Active Pause ®

Serge Prengel, LMHC, is in private practice in New York City. He has been exploring embodied experience, relational mindfulness and proactive mindset. He was trained in Focusing, Core Energetics and Somatic Experiencing. His work also draws from Systems-Centered theory. Serge is a graduate of France’s Sorbonne University and HEC business school. He started and operated an ad agency […]

Patti Lentz is a physical therapist, yoga therapist and SEP in Albuquerque, NM.   She also teaches physical therapists and yoga teachers internationally to recognize trauma symptoms in their clients and how to skillfully adapt treatment for them. She is insatiably curious….. about how things work, and what happens when they aren’t working so well. This […]

Michael C. Heller (born in 1949) is a psychologist who works on clinical and experimental research issues related to body and mind. His knowledge on this field has been summarized in his books: The Flesh of the Soul (2001, Peter Lang), Les Psychothérapies Corporelles (2008, De Boeck) and Body Psychotherapy (2012, W.W. Norton). He has […]

Tanya Slattery is a structural body worker and SEP in Philadelphia. She has always been drawn to working with her hands—she had started adult life as a ceramic artist. She shifted to bodywork more than 20 years ago, and credits inspiring teachers to give her a sense of working at the cutting edge of her […]

Judyth O. Weaver, Ph.D. in Reichian Psychology, began studying with Charlotte Selver in 1968, after returning from three years in Asia, most of them spent in a Zen Buddhist monastery. She is also certified as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, Gestalt Therapy, and in Prenatal and Birth Therapy. She is a Rosen […]

Tina Stromsted, Ph.D., MFT, BC-DMT is a Jungian analyst, Somatic psychotherapist, and Board Certified Dance therapist. Past co-founder and faculty of the Authentic Movement Institute in Berkeley and a founding member of the Women’s Spirituality program at the California Institute of Integral Studies, she currently teaches at the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco, the […]

Frances Sommer Anderson, PhD, is a psychoanalyst and licensed psychologist in private practice in New York City.  The body–disabled, disfigured, and in pain–has been the focus of her clinical work, beginning with a clinical psychology internship in physical rehabilitation medicine at Rusk Institute-NYU Langone Medical Center in 1974.  Specializing in treating pain and other mindbody […]

Katy Swafford, PhD has worked in Eidetic Imagery for 20 Years. She has trained with the founder, Akhter Ahsen, PhD intensively and her practice is focused on developing applications for this comprehensive method. Dr. Swafford conducts training in Eidetic Imagery and is working to introduce this somatically based theory into academic environments as well. Eidetic […]

Lynn Somerstein, PhD, NCPsyA, LP, RYT, licensed psychoanalyst in private practice, is Executive Director of the Institute for Expressive Analysis. Dr. Somerstein is on the editorial board of the Psychoanalytic Review and the author of numerous articles about yoga, anxiety, attachment issues and psychotherapy. Dr. Somerstein is also an international speaker, and has presented her work in India, Turkey, China, and in the United States. She uses the wisdom she has gained as a yoga teacher, psychologist and student of Ayurveda, or Indian life knowledge, to help people reach their innermost goals. See: LynnSomerstein.com. September 2012. See: Printable PDF transcript.

Cedar Barstow, M.Ed., Certified Hakomi Therapist and International Trainer is the author of “Right Use of Power: The Heart of Ethics.” The ideas and examples in this talk are taken from this book and Cedar’s training programs in right use of power. The goal of right use of power, as the largest container for ethics, is for people to increase their skill, sensitivity, and effectiveness in the use of both their personal and their professional power. The program has four aspects: Be Informed, Be Compassionate, Be Connected, Be Skillful. By focusing on learning ethics from the inside out rather than from the rule side in, the program engages people in studying and refining their impact and on cultivating right relationship and repairing harm. She lives in Boulder Colorado. See: RightUseOfPower.com. August 2012. See: Printable PDF transcript.

Dr. Jack Lee Rosenberg is internationally recognized as a pioneer for his innovative approach to body psychotherapy, human sexuality, and couples counseling, teaching his approach throughout the United States, Europe and Canada He is founder and Clinical Director of the IBP Central and International Institutes. He has doctorates in dentistry and psychology. His master’s thesis focused on group dynamics and industrial psychology, his doctorate on clinical psychology. As Director of Counseling at the University of the Pacific School of Dentistry, he did research on somatic medicine and taught dental psychology. He trained therapists at the Gestalt Institute in San Francisco and at the Center for the Healing Art, Los Angeles. He has conducted workshops at the Esalen Institute for more than twenty-eight years. He is in private practice in Los Angeles. He is the author of Total Orgasm, Body, Self and Soul: Sustaining Integration and co-author of The Intimate Couple. Dr. Beverly Kitaen Morse is the Executive

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

Robert Hilton, Ph.D has been in private practice in Orange County, California for 45 years and has taught courses at the University of California at Irvine and San Diego, and the United States International University in La Jolla.  In 1972 he co-founded the Southern California Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis where he continues to be a senior trainer.  He is a member of the American Psychological Association, the California Association of Marriage and Family Counselors and the International Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis where as a senior faculty member emeritus he lectures at their International conferences as well as teaching throughout Europe, the United States and South America. In addition to his many publications he is the author of Relational Somatic Psychotherapy: Collected Essays of Robert M. Hilton, Michael Sieck, editor. May 2012. See: Printable PDF transcript.

In the video below, you can see somebody using the body as a resource in the process of making sense of things. Please keep in mind that the person in this video, Carol “Tandava” Henning, is an actor and dancer who sees belly dancing as a way to embody the sacred feminine. She has developed a higher ability to be aware of her body and to listen to inner movement.

A native of Geneva, Switzerland, Jean-Jacques Joris founded Twin Oaks Farm with his wife Isabelle, a center for equine-assisted psychotherapy, near Boulder, Colorado. Jean-Jacques holds a Law degree from Geneva University and an MA in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology from Naropa University in Boulder. In offering mindfulness-based psychotherapy with horses to his clients, Jean-Jacques brings together his three lifelong passions: the human body-mind, contemplative practice, and the healing power of the human-horses relationship. For fifteen years, Jean-Jacques was a diplomat with the Swiss foreign service, and worked in conflict and post-conflict environments around the world, as well as in the field of war crimes and international justice, gaining first-hand experience of individual and collective trauma. Jean-Jacques speaks several languages and is currently learning the wordless language of his 13 equine co-therapists. See: TwinOaksFarm.com. April 2012: See: Printable PDF transcript.

Stephen J. Terrell, MS, LPC, RPT, SEP is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner in Austin, Texas.  He specializes in Developmental Trauma, Medical Trauma, and Attachment Disorders including Reactive Attachment Disorder.  Stephen is a single parent and knows firsthand the affects of trauma on the family system.  After adopting his son with Reactive Attachment Disorder, he felt overwhelmed with his experience and went searching for trauma/attachment treatments. He has completed the TST program with Kathy Kain and has incorporated the touch work as a crucial component in working with regulation and early developmental trauma because of the non-verbal approach. Stephen works both with the parent and child during sessions. Stephen is the founder of Austin Attachment and Counseling Center and is a Registered Play Therapist, certified in EMDR, and trained in working with First Responders. He is often called upon to speak at national and international conferences on children and trauma. See Websi

Albert Pesso, co-founder with his wife, Diane Boyden-Pesso, of PBSP, Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor and President of the Psychomotor Institute, Inc. was formerly Associate Professor and Director of the Dance Division at Emerson College, Supervisor of Psychomotor Therapy at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts and Consultant in Psychiatric Research at the Boston VA Hospital.  He has conducted training programs in PBSP in the US, Brazil, Israel and in many countries in Europe . He and his work with PBSP for the German GTZ Mission in The Democratic Republic of Congo have been featured in a documentary film, “State of Mind” distributed by Icarus Films.  He is the author of many books and articles on PBSP, and a frequent lecturer at universities, hospitals and clinics in the US and Europe. At present, he continues his intensive training schedule in Europe, and also leads programs and sees individuals in Boston, Massachusetts. Al is the recipient of the USABP’s 2012 Lifetime Achievement Aw

Albert Pesso, co-founder with his wife, Diane Boyden-Pesso, of PBSP, Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor and President of the Psychomotor Institute, Inc. was formerly Associate Professor and Director of the Dance Division at Emerson College, Supervisor of Psychomotor Therapy at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts and Consultant in Psychiatric Research at the Boston VA Hospital.  He has conducted training programs in PBSP in the US, Brazil, Israel and in many countries in Europe . He and his work with PBSP for the German GTZ Mission in The Democratic Republic of Congo have been featured in a documentary film, “State of Mind” distributed by Icarus Films.  He is the author of many books and articles on PBSP, and a frequent lecturer at universities, hospitals and clinics in the US and Europe. At present, he continues his intensive training schedule in Europe, and also leads programs and sees individuals in Boston, Massachusetts. Al is the recipient of the USABP’s 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award.

In this conversation (February 2012), Astrid Schillings talks about “The-Whole-Body-Focusing”, the place of grounded Being, Spirituality, Mindfulness, pathways of embodiment in her life. Astrid Schillings’ bio: Focusing came into my life in 1981 when studying psychology. It resonated deeply with my wondering what it is to be human, why we are here. I have been exploring, teaching extensively on the interfaces of Sensitive Body-Awareness, Mindfulness, Meditative enquiry, Inner-Directed-Movement and Focusing. It took years to let it slowly carry forward in my heart into one taste of The-Whole-Body-Focusing. Thank you Kevin McEvenue for your warm support! I teach WBF/Focusing-Oriented-Therapy internationally in accredited trainings for counsellors/psychotherapists like in my Cologne-Centre and to everybody interested. I experience The-Whole-Body-Focusing as a way of embodied enquiry into living being, a dynamic being aware… person to person, person- environment, the more… e

Dr . Eric Wolterstorff’s specialty is social trauma, meaning the impacts of threats, disasters, deprivation and violent conflict on the capacity of societies to adapt to the world, regulate and nourish themselves, and develop. His work is based in the intersection of psychology, trauma, culture and group behavior. Wolterstorff studied body -based approaches to healing trauma and added to Peter Levine’s body of work. In his dissertation, he describes relationships between the neuropsychology of memory and trauma in individuals and groups. He has applied his methods to families and organizations impacted by trauma. Dr. Wolterstorff is currently writing a textbook on social trauma for an international relations series, and completing a proposal for a ten-year national healing project for Rwanda. Over the past fifteen years, Wolterstorff has led professional trainings and consulted in the United States and Europe. See: ShiftingCulture.com. February 2012. See: Printable PDF transcript.