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David M. Allen, M.D. is the author of a new book for general audiences, How Dysfunctional Families Spur Mental Disorders: A Balanced Approach to Resolve Problems and Reconcile Relationships, and three books for psychotherapists: A Family Systems Approach to Individual Psychotherapy, Deciphering Motivation in Psychotherapy, and Psychotherapy with Borderline Patients: an Integrated Approach. He is a Professor of Psychiatry and the former Director of Psychiatric Residency Training at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, a position he held for 16 years. Prior to that he was in private practice in Southern California during the advent of managed care. Additionally, he has done research into personality disorders and is a psychotherapy theorist. He is associate editor of the Journal of Psychotherapy Integration. See: davidmallenmd.blogspot.com. April 2011. See: Printable PDF transcript

Linda Hartley has worked since 1977 in the fields of dance and somatic movement therapy, bodywork, transpersonal and body psychotherapy. She is a teacher of Body-Mind Centering®, a UKCP registered Psychotherapist, senior Dance Movement Psychotherapist, and ISMETA registered Somatic Movement Therapist. Linda has an MA in Somatic Psychology, is author of Wisdom of the Body Moving, Servants of the Sacred Dream, and Somatic Psychology, and editor of Contemporary Body Psychotherapy: The Chiron Approach. As founder of the Institute for Integrative Bodywork & Movement Therapy she has run training programmes in England and Germany since 1990, and also works as a therapist in private practice in the UK. Linda believes that experiences in early life, including pre- and peri-natal life, can profoundly affect us throughout our whole life cycle, and feels passionately about embodied movement practice as a way to address some of the difficulties that may arise. See: LindaHartley.co.uk. March 2011. See: Prin

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. February 2011. See: Printable PDF transcript

Greg Johanson, Ph.D. has a background in therapy as well as theology.  He is a member of both the American Psychological Association and American Association of Pastoral Counselors.  In the field of somatic psychotherapy he is a Founding Trainer of the Hakomi Institute and editor of the Hakomi Forum.  He has served on the Board of Directors of the USABP for many years, and on the editorial board of the Journal of the USABP.  Greg has been active in writing, publishing over 150 items in the field of pastoral theology and psychotherapy, including (with Ron Kurtz) Grace Unfolding:  Psychotherapy in the Spirit of the Tao-te ching. He has taught adjunct in a number of graduate schools, currently as Research Faculty of the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute of the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. See: GregJohanson.net. January 2011. See: Printable PDF transcript

Barnaby B. Barratt, PhD, DHS, is a radical psychoanalyst, sexuality educator, sex therapist, somatic psychologist and facilitator of tantric meditation.  Raised in England and earning his first doctorate from Harvard University, he has taught at universities all over the country and chaired graduate programs in somatic and clinical psychology.  For a major portion of his career he was Professor Family Medicine, Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at Wayne State University (Detroit).  His books include Psychoanalysis and the Postmodern Impulse (1993), Sexual Health and Erotic Freedom (2005), What is Tantric Practice? (2006), Liberating Eros (2009), and The Emergence of Somatic Psychology and Bodymind Therapy (2010).  He is currently Visiting Professor at the University of Cape Town and has a private practice of psychodynamic bodymind therapy and psychoanalysis in Johannesburg (South Africa). December 2010. See: Printable PDF transcript. See also other conversation with

J. Tyler Carpenter, Ph.D., FAACP, is a board certified clinical, and research, forensic, and academic psychologist, with over 25-years of experience treating seriously disturbed individuals, and teaching and consulting to the professionals who work with them, in assessment, treatment, institutional, and systems settings. He utilizes the full-spectrum of personal, group, educational, and internet-based tools, to treat and consult regarding both research and applied understanding and specialized knowledge. He has published, presented, served on boards and a commission, with respect to his expertise in the integration of treatment approaches, correctional, and disability populations. He works as a clinician and consultant in the Greater Boston area. Published November 2010. See printable PDF transcript.

Christine Caldwell, Ph.D., LPC, ADTR – Founder and former director of the Somatic Counseling Psychology Department at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, where she currently teaches. Her work began twenty years ago with studies in anthropology, dance therapy, bodywork and Gestalt therapy, and has developed into innovations in the field of body-centered psychotherapy. She calls her work the Moving Cycle. This system goes beyond the limitations of therapy and emphasizes lifelong personal and social evolution through trusting and following body states. She has authored two books: Getting Our Bodies Back, and Getting In Touch. She offers trainings in somatic psychotherapy (the Moving Cycle), with specializations in addictions, play, movement sequencing, therapist training, scientific inquiry, and birth and death. Ryan Kennedy, LPC, LMFT, RN, CACIII, BC-DMT, CLMA is the Chair of the Somatic Counseling Psychology Department at Naropa University and also serves as the Director of the Body Psy

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.

Bill Bowen, MFA, LMT, is the founder of Psycho-Physical Therapy. His background combines an immersion in the life of the human body with a clinical practice informed by multiple trainings in somatic psychotherapies and bodywork. He is trained in Rolfing and Rolfing Movement work, Hakomi Body Centered Psychotherapy, Bodynamic Analysis, Somatic Experiencing, Biovalent Manual Therapy  and numerous other somatic and psychological disciplines. His unique therapeutic method has evolved out of his 40 years of  experience working with the creative process, body therapy, somatic psychology, and spirituality. The active integration of the physical and psychological has been the continuing focus of his work. He has been a trainer in the Hakomi method and was co-founder, with Pat Ogden, of Hakomi Integrative Somatics. Bill has taught at colleges in both Europe and the United States and is currently on the faculty of the Somatic Psychology program at JFK University. September 2010. See: Printable PDF

Courtenay Young trained in Body-Psychotherapy about 30 years ago, with Gerda Boyesen, David Boadella, John Pierrakos, and later with Stan Grof and Arnold Mindell; he works transpersonally and within the UK NHS. He has been a significant member of the European Association for Body-Psychotherapy for many years and helped establish Body-Psychotherapy as a ‘scientifically-validated’ psychotherapy. He is also a founder member of USABP; compiles the EABP Bibliography of Body-Psychotherapy (on CD-ROM and now on-line); is an editor for the International Journal of Psychotherapy, the Journal of Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy; and is the editor for the forthcoming American edition of the massive and seminal ‘Handbook of Body Psychotherapy’. He has written numerous published journal articles and several chapters in books about Body-Psychotherapy and about psychotherapy in general (all on his website). His first book: “Help Yourself Towards Mental Health” has been recently published by Karnac B

Wolf E. Mehling is a medical doctor, trained in Germany (D) and the US, board certified in family medicine (D, US), manual medicine (D) and psychotherapy (D). He practiced 12 years in private practice in Germany before he moved with his wife and three children to the US where he completed a second residency. He completed a 2-year clinical research fellowship at the University of California San Francisco and is now on faculty at the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine where he sees patients and conducts NIH-funded research into the psychosomatics of pain and body awareness. Published July 2010. See: Printable PDF transcript

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.

In her first life, Maxine Sheets-Johnstone was a dancer/choreographer, professor of dance/dance scholar. In her second and ongoing life, she is a philosopher whose research and writing remain grounded in the tactile-kinesthetic body. She is an independent, highly interdisciplinary scholar affiliated with the Department of Philosophy at the University of Oregon where she taught periodically in the 1990s and where she now holds an ongoing Courtesy Professor appointment. Her book publications include The Phenomenology of Dance; Illuminating Dance: Philosophical Explorations; the “roots” trilogy–The Roots of Thinking, The Roots of Power: Animate Form and Gendered Bodies, and The Roots of Morality; Giving the Body Its Due; The Primacy of Movement; and The Corporeal Turn: An Interdisciplinary Reader. She was awarded a Distinguished Fellowship at the Institute of Advanced Study at Durham University in the UK in the Spring of 2007 for her research on xenophobia. Published May 2010. See: Printable PDF tran

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:

Ilene Serlin, Ph.D., ADTR is a licensed psychologist and registered dance/movement therapist in practice in San Francisco and Marin county. She is the president of the San Francisco Psychological Association, a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, past-president of the Division of Humanistic Psychology. Ilene Serlin has taught at Saybrook University, Lesley University, UCLA, the NY Gestalt Institute and the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich. She is the editor of Whole Person Healthcare (2007, 3 vol., Praeger) over 100 chapters and articles on body, art and psychotherapy, and is on the editorial boards of PsycCritiques, the American Dance Therapy Journal, the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Arts & Health: An International Journal of Research, Policy and Practice, Journal of Applied Arts and Health, and The Humanistic Psychologist. March 2010. See: Printable PDF transcript and conversation about what sustains her.

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

Robert Scaer, M.D. received his B.A. in Psychology, and his M.D. degree at the University of Rochester.  He is Board Certified in Neurology, and has been in practice for 36 years, twenty of those as Medical Director at the Mapleton Rehabilitation Center in Boulder, CO.   More recently he has pursued the study of traumatic stress and its role in emotional and physical syndromes and diseases. He has lectured extensively, and has published several articles on posttraumatic stress disorder, dissociation, the whiplash syndrome and other somatic syndromes of trauma. He has published two books, the first The Body Bears the Burden: Trauma, Dissociation and Disease in 2001, with a second edition released in October, 2007.  A second book, The Trauma Spectrum: Hidden Wounds and Human Resiliency was published in 2005.  He is retired from clinical medical practice, and continues to write and lecture in the field of traumatology. January 2010. See: Printable PDF transcript.  See ot

Susan Aposhyan, M.A., L.P.C., maintains a private practice and trains helping professionals internationally in her work, Body-Mind Psychotherapy. Previously, she directed one of the first graduate degree programs in Somatic Psychology at the Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She is the author of Body-Mind Psychotherapy (Norton, 2004) and Natural Intelligence: Body-Mind Integration and Human Development. December 2009. See: Printable PDF transcript

Laurie Schwartz began her training as a  Somatic psychotherapist in 1979 with Ilana Rubenfeld.  Her search for the integration of psyche, soma and soul continued.  She is certified in the Hakomi Method of Body-Centered Psychotherapy, Somatic Experiencing, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, Jin Shin Jyutsu,  and  Family Constellations.  Laurie has also  studied Jungian Dream Analysis and Modern Group  Analysis. She has  been exploring the integration of pre and peri-natal psychology with  a biodynamic cranial sacral  approach to healing and wholeness with people in recovery for Co-dependency. Her passion  and ability to  synthesize  integrate different approaches  to foster recovery, healing and transformation  is ongoing. Laurie is a licensed massage therapist and licensed counseling psychologist in New York City.  She has been in private practice since 1982.  She  facilitates ongoing  supervision groups for Hako

Dr. Mary Giuffra has been a therapist for over 30 years during which time she has worked with individuals, families, and couples using a unique blend of body-mind techniques.  Dr. Giuffra received her doctorate from New York University and is a New York State Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, a Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Psychiatric Mental Health, and a New York State Registered Professional Nurse. Dr. Giuffra has also been recognized for her pioneering efforts as an educator and specialist in curriculum development.  She has served as a tenured member of the faculty at New York University and the College of Mount Saint Vincent. Dr. Giuffra has been the recipient of several major grants from the federal government and is the author of countless articles in peer reviewed journals, and book chapters. She is the author of the soon-to-be-published 2×2 on the Ark with No Map. October 2009. See: Printable PDF transcript. See other conversation with Mary Giuffra.