The following are two examples of improved cognitive, emotional, and behavioral outcomes from emotional embodiment work conducted during clinical demonstration sessions of Integral Somatic Psychology. Discovering that a problem in the present has roots in the past, an act of cognition, is often therapeutic. Almost all psychotherapy modalities emphasize the importance of such insights in […]
Stopping Panic Attacks Quickly – a Case Study
The following case study provides a real-life clinical example of using the ISP™ approach to stop panic attacks quickly. The work with a young woman suffering from panic attacks is an excerpt from the book The Practice of Embodying Emotions by Raja Selvam. Petra started having panic attacks at the age of seven. As she […]
I experienced much difficulty in accessing my emotions
I experienced much difficulty in accessing my emotions and regulating them, and in sensing my body, both as an academic in business before I became interested in formal training in psychology and during my subsequent education and training to become a licensed clinical psychologist. This motivated me to study the findings of research on emotions […]
The 7-Step Protocol for Embodying Emotion
The 7-Step Protocol for Embodying Emotion is one of the core clinical strategies in Integral Somatic Psychology™ (ISP™). The practice is taught during the ISP Professional Training, with concrete steps and tools for how one might go about “embodying emotions”, or building a greater capacity for tolerating emotions through expansion of its conscious experience to as […]
What is Embodied Attunement? Why is it Important in Working With Attachment?
Embodied attunement is the ability to experience in our bodies emotions in the bodies of others. The article explores how we can develop this important capacity. Attunement, embodied attunement, and affect regulation The ability of the primary caregiver to regulate a child’s emotional states has been found to be of central importance in the formation […]
Understanding and Improving Affect Tolerance: The Role of Attitude, Support, and Embodiment
The paper offers a definition of affect tolerance, discusses three important factors that drive it, and their implications for improving the work with emotions in all therapeutic modalities. What is affect tolerance? Why is it important? Dr. Robert Stolorow, who has co-authored many books on the inter-subjective approach to psychoanalysis from whom I was fortunate […]
The Science of Embodied Cognition and Enactive Emotion: Implications for Improving Outcomes in All Therapies
Summary: Paradigm shifting research in cognitive neuroscience in areas called embodied and embedded cognition and equally important research on what are called embodied and enactive approaches to emotion in universities in the last twenty years have been significantly altering our understanding of cognition, emotion, behavior, how they are intricately related to each other in the brain, and […]
How to Improve Outcomes in All Therapies Through Embodiment of Emotions
Embodiment of emotions, defined here as the ability to expand emotional experiences to as much of the brain and body physiology as possible and to tolerate them for longer periods of time, has theoretical as well as empirical evidence for its effectiveness in improving not only emotional but also physical, energetic, cognitive, behavioral, relational, and […]
How to Avoid Destroying Emotions when Tracking Body Sensations
Summary: The paper explains how tracking of body sensations can eliminate emerging emotions and then offers ways of working more effectively with emotions in the body to improve not just emotional outcomes but also cognitive, behavioral, relational, and spiritual outcomes in all therapeutic modalities. 1. The Problem 1.1 How tracking body sensations can be helpful […]
What is Integral Somatic Psychology? A Conversation with Raja Selvam
The following is an edited transcript of Serge Prengel’s conversation with Raja Selvam for Somatic Perspectives on Psychotherapy. It varies substantively from the original interview. It was edited by Raja Selvam to make it more clear and informative. Published with permission from somaticperspectives.com. Serge Prengel: This is a conversation with Raja Selvam. Hi, Raja. Raja Selvam: […]
