Facebook Twitter

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

The Prenatal Shadow: Healing the Trauma Experienced Before and At Birth

Cherionna Menzam-Sills’ latest book, The Prenatal Shadow: Healing the Trauma Experienced Before and at Birth, offers an in-depth exploration of birth shadows, providing insights on how to address and heal these aspects to fully realize our inherent potential. The Prenatal Shadow is accessible to the lay reader and satisfying for the experienced practitioner in prenatal and perinatal somatics. For the lay reader just discovering the paradigm, Menzam-Sills has a friendly, gentle, and encouraging voice born out of decades of study and experience. Her authority is evident as she weaves a narrative of early development, autonomic nervous system states, trauma-informed care, embryonic development, prenatal and perinatal dynamics, and therapeutic interventions. Her ability to access research and quote pioneers who have influenced her work lends the narrative depth, while narratives from clinical studies provide the work with breadth. Her voice also illustrates the command of someone who has deeply explored the experiences of the “little one,” or the sentient baby. This is someone everyone can learn from.
Read more

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 learn more about The School  of Unusual Life Learning in this conversation.

BODY MIND SPIRIT

The Living Language of Fascia – A Clinical Typology of Tissue States in...

Dirk Marivoet introduces a clinically derived fascial texture typology—a tactile language that captures the unseen but deeply felt states of the living body. Rooted in somatic psychotherapy and trauma-informed bodywork, the typology identifies distinct patterns in fascial tone, responsiveness, and energetic presence that reflect character defenses, developmental wounds, and healing potentials.
Read more

Beyond Freeze and Flight – A New Understanding of the Nervous System’s Rhythm and...

Most of us have learned that the autonomic nervous system has three states: safety (ventral vagus), stress (sympathetic nervous system), and shutdown (dorsal vagus). This model has helped many people understand how the body responds to trauma or threat. But what if that isn’t the whole truth? What if the nervous system doesn’t function like a switchboard between fixed modes, but instead acts like a dynamic spectrum, where everything depends on presence? I see ventral presence not merely as one branch in a neural blend, but as the modulating force that determines how any sympathetic or dorsal activity is experienced.
Read more

AI From the Body’s Perspective

By Jeanne Denney This year, the conversation about AI has become almost deafening; it arrived on all my devices as a new authority about everything. ...
Read more

Somatic-Oriented Therapies: Embodiment, Trauma and Polyvagal Perspectives

SPT Magazine is pleased to share our review of Somatic-Oriented Therapies., Edited by Herbert Grassmann, Maurizio Stupiggia, and Stephen W. Porges. The 32 chapters in Somatic-Oriented Therapies blend Polyvagal Theory principles into body psychotherapy as the contributors discuss research, the science of embodying, and embodied practice.
Read more

The Influence of Fear: From Franklin D. Roosevelt to Modern Neuroscience

Fear can paralyze a nation. Franklin D. Roosevelt inherited chaos when he was inaugurated as the 32nd president of the United States: the banking system had collapsed, unemployment had soared, and the economy had hit rock bottom—it was the Great Depression. Facing a national crisis, Roosevelt sought to reassure a fearful nation by proclaiming, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." His message aimed to shift the national mindset from despair to hope, encouraging Americans to recognize the pervasive power of fear and its ability to stop forward growth and further darken an already bleak situation. The same psychological truths about fear apply today. Thanks to advances in neuroscience, psychology, and the social sciences, we now have a deeper understanding of fear and its effects on the mind and body (Porges, 2011).
Read more

The Father Figure in Uncertain Times

Genovino Ferri offers an in-depth consideration of the removal of the Father from his role as the symbol of the West’s patriarchal family. He notes that we are witnessing the erosion of the Family and the consequent removal of the Father. Per Dr Ferri, It is a body psycho-analytical description seeking to clearly articulate the container-contained interaction, placing greater emphasis on the container: ‘Being a Father figure is an organisational, evolutive state in the sense that this “paternal” role may be performed by men, women, individuals, and groups.’”
Read more

SPT BOOKSHELF

Book Reviews

The Prenatal Shadow: Healing the Trauma Experienced Before and At Birth

Cherionna Menzam-Sills’ latest book, The Prenatal Shadow: Healing the Trauma Experienced Before and at Birth, offers an in-depth exploration of birth shadows, providing insights on how to address and heal these aspects to fully realize our inherent potential. The Prenatal Shadow is accessible to the lay reader and satisfying for the experienced practitioner in prenatal and perinatal somatics. For the lay reader just discovering the paradigm, Menzam-Sills has a friendly, gentle, and encouraging voice born out of decades of study and experience. Her authority is evident as she weaves a narrative of early development, autonomic nervous system states, trauma-informed care, embryonic development, prenatal and perinatal dynamics, and therapeutic interventions. Her ability to access research and quote pioneers who have influenced her work lends the narrative depth, while narratives from clinical studies provide the work with breadth. Her voice also illustrates the command of someone who has deeply explored the experiences of the “little one,” or the sentient baby. This is someone everyone can learn from.
Read more

The Ethical Assassin: A Vigilante’s Memoir

I don't typically review fiction books but having read and reviewed several of Dr. Ferraiolo’s books, I was curious how he wove philosophy into a fictional character’s psychological well-being. The title alone—An Ethical Assassin- caught my attention. Can killing be considered ethical?
Read more

What Sustains Me

What Sustains Me is a collection of personal essays written by seven therapists who use their skills for observation and self-reflection to dive into their lives and explore the experiences that brought them to where they are, who they are, and why they are here today. Each shares a deeply personal reflection of self and others, their initial wounds in childhood, and the continual assaults that resulted from self and others. They are vulnerable and intimate. There’s a sense of expansion as each writer breathes life into words landing on the page.
Read more

Somatic Psychotherapy Today © 2018. All Rights Reserved.