Active Pause

Bruce Gibbs, Andrew McDonald, Bruce Nayowith and I have been meeting regularly to explore the Shared Field. In this conversation, we discuss some of our findings.

Bruce Gibbs, Ph.D, has been doing Focusing for 35+ years. His years doing management consulting were heavily influenced by his Focusing practice. He is also a long-time meditator and has integrated felt-sensing into his spiritual practice.

Andrew MacDonald, a Focusing trainer since 1995, is a personal coach who works primarily with Systemic Constellations (Hellinger) to help clients find their next developmental step.

Bruce Nayowith, MD: Since 1987, Bruce Nayowith has been using Focusing as a personal practice, and also as a way to explore diverse disciplines that encourage unfolding of individual and systemic potential.

Serge Prengel is the editor of the Active Pause project.

Published June 2015.

Dr. Wager is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and a faculty member in the Institute for Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in cognitive psychology in 2003, and served as an Assistant and Associate Professor at Columbia University from 2004-2009. Since 2010, he has directed Boulder’s Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience laboratory. He has a deep interest in how thinking influences affective experiences, affective learning, and brain-body communication. His laboratory also focuses on the development and deployment of analytic methods, and has developed several publicly available software toolboxes for fMRI analysis.

Unfortunately, the quality of the recording is not very good. You may want to read the transcript (below) as you listen to the audio. 

Published May 2015. See printable PDF transcript.

See also: Harnessing the power of the placebo effect 

In this conversation (April 2015), Erica Goodstone talks about rising to a challenge, and knowing when to let go.

See published chapter that evolved from this conversation.

Dr. Erica Goodstone helps men and women heal their relationships through love. As a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Marriage Counselor, Sex Therapist, Body Oriented Psychotherapist and Personal Life and Health/Wellness Coach, Dr. Erica’s life’s work is about revealing the simple secret to healing and creating love that endures. Her popular book, Love Me, Touch Me, Heal Me and her novel, Love in the Blizzard of Life, as well as her Kindle and Smashwords books, all delve deeply into the heart of love – what interferes, suppresses or helps love to grow and thrive. Hint – it all begins with self-love. Dr. Erica’s virtual courses guide you to heal your life and get ready for love. Check out her Healing Through Love Seminars, her Love Me Touch Me, Heal Me Relationship System, and the new 30 Day Love Challenge. You will never look at love the same way again. See website.

Published April 2015

In this conversation (April 2015), Erica Goodstone talks about rising to a challenge, and knowing when to let go.

See published chapter that evolved from this conversation.

Dr. Erica Goodstone helps men and women heal their relationships through love. As a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Marriage Counselor, Sex Therapist, Body Oriented Psychotherapist and Personal Life and Health/Wellness Coach, Dr. Erica’s life’s work is about revealing the simple secret to healing and creating love that endures. Her popular book, Love Me, Touch Me, Heal Me and her novel, Love in the Blizzard of Life, as well as her Kindle and Smashwords books, all delve deeply into the heart of love – what interferes, suppresses or helps love to grow and thrive. Hint – it all begins with self-love. Dr. Erica’s virtual courses guide you to heal your life and get ready for love. Check out her Healing Through Love Seminars, her Love Me Touch Me, Heal Me Relationship System, and the new 30 Day Love Challenge. You will never look at love the same way again. See website.

Published April 2015

In this conversation (April 2015), Dominick Romano talks about love, hope and doubt.

Dominck Romano: “I was born and raised in a little town in North Central New Jersey. My parents and grandparents were extremely unconventional for ones coming from a country influenced so much by the traditions, beliefs and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church. They saw the church as a hypocrisy so far away from the teachings of a simple man you never would have wanted all the trappings associated with the church. I considered myself very fortunate to have a family to make my own choices as far as my spiritual growth and ideologies.”

Published April 2015 

In this conversation (April 2015), Dominick Romano talks about love, hope and doubt.

Dominick Romano: “I was born and raised in a little town in North Central New Jersey. My parents and grandparents were extremely unconventional for ones coming from a country influenced so much by the traditions, beliefs and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church. They saw the church as a hypocrisy so far away from the teachings of a simple man you never would have wanted all the trappings associated with the church. I considered myself very fortunate to have a family to make my own choices as far as my spiritual growth and ideologies.”

Published April 2015 

In this conversation (April 2015), Michael Picucci talks about the experiences of having an inner guide, and of feeling contentment. Michael subsequently wrote an article inspired by this conversation.

Dr. Michael Picucci, PhD, MAC, SEP, brings decades of investigation and experience to his practice of Psychotherapy, Focalizing and Consulting. His professional expertise spans a wide-range of disciplines as a Psychologist, Licensed Psychotherapist, Master Addictions Counselor, Sexologist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and Organizational Consultant.

Recipient of the National Institutes on Health “Outstanding Leadership in Research Award,” the last 30 years of Dr. Picucci’s exploration in Social Sciences, Organizational Development and Energy Psychology has focused on addictions, trauma healing, sexuality, and interpersonal and group dynamics. During this time he has been observing and creating rituals for sane, healthy living for individual clients, couples, groups and organizations.

The story of this journey and his discoveries is told in Dr. Picucci’s books, which can be found at http://www.theinstitute.org/books/

Published April 2015 

In this conversation (April 2015), Michael Picucci talks about the experiences of having an inner guide, and of feeling contentment. Michael subsequently wrote an article inspired by this conversation.

Dr. Michael Picucci, PhD, MAC, SEP, brings decades of investigation and experience to his practice of Psychotherapy, Focalizing and Consulting. His professional expertise spans a wide-range of disciplines as a Psychologist, Licensed Psychotherapist, Master Addictions Counselor, Sexologist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and Organizational Consultant.

Recipient of the National Institutes on Health “Outstanding Leadership in Research Award,” the last 30 years of Dr. Picucci’s exploration in Social Sciences, Organizational Development and Energy Psychology has focused on addictions, trauma healing, sexuality, and interpersonal and group dynamics. During this time he has been observing and creating rituals for sane, healthy living for individual clients, couples, groups and organizations.

The story of this journey and his discoveries is told in Dr. Picucci’s books, which can be found at http://www.theinstitute.org/books/

Published April 2015 

Dr. Flavia Cymbalista is an Uncertainty Specialist. Uncertainty is the thread that runs through her academic work in Finance, her practical work with decision-making and her lifelong interest in how we know what we know. In the last 12 years, Flavia has taught hundreds of finance professionals and business people around the world how to access their gut intelligence and use it systematically in decision-making. She has also worked with investors, entrepreneurs, artists, multi-billion dollar hedge fund managers and Fortune 500 executives, coaching them through long-term multifaceted strategic decisions and major transitions. Flavia earned a doctorate in Economic Sciences from the FU Berlin and was a post-doc research fellow at the Psychology Dept at UC Berkeley. Led by her curiosity about the body-mind connection, she has studied many different approaches from other cultures and traditions, from Amazonian-Shamanism to Zen-Buddhism. She’s recently become strongly interested in cryptocurrencies and her current work includes bringing her expertise with Uncertainty to the cryptofinancial world. See her website.

Published April 2015

In this conversation (March 2015), Rae Johnson talks about the embodied experience of oppression, what she does to understand it and express her understanding of it in ways that can transform this experience.

Rae Johnson, PhD, RSW, RSMT is the Associate Chair of the Somatic Studies specialization in the Depth Psychology program at Pacifica Graduate Institute, and the director of the Institute for Embodiment Studies, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to advancing interdisciplinary scholarship on the lived experience of the body. Dr. Johnson presents internationally on the embodied experience of oppression and somatic research methods, and has held leadership roles in somatic psychology at the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, Naropa University, Meridian University and the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

Published March 2015