More Background
on Body-Mind Psychotherapy and Susan Aposhyan

Susan Aposhyan, M.A., L.P.C., developed Body-Mind Psychotherapy as an application of Body-Mind Centering to the process of psychotherapy. In addition to trainings and workshops, she maintains a private practice. She is the former director of the Somatic Psychology Department at Naropa University, and is the author of Natural Intelligence: Body-Mind Integration and Human Development, 1999, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins and Body-Mind Psychotherapy, 2004, W.W. Norton. (For more information and ordering directions on each book, scroll down.)

Natural Intelligence

To read an excerpt from Natural Intelligence, click here.

To purchase Natural Intelligence, click on appropriate button below.

Natural Intelligence shipped within the United States
(Book $25, Shipping $4 for one book, higher for more)

Natural Intelligence shipped to Canada or Mexico
(Book $25, Shipping $7 per book)

Natural Intelligence shipped to Europe/Australia/Other
(Book $25, Shipping $10 per book)

For bulk orders, contact us by clicking here.

More Background

In the introduction of Natural Intelligence, Susan writes: This work celebrates the life of the body—all the mysteries, intensities, and potentialities that human bodily life offers.

Why is there need to address such a basic aspect of our existence? Because, we have lost our connection to our bodies. Centuries of denial have reduced our experience of body to a mechanical one. The body in all its richness and sensuality has been driven out of town. As children, we learned that we shouldn't smell it and we shouldn't hear it. We were told that feeling it too much would lead to indulgence and distraction at best, or homicide and sexual mania at worst. We learned to view our body as an inarticulate machine which we should spend as little time as possible maintaining. And we were taught to keep it as still as possible. These are the denials of body with which we have been unconsciously indoctrinated. And these deep denials in turn flatten our physical experience—an effect that further strengthens a mechanical view of the body.

My intention in writing is to reawaken within us the memory of our bodies’ natural intelligence. By natural intelligence, I mean the synergistic intelligence that arises out of including all the resources of every tissue and fluid in the body. Every system of the body has its own unique abilities to perceive and respond. For both cultural and evolutionary reasons, we ignore and override both sensory input and behavioral responses which arise outside the nervous system. Including and integrating the intelligence and creativity of the entire body is natural intelligence.

In my professional development I have pingponged back and forth between so-called mind practices and so-called body practices. I have been a counselor, dancer, psychological researcher, bodyworker, Body-Mind Centering practitioner, and dance/movement therapist. The work that I have developed out of this journey, body-mind psychotherapy, integrates a deep experience of emotional and physical process down to a physiological level.

Susan graduated from the University of Virginia, Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, in psychology and dance. She did graduate level work in psychology, biomechanics, and Dance Therapy at the University of Virginia, Boston University, and New York University. Simultaneously, she was involved in post-modern dance forms, both teaching and performing, as well as yoga, meditation, and various forms of bodywork.

It was the study of Body-Mind Centering, developed by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen (www.bodymindcentering.com and www.bmcassoc.org) which allowed her to bring her interests of body and mind together into a cohesive whole. Body-Mind Centering is an experiential approach to anatomy, physiology, and early motor development. Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen has authored Sensing, Feeling, and Action available at www.bodymindcentering.com. Susan is a certified practitioner and teacher of Body-Mind Centering. Body-Mind Centering clearly forms the basis of Body-Mind Psychotherapy.

After completing her training in Body-Mind Centering in 1982, Susan began developing Body-Mind Psychotherapy through both clinical work and teaching. Susan has worked with a wide range of clinical populations both in hospitals and agencies, as well as private practice. These populations and clinical issues include psychosis, autism, character disorders, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders, addictions, trauma, depression, anxiety. Beyond mental health concerns, Susan has assisted many individuals in their personal and spiritual development, as well as career and organizational growth issues.

Susan began teaching at the Naropa University (www.naropa.edu) in 1980. In 1990, along with Christine Caldwell, she founded the Body Psychotherapy Masters program. This was one of the first graduate programs in Somatic Psychology or Body Psychotherapy. She was the director of this program from 1990 until 2000. She continues as faculty at Naropa University and Santa Barbara Graduate Institute. In addition to Natural Intelligence she has published numerous articles and is currently completing a second book, Body-Mind Psychotherapy which BMP trainees receive as part of their training package.

Body-Mind Psychotherapy

To read an excerpt from the Body-Mind Psychotherapy, click here.

To order, http://tinyurl.com/nlmnl or call 1-800-233-4830, ISBN 0-393-70441-6.

For online study with CE credits, http://www.ishkbooks.com/cehome/BOMPC.html

In 1991, Susan formed the Association of Somatic Psychology. She envisioned an international association and acting as president of this association began working with other groups with a similar vision. In 1994, these groups joined together to offer the first somatic psychology conference in Beverly, Massachusetts, and at that conference, all the organizations joined together to form the United States Association of Body Psychotherapy (www.usabp.org) She has sat on the Advisory Board of the USABP since its inception.

In addition to her work in psychotherapy, Susan has maintained an ongoing practice in meditation and yoga. She began practicing meditation in 1973 and has an extensive background in Buddhist meditation and has practiced many different meditation forms, both Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, and secular. She is an experienced meditation teacher and instructor. She has been practicing yoga since 1975.

Students and clients comment that Susan “really walks her talk.” She is known to be a very direct, humorous, and compassionate teacher. She can be both challenging and nurturing in her approach, and is uniquely committed to using the combination of scientific research and experiential learning as her primary teaching tools. She is fundamentally committed to the human struggle to live on this planet and the essential role that embodiment plays in this quest.

Susan states: I have tried to find a way to understand human nature that integrates our biological, relational, and spiritual selves and allows for ongoing development through adulthood. Body-Mind Psychotherapy is that integration and includes the latest in scientific and psychological research in a humanistic and body-based container.

Back to Top