Speaker Event | What is the One Body Error in Body Psychotherapy?

Raja Selvam, PhD

This course will not include CEs. Our upcoming recorded live events will be available here, free for members and non-members who register for them, as is the case here. Members and event registrants can use their discount code to watch this event free

Description

Western somatic as well as psychological approaches suffer from the assumption that we have just one body, the physical body, and that the generation and the regulation of all of our experiences including our awareness are a function of the measurable levels of this body alone. This is what I call the one-body error that severely limits the scope and effectiveness Western psychological theory and practice.

Eastern phenomenologists established a long time ago that our body consists of four verifiable levels, two at the individual level and two at the collective level. In addition to the physical body that is called the individual gross body in the East, there is the individual subtle body, the changing collective body of the universe, and the unchanging collective body of pure awareness.

The presentation, I will discuss the one-body error, the reasons for its genesis and its persistence, and the limitations it has placed on the scope and effectiveness of Western psychology. I will then present a four-level model of the body, how each level is in involved in a hierarchy of generation and regulation of all our experiences, the resources they have, and how to include each level of the body in our treatment approaches to improve outcomes and treatment times in all therapy modalities.

The Main Points of This Workshop:

• Western psychology’s one-body error is the assumption that we have only one body, the physical body.
• The one-body error limits the scope of the work and effectiveness of Western psychological approaches.
• Eastern phenomenologists have identified four verifiable levels of the body, the individual gross body or physical body, the individual subtle body, the changing collective body of the universe, and the unchanging collective body of pure awareness.
• Including all four levels of the body in treatment can significantly improve outcomes and treatment times, in Western psychology in general and body psychotherapy approaches in particular.
• Brief description of each of four levels of the body, how they are involved in a hierarchy of the generation and regulation of all of our experiences, the resources each level has, some techniques for working each of the four levels of the body in treatment, and of their unique benefits, with clinical examples.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will know:

1. What is the one-body error in Western psychology.
2. What are the four levels of the body in Eastern psychology.
3. How are the four levels of the body involved generating and regulating all of our experiences in a hierarchy.
4. The unique resources of each level of the body
5. One or two techniques working with each level of the body in treatment.

Bibliography

Bohm, D. (2002). Wholeness and the implicate order. London, UK: Routledge.

Damasio, A. (2000). The feeling of what happens: Body and emotion in the making of consciousness. Boston, MA: Mariner Books.

Goswami, A, (1995). The self-aware universe: How conscious creates the material world. New Tork, NY: Torcherperigee.

Selvam R. (2022). The practice of embodying emotions: A method for improving cognitive, emotional, and behavioral outcomes. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

Shroedinger, E. (1961). My view of the world. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press

Sills, F. (2001). The polarity process: Energy as a healing art. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.