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