Proactive Mindfulness: Redefining Personal Growth

In this conversation (June 2014), Inge Sengelmann talks about spiritual practice as a lived experience beyond concepts and theories.

See published chapter that evolved from this conversation.

Inge Sengelmann is a clinical psychotherapist licensed in Florida and Colorado, a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, and a registered yoga teacher focusing her practice on the treatment of traumatic stress and eating disorders. She considers herself a mind-body-spirit specialist who believes in the power of creative choice and conscious embodiment. Weaving ancient and modern wisdom, Inge integrates the latest developments in the field of neuroscience with yoga practices to help people embody their lives in a fulfilling way. She was a founding member of Miami’s first intensively-trained Dialectical Behavior Therapy consultation team. Inge has completed a ParaYoga Master Training and has been initiated into the Himalayan Tantric lineage of Sri Vidya. She has taught workshops locally, nationally and internationally on the topic of eating disorders, somatic psychotherapy, and integrative mind-body-spirit healing, and is writing a book about embodiment as a path to healing from eating disorders and trauma. See her website.

Published June 2014

In this conversation (March 2014), Al Pesso talks about his sense of fitting within the natural order of things. and the felt sense of harmony that comes from that.

See 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.

Published March 2014 – See other conversation with Al Pesso.

Robert J. Hedaya developed the Whole Psychiatry methodology, which offers a comprehensive physiological and psychosocial approach to mental health and chronic physical illness

In this conversation (February 2014), Robin Kappy talks about seeing beauty in art, in the world at large, and in people.

Robin Kappy, LCSW is a certified Focusing Oriented Psychotherapist and supervisor. A skillful and empathic psychotherapist with years of professional experience, her specialties include the treatment of recent and early-childhood trauma, issues of creativity, depression, anxiety, relationships and sleep-related problems. She is a certified EMDR practitioner and faculty member and supervisor for the Focusing Oriented Relational Psychotherapy Program. She and Susan Rudnick, LCSW cofounded Flatiron Psychotherapy Associates and offer “Rest Well Tonight,” a focusing-oriented approach to assisting people who experience difficulties falling or staying asleep, or wake feeling un-rested. In addition to a passionate engagement with her work as a psychotherapist, Robin loves to draw and paint. Her drawings and paintings have appeared in a number of venues. She writes about the integration of psychotherapy, creativity and the topic of beauty on her blog: Stepping Through Beauty. See her website.

Published February 2014

In this conversation (February 2014), Susan Rudnick begins with a childhood memory of being exposed to nature, and how from then on, nature has sustained her, thinking that will be the topic. But then the conversation moves to the way she uses embodied presence to bring herself back into a memory, reflect, deepen understanding, connect it to the rich tapestry of her life, and perhaps express in writing. This is a specific use of the mindfulness that she tries to cultivate all the time.

Susan Rudnick LCSW has been in private practice for over thirty years in Manhattan and Westchester. Her special interests include questions of spiritual direction, infertility and adoption, and relationship intimacy issues. She trained analytically at the Karen Horney Institute. Twelve years ago she discovered and fell in love with Focusing. She is a certified Focusing Trainer, and has completed a Focusing based trauma program, led by Shirley Turcotte. She also is part of an ongoing Self Psychology study group. A Zen practitioner, and haiku poet, her chapter, “Coming Home to Wholeness,” appears in the book ”Into the Mountain Stream: Psychotherapy and Buddhist Experience,” ed. Paul Cooper. Susan teaches and supervises for the FORP (Focusing Oriented Relational Psychotherapy) program in New York and South Africa. See her website.

Published February 2014