Alan Fogel

An expanded take on traditional Embodied Self-Awareness therapy, ideal for professionals in all areas of body-focused work, including yoga, Feldenkrais, and somatic psychotherapy. Embodied Self-Awareness (ESA) is a somatic approach to mental health that combines touch and talk to connect thoughts, sensations and emotions as they arise within the body. In this book, author and psychologist Alan Fogel introduces restorative ESA, an expansion of traditional ESA. His approach incorporates three new and unique ESA states: Restorative, Modulated, and Dysregulated. We learn about their underlying neuroscience, as well as the many ways they impact our personal and professional lives. According to Fogel, wellness is more than just the ability to regulate and tolerate emotions. Here, he shows us how to access a unique restorative state in order to heal the body, mind and spirit. Of equal importance is the body's need to rest by shifting from a state of doing to allowing, from activation to receptivity, and from regulation to restoration. Using scientific research and everyday examples, Fogel highlights the critical components needed for feeling more alive, healing and recovering. The practices described in this book are designed to help readers move from dysregulation to a more embodied experience, and are appropriate for all areas of body-focused work, including yoga, Feldenkrais, somatic psychotherapy, craniosacral therapy, body-mind centering, martial arts, massage and bodywork.

When we are first born, before we can speak or use language to express ourselves, we use our physical sensations, our “body sense,” to guide us toward what makes us feel safe and fulfilled and away from what makes us feel bad. As we develop into adults, it becomes easy to lose touch with these crucial mind-body communication channels, but they are essential to our ability to navigate social interactions and deal with psychological stress, physical injury, and trauma. Combining a ground-up explanation of the anatomical and neurological sources of embodied self-awareness with practical exercises in touch and movement, Body Sense provides therapists and their clients with the tools to attain mind-body equilibrium and cultivate healthy body sense throughout their lives.

Just as each person develops from infancy to adulthood, all interpersonal relationships have a life history that encompasses the changes in how people communicate with each other. This book is about how a relationship transforms itself from one pattern of communication to another. The authors present a unique research method called 'relational-historical research', based on advances in dynamic systems theory in developmental psychology, and qualitative methods in life history research. It rests on three premises: that the developing relationship (not the individual) is the unit of analysis; that change emerges from, but is not entirely constrained by, the patterns of the past; and that the developmental process is best revealed by making frequent observations within a particular case before, during, and after a key developmental transition. Looking specifically at the mother–infant relationship, this is a compelling piece of research that will appeal to an international audience of intellectuals and practitioners.

Just as each person develops from infancy to adulthood, all interpersonal relationships have a life history that encompasses the changes in how people communicate with each other. This book is about how a relationship transforms itself from one pattern of communication to another. The authors present a unique research method called 'relational-historical research', based on advances in dynamic systems theory in developmental psychology, and qualitative methods in life history research. It rests on three premises: that the developing relationship (not the individual) is the unit of analysis; that change emerges from, but is not entirely constrained by, the patterns of the past; and that the developmental process is best revealed by making frequent observations within a particular case before, during, and after a key developmental transition. Looking specifically at the mother–infant relationship, this is a compelling piece of research that will appeal to an international audience of intellectuals and practitioners.