About the Book
A guide for working with emotions and unprocessed traumas
• Explains the simple yet transformative protocols and techniques of Mindfulness-Based Somatic Emotional Processing (MBSEP)
• Describes how to work with specific emotional states, such as anxiety, grief and anger, and how to integrate MBSEP with other healing modalities
• Demonstrates concepts and practices in detail through dozens of case studies from the authors’ decades of therapy practice
Developed by Robert Weisz, PhD, the practice of Mindfulness-Based Somatic Emotional Processing (MBSEP) combines mindfulness and somatic perception to help regulate emotions and process traumas that are stored in the body. The authors demonstrate these concepts and methods through decades of case studies and practical, accessible, step-by-step exercises.
Humans are emotional beings who feel and experience emotions in their bodies. Weisz and Blackwood explore the contrast between somatic, body-based emotions and the mental, cognitively-based stories, explanations, and judgments of the thinking mind.
The authors describe the “struggle factor” and why it is futile to resist having negative emotions. They demonstrate how to be mindfully present with emotional states like anxiety, anger, and grief, and they detail the healing influence of compassionate attention. Their methods foster neuroplasticity to create and expand neuronal linkages in the brain and nervous system.
By encouraging acceptance, compassion, and the experiential truth of our embodied emotions, Weisz and Blackwood have created a practical and flexible protocol for processing and regulating emotions. They also show how MBSEP is easily integrated with other healing modalities, making it a valuable resource for home practitioners and therapists alike.
Table of Contents:
PART ONE
DEVELOPING A PERSONAL PRACTICE
Introduction to Part One:
Our Stories and Inspiration
1 What Is Mindfulness-Based
Somatic Emotional Processing?
2 Minding the Body, Embodying the Mind
Practice #1: Witnessing Anger
Practice #2: Emotional Memory
Practice #3: Emotional Memory Part Two
3 The Struggle Factor
Practice #4: Fighting with Fear
Practice #5: Attention to Anger
4 How We Acknowledge and Digest our Feelings
Practice #6: Leave the Story at the Door
Practice #7: Experiencing Pleasure and Pain
Practice #8: Emotional Regulation
5 Resourcing
Practice #9: Identifying Your Resource(s)
6 Breathwork
Practice #10: Mindful Breathing
Practice #11: Slowing Your Breath
Practice #12: Heart Math Breathing
Practice #13: Breath Awareness
7 Mindfulness and Witnessing
Practice #14: Cultivating Sensory Awareness
Practice #15: Mindful Affection
Practice #16: Witnessing Sadness
8 Compassion and Self-Compassion
Practice #17: Musical Attunement
9 Creating and Holding Space for Healing
Practice #18: Cultivating Felt Sense Attention
Practice #19: The Compassionate Witness
10 The Art and Practice of
Witnessing and Processing Emotions
11 A Step by Step Guide to MBSEP Practice
1. Initial Breathwork
2. Establish or Identify an Internal Resource
3. Acknowledge the Experience and Identify the Emotions
4. Notice the Body’s Experience
5. Remain Compassionately Present
6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 if Necessary to Support Additional
Processing and Release
7. Reflect on the Process and Assess
Additional Exercises for Processing Painful Experiences
Practice #20 Safe Place Resourcing
Practice #21: Breath Resourcing
Practice #22: Processing a Painful Experience
Practice #23: The Last Day of Your Life
PART TWO
THE THERAPEUTIC MANUAL
Introduction to Part Two:
MBSEP in Counseling and Psychotherapy
12 The Attuned Relationship in the
Context of Polyvagal Theory
13 Overview and Considerations
14 Creating Safety
15 Emotional Processing
16 Working with Specific Emotional States
17 Functional Issues
18 Questions about MBSEP
19 Supporting and Honoring Ourselves
20 Case Studies
Resources
References
Index
About the Author :
Robert Weisz, PhD, is the developer of MBSEP and a retired clinical psychologist with more than 50 years of experience as a psychotherapist. His deep interest in the healing process and states of consciousness led to three decades of learning and healing work with shamans in Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil. He lives near Santa Fe, New Mexico, in a beautiful mountain home with his partner Diane, two cats, and many tree and rock friends.
Daniel Blackwood, MA, is the founder and director of the Evolution Group, Inc., a behavioral health organization that began in 1998. A practitioner of MBSEP for more than 10 years, Daniel is as passionate about "the work" as when he began as an intern 40 years ago. He is the author of Integrity Recovery, and he and his wife, Shawn, live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Together they share three children and four dogs.
Review :
“This book elevates the understanding of well-being to a new level. Every mental health professional should read this book, as should primary care practitioners. MBSEP normalizes emotional openness, helps clients overcome cultural bias against expressing feelings, and provides more complete evidence of underlying emotional issues.”
“Whether you’re supporting clients with emotional dysregulation or navigating your own, add this book to your somatic toolkit. Its framework and many practices guide readers in anchoring emotions in the body and offer a grounded, accessible way to move through challenging feeling states, reinforcing the core insight that relief arises through feeling.”
“Written from a deep personal place with deep professional insights, MBSEP offers many new tools and techniques for healing. Weisz and Blackwood have created an empathic and empowering book that draws from neuroscience, psychology, and spiritual wisdom to gently guide the reader to mindful awareness and acceptance of their emotional lives.”
“Weaving together insights from ancient wisdom traditions with contemporary neuroscience and years of clinical experience, this book offers a clear, accessible, step-by-step guide to effectively working with our challenging emotions. A great resource for clients and therapists alike, it shows us how to be more embodied, present, and compassionate toward ourselves, offering a blueprint anyone can follow to live a richer, more rewarding, and more connected life.”
“We all have bodies, and we all have minds. But how do they relate to each other? And how can we heal ourselves by strengthening that relationship? In this beautiful jewel of a book, Weisz and Blackwood effortlessly synthesize breath and mindfulness practices with sound psychotherapeutic principles in order to resolve disturbances of emotion. It is an invaluable resource for both lay and professional audiences.”
“Having a guide for working with emotions and unprocessed traumas is very important for our traumatized world today. Learning the skills of emotional expression based on body–mind integration is vital to every human being. I highly recommend this book.”
“Mindfulness is critical to spiritual development from a contemplative point of view, and yet mindfulness practice frequently brings us face-to-face with trauma and suffering. The authors have created a highly skillful path through the geography of psychological suffering. This is essential reading for anyone interested in the evolution of mindfulness and its embodiment for the transformation of mind, body, and spirit.”
“This book is full of richness and humanity, with case examples that we can all easily relate to. As a therapist for nearly 40 years, I have seen and experienced many therapeutic trends, and I believe that mindfulness-based practice is the present and future of psychotherapy. The mind–body–emotional connection is useful in all of our work and is particularly relevant in trauma-based treatment. I enjoyed this book immensely.”
“When you open this book you are invited into a world of carefully organized, step-by-step holding, understanding, and hands-on processing of the emotional somatic mysteries of human life. The thoroughness of this opus leaves the reader with no need to look further for potent assistance in befriending the soul in the emotional and somatic life of the body. I will gladly recommend it in my ongoing courses. A must-read for psychotherapeutic practitioners and psychological pilgrims alike.”
“Increasingly, psychotherapy is looking to the body to uncover and resolve emotional challenges that are difficult to discover and to address by focusing solely on the contents of the mind. This wonderful guide offers powerful, body-focused awareness practices for those of us committed to our personal healing to undertake on our own. It is highly recommended for anyone courageous enough to self-reflect and feel what’s actually going on inside their body.”
"MBSEP is a gentle and intuitive way to process our emotional and physical experiences. As a clinician, MBSEP has given me a concrete strategy for how to support clients in learning how to ‘feel their feelings.’ As a human, it has encouraged me to connect more fully to myself and do my own healing work. Whether you’re a therapist seeking new tools or someone just looking for a way to stay more grounded through life’s emotional ups and downs, this book is well worth the read.”
