Touching the Relational Edge: Body Psychotherapy

The psychotherapeutic encounter is a meeting between embodied psyches, bodies present in the room, speaking with each another, impacting and impacted by one another; bodies who are waiting for us to listen to them and dialogue with them - and speak on their behalf. The field of body psychotherapy has been exploring this embodied dialogue since the 1930s. The book "Touching the Relational Edge" delves into the history of body-psychotherapy, offering theoretical and clinical conceptualisations and insights and is rich with clinical vignettes and applicable exercise, all aimed to provide the reader with a theoretical and experiential understanding of the place of the body in psychotherapy - allowing the reader a dynamic, curious and affective engagement.The book opens a window into the cutting-edge world of relational body-psychotherapy, offering the reader a personal and professional journey into the depth of therapeutic relationship as seen through anatomical and relational eyes.

Table of Contents:
Telepathy -- Preface -- Preface -- Foreword -- Introduction -- Historical -- Blanche Wittman’s breasts † : tracking the historical split between body psychotherapy and psychoanalysis -- The melting pot of body psychotherapy -- A roadmap to body psychotherapy modalities -- Theoretical -- Form and flow: three levels of self-organisation † -- Theory of bodymind in body psychotherapy -- The bodymind character structure -- The language of the body: further concepts in body psychotherapy -- Clinical -- Embodied therapeutic dialogues -- Body psychotherapeutic skills -- One tender touch: touch in body psychotherapy -- Gliding on the strings that connect us: resonance in body psychotherapy * . -- Summary -- The relational approach *

About the Author :
Asaf Rolef Ben-Shahar, PhD, is a relational psychotherapist from Israel, founder of two relational body psychotherapy programmes (in Israel and the UK), teaching and lecturing worldwide. His books include 'Anatomy of Therapy' and 'Touching the Relational Edge'. He is the Editor-in-Chief of 'The International Body Psychotherapy Journal', and an editor with 'Body Dance and Movement in Psychotherapy', 'Psychotherapy and Politics International' and 'Self and Society'.

Review :
'Asaf Rolef Ben-Shahar has a deep understanding of the connection between affect, attachment, and attunement. He writes, with many case examples, from a deep knowledge of the philosophical and humanistic roots of body psychotherapy. I recommend his book strongly as an additional theoretical and practical sourcebook on body psychotherapy.'- Dr David Boadella, founder of Biosynthesis'Asaf Rolef Ben-Shahar has made a real effort to form his own voice and give credit to those who have either influenced him or given him a connection to a wider world. His writing is inclusive and honouring and I am sure this book will be helpful to a wide range of readers, and add to the humanisation of therapy in bringing to the fore new ways to help.'- Dr Stanley Keleman, founder of Formative Psychology 'Asaf Rolef Ben-Shahar is among the most brilliant of the new generation of body psychotherapists, working with his own synthesis of the best elements of the tradition that originates with Wilhelm Reich. He is also a superb writer, and this outline of his perspective on the field is to be treasured.'- Nick Totton, founder of Embodied Relational Therapy'Learning from this rich book emphasised for me the harsh and dissonant consequence of the mind-body split in traditional psychotherapy; a split that Rolef Ben-Shahar describes while grounding it in philosophical, cultural, and theoretical contexts. Touching the Relational Edge is a thorough and educational book about relational and intersubjective psychotherapy, as well as an important document about relational body psychotherapy. The quality of this book rests also in its capacity to cohesively balance the message with the way it is delivered. Parallel to the movement between body and mind that Rolef Ben-Shahar offers regarding body psychotherapy, the book itself dances between grounding in philosophical postulations, historical and sociocultural processes, and therapeutic models and therapeutic skills. I have no doubt that this book, as both a philosophical and clinical text, will contribute to establishing and advancing relational body psychotherapy.'- Dr Sharon Ziv Beiman, clinical psychologist and board member of the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP).