Active Pause

Daniel J. Siegel, MD is the author of the internationally acclaimed academic text, The Developing Mind, and is the Founding Editor for the Norton Professional Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology. He is also the co-author of Parenting from the Inside Out and author of the professionally-geared text, The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being. His first work for a general audience is Mindsight a synthesis of science and story that provides a readily accessible exploration of the practical steps to apply the power of the mind to integrate the brain and promote well-being in everyday life. His latest book, The Mindful Therapist, explores the application of these ideas for the clinician’s own development of mindsight and neural integration.

Published June 2010. See printable PDF transcript. See other conversation with Dan Siegel.

In her first life, Maxine Sheets-Johnstone was a dancer/choreographer, professor of dance/dance scholar. In her second and ongoing life, she is a philosopher whose research and writing remain grounded in the tactile-kinesthetic body. She is an independent, highly interdisciplinary scholar affiliated with the Department of Philosophy at the University of Oregon where she taught periodically in the 1990s and where she now holds an ongoing Courtesy Professor appointment. Her book publications include The Phenomenology of Dance; Illuminating Dance: Philosophical Explorations; the “roots” trilogy–The Roots of Thinking, The Roots of Power: Animate Form and Gendered Bodies, and The Roots of Morality; Giving the Body Its Due; The Primacy of Movement; and The Corporeal Turn: An Interdisciplinary Reader. She was awarded a Distinguished Fellowship at the Institute of Advanced Study at Durham University in the UK in the Spring of 2007 for her research on xenophobia.

Published May 2010. See: Printable PDF transcript

Peter A. Levine received a Ph.D. in medical biophysics from the University of California at Berkeley, and a doctorate in psychology from International University. He is the developer of Somatic Experiencing® and founder of the Foundation for Human Enrichment. He teaches throughout the world.  Dr. Levine was a stress consultant for NASA on the development of the space shuttle project. He was a member of the Institute of World Affairs Task Force of “Psychologists for Social Responsibility” and served on the APA “Presidential Initiative on responding to large scale disasters and ethno-political warfare”.

Peter wrote: “Waking the Tiger,” “Healing Trauma, A Pioneering Program for Restoring the Wisdom of Your Body,” “Trauma through a Child’s Eyes; Awakening the Ordinary Miracle of Healing,” “Trauma-Proofing your Kids; A Parents Guide for Instilling Confidence, Joy and Resilience.” Coming up this September:  “In an Unspoken Voice, How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness.”

April 2010. See: Printable PDF transcript

See also: Conversations with Peter Levine about understanding memory and about his books.

Ilene Serlin, Ph.D., ADTR is a licensed psychologist and registered dance/movement therapist in practice in San Francisco and Marin county. She is the president of the San Francisco Psychological Association, a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, past-president of the Division of Humanistic Psychology. Ilene Serlin has taught at Saybrook University, Lesley University, UCLA, the NY Gestalt Institute and the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich. She is the editor of Whole Person Healthcare (2007, 3 vol., Praeger) over 100 chapters and articles on body, art and psychotherapy, and is on the editorial boards of PsycCritiques, the American Dance Therapy Journal, the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Arts & Health: An International Journal of Research, Policy and Practice, Journal of Applied Arts and Health, and The Humanistic Psychologist.

March 2010. See: Printable PDF transcript and conversation about what sustains her.

Richard Schwartz earned his Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Purdue University, after which he began a long association with the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and more recently at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. He is coauthor, with Michael Nichols, of Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods, the most widely used family therapy text in the United States.

Dr. Schwartz developed Internal Family Systems (IFS) in response to clients’ descriptions of experiencing various parts within themselves. He saw these parts as forming an “internal family” within an individual, and started to work with the parts from a systems perspective. He noticed that addressing the parts’ concerns reduced disruptions. This helps the client to accede to the wise leadership of what Dr. Schwartz came to call the “Self.” In 2000, Richard Schwartz founded The Center for Self Leadership in Oak Park, Illinois. Dr. Schwartz has published four books and over fifty articles about IFS.

February 2010. See: Printable PDF transcript . See also conversation with Richard Schwartz, about inner conflicts.

Robert Scaer, M.D. received his B.A. in Psychology, and his M.D. degree at the University of Rochester.  He is Board Certified in Neurology, and has been in practice for 36 years, twenty 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.

He has lectured extensively, and has published several articles on posttraumatic stress disorder, dissociation, the whiplash syndrome and other somatic syndromes of trauma. He has published two books, the first The Body Bears the Burden: Trauma, Dissociation and Disease in 2001, with a second edition released in October, 2007.  A second book, The Trauma Spectrum: Hidden Wounds and Human Resiliency was published in 2005.  He is retired from clinical medical practice, and continues to write and lecture in the field of traumatology.

January 2010. See: Printable PDF transcript.  See other conversation with Robert Scaer.

Susan Aposhyan, M.A., L.P.C., maintains a private practice and trains helping professionals internationally in her work, Body-Mind Psychotherapy. Previously, she directed one of the first graduate degree programs in Somatic Psychology at the Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She is the author of Body-Mind Psychotherapy (Norton, 2004) and Natural Intelligence: Body-Mind Integration and Human Development.

December 2009. See: Printable PDF transcript

Laurie Schwartz began her training as a  Somatic psychotherapist in 1979 with Ilana Rubenfeld.  Her search for the integration of psyche, soma and soul continued.  She is certified in the Hakomi Method of Body-Centered Psychotherapy, Somatic Experiencing, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, Jin Shin Jyutsu,  and  Family Constellations.  Laurie has also  studied Jungian Dream Analysis and Modern Group  Analysis.

She has  been exploring the integration of pre and peri-natal psychology with  a biodynamic cranial sacral  approach to healing and wholeness with people in recovery for Co-dependency.

Her passion  and ability to  synthesize  integrate different approaches  to foster recovery, healing and transformation  is ongoing.

Laurie is a licensed massage therapist and licensed counseling psychologist in New York City.  She has been in private practice since 1982.  She  facilitates ongoing  supervision groups for Hakomi graduates, students of Somatic Experiencing as well as  others  who are searching for ways to be more body inclusive.

November 2009. See: Printable PDF transcript

Dr. Mary Giuffra has been a therapist for over 30 years during which time she has worked with individuals, families, and couples using a unique blend of body-mind techniques.  Dr. Giuffra 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.

Dr. Giuffra 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. She is the author of the soon-to-be-published 2×2 on the Ark with No Map.

October 2009. See: Printable PDF transcript. See other conversation with Mary Giuffra.

Judith Hendin, Ph.D., directs the Conscious Body & Voice Dialogue Institute of Easton, PA, and New York City. A beloved teacher and Voice Dialogue facilitator for 20 years (working with the many selves within us), she has taught in the U.S., Canada and Europe, and presented at the U.S. Association for Body Psychotherapy. Drawing on her discoveries of healing the body through inner selves, Judith wrote the book, The Self Behind the Symptom: How Shadow Voices Heal Us. Her work is enriched by her background in psychological energetics, deep bodywork, and sacred choreography. Author and visionary Shakti Gawain calls Hendin, “a wonderful healer whose work I highly recommend.”

Published September 2009. See: Printable PDF transcript