Psychotherapy Networker Symposium: When Talk Isn’t Enough: Embodied Awareness in the Consulting Room with Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. – Bessel Van der Kolk

Salepage link: At HERE. Archive:

After being traumatized, the body keeps pumping out stress hormones that make people feel frazzled, agitated, or shut down. Talk therapy alone doesn’t reset the limbic system, the part of the brain that creates a sense of fear and helplessness. In this workshop, you’ll learn the latest research surrounding traumatic imprints, and learn if and how traumatic imprints can be addressed using techniques drawn from yoga, theater, and somatic therapy.

NOTE: For copyright and privacy reasons, some portions of the seminar (including video and images on the screen) were not able to be recorded.

1. Demonstrate breathing, posture, facial, and vocal exercises to energize your therapeutic presence and enhance your mirroring of the client’s words and expressions
2. Implement techniques for projecting different messages (empathy, support, authority, guidance) through how you stand, sit, and walk during a therapeutic session.
3. Outline how awareness can bring increased mindfulness and optimism into your approach with clients

The limitations of exposure therapy

• Desensitization to pain
• Methods that encourage a fuller mind/body integration

Strategies to make the most of your own healing presence

• Breathing
• Posture
• Mirroring your clients’ words and expressions

Emerging tools and research for healing from complex trauma