Active Pause

In this conversation, Rae Johnson talks about how the body is implicated in social justice work, and how to engage our bodies in the process of activism. Rae’s approach incorporates key ideas from many social justice theorists and somatic practitioners, and distills them into three key areas: (1) doing your own work, (2) working for others, and (3) working with others. 

Rae Johnson, PhD, RSMT is a somatic scholar/practitioner working at the intersection of embodiment studies and social justice. Key themes in her work include the embodied experience of oppression, somatic approaches to research, and the poetic body. Rae is the author of the recently published book Embodied Social Justice and chair of the Somatic Studies in Depth Psychology doctoral program at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Links to Rae’s work can be found on her website.

Published January 2018. See  other conversations with are Johnson.

In this conversation, we explore how people deal with power, and the goal of mutuality in relationships. This conversation is available as a video, as well as audio only, and as a printable PDF transcript.

Hilary Bradbury is a scholar-practitioner focused on the human and organizational dimensions of creating healthy communities. A professor of organization studies since 1998 (Case Western, USC and OHSU), she is editor-in-chief of the international peer reviewed Action Research Journal (Sage Publications). She was named 2018 Jubilee Professor at Chalmers Institute of Technology, Sweden. Hilary was born and bred in Dublin, Ireland and educated at Trinity College after which she attended the Divinity Schools at Harvard and University of Chicago. Her PhD from Boston College focused on organizational change and transformation toward a more sustainable world. Her latest books include Eros/Power: Love in the Spirit of Inquiry (Integral Publishers, 2016, with Bill Torbert) and Cooking with Action Research (2017, with AR+ Associates). Hilary, who has served as a member of the teaching circle at Zen Center of Portland, brings an eye to integrating Eastern meditation with the work of sustainable social transformation.

Having received both his BA and his PhD in Individual and Organizational Behavior from Yale, Bill Torbert served as Director of both the War on Poverty Yale Upward Bound Program and the Theatre of Inquiry. He also taught leadership at Southern Methodist University, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and then, from 1978-2008 at the Carroll Graduate School of Management at Boston College, winning local and national teaching awards. At BC he served as Graduate Dean (the MBA program rising from below the top 100 to #25 during his tenure). He consulted to dozens of companies, not-for-profits, and governmental agencies and has served on numerous Boards. He has also published widely, based in part on the Global Leadership Profile psychometric measure of leadership development, and articulated the Collaborative Developmental Action Inquiry paradigm of social science. In 2014 he received the Chris Argyris Career Achievement Award from the Academy of Management.

Published January 2018. 

Susan Rudnick’s comments about the sexual abuse of women by powerful men derive from Karen Horney’s formulation of the Real Self, as she articulated it in Neurosis and Human Growth. Even if we are severely alienated from that Real Self, it is still there, and we do continue to have human need for authentic connection to ourselves and others. The abuse or assault becomes a severely distorted expression of that need. And because the need is never really fulfilled, it becomes an endless hunger that needs to be repeated over and over. Power over another human being becomes a substitute for authentic relationship.

This brief conversation (5 minutes) is available as a recording (below) and a printable PDF transcript. The recording, unfortunately, picked up  the background noise, which may be a bit distracting.

Susan Rudnick,LCSW is a longtime psychotherapist in private practice in Manhattan. The three disciplines that inform her work are her Psychoananalytic Training  at the Karen Horney Institute, Focusing, and her practice of Zen Buddhism.  She is interested in the interface between spirituality and psychotherapy, and contributed a chapter to  the book Into the Mountain Stream: Psychotherapy and Buddhist Experience.  She is a haiku poet, and is about to complete a long term project of writing a memoir about growing up with her developmentally challenged sister. She serves on the board of the Focusing Institute.

Published January 2018. See also conversation about what sustains her. 

This conversation with Rae Johnson was inspired by the recent spate of accusations of sexual harassment. We talk about it as not about sex and gender, but about power. The conversation is also available as a  printable PDF transcript.

Rae Johnson, PhD, RSMT is a somatic scholar/practitioner working at the intersection of embodiment studies and social justice. Key themes in her work include the embodied experience of oppression, somatic approaches to research, and the poetic body. Rae is the author of the recently published book Embodied Social Justice and chair of the Somatic Studies in Depth Psychology doctoral program at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Links to Rae’s work can be found on her website.

Published December 2017. See other conversations with Rae Johnson on this site and on what sustains her. 

Is biology destiny? Freud asked this question in the context of discussing women’s abilities and roles. Now, in the wake of a seemingly endless streak of abuse scandals involving prominent men, it may be legitimate to ask whether male sexuality is inherently aggressive. This is the starting point for this conversation with Barnaby B. Barratt.

Dr Barnaby B Barratt is a radical psychoanalyst, somatic psychologist, sexuality consultant and practitioner of tantric meditation. He has published widely on in the areas of psychodynamics, bodymind healing, sexuality, human rights and related philosophical issues. Having lived in Europe, the USA and Asia, he currently maintains a private practice in South Africa, where he is Senior Research Associate at the University of Witwatersrand. Dr Barratt is Director of Studies at the Parkmore Institute, which is developing high‑quality, non‑residential doctoral programs in cutting‑edge fields such as bodymind healing, human sexuality, psychoanalytic studies and psychosocial intervention. See Parkmore Institute website.

Published December 2017. See also other conversation with Barnaby Barratt about somatic psychology & bodymind therapy  and his chapter for What Sustains Me.

In therapy, we deal with embodied experience. Shouldn’t research also have an embodied approach? This conversation is available as a video, as well as audio only, and as a printable PDF transcript.

Jennifer Frank Tantia, PhD, MS, BC-DMT, LCAT is a somatic psychologist and dance/movement psychotherapist, specializing in trauma and medically unexplained symptoms. She teaches research and evaluation in the Expressive Therapies graduate program at Lesley University and specializes in embodied research. Dr. Tantia is former chair of the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy research committee and currently serves on the board of the American Dance Therapy Association as chair of Research and Practice. She is a peer-reviewer for several academic journals and is an associate editor of the international journal, Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy. Dr. Tantia presents and teaches internationally and has authored several publications in both dance/movement therapy and somatic psychology. Her forthcoming co-edited book, Embodied Perspectives in Psychotherapy will be published by Routledge in Spring, 2018. She has a full-time private practice in Manhattan.

Published November 2017

This conversation is available as a video, as well as audio only (below video).

Stephen Batchelor” width=”150″ height=”150″ />Stephen Batchelor is a writer, translator, teacher and artist. Born in 1953, he was ordained as a Buddhist monk at the age of twenty and spent ten years training in the Tibetan Geluk and Korean Sŏn orders. In 2015 he co-founded Bodhi College, a European educational project dedicated to the understanding and application of early Buddhism. He is the author of the bestselling Buddhism without Beliefs (Riverhead). His most recent publications are After Buddhism and Secular Buddhism (Yale University Press). He travels worldwide to lecture and lead retreats and lives in south-west France with his wife Martine. See website.

Published November 2017

In this conversation, Sarah Peyton shares practical advice on how we can improve the way we relate to ourselves, grounded in an understanding of the underlying brain functions.

This conversation is available as a video, as well as audio only (see below).

Sarah Peyton, Certified Trainer of Nonviolent Communication, teaches people how language changes relationship and the brain. She works with audiences internationally to create a compassionate understanding of the effects of relational trauma on the brain, and writes about and teaches people how words change and heal us. Her special interest is the way that difficult events impact our automatic brain patterning, and how to transform our tendencies toward self-criticism into self-warmth. Her first book, “Your Resonant Self: Guided Meditations and Exercises to Engage Your Brain’s Capacity for Healing,” was published by Norton Publishing internationally in autumn 2017. See website.

Published October 2017.

Marjorie Schuman is a psychoanalyst who has practiced Buddhist mindfulness meditation and relational psychotherapy for over three decades. She says: “Early on in my practice, I realized the profound truth that this very moment is the perfect teacher, as Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron famously said.  I knew intuitively that there was wisdom in problems and opportunities for growth contained within them.  My recent book, “Inquiring Deeply” grew out of my compelling personal desire to understand more deeply how the two practices could best be blended into an integrated approach to working with psychological problems.” In this conversation, we explore how this is reflected in her work.

At some points in the recording, there are some distracting noises from outside. We apologize for that, but we elected to keep the recording, as opposed to redoing it, to keep its spontaneous character.

Marjorie Schuman, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise both in relational psychoanalysis and Buddhist mindfulness practice. She co-founded The Center for Mindfulness in Psychotherapy in Santa Monica, CA in 1995 where she taught a certificate program in Contemplative Relational Psychotherapy. Currently, Marjorie is faculty at the Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies and is in private practice in Santa Barbara, CA. She is the author of the recent book “Mindfulness-Informed Relational Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis: Inquiring Deeply” (Routledge Press, 2017). See her website.

Published October 2017.

Linda Ciotola talks about a mindfulness approach the she practices and teaches: the Mindful Witness role. This conversation is available as a podcast and as a printable PDF transcript.

Linda Ciotola is a Certified TEP: trainer-educator-practitioner of psychodrama, group psychotherapy, and sociometry; and an accredited Certified Trainer in the Therapeutic Spiral Model ™ of psychodrama used specifically for working with trauma survivors. She is Co-Leader and Developer of the Therapeutic Spiral Bodyworkshop specifically designed for healing body-based trauma issues and a Certified Health Education Specialist (Ret.) with 45 years experience in education, group facilitation, and lifestyle counseling. Linda holds ACE (American Council on Exercise) certifications as a Personal Trainer, Fitness and Yoga Instructor, Health Coach and MINDBODY Specialist. She was honored in 2008 with the Zerka Moreno Award for outstanding contributions to the field of Psychodrama. She is co-author with Karen Carnabucci of Healing Eating Disorders with Psychodrama and Other Action Methods – Beyond the Silence and the Fury. She presents widely at regional, national and international conferences. See her website.

Published August 2017 – See other conversation with Linda Ciotola