Neurobiology and its Applications to Psychotherapy – II

Somatic Psychotherapeutic Practices

In this video Sharon Stanley covers six aspects of somatic psychotherapy: embodiment, somatic awareness, empathy, enquiry and interventions. She begins by discussing how embodiment opens a path through which we can guide clients in the integration traumatic memories into a tolerable felt sense in the body. A growing sense of embodiment allows practitioners to enter somatic awareness of their own sensory-based experience. This develops intersubjectivity, the exploration of complex emotions and a restoration of vitality. Bodily-based awareness informs the brain about changes in the environment as well as within the muscles, fluids and changes in self-states and, with somatic empathy, we can bridge the chasms that separate human begins into an alive and resonant connection. Differentiating receptive from projective empathy, Dr Stanley illustrates how we can safely enter a shared consciousness that allows each person wordless access into the inner world of the other that a greater potential for healing trauma.