effects: we still need to be sensitive to our nervous system's need to socially engage and connect.
A resource for clients: How to make quality time when communicating with friends by phone or Skype. Features a 7’ 30” video and transcript on Active Listening.
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Stephen W. Porges, Ph.D., is Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University, where he directs the Trauma Research Center within the Kinsey Institute. He holds the position of Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina and Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He served as president of both the Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences and is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award. He has published more than 250 peer‐reviewed scientific papers across several disciplines including anesthesiology, critical care medicine, ergonomics, exercise physiology, gerontology, neurology, obstetrics, pediatrics, psychiatry, psychology, space medicine, and substance abuse. In 1994 he proposed the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that links the evolution of the mammalian autonomic nervous system to social behavior and emphasizes the importance of physiological state in the expression of behavioral problems and psychiatric disorders.
See also conversations with Stephen Porges about the Polyvagal theory and about co-regulation.
Published March 2020
In this conversation, Karyne Wilner talks about how cell life and neuroplasticity of the brain and body can be enhanced through work with the bioenergetic field.
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Dr. Karyne Wilner is a licensed, clinical psychologist who practices in Connecticut and Rhode Island. She is director of the Core Energetics Academy, a training center for professionals who wish to add a bodymind and energy focus to their work. She worked closely with John Pierrakos, MD, the founder of Core Energetics. An adjunct instructor at Salve Regina University, she teaches energy psychology to graduate students in the holistic counseling department. In the past, she was Assistant Director of The Institute of Core Energetics, Associate Director of Core Energetics Australia, and Senior Director of Core Energetics in Brazil. Her current interest is in writing about what the body communicates and its connection to sexuality and love. See her website.
Published March 2020.
This recording is different from the other recordings in this podcast series. Instead of a conversation, it features Serge Prengel talking about polarization and the Relational Implicit. You can also read this as a text (below the audio player).
What happens when we get polarized? How can we avoid polarization to engage in more enriching discussions? I would like to share some thoughts based on an experiential exploration of polarization.
The experience I am drawing upon was not a polarized discussion. It was a collaborative endeavor: Remembering experiences of polarization to better understand them. I will be bringing up a contrast between this collaborative atmosphere and the circumstances under which we get more polarized.
The initial shift
The conversation started as an interview. The roles were clear. I was the interviewer, and Kirk Schneider was the person interviewed. We were going to talk about a topic he has thought about a lot and written a book about: “The Polarized Mind.” We didn't go very far with the conventional interview portion. Soon after the beginning, we shifted the format of the conversation.
It started with my suggestion that we proceed carefully: We were not discussing a neutral topic, but one which could emotionally touch our audience. I disclosed that I could, at times, have a polarized mind. Kirk suggested that we explore the topic experientially. Effectively, we shifted roles, with him leading me through a process of experiential exploration. Before we went any further into this process, we established some rules for safety. All of this evolved organically.
When an interview takes place, some things are so evident that it is not necessary to state them explicitly. There are specific roles: the interviewer and the interviewee. The manner of the interview may vary, but both parties share the implicit assumptions. They constitute a stable framework for the interchange—I think about it as the Shared Implicit.
Through a process of attunement, we restructured our Shared Implicit. This involved paying attention to implicit clues and resulted in making the space safe and comfortable. This early step set the tone for the possibility of further expansion during the rest of the conversation.
Embodied Experience
An experiential exploration means paying attention to the experience from inside, as opposed to talking about it as if it were outside. Exploring inner experience involves paying attention to body sensations.
Here is what came up for me as I was recollecting polarized interactions to access my inner experience of them. I noticed the tightening of my shoulders, a shallower breath, a sense of my spine folding in. All of this, subtly, not necessarily visible to an outside observer.
These physical sensations were not random. They were the result of my whole organism reacting to the situation. They were "bottom-up," implicit reactions, as opposed to "top-down." Through neuroscience findings, we are keenly aware that much of our functioning is at a "bottom-up," implicit level. Somatic mindfulness involves being in touch with embodied experience, i.e., the Somatic Implicit.
As we stay present with our experience, a felt sense forms, which is the way we experience the Somatic Implicit. In this case, my felt sense of the experience came down to a simple handle: a sense of rigidity. Conversely, as I shifted away from polarization, the experience was a sense of fluidity.
Interestingly, Kirk had defined the polarized mind as a “fixation on a single point of view to the utter exclusion of competing points of view." The bodily sense of rigidity, the opposite of fluidity, made this concept come to life. It was not an abstract idea, but a felt experience of the Somatic Implicit.
Tracking the Somatic Implicit
This conversation started as Serge Prengel interviewing Kirk Schneider. Very quickly, Kirk became the listener, guiding Serge into an experiential exploration of polarization.
We touched upon the personal and embodied impact of the polarized mind (or fixation on a single point of view to the utter exclusion of competing points of view), as well as some ways of depolarizing the mind (and body).
This interchange addresses the concepts of polarization and depolarization, as well as how one might work with them. It also hints at a larger perspective: how we might develop an inner democracy for the outer democracy to flourish.
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Kirk J. Schneider, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and leading spokesperson for contemporary existential-humanistic psychology. Dr. Schneider is the current president of the Existential-Humanistic Institute (EHI), Council Member of the American Psychological Association (APA), past president (2015-2016) of the Society for Humanistic Psychology (Division 32) of the APA, recent past editor of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology (2005-2012), and adjunct faculty member at Saybrook University and Teachers College, Columbia University. A Fellow of the APA, Dr. Schneider has published over 200 articles, interviews and chapters and has authored or edited 13 books including The Spirituality of Awe, The Polarized Mind, Awakening to Awe, The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology, Existential-Humanistic therapy, Existential-Integrative Psychotherapy, and the Wiley World Handbook of Existential Therapy. Dr. Schneider’s work has been featured in Scientific American, the New York Times, Psychology Today and many other health and psychology outlets. See his website.
Published February 2020.
In this conversation, Leslie Ellis talks about how working with dreams engages client and therapist in a co-creative process from which much can emerge.
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Dr. Leslie Ellis is a teacher, author and psychotherapist. She is currently offering online dreamwork instruction based on her book, A Clinician’s Guide to Dream Therapy (publication date: August 2019). She also offers individual dreamwork sessions and training in somatic approaches to psychotherapy. Leslie has a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and a Masters from Pacific Graduate Institute. She is vice president and a Certifying Coordinator with The International Focusing Institute. See her website.
Published January 2020.
In this conversation, which is part of a series on the Collective Implicit, we explore Climate Change from a perspective informed by somatic psychotherapy.
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Dr. Sharon Stanley has educated thousands of psychotherapists in Canada, the USA and Israel in the principles and practices of somatic psychotherapy. Sharon has served on graduate level faculties including the University of Victoria and the Foundation for Human Enrichment, developing curriculum and teaching mental health professionals. Building on her doctoral research on empathy with traumatized youth, Sharon founded Somatic Transformation, a trauma model and educational curriculum guiding practitioners in treating physiological, psychological and spiritual dynamics of relational trauma. Sharon’s work with indigenous people, the study of Afro-Brazilian healing practices and phenomenological research has led to a convergence of neuroscience, somatic therapy and cross cultural wisdom to heal “soul wounds”. Sharon has a private clinical practice on Bainbridge Island, Washington. See: Somatic-Transformation.org.
Published . See also conversation with Sharon Stanley about Somatic Transformation and conversation about what sustains her.
Carmen Joanne Ablack, president of the European Association for Body Psychotherapy (EABP) talks about the association as a polyphonic endeavor.
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Carmen Joanne Ablack holds BA Hons in Psychology and Sociology, PG Diploma in Body Psychotherapy, and an MSc in Leading and Managing Health and Social Care (Advanced Professional Practice). She is an individual, group, couples and relationships psychotherapist, trainer and supervisor. She has published on clinical contemporary practice in Body Psychotherapy and Integrative Psychotherapy, intercultural communications, diversity dilemmas, trauma, access to the profession and regulation. Carmen is currently President of EABP. She is a former chair of Chiron Association for Body Psychotherapy and trained with the Chiron Centre for Body Psychotherapy; additionally she is a registered Gestalt Psychotherapist and Gestalt Group Psychotherapist. Carmen has particular interest in mental health, social responsibility and educational access. She was External Consultant to Pink Therapy (the UK’s largest independent therapy organisation working with gender and sexual diversity). Carmen is a member of the Black, African and Asian Therapy Network (BAATN) Leadership Group. See website.
Published December 2019.
In this conversation, we talk about a blending of disciplines – – specifically, using exercise science to bridge understanding in somatic psychology interventions. The goal is to bring together the science of the physical body with the science of the emotional body to go beyond symptom reduction and reconnect the self and body.
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Stacy Reuille-Dupont, PhD, LAC, CPFT is a licensed clinical psychologist and addiction counselor. Her current integrated care clinical practice blends her training as an exercise scientist and psychologist to create individualized programs that include exercise, diet, and positive coping skills to address a variety of mental and physical health concerns. Stacy is a graduate of the Hakomi Comprehensive Training Program, trained in EMDR, skilled in Solution Focused Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive and Dialectic Behavioral Therapy methods among others. Stacy has worked in a variety of mental health clinical capacities and integrated care settings over the last 10 years. She is a professional member of The American Psychological Association (APA) and the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy (USABP). Stacy has been an Athletics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA) Certified Personal Trainer for over 20 years and a former group exercise and yoga instructor. See website.
Published September 2019.
This conversation is about using the Polyvagal Theory in clinical practice. Deb Dana talks about how a focus on experientially understanding the role of the autonomic nervous system helps to creatively involve clients in their healing process.
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Deb Dana, LCSW, specializes in treating complex traumatic stress and lectures internationally on the ways Polyvagal Theory informs clinical interactions with trauma survivors. She is the Coordinator of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium in the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University and the developer of the Rhythm of Regulation clinical training series. She is trained in Internal Family Systems and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and completed the Certificate Program in Traumatic Stress Studies at the Trauma Center. Deb is the author of The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy (Norton, 2018), co-editor with Stephen Porges, of Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory (Norton, 2018), and is currently writing Polyvagal Exercises for Therapists and Clients (forthcoming from Norton). Visit rhythmofregulation.com To learn more about Deb’s workshops and writing, visit her website.
Published July 2019.
Trauma often inculcates fears of body awareness and incapacitating shame that complicate the use of somatic approaches. As Janina Fisher explored how to help such clients with befriending their emotional and body responses to trauma, she began to develop a way of helping them to understand themselves as fragmented and to become more aware of their ‘parts’ or states. With a body perspective and parts language, she found that they could better observe their emotional and somatic experience without the fear that the language of the body evoked.
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Janina Fisher, Ph.D. is the Assistant Educational Director of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, an EMDRIA-approved EMDR Consultant, and a former instructor, Harvard Medical School. An international expert on the treatment of trauma, she is co-author with Pat Ogden of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Attachment and Trauma (2015) and author of Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: Overcoming Internal Self-Alienation (2017) and the forthcoming book, Working with the Neurobiological Legacy of Trauma (in press). See website.
Published February 2019. See other conversation with Janina Fisher.
In this conversation, we talk about the therapeutic relationship as a bodymind process between two people who are both wounded and whole. This conversation is available as a video, as well as audio only, and as a printable PDF transcript.
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Michael Soth is an integral-relational Body Psychotherapist, trainer and supervisor (UKCP), with more than 30 years' experience of practising and teaching from an integrative perspective. Drawing on concepts, values and ways of working from a broad-spectrum range of psychotherapeutic approaches across both psychoanalytic and humanistic traditions, he is interested in the therapeutic relationship as a bodymind process between two people who are both wounded and whole. He was Training Director at the Chiron Centre for Body Psychotherapy in London for 20 years, until its closure in 2010. He now teaches independently through INTEGRA CPD. He has written numerous articles and several book chapters and is a frequent presenter at conferences. Extracts from his published writing as well as summaries of presentations and hand-outs are available at www.integra-cpd.co.uk, or find him on Facebook and Twitter (INTEGRA_CPD). He is co-editor of the Handbook of Body Psychotherapy and Somatic Psychology, published 2015.
Published September 2018.
In this conversation, Stefan Deutsch talks about his theory of love as nourishment, the evidence for it, and how it applies to clinical practice.
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After escaping communist Hungary with his parents, Holocaust survivors, Stefan Deutsch grew up in NYC, graduated Hunter, CUNY, then NYU for Movement Therapy. He is a certified Gestalt psychotherapist with a thriving Private Practice, and a philosopher of human development, dedicated to the prevention of any Holocausts. He originated The Continuum Theory of Human Development (see PDF on his website). Here is what else he’d like you to know about him: 1. His organization, The Human Development Company. 2. His book – “Love Decoded”. 3. His article on Thrive Global– “Why people Marry”? 4. He organized The First Symposium Toward A Unified Science of Love, 2016. 5. His theory as used in “Love2Caretrial” a clinical trial at Danbury Hospital, preventing stress and burnout among physicians, nurses, and residents, with promising results. 6. Presenting – ‘Theory of Self-Love as Psychotherapeutic’, 2018 APA conference.
Published August 2018.
In this conversation, we talk about the "space between", i.e. the space of relationship, and how Imago therapy helps clients make sense of it and change their relationship. There is also a partial transcript as a printable PDF.
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Harville Hendrix, Ph.D. and Helen LaKelly Hunt, Ph.D believe that how we interact with each other, in all our contexts—family, workplace, schools, etc.—is the key to our emotional, physical and economic well-being and to the well-being of our children and society. Harville and Helen co-initiated Imago Relationships International as a training institute for couples therapists, Relationships First® as a collaborative mission to change the cultural value system, and Safe Conversations® as an experiment to raise the joy index of a whole city. Their professional partnership has produced 10 books including three NYT best sellers (Getting the Love You Want, Keeping the Love You Find, and Giving the Love that Heals). Their latest book is The Space Between (2017). They are working on a new professional text on Imago theory and therapy. A 30th anniversary edition of Getting the Love You Want will launch in 2018. See their website.
Published July 2018.
In therapy, we deal with embodied experience. Shouldn't research also have an embodied approach? This conversation is available as a video, as well as audio only, and as a printable PDF transcript.
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Jennifer Frank Tantia, PhD, MS, BC-DMT, LCAT is a somatic psychologist and dance/movement psychotherapist, specializing in trauma and medically unexplained symptoms. She teaches research and evaluation in the Expressive Therapies graduate program at Lesley University and specializes in embodied research. Dr. Tantia is former chair of the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy research committee and currently serves on the board of the American Dance Therapy Association as chair of Research and Practice. She is a peer-reviewer for several academic journals and is an associate editor of the international journal, Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy. Dr. Tantia presents and teaches internationally and has authored several publications in both dance/movement therapy and somatic psychology. Her forthcoming co-edited book, Embodied Perspectives in Psychotherapy will be published by Routledge in Spring, 2018. She has a full-time private practice in Manhattan.
Published November 2017
Richard Schwartz describes how we can understand ourselves better if we think of our inner conflicts as arguments between parts of ourselves. He outlines the kind of mindful interaction through which we can assume effective leadership of these conflicting parts: We learn to compassionately listen to their deep needs underneath the bluster. There is a short demo of the process. This conversation is available as a printable PDF transcript.
Richard Schwartz co-authored, with Michael Nichols, Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods, the most widely used family therapy text in the U.S. Dr. Schwartz was Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Institute for Juvenile Research and later at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. He developed Internal Family SystemsSM in response to clients’ descriptions of various parts within themselves. IFS is a nonpathologizing, hopeful framework within which to practice psychotherapy. In 2000, Dr. Schwartz founded the Center for Self Leadership in Oak Park, Illinois. CSL offers three levels of training in IFS, workshops for professionals and for the general public, an annual national conference, publications, and DVDs of Dr. Schwartz’s work through its web site at www.selfleadership.org. IFS trainings and workshops are also being held in several European countries. Dr. Schwartz has published five books and over fifty articles.
See also conversation with Richard Schwartz about Internal Family Systems.
Published January 2017
This conversation with Peter Levine is about different types of memory. We talk about trauma, but also about the fluid notion of self that goes together with this understanding of memory. This conversation is available as a video, as well as audio only, and as a printable PDF transcript.
Audio only:
Peter A Levine, PhD – is a forerunner in body-oriented approaches to trauma. He is the developer of Somatic Experiencing® a naturalistic, approach to healing trauma which he has developed during the past 45 years. He has received the Lifetime Achievement award from the US Association for Body Psychotherapy, and an honorary award as the Reiss-Davis Chair for his lifetime contribution to infant and child psychiatry. Dr. Levine served as a Stress consultant for NASA in the early space shuttle development and has served on the APA task force for responding to large scale disasters and ethno-political warfare. He is currently a Senior Fellow and consultant at The Meadows Addiction and Trauma Treatment Center in Wickenburg, Arizona. He is the author of several best-selling books on trauma, including Waking the Tiger, Healing Trauma, published in 26 languages, and Trauma and Memory; Brain and Body in a Search for the Living Past.
See also: Conversation with Peter Levine about Somatic Experiencing therapy.
Published December 2016
In this conversation, we explore a paradigm shift and its implications. "The whole history of the study of mental and psychological processes has been so focused on the individual’s responses, yet the individual’s responses are being framed and interacting through a connectedness with others." The Polyvagal theory developed by Stephen Porges "forces an attention away from the individual to the individual within context." In this context, mindful self-regulation may be better described as co-regulation. This far-ranging conversation also touches on the importance of listening to others and to our own bodily feelings, how we deal with threat and find safety. In addition to the audio, there is also a printable PDF transcript.
Stephen W. Porges, PhD, is Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University, where he directs the Trauma Research Center within the Kinsey Institute. He holds the position of Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina and Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He served as president of both the Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences and is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award. He has published more than 250 peer‐reviewed scientific papers across several disciplines including anesthesiology, critical care medicine, ergonomics, exercise physiology, gerontology, neurology, obstetrics, pediatrics, psychiatry, psychology, space medicine, and substance abuse. In 1994 he proposed the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that links the evolution of the mammalian autonomic nervous system to social behavior and emphasizes the importance of physiological state in the expression of behavioral problems and psychiatric disorders.
See printable PDF transcript. See also conversation with Stephen Porges about the Polyvagal theory.
Published September 2016
Steven Hoskinson, MA, MAT, is the Founder and Chief Compassion Officer (CCO) of Organic Intelligence® and the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Organic Intelligence Outreach Institute. Steve created the Human Empowerment And Resiliency Training (OI HEARTraining®) based on Organic Intelligence, which is a positive psychology, fractal method known for its implicit exposure approach to trauma. Since 1999, Steve has trained thousands of professionals in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East in the art of the compassionate treatment of trauma. As Professional Training Faculty for the SE™ Trauma Institute, he has mentored and trained teachers across the globe and is also Adjunct Faculty for JFK University’s Somatic Psychology program. Steve is a founding member of the Northern California Society for Integrative Mental Health and the International Transformational Resilience Coalition. He also served on the Global Training and Education Council for the SE™ Trauma Institute. See OrganicIntelligence.org
Published May, 2016. See printable PDF transcript.
Neal H. Brodsky, LMFT uses expressive therapies to help adults, young people, and families create lives they love. He is licensed in Marriage & Family Therapy and certified in both Core Energetics and Embodied Couples Work (Exceptional Marriage Approach.) Neal was originally trained in Film and Television and is particularly adept in helping clients visualize and create profound and lasting change in life. He is one of 10 therapists from around the world contributing a chapter to the 2015 book "Deep Play: Exploring the Use of Depth in Psychotherapy with Children" and his work supports the “inner children” of adult clients to resolve past family difficulty and allow the flourishing of life tasks and relationships. Neal's U.S. offices are in New York City and Connecticut and he works with expat couples and families around the world through video-assisted online sessions along with his wife Judy Gotlieb, LMFT. See LoveLifeCounseling.com.
Published: March 2016. See printable PDF transcript.
How can we capture the shared implicit? Certainly not by analyzing it to death. Poetry and music can help us transmit the experience of the ineffable. We let ourselves experience whatever resonance the melody and words have for us. It touches something in us, and the experience we have of it is very personal.
At a conference, several of us presented a panel. We wanted to communicate experientially what we called "Shared Field". So we started with a song – Suzanne, by Leonard Cohen.
Now, it is on this web page you're reading (recording by Bruce Nayowith). As you listen to it, you may remember that we put it there to give you a sense of what we mean by "shared field". Or you may be carried away by your own associations with the music and the words. Or…
In other words, what happens here is not perfectly clear communication, in the sense that copying a digital file is a way to perfectly transfer information from one support to another. The implicit field where this communication takes place is more nebulous. It is at the same time inefficient in achieving perfect clarity and amazingly enriched by each experience.
Now Suzanne takes your hand and she leads you to the river,
She is wearing rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters
And the sun pours down like honey on our lady of the harbor,
And she shows you where to look among the garbage and the flowers,
There are heroes in the seaweed, there are children in the morning,
They are leaning out for love and they will lean that way forever,
While Suzanne holds the mirror.
And you want to travel with her,
And you want to travel blind,
And you know that you can trust her,
For she's touched your perfect body with her mind.
Raja Selvam, PhD, is a senior trainer in Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing (SE) professional trauma training programs and the developer of Integral Somatic Psychotherapy (ISP), an advanced approach for integrating body, energy, and consciousness into any psychological process, designed for experienced clinicians. Raja’s eclectic approach draws from bodywork systems of Postural Integration, Biodynamic Cranio-Sacral Therapy, and Polarity Therapy, body-psychotherapy systems of Reichian Therapy, Bioenergetics, and Bodynamic Analysis, Jungian and Archetypal psychologies, psychoanalytic schools of Object Relations and Inter-Subjectivity, Somatic Experiencing (SE), Affective Neuroscience, and Advaita Vedanta, a spiritual tradition from India. Raja’s article on treating trauma symptoms among Indian tsunami survivors was published in Traumatology (September 2008). Jung and Consciousness was published in analytical psychology journal Spring (Fall 2013). Raja teaches in the United States, England, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Russia, Italy, Israel, India, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, China, and Brazil. See website for information on ISP trainings.
Published July 2014. See: Printable PDF transcript.
Dr Iain McGilchrist began his academic career as a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, teaching and writing about English literature. In Against Criticism, he expressed his misgivings about the academic study of literature, especially its neglect of how individual, embodied beings encounter the unique, incarnate work of art. He studied philosophy, trained in medicine, and became a psychiatrist. He has since twice been re-elected to Fellowships at All Souls, has been a Research Fellow in Neuroimaging at Johns Hopkins, and a Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director at the Bethlem & Maudsley Hospital. He works privately as a psychiatrist in London.
His latest book, The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World, explores the different versions of the world which are made available to us by the cerebral hemispheres, and their influence on the history of ideas and of philosophy in the West.
Published: January 2014. See Printable PDF transcript.
Bruce Ecker, M.A., L.M.F.T. is co-director of the Coherence Psychology Institute, co-originator of Coherence Therapy, and coauthor of Unlocking the Emotional Brain: Eliminating Symptoms at Their Roots Using Memory Reconsolidation; Depth Oriented Brief Therapy: How To Be Brief When You Were Trained To Be Deep and Vice Versa; and the Coherence Therapy Practice Manual & Training Guide.
Clarifying how deep, transformational change takes place is the theme of Bruce Ecker's clinical career, and he has contributed extensive innovations in concepts and methods of experiential psychotherapy. He has also driven the clinical field's recognition of memory reconsolidation research and how this breakthrough in brain science translates into a new domain of therapeutic know-how, consistent effectiveness, and psychotherapy integration. He is a frequent presenter at conferences and workshops internationally, has taught in clinical graduate programs for many years, and is in private practice near San Francisco, California. See: CoherenceInstitute.org.
Published: November 2013. See printable PDF transcript.
David Wallin, PhD, is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Albany and Mill Valley, California. A graduate of Harvard who received his doctorate from the Wright Institute in Berkeley, he has been practicing, teaching, and writing about psychotherapy for nearly three decades. Attachment in Psychotherapy, his most recent book, is presently being translated into nine languages. He is also the co-author (with Stephen Goldbart) of Mapping the Terrain of the Heart: Passion, Tenderness, and the Capacity to Love. A lively and engaging speaker who combines a scholarly perspective with unusual candor about his own experience as a therapist, he has lectured on attachment and psychotherapy in Australia, Europe, Canada, and throughout the United States. For further information, please visit AttachmentInPsychotherapy.com.
Published: July 2013. See: Printable PDF transcript.
Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a neuropsychologist and author of Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom (in 22 languages) and Just One Thing: Developing a Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time (in 9 languages). Founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom and Affiliate of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, he’s been an invited speaker at Oxford, Stanford, and Harvard, and taught in meditation centers worldwide. His work has been featured on the BBC, NPR, FoxBusiness, Consumer Reports Health, U.S. News and World Report, and O Magazine and he has several audio programs with Sounds True. His weekly e-newsletter – Just One Thing – has nearly 70,000 subscribers, and also appears on Huffington Post, Psychology Today, and other major websites. See RickHanson.net.
Published March 2013. See printable PDF transcript.
Pat Ogden, Ph.D. is the founder and director of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, an internationally recognized school that specializes in training psychotherapists in somatic/cognitive approaches for the treatment of post traumatic stress disorder and attachment disturbances. She is a clinician, consultant, international lecturer and trainer, co-founder of the Hakomi Institute, and has been a faculty member of The Naropa University since 1985. Dr. Ogden is trained in a wide variety of somatic and psychotherapeutic approaches and has over 40 years of experience working with individuals and groups. She is the first author of the groundbreaking book, Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy, which was published in 2006 in the Interpersonal Neurobiology series of W.W. Norton, as well as numerous articles and chapters, and is currently working on two books: The Body as Resource: Sensorimotor Interventions for the Treatment of Trauma and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for Children and Adolescents. See: SensorimotorPsychotherapy.org.
June 2012. See: Printable PDF transcript.
Babette Rothschild, MSW, LCSW, is the author of five books, all published by WW Norton:
– The Body Remembers–The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment (2000) (bestseller)
– The Body Remembers CASEBOOK–Unifying Methods and Models in the Treatment of Trauma and PTSD (2003)
– Help for the Helper–The Psychophysiology of Compassion Fatigue and Vicarious Trauma (2006)
– 8 Keys to Safe Trauma Recovery (2010) (bestseller)
– Trauma Essentials: The Go-To Guide. (2011)
She has been a psychotherapist and body psychotherapist since 1976 and a teacher and trainer since 1992. After living and working for 9 years in Copenhagen, Denmark, she returned to her native Los Angeles. There she is writing her next books while she continues to lecture, train, and supervise psychotherapists, body psychotherapists, and psychologists worldwide. See: SomaticTraumaTherapy.com.
December 2011. See: Printable PDF transcript.
Stephen W. Porges, PhD, is a professor of psychiatry and the director of the Brain-Body Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a former president of the Society for Psychological Research and also the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological, and Cognitive Sciences. He is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers across several disciplines including anesthesiology, critical care medicine, ergonomics, exercise physiology, gerontology, neurology, obstetrics, pediatrics, psychiatry, psychology, space medicine, and substance abuse. His research has been cited in several thousand peer-reviewed articles and has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1975. In 1994 he proposed the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that links the evolution of the vertebrate autonomic nervous system to the emergence of social behavior. The Polyvagal Theory provides a theoretical perspective to study and to treat stress and trauma. See: StephenPorges.com.
November 2011. See: Printable PDF transcript.
See other conversation with Stephen Porges about mindfulness & co-regulation.
Note: A reprint of this interview constitutes Chapter 7 of a recent book by Stephen Porges, The Pocket Guide to The Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe.
Diana Fosha, Ph.D., is the developer of AEDP, a healing-based, transformation-oriented model of psychotherapy. She is the author of The Transforming Power of Affect: A Model for Accelerated Change (Basic Books, 2000), and of numerous articles and chapters on transformational processes in experiential psychotherapy and trauma treatment. She is the editor, along with Dan Siegel and Marion Solomon, of The Healing Power of Emotion: Affective Neuroscience, Development, and Clinical Practice (Norton, 2009), part of Norton's Interpersonal Neurobiology Series. A DVD of her AEDP work with a patient has been released by the American Psychological Association, as part of their Systems of Psychotherapy Video Series (APA, 2006). Throughout her career, she has been exploring different aspects of the change process. Her work on transformational studies has focused on integrating recent developments in attachment theory, affective neuroscience, emotion theory and developmentally-based understandings of the dyadic regulation of affect into clinical work. See: AEDPinstitute.org.
September 2011. See: Printable PDF transcript.
Janina Fisher, Ph.D. is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Instructor at the Trauma Center, an outpatient clinic and research center founded by Bessel van der Kolk. Known for her expertise as both a clinician and a presenter, she is also Assistant Director of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, an EMDR International Association Consultant, past president of the New England Society for the Treatment of Trauma and Dissociation, and a former Instructor, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Fisher is the author of a number of articles on trauma treatment and lectures nationally and internationally on the integration of the neurobiological research and body-oriented psychotherapy into traditional therapeutic modalities.
October 2010. See: Printable PDF transcript. See other conversation with Janina Fisher.
Daniel J. Siegel, MD is the author of the internationally acclaimed academic text, The Developing Mind, and is the Founding Editor for the Norton Professional Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology. He is also the co-author of Parenting from the Inside Out and author of the professionally-geared text, The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being. His first work for a general audience is Mindsight a synthesis of science and story that provides a readily accessible exploration of the practical steps to apply the power of the mind to integrate the brain and promote well-being in everyday life. His latest book, The Mindful Therapist, explores the application of these ideas for the clinician’s own development of mindsight and neural integration.
Published June 2010. See printable PDF transcript. See other conversation with Dan Siegel.
Peter A. Levine received a Ph.D. in medical biophysics from the University of California at Berkeley, and a doctorate in psychology from International University. He is the developer of Somatic Experiencing® and founder of the Foundation for Human Enrichment. He teaches throughout the world. Dr. Levine was a stress consultant for NASA on the development of the space shuttle project. He was a member of the Institute of World Affairs Task Force of “Psychologists for Social Responsibility” and served on the APA “Presidential Initiative on responding to large scale disasters and ethno-political warfare”.
Peter wrote: “Waking the Tiger,” “Healing Trauma, A Pioneering Program for Restoring the Wisdom of Your Body,” “Trauma through a Child’s Eyes; Awakening the Ordinary Miracle of Healing,” “Trauma-Proofing your Kids; A Parents Guide for Instilling Confidence, Joy and Resilience.” Coming up this September: “In an Unspoken Voice, How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness.”
April 2010. See: Printable PDF transcript
See also: Conversations with Peter Levine about understanding memory and about his books.
Richard Schwartz earned his Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Purdue University, after which he began a long association with the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and more recently at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. He is coauthor, with Michael Nichols, of Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods, the most widely used family therapy text in the United States.
Dr. Schwartz developed Internal Family Systems (IFS) in response to clients’ descriptions of experiencing various parts within themselves. He saw these parts as forming an "internal family" within an individual, and started to work with the parts from a systems perspective. He noticed that addressing the parts' concerns reduced disruptions. This helps the client to accede to the wise leadership of what Dr. Schwartz came to call the “Self.” In 2000, Richard Schwartz founded The Center for Self Leadership in Oak Park, Illinois. Dr. Schwartz has published four books and over fifty articles about IFS.
February 2010. See: Printable PDF transcript . See also conversation with Richard Schwartz, about inner conflicts.
In this conversation, David Mars Ph.D. gives us an experiential sense of AEDP for Couples. Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy for Couples is a cutting edge approach that combines affective neuroscience and attachment research into a love-inspiring way for couples and the therapists who treat them to find refreshing, healing and restorative ways to bring about lasting and naturally satisfying change.
Audio only:
David Ward, Ph.D., is the developer of AEDP For Couples. He has specialized in the somatically focused treatment of couples and groups for four decades, as an innovator in developing process-oriented, somatically focused couple treatment. David has trained, supervised and consulted with Dr. Diana Fosha, the originator of Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy since 2005.
David develops and presents training seminars and workshops nationally and internationally that focus on the AEDP for Couples model. He is the lead supervisor of AEDP for Couples Core Trainings. He is one of the founders of AEDP West. David is also on the adjunct faculty of the California Institute for Integral Studies in San Francisco where he infused AEDP into his teaching of courses on the Clinical Relationship. He is the author of many articles and papers on AEDP for Couples, which are available at cfttsite.com/CAMFT3.
Published November 2019. See also: Diana Fosha on AEDP.
Dr. Arny Mindell is in private practice in Portland, Oregon. He is known for his development of the "dreambody" and "process work" (process oriented psychology). He is the author of 19 books in 21 languages, including Dreambody, The Shaman's Body, Quantum Mind, and Quantum Mind and Healing. Arny has an M.S. from M.I.T., was a Jungian training analyst, and has a Ph.D. in psychology. He is also known in the area of conflict management for his Sitting in the Fire and for his integration of psychology and physics, work on dreams, bodywork, relationships, and for interventions in near death situations.
Published March 2009. See: Printable PDF transcript
Ron Kurtz is the originator of the Hakomi Method of Body-Centered Psychotherapy and the method of Mindfulness Based, Assisted Self Study. He is a preeminent influence in progressive psychotherapy. Author or co-author of influential books, published in several Western languages (Body-Centered Psychotherapy, The Body Reveals, and Grace Unfolding) and three books in Japanese.
Ron has led hundreds of trainings and workshops around the world over the last quarter of a century. At present he is leading trainings and workshops in the Ashland, OR, Olympia, WA, and Bozeman, MT. He does workshops in several countries around the world.
Ron is the recipient of the USABP's 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award.
September 2008. See printable PDF transcript. See other conversation with Ron Kurtz.
Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. wrote the internationally acclaimed book, The Developing Mind: Toward a Neurobiology of Interpersonal Experience (1999). His most recent book is The Mindful Brain. Dr. Siegel is an associate clinical professor psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine. He is also the Director of the Mindsight Institute, an educational organization that focuses on how the development of individuals, families, and communities can be enhanced by examining the interface of human relationships and basic biological processes.
January 2008. See printable PDF transcript. See also conversation with Dan Siegel on Interpersonal Neurobiology.