Centered and Connected: A Therapeutic Approach to Mind-Body Awareness

Centered and Connected presents body-based techniques that integrate practices of self-reflection and non-judgmental awareness in order to foster healing, build self-esteem, and develop a stronger connection to one's body. Author Rytz explores the disconnection between the mind and body, which can create alienation, lack of self-acceptance, and more serious emotional problems. Some of the body areas explored include the head, heart, hands, feet, stomach, and pelvis, as well as body-related phenomena such as the breath, gravity, and the voice. Each topic is followed by four simple and enjoyable activities meant to improve the body-mind relationship. There are 128 activities in all. More than 250 photographs and illustrations help readers visualize and utilize the exercises described.

About the Author :
Thea Rytz has an extensive background in body awareness and movement therapy. She has trained in the field of somatics and somatic psychology, with a focus on therapy methods for people with eating disorders and trauma. Since 1994, she has been a part of a specialized multidisciplinary team of therapists at the University Hospital of Berne, Switzerland who treat those suffering from various eating disorders. The program was originally developed by Thea, who has been fine-tuning it ever since. Since 2000, Thea has been strongly active in the prevention of eating disorders in Switzerland. In cooperation with the cosmetic company Dove, she created workshops for teenagers designed to strengthen their self-esteem and acceptance of their bodies. She also developed a program that teaches educators, parents, and children how to tune into their emotions and body sensations, how to reduce stress, and how to interact with others successfully. As part of a program supported by the government of Berne, she has been a collaborator in developing songs for children that foster self-esteem. Thea is the mother of two children and lives in Berne, Switzerland with her partner, a dancer and an artist.

Review :
"Rytz lucidly describes how paying attention to bodily sensation and movement offers a bridge that enables the split between mind and body to begin to heal." —From the Foreword by Linda Hartley, director of the Institute for Integrative Bodywork and Movement; author of Wisdom of the Body Moving: An Introduction to Body-Mind Centering, Somatic Psychology: Body, Mind and Meaning, and Contemporary Body Psychotherapy: The Chiron Approach "Thea Rytz has written a crucial book for anyone interested in the body. Written clearly and articulately, it goes beyond discussing the mind-body connection, and in a very graceful way shows us what we can do to live an embodied life. It strikes a rare balance between simplicity and complexity, engaging in intricate topics with an uncluttered and artful style.… Perhaps most importantly, this book takes us beyond both the theoretical and the pragmatic, and helps us learn to live directly, in the moment, in an integrated and balanced way. I intend to assign it in all of my trainings, and I hope that educators, therapists, and anyone interested in the wisdom of the body will read it as well." —Christine Caldwell, PhD, LPC, ADTR, ACS, body-centered psychotherapist; founder and chair of the somatic psychology department, Naropa University; author of Getting Our Bodies Back: Recovery, Healing, and Transformation through Body-Centered Psychotherapy and Getting in Touch: The Guide to New Body-Centered Therapies "Centered and Connected returns us to a deeper relationship with our bodies amid complex times. Rytz’s experiences offer fertile ground for inspiration and education, helping us care for self and community with more ingenuity and integrity. The book is an essential resource for movement educators, therapists, and any individual engaged in enhancing embodiment and creativity in his or her work and life." —Andrea Olsen, professor of dance and faculty member in the environmental studies department, Middlebury College; author of Body and Earth: An Experiential Guide and Bodystories: A Guide to Experiential Anatomy “Centered and Connected is at once a plea for and a playbook of self-love starting with the body, our long-subjugated ‘other half.’ In its very title it bespeaks its own intention: awareness, acceptance and a return to simplicity. Both personal and global physicality have their places in Rytz’ text as she outlines the dialectic between our zeitgeist’s narrative and the stories we whisper to ourselves which tame and entrap us and which mirror the power paradigms of our Western society.” —Diane Cai, Somatic Psychotherapy Today “Rytz has done an exceptional job of reminding us to mend our mind-body connection and showing how body sensory awareness can create healing and balance in our self-awareness and self-esteem.” —New Consciousness Review