Association News

What is it in us that makes it possible for us to heal based on our faith in a positive outcome? Join LifeSherpa, a nonprofit whose mission is to explore mindfulness as engagement with everyday life, as participants share their experiences. Many of the people who participate in LifeSherpa/s explorations are body-oriented psychotherapists.

How do you integrate scientific knowledge, training and application into your clinical work? What advice do you have as practitioners approach the diversity in trainings to learn ways to craft their own? We want to hear and share your thoughts with our readers. Deadline for submissions is ongoing, final acceptance date is June 1, 2017.

“Letting go” has long been a central concept in the psychological process of healing. It has been cast/seen as an essential step in getting unstuck and moving forward. Over the years of working with clients through Transformative Touch, the bodies of our clients have opened us to another consideration. In order to let go of something , you first need to be holding on to something. When this is the case, “letting go” makes sense and works. However, we have found with some clients , another scenario has registered in their body- that of something having a hold of it. Letting go in this instance will not work, and will actually increase frustration and self-judgement.

According to Serge Prengel, "The theme of the 2019 International Focusing Conference is about being human, just human. This is such a great theme. Why should we wait all this time to explore it? I suggest we just declare the conference open as of right now. And we start exploring this theme internally, in conversations with others, as well is in our communications through social media and otherwise. So, by the time of the conference, we will not be simply discovering the theme, but we will come to the conference already enriched and ready to go even deeper in our explorations."

The APA Continuing Education Committee is now accepting half- and full-day workshop proposals for the APA 126th Annual Convention. Workshops are offered on a...

Join international experts as they discuss the various principles involved in touch in psychotherapy practice. Kathy Kain and Aline LaPierre and will be our guests while USABP’s new President, Dr. Chris Walling moderates the panelists in what promises to be an in depth discussion of the various approaches and applications of touch in therapeutic praxis.

The portals are ready! We can now register for the USABP Fall Conference at Pacifica Graduate Institute, at their Retreat Center. The pre-conferences on Thursday, November 1, 2018m are offered by Rae Johnson, Aline LaPierre and Lawrence Hedges. All three presenters are proven to offer excellent information and current insights in our field. The conference, entitled,The Science of Connection, is November 2-4 beginning at 8 am! 

You are invited to read your review of the USABP's 2016 conference on Sexuality, Spirituality and the Body, as published in the International Body Psychotherapy Journal

It is with great pleasure I wish to introduce myself to you, as the new incoming President of the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy (USABP). The association has continued to serve our profession for over two decades by providing a hub for all somatic psychology. As the new board transitions this year into the administration we hope to continue to champion our mission to help advance the art, science, and practice of body psychotherapy and somatic psychology.

SPT Magazine offers our congratulations to Hiroki Yamaji, the 2018 winner of the Alice Ladas Research Award. His study was titled: An Efficacy Study of Somatic Psychoeducation at a Japanese University. Hiroki addressed the question of whether an 8-week somatic psychoeducation course for college students could result in students developing somatic awareness and trust in the organism, and enhance integral functioning that included general mindfulness, stress resilience, interpersonal empathy, responsibility for self-care, and generic skills.