Active Pause

“I live and work on the west coast of Vancouver Island where I have had a private trauma psychotherapy practice for 10 years. Much of my current clinical work is with early developmental trauma and attachment and I work as a counselor educator with both the SE Trauma Institute and the University of Victoria.

“I have been blessed to work in a number of First Nations communities and have been taught how communities survive multi-generational trauma, the importance of spirituality in healing, and the overlap between SE and some traditional ways of healing. This experience informs and affects my work with both First Nations and non-First Nations people.

“I work from a body-oriented perspective, incorporating SE, movement, touch and touch awareness.

“I also work and play with a fabulous team of SE-affiliated people, surf, build parts of my house with my husband and play, play, play with my young son.”

Published October 2011.

Garet Bedrosian says: “My life’s path has been motivated by curiosity and a desire to know the world around me at a deeper level.  I sensed energy and knew there was more which was evidenced in always wanting to know the “why” of things; therefore I’ve dedicated much of my life to self-exploration and following my wonder about people, relationships, and diverse cultures. I believe the mind and body are inextricably linked.  in more than 30 years of psychotherapy experience I have trained in Bioenergetic Analysis, Expressive Arts Therapy, Imago Couples Therapy, EMDR, and Addictions.  I am currently the Executive Director of the Southern California Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis as well as a faculty in the Certification Program. I am also a member of a Playback Improvisational theater group, I dance and practice yoga, so being alive and energetic is a personal commitment for me.” See: GaretBedrosian.com.

Published October 2011. See: Printable PDF transcript.

In this conversation, David Smith talks about the creative process, and how to enhance creativity.

David Smith is a certified Focusing teacher with a special interest in how Focusing can enhance the creative arts. As a published author and an award-winning playwright, he draws upon his own background in the arts – including creative blocks – to offer creativity coaching to other artists.

Additional background includes writing for New York children’s television and winning an award for a video project with Simon and Schuster Publishers. He has developed a self-discovery practice called Experiential Journaling, which is based upon the principles of Focusing.

He teaches this practice in workshops and has also produced a CD. See: thewritefocus.com

Published September 2011

In this conversation, David Smith talks about the creative process, and how to enhance creativity.

David Smith is a certified Focusing teacher with a special interest in how Focusing can enhance the creative arts. As a published author and an award-winning playwright, he draws upon his own background in the arts – including creative blocks – to offer creativity coaching to other artists.

Additional background includes writing for New York children’s television and winning an award for a video project with Simon and Schuster Publishers. He has developed a self-discovery practice called Experiential Journaling, which is based upon the principles of Focusing.

He teaches this practice in workshops and has also produced a CD. See: thewritefocus.com

Published September 2011

Dr. Mary Giuffra has been a therapist for over 35 years. She received her doctorate from New York University and is a New York State Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, a Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Psychiatric Mental Health, and a New York State Registered Professional Nurse.

Dr. Giuffra has also been recognized for her pioneering efforts as an educator and specialist in curriculum development.  She has served as a tenured member of the faculty at New York University and the College of Mount Saint Vincent. She has been the recipient of several major grants from the federal government and is the author of countless articles in peer reviewed journals, and book chapters.

For many years, Mary has been an SE  Senior Assistant  and approved at all levels for sessions, consults  and group consultations in SE and SE Touch.  She has assisted in Canada, Hong Kong and both US Coasts. See website.

Published September 2011. See other conversation with Mary Giuffra. 

Diana Fosha, Ph.D., is the developer of AEDP, a healing-based, transformation-oriented model of psychotherapy. She is the author of The Transforming Power of Affect: A Model for Accelerated Change (Basic Books, 2000), and of numerous articles and chapters on transformational processes in experiential psychotherapy and trauma treatment. She is the editor, along with Dan Siegel and Marion Solomon, of The Healing Power of Emotion: Affective Neuroscience, Development, and Clinical Practice (Norton, 2009), part of Norton’s Interpersonal Neurobiology Series. A DVD of her AEDP work with a patient has been released by the American Psychological Association, as part of their Systems of Psychotherapy Video Series (APA, 2006). Throughout her career, she has been exploring different aspects of the change process. Her work on transformational studies has focused on integrating recent developments in attachment theory, affective neuroscience, emotion theory and developmentally-based understandings of the dyadic regulation of affect into clinical work. See: AEDPinstitute.org.

September 2011. See: Printable PDF transcript.

In this conversation, Dr Scaer gives an overview of how the thinking brain and the emotional brain interact, and what happens in stress and trauma.

Robert Scaer, M.D., is Board Certified in Neurology, and has been in practice for 36 years, 20 of those as Medical Director at the Mapleton Rehabilitation Center in Boulder, CO.   More recently he has pursued the study of traumatic stress and its role in emotional and physical syndromes and diseases. Now retired from clinical medical practice, he writes and lectures in the field of traumatology.

He has published two books for professionals: The Body Bears the Burden: Trauma, Dissociation and Disease (2001 & 2007), and The Trauma Spectrum: Hidden Wounds and Human Resiliency (2005).  He also wrote a book for the general public, 8 Keys to Brain-Body Balance, published by Norton in 2012. See: traumasoma.com

Published August 2011. See other conversation with Robert Scaer.

Lidy Evertsen, originally a professional classical singer and voice teacher, was trained as a Unitive Body Psychotherapist in the early nineties. Soon she became involved in the Bodynamic System. Now she is a certified Bodynamic Therapist, Bodynamic Shock Trauma Therapist and a trainer in the Foundation and Shock Trauma Training. Lidy has a private practice in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She runs international Bodynamic Trainings in cooperation with Lisbeth and Ditte Marcher, also in Amsterdam. Since October 2010 Lidy has been the president of the European Association for Body Psychotherapy (EABP).

Lidy’s special interest is working with dissociation and working with clients who endured long term trauma. See: Bodynamic.nl.

August 2011. See: Printable PDF transcript.

Robert Lewis, M.D., in private practice in New York, is a senior trainer on the International institute of Bioenergetic Analysis faculty, and a member of the clinical faculty of the NYU/Mount Sinai Medical Center. He has published extensively on the integration of early developmental and relational issues into the basic Bioenergetic approach. His elucidation of Cephalic Shock and way of working with the head, voice, and diaphragmatic connections to the pelvis, are beyond words. Bob finds the data of recent neuroscience confirming of his emphasis on an implicit, bodily- based approach to what is healing in the therapeutic relationship.He leads workshops in Europe and the Americas, and residential intensives on Long Island, NY. See: BodyMindCentral.com.

July 2011. See: Printable PDF transcript.

In this conversation, Robert Althouse presents a perspective on Zen that is grounded in Western science and psychology. He describes how mindful awareness impacts on the way we experience our lives.

Roshi Robert Althouse is a fully empowered Zen teacher in the White Plum lineage and a fully ordained Zen Buddhist Priest. Roshi Althouse and his wife, Rev. June Ryushin Tanoue, co-founded the Zen Life & Meditation Center in Oak Park, IL. He is the Abbot of the Zen Center and its primary teacher.

Roshi Althouse began teaching in Hawaii where he and his wife co-founded the Zen Center of Hawaii in 1993. They moved to California in 2001 to work for the Peacemaker Community with Roshi Bernie Glassman, where Roshi Althouse served as the Director of the Zen Peacemaker Order for two years.

He has studied with the following Zen Masters: Roshi Taizan Maezumi, Roshi Robert Aitken, Roshi Bernie Glassman, and his transmission teacher, Roshi Nicolee Jikyo McMahon. He studied with the following Tibetan Vajrayana Masters: Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Gyaltrul Rinpoche. He also studied Nonviolent Communication with Marshall Rosenberg. See: zlmc.org

Published July 2011