Speaking from the Body

Psychotherapists who practice Buddhist meditation can develop a heightened awareness of their own body sensations. This book describes the work of psychotherapists who had developed the skill of using their body-awareness inter-subjectively: their bodies had become sensitive instruments that resonated with the unconscious emotional and physical experiences of their patients and clients, in a form of body-based counter-transference. The author discusses clinical vignettes from the practice of six meditating psychotherapists, in New Zealand, Britain, and the USA, and describes ways in which self-other boundaries, both psychic and physical, were temporarily transcended in their work with patients.