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During the workshop, she will begin by looking at some key scientific aspects of the neurobiology of touch and how they relate to the diverse uses of touch in Biodynamic psychology. Scientific findings underpin our understanding of the use of touch clinically. She will explore an updated understanding of the place of touch in the therapeutic encounter, referencing current research on the neuroscience of touch, affective touch, attachment, and trauma using clinical examples and integrated experiential work. She will pay attention to the phenomena of embodied transference, countertransference, resonance and interference (Boadella, 1981) whilst negotiating the dilemma: to touch or not to touch, and, if to touch, how to touch. Exploring how we as psychotherapists can “hold the possibility of touch, as it can be both an appropriate or inappropriate therapeutic intervention” (Asheri, 2009 page 108).

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.

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.

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.

With this issue, Volume 14, Number 2, Winter 2024, SPT Magazine celebrates its homecoming to the USABP. It is fitting that these two publications now reside under one roof. They share the same goals and principles. Both are community-generated and free to read. By bringing both publications, The International Body Psychotherapy Journal and Somatic Psychotherapy Today, together, we can now support a platform that offers a full range of information—from peer-reviewed articles that cover research, case studies, emerging clinical practices, and interviews with community leaders who are charting new paths, and spearheading new theories, to book and film reviews, important online webinars and events, and musings that light up our creativity. We look forward to writing together in 2025.

Genovino Ferri shares his interaction with ChatGPT motivated by his need to “ ‘grasp the Other to better understand them’ and to confirm that my Analysis of the (Characterial) Marks Incised in AI was correct.” Asking ChatGPT, “What do you think of yourself?”, Ferri notes that “Its reply confirmed my expectations, but being perfectly honest, it worried me a lot.” . . . “I accepted the conversation that ChatGPT offered and repeated it here in its entirety because when re-reading it I found it extraordinary and that it perhaps offered the possibility of a careful Relational Position for Man to assume with AI."

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.