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.