An Exploration of Embodied Relating and the Implications for the Therapeutic Encounter
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65828/1nvjzz49Keywords:
Embodiment, chiasm, Merleau-Ponty, ambiguity, space between, encounter, thresholdAbstract
This paper seeks questions regarding embodied relating in the therapeutic encounter through engagement with Merleau Ponty's Chiasm. It questions whether the term 'embodiment' incorporates the dynamism and complexity our relating requires or whether it, ironically, perpetuates dualistic thinking.
Complete access to the full archive of articles is available with SEA membership. Existing members: please log in with your membership password to view full text. Non-members can buy a single article or issue by registering an account on this website, then selecting a padlocked full text button to purchase.
References
Ablack, C. J. (2009). The body-mind dynamics of working with diversity. In Hartley, L. (ed). Contemporary Body Psychotherapy: The Chiron approach. London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203892640
Blakeslee, M. & Blakeslee, S. (2007). The Body has a Mind of Its Own. New York: Random House.
Buber, M. (1970). I and Thou. Trans. Smith, R.G. Edinburgh: T&T Clark.
Caldwell, C. (2014). Mindfulness and bodyfulness: A new paradigm. Journal of Contemplative Inquiry. 1: 77-96.
Cozolino, L. (2014). The Neuroscience of Human Relationships: Attachment and the developing social brain. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Erskine, R.G. (2014). Nonverbal stories: The body in psychotherapy. International Journal of Integrative Psychotherapy. 5.1: 21-33. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003625223-19
Fletcher, S. (2021). Touched by Touching: A hermeneutic phenomenological look at the experience of touch for bodywork practitioners. Dissertation. Pacifica Graduate Institute ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.
Frank, A.W. (1998). From dysappearance to hyperappearance: Sliding boundaries of illness and bodies. In Stam, H. (ed). The Body and Psychology. London: Sage Publications. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/863545 [Accessed on 4 December 2022.] DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446279175.n11
Gendlin, E. (2003 [1978]). Focusing. Revised and updated 25th anniversary ed. London: Rider.
Gergen, K.J. (2009). Relational Being: Beyond self and community. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199846269.001.0001
Heidegger, M. (2019 [1962]). Being and Time. Trans. Macquarrie, J. & Robinson, E. Eastford, CT: Martino Fine Books.
Hillman, J. (1975). Re-visioning Psychology. New York: Harper & Row.
Ho, R. (2021). Embodiment of space in relation to the self and others in psychotherapy. In Payne, H., Koch, S. & Tantia, J. (eds). The Routledge International Handbook of Embodied Perspectives in Psychotherapy. 1st edn. Abingdon: Taylor and Francis. Available at https://www.perlego.com/book/1572361 [Accessed on 6 December 2022.] DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315159416
Hughes, F. (2017). Reversibility and chiasm: False equivalents? An alternative approach to understanding difference in Merleau-Ponty's late philosophy. British Journal for the History of Philosophy. 25.2: 356-379. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09608788.2016.1225565
Jung, C.G. (1989). Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Jaffe, A. (ed). New York: Vintage Books. (Original work published 1963.)
Lacan, J. (1998). The Seminar of Jacques Lacan Book XI: The four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis. Trans. Sheridan, A. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315832074
Lauffenburger, S. (2013). Moving beyond embodiment to 'animation'-based psychotherapy and counselling. In Noble, C. & Day, E. (eds). Psychotherapy and Counselling: Reflections on practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315752457-6
Maitland, K. J. (1995). Spacious Body: Explorations in somatic ontology. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic.
Margarian, A. (2014). A cross-cultural study of somatic countertransference: A brief overview. Asia Pacific Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy. 5.2: 137-145. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21507686.2014.894922
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1968). The Visible and the Invisible. Trans. Lingis, A. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962). The Phenomenology of Perception. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1969). An unpublished text by Merleau-Ponty. In Fisher E.T. (ed). The Essential Writings of Merleau-Ponty. New York: Harcourt.
Montouri, A. (2013). The complexity of transdisciplinary literature reviews. Complicity: An international journal of complexity and education. 10 (1/2): 45-55. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29173/cmplct20399
Payne, H., Koch, S. & Tantia, J. (eds) The Routledge International Handbook of Embodied Perspectives in Psychotherapy. 1st ed. Abingdon: Taylor and Francis. Available at https://www.perlego.com/book/1572361 [Accessed on 6 December 2022.] DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315159416
Reich, W. (1972). Character Analysis. Trans. Carafagno, R. Farrar: Strauss & Giroux.
Rothschild, B. (2000). The Body Remembers: The psychophysiology of trauma and trauma treatment. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Sheets-Johnstone, M. (2010). Kinesthetic experience: understanding movement inside and out. Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy. 5 (2): 111-127. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17432979.2010.496221
Sheets-Johnstone, M. (1999). Emotion and movement: A beginning empirical phenomenological analysis of their relationship. Journal of Consciousness Studies. 6 (11): 259-277.
Sheets-Johnstone, M. (2019). Essential dimensions of being a body. In Payne, H., Koch, S. & Tantia, J. (eds). The Routledge International Handbook of Embodied Perspectives in Psychotherapy. 1st ed. Abingdon: Taylor and Francis. Available at https://www.perlego.com/book/1572361 [Accessed on 6 December 2022.] DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315159416-3
Synesiou, N. (2012). Boundary and ambiguity: Merleau-Ponty and the space of psychotherapy. Existential Analysis: Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis. 23.2: 320-332. DOI: https://doi.org/10.65828/xe0a8736
Tanaka, S. (2015). Intercorporeality as a theory of social cognition. Theory and Psychology. 25 (4): 455-472. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354315583035
Thompson, E. (2007). Mind in Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Toadvine, T. (2011). The Chiasm. In Luft, S. & Overgaard, S. (eds). The Routledge Companion to Phenomenology. London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203816936.ch31
Totton, N. (2014). Embodied relating: The ground of psychotherapy. International Body Psychotherapy Journal. Vol 13.2: 88-103. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429474170-3
Totton, N. (2018). Embodied Relating. 1st ed. Abingdon: Taylor and Francis. Available at https://www.perlego.com/book/1510145 [Accessed on 6 December 2022.]
Westland, G. (2021). Relating through the body. In Payne, H., Koch, S. & Tantia, J. (eds). The Routledge International Handbook of Embodied Perspectives in Psychotherapy. 1st ed. Abingdon: Taylor and Francis. Available at https://www.perlego.com/book/1572361 [Accessed on 6 December 2022.] DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315159416
Zohar, D. (1990). The Quantum Self. Glasgow: Flamingo.
