Embodied emotions can improve outcomes in all therapy modalities
Recent research shows that emotions, when more fully embodied, can improve emotional but also cognitive and behavioural outcomes in therapy. Integral Somatic Psychology (ISP) offers therapists in all therapeutic modalities methods for improving cognitive, emotional, behavioural, relational, physical, energetic, and spiritual outcomes through greater embodiment of emotions.
Striking a balance between emotional regulation and physiological regulation
Integral Somatic Psychology uses the science of the physiology of emotions, attachment, resonance, relationship, cognition, behaviour, stress, and trauma and a simple model of regulation of the physiology for deepening emotions in the body and regulating the body at the same time. This is to ensure that emotions are not destroyed by excessive physiological regulation on the one hand and that emotions do not dysregulate the body and cause psychophysiological symptoms on the other.
Working with all types of emotions for a more complete embodiment of emotions
To work more completely with emotions, ISP works not only with primary emotions such as happiness and sadness and their combinations (secondary emotions) but also with the more common sensorimotor emotions such as attraction and aversion, emotions often overlooked in therapy which can be easily destroyed in practice focused on tracking body sensations or breaking down body defences. To work more effectively with emotions, ISP also includes in its curriculum theories of affect development and strategies for supporting all levels of an emotional experience.
Understanding how to work with the physical body to better embody emotions
ISP uses detailed knowledge of how emotions are generated as well as defended in each layer of the physical body (muscle, organ, and nervous system) and of how to work with such somatic defences to access, embody, and develop a greater capacity for emotions with simple tools such as awareness, intent, breath, movement, and self-touch, tools that are easy to incorporate into diverse psychotherapy settings.
Understanding how to work with the individual energy body as well as the collective bodies in working with emotions and other experiences
In addition to the work at the level of the physical body, ISP, using Eastern and Western models of energy psychology, works with the individual energy body, its role in generating as well as defending against all psychological experiences, and the connections between the individual level physical and energy bodies and the collective bodies they derive from in order to further improve diverse outcomes in all therapeutic modalities.
Who will benefit the most from Integral Somatic Psychology?
Integral Somatic Psychology (ISP) provides a complementary body psychotherapy modality for further improving physical, energetic, cognitive, affective, behavioural, relational, and spiritual outcomes in all therapeutic approaches including other body psychotherapy modalities such as Somatic Experiencing (SE). Prior work with the body is not the prerequisite for admission to the training.
How is the training structured?
Taught in three four-day modules, the training consists of lectures, demonstrations, and practice sessions on a daily basis. Those interested but unsure can take the first module on a trial basis before committing to modules two and three. Also, those interested in joining the training from the second module can take the first module on video.
Those who complete all three training modules and get six hours of personal therapy and six hours of supervision will receive the Integral Somatic Psychology (ISP) Practitioner Certificate.
Who is the trainer and what is his background?
Raja Selvam, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist, a senior trainer in Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing (SE) professional trauma training, and the developer of Integral Somatic Psychology (ISP). ISP is currently offered in over a dozen countries worldwide, in North and South America, Asia, Europe, and Australia. Dr Selvam’s work draws from bodywork systems of Postural Integration, Biodynamic Cranio-Sacral Therapy, and Polarity Therapy, body psychotherapy systems of Reichian Therapy, Bioenergetics, Bodynamic Analysis, Jungian and Archetypal psychologies, psychoanalytic schools of Object Relations and Inter-Subjectivity, Somatic Experiencing (SE), Affective Neuroscience, Quantum Physics, Yoga, and Advaita Vedanta.
Improve Your Outcomes by Helping Your Clients Embody their Emotions
The ISP™ Professional Training has been designed to help improve cognitive, emotional, and behavioural outcomes in all therapies based on clinical implications of older and newer evidence-based theories in cognitive psychology and neuroscience on the physiology of cognition, emotion, and behaviour, including the newer paradigms of embodied and embedded cognition and enactive emotion.
Develop Practical Skills in an Easy-to-Learn Scientific Approach
We will study the findings on how cognition, emotion, and behaviour depend not only on the brain but also on the body and the environment; how cognition, emotion, and behaviour are inter-related in the physiology of the brain and the body and its relationship to the environment; and how emotion and greater involvement of the body in emotional experience are important for improving cognition, emotion, and behaviour.
We will also study the older and newer findings on the physiology of emotions in-depth in relation to the physiology of self-regulation in the brain and the body.
We will learn and practice clinical strategies that can be implemented in all therapies for involving the body more in a broader range of emotional experiences (primary, secondary, and always-present and often-overlooked sensorimotor emotions), to develop greater affect tolerance through the body, and improve cognitive, emotional, behavioural, physical, energetic, relational, or spiritual outcomes.
We will also learn how to use the concept of archetypes from Jungian psychology to connect the individual to resources at the various levels of the collective, to access, expand, regulate, tolerate, and stay longer with emotional experiences in the body so as to learn most from them.
The ISP Professional Training consists of three 4-day training modules. Each day includes lectures, time for questions and answers, body sensing exercises, a demonstration with a trainee, and clinical practice in small groups under the supervision of an assistant.
Module 1
In this first training module, we will learn the science of embodied cognition, emotion, and behaviour and the four steps of practising emotional embodiment to help improve diverse outcomes in all therapies.
We will also learn how we can facilitate a greater embodiment of emotional experiences through the physiology of the muscles of the arms, legs, face, throat, and neck. In addition, we will begin to learn how we can work with the elemental archetype of air to help facilitate the embodiment of emotions.
Course Content:
The science of embodied cognition, emotion, and behaviour
The four steps of the practice of embodying emotions
Different types of emotional experiences
The role of the muscular system in generating and defending against emotional experience
Clinical strategies for working with the arm and leg muscles to facilitate emotional embodiment
Clinical strategies for working with the face, throat, and neck muscles to facilitate emotional embodiment
Clinical strategies for working with the elemental archetypes, the air in particular, for facilitating emotional embodiment
Module 2
In this second module of the training, we will learn how we can facilitate a greater embodiment of emotional experiences through the physiology of the torso musculature and the diaphragms of the torso, and the organs, glands, and blood vessels governed by the autonomic nervous system.
We will also study how we can facilitate a greater embodiment of our emotional experiences in our brain and body by connecting the individual to additional elemental archetypal resources at different collective levels.
Course Content:
The role of the torso musculature and the diaphragms of the torso in generating as well as defending against emotional experiences
Clinical strategies for working with the physiology of the torso musculature and the diaphragms of the torso for facilitating the process of emotional embodiment
The role of the autonomic nervous system and the areas of governed by it (organs, glands, and blood vessels) in generating as well as defending against emotional experiences
Clinical strategies for working with the autonomic nervous system and the areas of governed by it for facilitating the process of emotional embodiment
The role of the elemental archetype of ether in an emotional experience
Clinical strategies for working with the elemental archetype of ether for facilitating the process of emotional embodiment
The role of the elemental archetype of air in an emotional experience
Clinical strategies for working with the elemental archetype of air for facilitating the process of emotional embodiment
The role of the elemental archetype of water in an emotional experience
Clinical strategies for working with the elemental archetype of water for facilitating the process of emotional embodiment
Module 3
In this third and final module of the training, we will learn how we can facilitate a greater embodiment of emotional experiences through the physiology of the brain, the spinal cord, and the structures that surround and protect them (cerebrospinal fluid, membrane, bone, fascia, tendon, ligament, muscle).
We will also study how we can facilitate a greater embodiment of our emotional experiences in our brain and body by connecting the individual to additional archetypal resources at different collective levels than in earlier modules.
Course Content:
The role of the central nervous system area of the brain and spinal cord and surrounding structures in generating as well as defending against extra-ordinary psychological and physiological and experiences of stress and trauma
Clinical strategies for working with the physiology of the brain and spinal cord and surrounding structures when working with extra-ordinary psychological and physiological experiences of stress and trauma in psychological work settings
The role of the central nervous system areas of the brain and spinal cord and surrounding structures in generating as well as defending against ordinary but difficult physiological and psychological experiences in the course of development (as opposed to extra-ordinary experiences of stress and trauma)
Clinical strategies for working with the central nervous system area of the brain and spinal cord and surrounding structures during psychological work with ordinary but difficult experiences in the course of development (as opposed to the extraordinary experiences of stress and trauma)
Clinical strategies for connecting the individual more to the resources of the basic elemental archetype of fire with intensity and clarity as its primary attributes, for accessing, expanding, and regulating our emotional experiences in psychological work settings
Clinical strategies for connecting the individual more to the resources of the basic elemental archetype of the earth with structure and stability as its primary attributes, for accessing, expanding, and regulating our emotional experiences in psychological work settings
Clinical strategies for facilitating the interactions between the individual and the collective at the higher end of the archetypal continuum, at the level of the Self and beyond, to mobilize the highest possible resources of the collective for accessing, expanding, and regulating our emotional experiences in psychological work settings
If you are a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, marriage and family therapist, counsellor, art, movement or breath therapist, coach, bodyworker, energy worker, psychology trainer or educator, clergy, meditation or spiritual teacher, you will find the training valuable provided your work also involves psychological processing.
It is helpful if you already include the physical body in your work to some extent. Your familiarity with the body can be through body awareness or movement practice, body-based mindfulness or meditation practice, yoga or bodywork, or energy work. However, prior work with body or energy is not the prerequisite for admission to the training.
Students and graduates of training in somatic psychology or body psychotherapy approaches such as Reichian therapy, Bioenergetics, Bodynamic Analysis, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy® (SP), and Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) will have an excellent basis.
After applying, you will receive the application form to fill in to be considered for the training.
If you are unsure whether your present work involves adequate psychological processing to benefit most from ISP, please contact your local coordinator to discuss your application.
Raja Selvam, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist, is the developer of Integral Somatic Psychology™ (ISP™), an effective somatic therapy that helps clients achieve optimal mental health by fully embodying their emotions.
His book The Practice of Embodying Emotions: A Guide for Improving Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral Outcomes is currently being translated into several languages. Click here to learn more about his book.
Integral Somatic Psychology™ (ISP™) is a therapeutic approach based on emerging scientific paradigms of embodied cognition, emotion, and behavior in cognitive psychology and affective neuroscience. It is also based on multiple Western and Eastern psychological, somatic, energetic, and spiritual approaches.
Integral Somatic Psychology has been shown to shorten therapy treatment times internationally. It can be used as a complementary approach by therapists in all modalities who may be looking for innovative research-backed ways to help patients self-regulate and enrich their lives through a wider range of emotional experiences.
Dr. Selvam is also a senior trainer at Dr. Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing® International. He has taught for twenty-five years in over twenty countries in North and South Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Far East.
Dr. Selvam’s work is informed by older body psychotherapy systems of Reichian Therapy and Bioenergetic Analysis, newer body psychotherapy systems of Bodynamic Analysis and Somatic Experiencing, and bodywork systems of Postural Integration and Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy.
His work is also inspired by Jungian and archetypal psychologies, Kleinian and intersubjective schools of psychoanalysis, affective neuroscience, quantum physics, yoga, Polarity Therapy, and Advaita Vedanta (a spiritual psychology from India).
Dr. Selvam’s work also draws upon his clinical psychology PhD dissertation on Advaita Vedanta and Jungian psychology, based on which he has published an article titled “Jung and Consciousness,” in the international analytical psychology journal Spring in 2013.
He did trauma outreach work in India in 2005–2006 with survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, based on which he has published an outcome study titled “Somatic Therapy Treatment Effects with Tsunami Survivors,” in the journal Traumatology in 2008. Dr. Selvam’s work is also inspired by the work he did in Sri Lanka in 2012–2014 with survivors of war, violence, loss, and displacement, and with mental health professionals engaged in treating them, after Sri Lanka’s thirty-year civil war ended in 2009.
