Being with the Body in Depth Psychotherapy

Trauma and Transformation in the Unspoken Realm

Join Barbara Holifield, MSW, LMFT, SEP, Jungian Analyst, as she shares insights from her recent book. She will be joined by Master of Ceremonies Jean Paul Eberle, CMT, LMFT, RYT-500, for a brief presentation (including a case study) followed by a rich discussion to explore these themes more deeply.

Description
In this enriching webinar, Barbara Holifield, MSW, LMFT, SEP, Jungian Analyst will share insights from her recent book to illuminate how the subjectively experienced body can be integrated into depth-oriented psychotherapeutic practice. Drawing on philosophical inquiry, contemporary neuroscience, infant research, developmental theory, and trauma studies, Holifield offers a comprehensive model of embodied relational psychoanalysis.

Through evocative clinical vignettes, Holifield demonstrates how implicit relational memory is often carried and expressed through the body. She emphasizes how somatic awareness can act as a bridge to emotional experience, inviting access to unconscious material in a way that words alone cannot. This process reveals what Jung called the mythopoetic dimension—a numinous, deeply personal realm where healing becomes more than symptom relief: it becomes a return to vitality and aliveness.

This webinar is designed for psychotherapists, counselors, body-oriented practitioners, and students who wish to deepen their clinical presence by engaging the lived experience of the body in therapeutic work. It is also open to a broader audience in the healing arts, fine arts, movement, mindfulness, and martial disciplines.

Teachings are appropriate for healthcare professionals as well as the general public. Healthcare professionals will be able to incorporate the tools and practices offered in this program in ways beneficial to clients or patients.
Learning Objectives
After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:
• Identify key theoretical foundations that support the integration of somatic experience within depth psychological frameworks.
• Describe the role of implicit relational memory and how it may manifest somatically in the clinical setting.
• Apply at least two body-based clinical interventions to support emotional access and regulation in psychotherapy.
• Analyze how meaning can emerge from direct experience of the body, opening one to the symbolic and mythopoetic dimensions of healing.
• Demonstrate increased competence in recognizing and utilizing bodily-felt sense as a relational and diagnostic tool in clinical practice.
• Analyze cognitive insight and somatic experience in relation to their therapeutic impact and depth of integration.

> References and Bibliography are included with the curriculum material.

About the Book (Discount for the book inside)

Being with the Body in Depth Psychotherapy: Development, Trauma, and Transformation in the Unspoken Realm
This book will be of particular interest to psychotherapists, Jungian and other psychoanalysts seeking to include the body in their practice. Advanced practitioners and those in training will discover that it is possible to understand and engage with the bodily basis of psychic life. It will also appeal to those in the healing arts and others interested in understanding the complexities of body-mind.


Your Instructor


Barbara Holifield, MSW, LMFT, SEP, Jungian Analyst
Barbara Holifield, MSW, LMFT, SEP, Jungian Analyst

Barbara Holifield, MSW, MFT, SEP, Jungian Analyst is a member and training analyst at the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. She integrates the bodily-felt dimension of experience into Jungian Analysis and Depth Psychotherapeutic process. Having taught Somatic Psychology for two decades at the California Institute of Integral Studies, being certified in Somatic Experiencing, and an international teacher of Authentic Movement, a deep feeling for the body pulses through her work.

Another strong current in Barbara’s life has been an immersion in wilderness. In her early adulthood, she journeyed extensively through the desert, red rock canyons, and high mountains of North America. She worked as a wilderness therapist and led rites of passage groups focused on intrapersonal exploration and creating conscious community. This immersion remains a vital part of her life, profoundly influencing her psychotherapeutic thinking and practice. Barbara sees our embodied psyche as indissolubly related to the natural world.

Barbara has authored several articles exploring embodiment, trauma, and our participation with the dream of the earth.

Her book Being with the Body in Depth Psychotherapy: Development, Trauma, and Transformation in the Unspoken Realm is available through Routledge in November 2024.


Course Curriculum


  Video and Resources
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Frequently Asked Questions


When does the course start and finish?
The course starts now and never ends! It is a completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish.
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