IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Somatic Psychotherapy Today Volume 14, Number 1, 2024

SPT Magazine is pleased to share Volume 14, Number 1, 2024: a compilation of articles and reviews we've posted individually so far this year. As we transition from an independent publication to join with the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy, we look forward to new submissions for Vol. .14, No. 2.

YOUTUBE VIDEOS OF INTEREST

YOUTUBE VIDEOS

 

 

 

 

YouTube offers informative videos covering a wide range in the fields of Somatic Psychology and Body Psychotherapy. SPT Magazine offers videos our editorial team feels are aligned with our mission.  

We invite you to watch authors Deb Dana and Courtney Rolfe discuss their collaboration and takeaways from their new book, Polyvagal Prompts: Finding Connection and Joy Through Guided Explorations, published by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

BODY MIND SPIRIT

Contemporary Reichian Analysis

Increasing awareness and understanding of epigenetics and neuroplasticity in current research has resulted in a new perspective of psychotherapy that is integrated with neurobiological information. This information is at the root of an emerging paradigm shift in body psychotherapy that I call Evolutive Stage Neuromediator Vegetotherapy.

The Mindfulness and Character Strengths Workbook

The Mindfulness and Character Strengths Workbook is everything I hoped for and more. It is a well-written, easy-to-follow, detailed to the nth degree workbook with extensive, free online materials to support the process including audio-guided meditations. Congratulations Ryan on a much-needed workbook to support people exploring character strengths and their integration with mindfulness.

Contemporary Reichian Analysis and Character-Analytical Vegetotherapy from 1933 to 2022

In this article, I will introduce a set of grammar clarifying body psychoanalysis, which extends not only to psychopathology, itself primarily interpreted as being bottom-up in terms of evolutive time, but also, to clinical psychotherapy, that follows. Perhaps I am outlining a new position, certainly it takes the Reichian paradigm deeper, or is, rather, a "change in the visual gestalt" as Kuhn might put it. It represents a change in the mental architecture of observation which emerges from a different way of feeling, I might add. It is a paradigm which reads the unconscious in its entirety, because the unconscious is undoubtedly a "mirror" for what has been deposited in the body.

The Psychology of Meditation: Varieties, Effects, Theories, and Perspectives

Peter Sedlmeier offers a representative overview of meditation with a scientific slant in his new book The Psychology of Meditation. Divided into four parts, the text guides readers through varieties of meditation, the effects of meditation, theories of meditation, and concludes with Part 4: Perspectives. He notes that the first 10 chapters build the foundation to support the endpoint, Chapter 11: Perspectives on Meditation Research.

Tuning Into Gravity

Gravity matters. Not simply to keep us physically grounded here on Earth, but, at a fundamental level, our relationship with gravity affects our lives from start to finish. We start life floating in amniotic fluids. It's easy to assume a sense of buoyancy, free from gravity's impact. Yet, gravity is necessary for our physiological development during the second half of our lives in the womb.

Somatic Psychotherapy Today Volume 11, Number 1, 2021

This issue of SPT Magazine offers articles published online this past year for readers who do not follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn, and for those who want all of the articles in one PDF they can download and read at their convenience. I hope 2022 brings a return of contributors willing to share their experiences and clinical knowledge with our readers.

SPT BOOKSHELF

Book Reviews

Polyvagal Prompts: Finding Connection and Joy Through Guided Explorations

Beneath our “level of conscious awareness, our nervous system directs our movement toward and away from people, places, and experiences” (Dana & Rolfe, 2024, pg. 56). And this guidance is critical to our health and well-being. But we aren’t born knowing how to do it. Deb Dana, LCSW, and Courtney Rolfe, LCPC joined forces to write “Polyvagal Prompts: Finding Connection and Joy Through Guided Explorations.” They know we don’t innately know how to self-regulate our physiological and psychological states—we learn by co-regulating with attuned caregivers.

The Mindfulness and Character Strengths Workbook

The Mindfulness and Character Strengths Workbook is everything I hoped for and more. It is a well-written, easy-to-follow, detailed to the nth degree workbook with extensive, free online materials to support the process including audio-guided meditations. Congratulations Ryan on a much-needed workbook to support people exploring character strengths and their integration with mindfulness.

The ‘New’ Collected Papers of Biodynamic Psychology, Massage & Psychotherapy: 2022

The ‘New’ Collected Papers of Biodynamic Psychology, Massage & Psychotherapy was produced in celebration of 100 years of Gerda Boyesen’s birth.  “There are about 150 substantive articles from 50 different authors.  There are more than 1,500 pages and over 850,000 words. It is a collection, a canon, a compilation, an anthology, an album, a compendium, possibly even a treasury.” Thank you Courtenay for providing our readers with a free comprehensive outline, available on our website.