Active Pause

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 

In this conversation (March 2015), Jac Conaway talks about approaching life with a spirit of scientific inquiry.

Jac Conaway: “After a stint in the Peace Corp and about 5 years as a space scientist with NASA’s earth resources branch, I switched careers completely and graduated as a Bionergetic therapist and then a Core Energetic therapist. I have been in private practice in the NYC area since 1978 and a teacher of Core and the Pathwork since then. I’m now the treasurer on 3 non profit boards [Core Energetics institute, a land conservancy and Pathwork.org] and the VP on another one. I am married [2nd time around] with 2 adult children and live near Woodstock NY.”

Published March 2015  

In this conversation (March 2015), Jac Conaway talks about approaching life with a spirit of scientific inquiry.

Jac Conaway: “After a stint in the Peace Corp and about 5 years as a space scientist with NASA’s earth resources branch, I switched careers completely and graduated as a Bionergetic therapist and then a Core Energetic therapist. I have been in private practice in the NYC area since 1978 and a teacher of Core and the Pathwork since then. I’m now the treasurer on 3 non profit boards [Core Energetics institute, a land conservancy and Pathwork.org] and the VP on another one. I am married [2nd time around] with 2 adult children and live near Woodstock NY.”

Published March 2015  

Lorena Monda, MS, DOM, LPCC, is a practicing psychotherapist (since 1979), a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, and a certified qigong teacher. She is a trainer for the Hakomi Institute and on the faculty of the AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine in Austin, Texas, where she teaches courses in clinical communication integrating Hakomi skills. Lorena is the author of The Practice of Wholeness: Spiritual Transformation in Everyday Life and a coeditor of I Have Arrived, I Am Home: Celebrating 20 Years of Plum Village Life and Hakomi Mindfulness Centered Somatic Psychotherapy: A Comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice (Norton, May 2015). She is currently working on a book called Mindfulness, Qi, and Transformation. Lorena is in private practice in New Mexico and teaches in the US and internationally.

Published March 2015. See printable PDF transcript.

In this conversation, Sandy Kinnee talks about being drawn to looking in a different way.

Sandy Kinnee is an artist whose work figures in the collections of many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He lives in Colorado Springs. See website.

The painting with the red drip on the back is Arabesque, Number 13A, 1948. The one that deposited the red drip, indicating 13A was already a finished painting, is Number 2, 1949. I knew the numbers, but did not know the year. So, Number 13A naturally comes before Number 2, as the former was painted at the end of 1948 and the latter in 1949.

Published February 2015 

In this conversation, Sandy Kinnee talks about being drawn to looking in a different way.

Sandy Kinnee is an artist whose work figures in the collections of many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He lives in Colorado Springs. See website.

The painting with the red drip on the back is Arabesque, Number 13A, 1948. The one that deposited the red drip, indicating 13A was already a finished painting, is Number 2, 1949. I knew the numbers, but did not know the year. So, Number 13A naturally comes before Number 2, as the former was painted at the end of 1948 and the latter in 1949.

Published February 2015 

Paul Linden is a specialist in body awareness education, a martial artist, and an author. He is the developer of Being In Movement® mindbody training, and co-founder of Aikido of Columbus / Columbus Center for Movement Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in Physical Education, a sixth degree black belt in Aikido and a first degree black belt in Karate, and he is an instructor of the Feldenkrais Method® of somatic education. He has extensive experience teaching people such as musicians, athletes, pregnant women, computer users, and children with attention disorders. He wrote several books, including:

– Embodied Peacemaking: Body Awareness, Self-Regulation and Conflict Resolution

– Teaching Children Embodied Peacemaking: Body Awareness, Self-Regulation and Conflict Resolution

– Comfort at Your Computer: Body Awareness Training for Pain-Free Computer Use

– Feeling Aikido: Body Awareness Training as a Foundation for Aikido Practice

– Winning is Healing: Body Awareness and Empowerment for Abuse Survivors

See website. 

Published January 2015

In this conversation (January 2015), Al Pesso talks about what moves him, and has provided sustenance in his personal and professional life.

See also printable PDF of unedited transcript of this conversation.

See also: published chapter that evolved from this conversation.

Albert Pesso, co-founder with his wife, Diane Boyden-Pesso, of PBSP, Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor and President of the Psychomotor Institute, Inc. was formerly Associate Professor and Director of the Dance Division at Emerson College, Supervisor of Psychomotor Therapy at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts and Consultant in Psychiatric Research at the Boston VA Hospital. He has conducted training programs in PBSP in the US, Brazil, Israel and in many countries in Europe . He and his work with PBSP for the German GTZ Mission in The Democratic Republic of Congo have been featured in a documentary film, “State of Mind” distributed by Icarus Films. He is the author of many books and articles on PBSP, and a frequent lecturer at universities, hospitals and clinics in the US and Europe. Al is the recipient of the USABP’s 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award. See website.

You can also listen to audio only:

Published January 2015 – See other conversation with Al Pesso.

In this conversation (January 2015), Al Pesso talks about what moves him, and has provided sustenance in his personal and professional life.

See also printable PDF of unedited transcript of this conversation.

See also: published chapter that evolved from this conversation.

Albert Pesso, co-founder with his wife, Diane Boyden-Pesso, of PBSP, Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor and President of the Psychomotor Institute, Inc. was formerly Associate Professor and Director of the Dance Division at Emerson College, Supervisor of Psychomotor Therapy at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts and Consultant in Psychiatric Research at the Boston VA Hospital. He has conducted training programs in PBSP in the US, Brazil, Israel and in many countries in Europe . He and his work with PBSP for the German GTZ Mission in The Democratic Republic of Congo have been featured in a documentary film, “State of Mind” distributed by Icarus Films. He is the author of many books and articles on PBSP, and a frequent lecturer at universities, hospitals and clinics in the US and Europe. Al is the recipient of the USABP’s 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award. See website.

You can also listen to audio only:

Published January 2015 – See other conversation with Al Pesso.

Gregory Hickok, Ph.D. is Professor of Cognitive Sciences at UC Irvine, Founder, Director Emeritus, and current Fellow of the UCI Center for Cognitive Neuroscience & Engineering, Founder and Director of the Center for Language Science, Fellow of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory and the Center for Hearing Research, and past Chair of the Research Imaging Center’s Imaging Steering Committee. Beyond UCI he is the founding President of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language, Editor-in-Chief of Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, and author of The Myth of Mirror Neurons: The Real Neuroscience of Communication and Cognition.

Published January 2015. See printable PDF transcript.