In the increasingly influential world of positive psychology, researchers have begun to wonder whether all the fascination with drama and intensity is obscuring a mundane truth about what really matters in human relationships: the importance of the little things in daily life.

Therapeutic skeptics still cite the possibility of stirring up intense transference and countertransference responses as a compelling reason not to use more body-oriented approaches. But therapists who work somatically maintain that transference and countertransference are no more a problem for highly trained and skilled body psychotherapists than for well-trained talk therapists.

When a client comes in for their first session, the natural way to start is by asking them what they want to accomplish in therapy. But the way they answer isn't always helpful in moving the treatment forward.

It’s the very fact that both emotion and reasoning ability are held hostage by their body’s continuing physical reaction to trauma that makes healing so hard for trauma survivors, no matter how much cognitive “insight” they have into their suffering.

First and foremost, love is an emotion, a momentary state that arises to infuse your mind and body alike. Love, like all emotions, surfaces like a distinct and fast-moving weather pattern, a subtle and ever-shifting force.

I don’t have a degree in nutrition, but I think many of my clients would benefit from incorporating some basic ideas about healthy eating into their self-care to help improve their moods. How can I help them do this?

It’s an article of faith among many somatically-oriented practitioners that the body knows more, knows it more directly, and expresses it more honestly than does the often muddled, deceitful, and fearful mind.

Recently, I was invited to Dharamsala by the Men Tsee Khang Institute, a school of traditional Tibetan medicine sponsored by the Dalai Lama, to give a talk on the scientific basis of the mind-body connection and the techniques of self-care and mutual help that my colleagues and I at The Center for Mind-Body Medicine are using with war- and disaster-traumatized populations.

I’m trained as a talk therapist but keep hearing about all these new somatic approaches being used today. What are some simple somatic tools I can integrate into my work?

One of the most effective practices to employ when working with clients who suffer from mood-related issues is also one of the simplest: Just breathe.