“A grand accomplishment. A unique synthesis. With academic precision, and with a deep gift for reflection, Dr. Selvam takes us on a stunning journey, exploring the structure and function of emotion in the brain as well as the body, the role emotions play in health and dis-ease, and how the body can be used to create a greater capacity to regulate and tolerate emotions to improve cognitive, emotional, and behavioral outcomes in all therapies. The Practice of Embodying Emotions is a rich addition for all therapists, as well as a gift to laypersons wishing to contact their emotional intelligence and enrich their lives.”
—Peter A Levine, PhD, developer of Somatic Experiencing® and best-selling author of Waking the Tiger and In an Unspoken Voice
“Our capacity to regulate our emotions is extremely important for healing our attachment wounds and for having healthy relationships. This book, which offers a simple and effective method for building in us a greater capacity to regulate our emotions through our body, is a must for all therapists who work with attachment and for those looking for a self-help approach to improve their relationships.”
—Diane Poole Heller, PhD, author of Crash Course and The Power of Attachment and creator of DARe (Dynamic Attachment Re-Patterning experience) Training
“Ripe for our times, this brilliant book sheds light on the vital importance of fully embodying emotions, whether painful, pleasurable, or in-between. With an abundance of research and empirical evidence, it makes the case that emotions have a stronger influence on cognition and behavior than the other way around. As a couples’ therapist and a child advocate for mental health in our schools, I experienced this book as a joyous godsend. With the support of the compassionate presence of another, emotions can be felt and fully expanded within the body to make them allies rather than foes. Dr. Selvam generously provides details of his four-step approach to alleviate suffering and enhance pleasure through the vehicle of emotional embodiment.”
—MAGGIE KLEIN, LMFT, Somatic Experiencing® faculty member, and author of Brain-Changing Strategies to Trauma-Proof Our Schools
“There are many things I like about this book. I like that it is not only about changing emotional reactions but also about changing cognition and behavior (for the better) through regulating emotions—and that it shows scientifically how cognition, emotion, and behavior are intimately related to each other in the brain as well as the body. I also like that it provides evidence that our cognition, emotion, and behavior are dependent on others as well as the broader environment. I like how the book alternates between theory and concrete examples and embodies the author’s persistence and brilliance. I highly recommend it to all therapists and those who are serious about their personal and spiritual growth.”
—Lisbeth Marcher, founder of the Bodynamic Somatic Developmental Psychology System, coauthor of The Body Encyclopedia, and former president of EABP (European Association for Body Psychotherapy)
“Raja Selvam’s book is a revelation. Combining the findings of neuroscience, Western psychodynamic theories, and Western and Eastern insights into the mind-body relationship, he has created a powerful and transformative approach to the way we experience and work with emotion. His extensive work with traumatized individuals and groups has put this approach to the test, and the resulting techniques make an invaluable addition to all forms of psychotherapy. Every page of this book conveys depth, clarity, and substance.”
—Glen Slater, PhD, cochair of the Jungian and Archetypal Studies Program at Pacifica Graduate Institute
“This book is a must-read for anyone who is interested in understanding and working with the embodiment of emotions. It is the perfect combination of science, historical and cultural context, client case examples, and presentation of a well-articulated, innovative model. The reader is guided, eloquently and methodically, on an exploratory journey of interwoven threads of traditions, disciplines, and models for understanding emotion. That journey seamlessly leads into a clear and detailed description of Dr. Selvam’s approach to working effectively with embodying emotions.”
—Kathy L. Kain, PhD, coauthor of Nurturing Resilience and The Tao of Trauma
“Don’t miss this book! A valuable guide for therapists and interested folks alike. Introducing new concepts, solid theory, and grounded practice for working to embody emotions in gentle and innovative ways. The concept of sensorimotor emotions is a unique and much-needed contribution to the field of human consciousness. Refreshing in its presentation, with clarity, guiding the reader along a path of discovery toward embracing their whole being.”
—Ian Macnaughton, MBA, PhD, psychotherapist and author of Body, Breath & Consciousness
“The Practice of Embodying Emotions is a timely and necessary refinement to the practice of somatic psychology. Raja Selvam captures, elucidates, and makes clinically useful an essential element of embodied therapy—the use of the body to experience and express emotion as well as to defend against the experience and expression of emotion. His effort to bring all of this to life is both vital and indispensable to this moment in the development of the field of somatics and its clinical usefulness.”
—Maureen Gallagher, PhD, licensed clinical psychologist, certified psychoanalyst, Somatic Experiencing® faculty member, Inner Relationship Focusing Trainer, and EFT Certified Supervisor
“In Jungian psychology the capacity to tolerate opposites in human experience, especially emotion, is key for optimal psychological health, individual growth, and fulfilling relationships. Trauma recovery depends on it, as does community development and navigating the challenges in our turbulent world. The Practice of Embodying Emotions—a wise and soulful book—offers an effective method for developing greater affect tolerance and transformation through the body. Rooted in science and the author’s depth of experience and capacity for integrating multiple disciplines, it contains practical, comprehensive information and illuminating case examples. Highly recommended, this book is a must for all Jungians, healing practitioners, and those who seek to help make the world a better place.”
—Tina Stromsted, PhD, LMFT, LPPC, RSME/T, Jungian psychoanalyst, dance/movement therapist, somatics educator, and director of Soul’s Body® Center
“The Practice of Embodying Emotions is a substantial contribution to psychoanalysis, allowing and enabling a safe, hands-off somatic approach for treating trauma. This brilliant book ought to become required reading for all psychoanalysts and therapists involved in trauma treatment.”
—Margret Overdick, psychoanalyst, psychotherapist, trauma therapist, and specialist in pre- and perinatal psychological trauma treatment
“Selvam’s extraordinary book offers an in-depth explanation of how the human body is involved in generating, defending against, and later triggering traumatic emotional experiences—especially prelinguistic ones—and is therefore a vital source of understanding of the physiology of implicit trauma memories that dominate the work of those engaged in pre- and perinatal psychology. The Practice of Embodying Emotions is brilliant and humble, research based, and intuitive. It is a ‘game changer’ in the field of trauma therapy, and I personally rate it five out of five.”
—William R. Emerson, PhD, psychologist, winner of US National Science Foundation Award for Significant Contributions to Psychology, and author of Treatment of Birth Trauma in Infants and Children
“This book unmasks what is most painful and hidden in our minds and bodies. It is gentle. It is compassionate. It helped me reduce my own fear and reclaim my body. One of its many compelling aspects is that it embraces all our experience: our traumas, anxieties, terror, joy, and on and on. Rather than discounting other approaches to therapy, it builds on them with honesty, wisdom, and self-awareness—ultimately offering me a logical and clear guide to my own healing. It is simply an amazing and superb book; it has deepened and broadened my life and sense of self.”
—Paul Lieber, actor, poet, teacher at Loyola Marymount University and the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, and author of the poetry collections Chemical Tendencies and Interrupted by the Sea
“Raja Selvam’s extensive work on embodying emotions and regulating them through the body is a wonderful addition to the field of trauma healing. The book also includes what I particularly cherish: an extensive cross-cultural awareness.”
—Gina Ross, MFCT, Somatic Experiencing® senior faculty, founder and president of the International Trauma Healing Institute, and author of several books on trauma including Breaking News! The Media and The Trauma Vortex
“As a trauma therapist and educator, I found The Practice of Embodying Emotions to be a deeply satisfying work. It offers a practical combination of well-thought-out theory and research and numerous case examples to demonstrate and clarify the concepts and the methods. Raja Selvam is clearly an exceptional clinician, and I particularly benefited from the experiential exercises provided in the latter chapters. This book is a must-read for therapists and will be profoundly relevant for the layperson committed to their own healing.”
—Ariel Giarretto, MS, LMFT, SEP, trauma therapist and educator
“Integral Somatic Psychology (ISP) on which this book is based is a breath of fresh air for the professional community and the general public. It weaves together current science, Eastern and Western philosophical traditions, the linear and nonlinear world of emotional experience, and takes us to the next level of healing. It is brilliantly written and offers a wealth of information for anybody who wishes to engage deeply with the complex arena of trauma work. I have already gained priceless insights into my traumatization, stemming from racism and being a Vietnam combat veteran. Especially now, in these troubled times, people can gain a deeper understanding of their own response to PTSD with the help of Integral Somatic Psychology.”
—Ralph Steele, MA, LMFT, SEP, ISPP, teacher of Embodying Emotions Through Somatic Meditation and author of Tending the Fire
“This wonderful book offers a deep yet simple practice that aims to increase our ability to withstand, process, and complete difficult psychological experiences. It is useful for psychotherapists of different modalities and specialists in other helping professions, as well as for everyone searching for ways to cope with emotional forces in everyday life without suffering from avoidance. The main idea of the approach is surprisingly simple: involve more of the body in the emotional experience by removing physiological defenses against emotions and stay with the emotional experience for a longer period. Expanding and sustaining emotional experience this way, in turn, has a positive effect on almost all human systems (cognitive, behavioral, relational, physical, energetic, and spiritual).”
—Elena Romanchenko, psychotherapist, psychologist, educator, and member of the European Association for Body Psychotherapy (EABP)
“Developing the capacity to competently deal with deep emotions is a critical element in accessing and resolving powerful responses that can have a major impact in our lives. In this wonderful book, Raja Selvam offers a roadmap for identifying, accessing, and processing both present-day and long-ago emotions that live in our bodies and unconscious processes across a lifetime, often arising unbidden to play their irresistible role in current relationships and circumstances. With practical suggestions and guidelines, he shows us the way to develop the skill and ability to meet and resolve distressing and previously overwhelming emotional experiences.”
—Nancy J. Napier, MA, LMFT, psychotherapist specializing in trauma resolution, Somatic Experiencing® faculty member, and author of Getting Through the Day, Recreating Your Self, and Sacred Practices for Conscious Living
“Finally! We have been waiting for this book for years! In this groundbreaking work, Raja Selvam creates the long-overdue synthesis of psychotherapy, neuroscience, and quantum physics as well as of cognition, emotion, and behavior to provide a tool for working with emotions that will profoundly enrich and facilitate your therapeutic work, no matter what your specialty is. You and your clients will be grateful!”
—Dr. Elisabeth Pellegrini, specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry, psychoanalyst, teacher at the Medical University of Vienna, the University of Vienna, and the Danube University in Krems, and a training analyst in the Vienna Circle for Psychoanalysis and Self-Psychology
“In this very approachable book, Dr. Selvam marries the science of embodied emotion with the practice of healing. Practicing therapists as well as lay people will benefit greatly from the specific prescriptions offered in the book. Particularly at this trying time in human history, Dr. Selvam’s instructive book serves as a balm to our broken species, and as an instruction manual on how to recover from our collective traumas.”
—Akshay R. Rao, PhD, General Mills chair in Marketing at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota