Wholebody Focusing
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Glenn Fleisch, Ph.D., MFT

Glenn Fleisch, Ph.D., MFT
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Wholebody Focusing is a powerful modality for accessing the wisdom of the living body, i.e. the human soma. IN WBF, we are working not only with felt sense of situations, but also the felt sense of self, or felt self. Each of us lives out of and embodies a primary felt self, a pattern of sensory-motor activity that discloses how we feel about ourselves. Often these patterns are automatic reflex reactions, formed during traumatic events or situations.

I view the soma as the source of energy and spirit. When the human soma is broken, wounded or overly stressed, it shuts down, closes off, leaving us with a diminished sense of self. Healing involves reconnecting with and restoring the life energy of dispirited felt selves. I have found that embodying and expressing this self in interaction with another provides a powerful mode of transforming our felt self.

I have been developing the use of drama-work into WBF. I now teach and practice a method I call "soma-dramas,' somatic dramatizations of sensory-motor patterns- that form our felt sense of self. Using the living or embodied theater is a powerful adjunct to WBF, as it enables us to creatively and imaginatively play together, i.e. play out our bodily selves, including symptoms, reactive patterns etc- in ways that allow the body to reconfigure fixed and stuck ways of being. Anything we experience can be embodied and enacted as its own living entity. This enables the soma to open, to reconnect at the exact points where it was broken and can bring new energy and spirit to wounded selves.

The soma, or living body of wholeness, is the energy or spirit of the body, its inwardly felt center. Dramatizing, animating the soma, or somatic patterns (felt selves) provides a powerful structure for energizing and enlivening places that have been wounded, dormant or blocked. The engaged interactive nature of drama enables us to fill in missing or needed aspects of self, restoring the flow of spirit and energy where it had been broken. The system then moves toward synergy and wholeness.

I offer:

  1. Individual WBF sessions- in person or via Skype, or phone. These are specifically designed to facilitate deep healing of trauma and restoring spirit.

  2. WBF classes- in person in the SF Bay Area; can be used for certification as a WBF trainer or practitioner;

  3. WBF training for therapists- CE workshops and classes for Focusing oriented therapists who want to integrate a whole body perspective into therapy;

  4. Soma-drama in WBF- workshops to practice and experience the use of drama/theater/active modalities for transforming our embodied felt self.

Bio

I have been a practicing psychotherapist for over 30 years, specializing in restoring the loss of spirit- as evidenced in post-traumatic patterns, depression, addictions. I am a Whole body Focusing trainer and Coordinator, and have taught workshops, classes, trained therapists worldwide.

In addition to my clinical practice and teaching, I also enjoy writing. I have written numerous articles on the application of WBF to therapy, with trauma, disconnected process, depression/ dispiritedness, anxiety and addictions. Of particular interest is the develop of co-presence, the shared field of information and energy, which allows us to attune to and resonate with that which is needed right now to carry forward blocked process and stuck places.

If interested, I can forward articles on the use of gestures in FOT, posture, movement, soma-dramas, threshold events, and embodied interactions that fill in missing aspects of our experiential world.