Presented in English with simultaneous audio translation into Mandarin.
Integral Somatic Psychology™ (ISP™) is a somatic approach for improving the effectiveness of all modalities within your tool kit.
Integral Somatic Psychology™ offers a neuroscience-backed, body-based, energy-inclusive and emotionally-focused approach designed to reduce treatment times and improve diverse outcomes in all therapy modalities. We accomplish this through the practice of embodying emotions.
Therapists look for ways to help clients go deeper, stay safer, and experience faster, lasting change. Integral Somatic Psychology offers a powerful somatic framework that aims to do that, in a way that complements your current therapeutic modalities.
ISP provides methods to support clients to regulate their emotions, thinking and behaviour and improve their well-being. Through the deep transformational practice of embodying emotions your clients will build a greater capacity for tolerating their emotions and enhance their lives at every level.
Neuroscience has shown that the more the body is blocked from being involved in emotional experiences, the more difficulty the brain has in processing the situation, not only emotionally but also cognitively and behaviourally.
Whilst staying within the client’s window of tolerance and consciously expanding emotional experiences within their body, emotions become easier to contain and “embody”. The brain then has the necessary time to build neural pathways and develops the ability to process the situation on all levels.
Hence, ISP is ideal for working with high levels of physiological dysregulation and emotional stress as is often seen in developmental trauma, complex trauma, personality and mood disorders, psychophysiological symptoms and syndromes.
ISP Works Through All Layers of the Body—Physical, Subtle, and Collective
ISP incorporates all of our bodies: ISP is based on the latest neuroscientific understanding of embodied cognition, emotion, and behavior from the West, and from Eastern Psychology, a comprehensive understanding of the multiple bodies that contribute to our experiences.
Each of these body levels contribute to all of our experiences and their regulation, and so each one also contributes to our clients’ profound transformation in therapy.
Carolyn Hill, VIC: Gestalt Psychotherapist, Imago Couples, SEP
“Integrating ISP into my practice has profoundly changed clients’ capacity to feel and transform emotion through the body. ISP complements my other modalities beautifully – expanding affect tolerance, deepening regulation, and fostering genuine integration between body, emotion, and meaning. Learning how to combine Eastern and Western paradigms of neuroscience and regulation has provided me with a powerful and expansive holistic approach that clients respond to.
Raja’s experience and knowledge made the ISP training both intellectually and experientially compelling.“
Integral Somatic Psychology™: A 12-Day Training focusing on Emotional Embodiment
More than 2,000 mental health professionals have trained in the ISP method.
ISP is designed to shorten therapy times and improve diverse outcomes – physical, energetic, cognitive, emotional, behavioral, relational and spiritual.
ISP can be used across all therapy modalities, including body psychotherapy systems such as Somatic Experiencing®, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Hakomi and Internal Family Systems.
The online ISP Professional Training comprises three four-day modules.
- Experience and learn the work first hand through daily lectures, ‘live’ demonstrations, guided body-sensing exercises and supervised practice sessions.
- Have the opportunity to gain the ISP Practitioner Professional Certificate and be listed on the registry of practitioners on the Integral Somatic Psychology website.
Enhance Your Practice with the ISP Professional Training
Integral Somatic Psychology is a complementary approach for those who are looking for innovative research-backed ways to help clients self-regulate and enrich their lives through a wider range of emotional experiences by harnessing the power of the body in their work.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of the ISP Professional Training you will be able to:
- Shorten your treatment times
- Work safely with emotions from the very first session
- Improve emotional, cognitive and behavioural client outcomes in all modalities in your toolkit
- Build your reputation for success with clients who typically struggle to find treatment outcomes
- Have practical skills to help clients undo body defences such as muscle constriction and brace patterns
- Support clients to embody their emotions and develop greater affect tolerance, especially for uncomfortable feelings
- Help your clients heal attachment wounds and traumas whilst staying within their window of tolerance
- Work with a comprehensive model of the psyche to integrate somatic, energetic, psychological, and spiritual approaches within your existing skill set.
- Increase your capacity for embodied emotional attunement with yourself and clients
- Learn ISP self-help tools that can be taught to clients for healing and enhancing their lives., thus reducing practitioner dependence and enhancing client confidence
- Increase your own capacity and confidence in working with high risk and complex client groups
- Reduce practitioner burn out and compassion fatigue
Chantal Jackson, ACT: Counsellor, SEP, ISPP, Student of Intersubjective Self Psychology
“Applying ISP skills has deepened my capacity to support clients whilst re-negotiating their affect experience, notably for clients’ developmental trauma, when there was no one there to help hold them in their distress, terror, rage, shame and loneliness.”
“Raja’s teaching of how to move between our physical body and larger realms of energetic body and collective body supports a more holistic understanding and holding of clients, particularly in my experience, for clients dealing with intergenerational trauma.”
Who Is This Training For?
The ISP Professional Training is for those who wish to expand their skills for working with emotions, including:
- Mental health professionals – psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, marriage, family, and child therapists, social workers, counselors, art therapists
- Body-oriented practitioners, acupuncturists, naturopaths, energy workers, movement & breath therapists
- Coaches, trainers, meditation teachers, spiritual teachers
Deep Transformational Work
With a broad definition of emotion that includes sensorimotor experiences like “feeling bad” or “feeling good,” ISP helps clients begin emotional work from the very first session.
Through ISP, both clients and therapists can gain a deep understanding of the body’s role in therapy, integrate it into the healing process in a meaningful way and optimally process traumatic situations.
ISP uniquely integrates body-based techniques from Western Osteopathy with subtle body and collective body approaches from Eastern psychology. These tools engage all aspects of the body—physical, energetic, and relational—for rapid, embodied transformation.
Help clients contain and regulate a fuller emotional presence – safely and effectively – by addressing both emotional content and physiological state at the same time.
Obtain skills to help clients build tolerance for all emotional experiences – especially uncomfortable ones – skills that can also be used for self-help to navigate life’s inevitable challenges.
With ISP, you will gain more confidence to facilitate deep transformational work more effectively with your clients – whilst also taking care of yourself.
The Science Behind ISP
New research of embodied cognition, emotion, and behavior in affective neuroscience and cognitive psychology establishes that our thoughts, feelings, and actions depend not only on our brains, but also on our bodies and our environment. Our body’s lack of involvement in any of these three interconnected functions can compromise all three and reduce our well-being.
The more the body is blocked from participating in emotional experiences, the more difficulty the brain has to process them – not just emotionally, but also cognitively and behaviorally.
The field of body psychotherapy has identified that our inability to tolerate emotional experiences in our bodies is the main reason for the formation of physiological defense mechanisms such as muscle constriction and low arousal. Defense mechanisms reduce our body’s involvement in cognitive, emotional and behavioral functions and cause psychophysiological symptoms.
When consciously expanding emotional experiences to as much of the body as is safely possible, emotions become easier to contain and “embody” – the brain has the necessary time to process the situation both cognitively, emotionally and behaviorally.
Angela Anthonysamy, QLD: Clinical Psychologist, SEP
The 7-Step Protocol for Embodying Emotion
The 7-Step Protocol for Embodying Emotion is one of the core clinical strategies within ISP.
It is especially useful for supporting clients with low affective tolerance or high physiological dysregulation, found in people with complex traumas, psychophysiological symptoms, and syndromes.
Develop skills to work within the clients's window of tolerance to ensure the level, as well as the intensity, of the emotional experience does not become too high to tolerate.
Allow time to integrate the embodiment of the emotion.
How Is It Done?
The practice of embodying emotions in Integrative Somatic Psychology includes the following steps of emotional embodiment work:
- Situation: Knowing how to work with details of a situation and link context to affective response
- Emotion: Knowing how to find and support a wide range of emotional experiences, including the ever-present and often overlooked sensorimotor emotions, such as feeling bad or good, to be able to work with emotions from the very first session and foster discovery and acceptance of feelings
- Expansion/Regulation: Knowing how to work with physiological and energetic defense mechanisms in the body and brain physiology in order to expand and regulate emotional experiences in as large a part of the body as possible to improve affect tolerance
- Integration: Knowing how to find and support physical, energetic and other resources that arise spontaneously in response to the increasing capacity for emotional experiences from the first three steps, to further stabilize the process of embodying emotions and to create deeper to facilitate healing in the body and the psyche.
Training Information
Online Training Format
** Presented in English with simultaneous translation into Mandarin.
The Online ISP Professional Training is an experiential somatic training consisting of three 4-day training modules.
- 72 Hours of Training.
- ISP Manual
- Live Demonstration Sessions
- Guided Experiential Body Sensing Exercises
- Daily Supervised Triad Practice Sessions
- Lifetime Access to the Recordings
- Certificate Program
The lectures and class demonstrations are recorded and available for review. Practice groups are not recorded.
The training is attended ‘live’ during real-time on the Zoom platform. Meeting links will be sent to the email address you provide with your registration.
After a lunch break there is a ‘live’ demonstration with a participant which is followed by experiential triad practice to integrate the theory.
- The live demonstration is of the practice of embodying emotions, the core clinical strategy in ISP, and is focused on the methods learned in the morning.
- Practice the new material during clinical practice sessions with other participants and the support of an experienced ISP assistant with expertise in the method.
Training Overview
Develop Practical Skills in an Easy-to-Learn Scientific Approach
We will study the findings on how cognition, emotion, and behavior:
- depend not only on the brain but also on the body and the environment
- are inter-related in the physiology of the brain and the body and its relationship to the environment
- are improved by the greater involvement of the body in emotional experiences
Working with all types of emotions for more complete embodiment of emotions
To work more effectively with emotions, we will learn theories of affect development and practice clinical strategies for involving the body in a broader range of emotional experiences to develop greater affect tolerance through the body.
- primary emotions such as happiness and sadness and their combinations (secondary emotions)
- sensorimotor emotions, such as attraction and aversion, emotions always present but often overlooked in therapy
We will also learn how to use the concept of archetypes from Jungian psychology to connect the individual to resources at the various levels of the collective, to access, expand, regulate, tolerate, and stay longer with emotional experiences in the body so as to learn most from them.
Striking a balance between emotional regulation and physiological regulation
We explore the older and newer findings on the physiology of emotions in relation to the physiology of self-regulation in the brain and the body.
To both deepen emotions in the body and regulate the body at the same time, Integral Somatic Psychology uses a simple physiology regulation model and the science of the physiology of emotions, attachment, resonance, relationship, cognition, behavior, stress, and trauma.
This ensures that emotions are not dampened by excessive physiological regulation nor do the emotions dysregulate the body and cause psychophysiological symptoms.
Understanding how to work with the physical body to better embody emotions
ISP uses detailed knowledge of how emotions are generated as well as defended in each layer of the physical body (muscle, organ, and nervous system) and of how to work with such somatic defenses to access, embody, and develop a greater capacity for emotions with simple tools such as awareness, intent, breath, movement, and self-touch, tools that are easy to incorporate into diverse psychotherapy settings.
Understanding how to work with the individual energy body as well as the collective bodies in working with emotions and other experiences
In addition to the work at the level of the physical body, ISP, using Eastern and Western models of energy psychology, works with the individual energy body, its role in generating as well as defending against all psychological experiences, and the connections between the individual level physical and energy bodies and the collective bodies they derive from.
This approach further improves cognitive, emotional, behavioral, physical, energetic, relational, or spiritual outcomes in all therapeutic modalities.
Curriculum
The ISP Professional Training is a somatic training consisting of three 4-day training modules.
Terminology: What is known as the individual physical body in the West is called the individual gross body in the East. The individual energy body in the West is the individual subtle body in the East.
We will use the Eastern terminology of gross and subtle bodies throughout the curriculum. However, when the reference is simply to the body, it should be understood as to the individual gross body.
Module 1
In this first module of the training, we will learn: the science of embodied cognition, emotion and behavior, different types of emotions and defenses against them, the four steps of the practice of emotional embodiment and a 7-step protocol for embodying emotions, for people with low affect tolerance and high levels of dysregulation, to improve diverse outcomes and treatment times in all therapies.
Specifically, we will learn how we can facilitate greater embodiment of emotional experiences through the physiology of the muscles of the arms, legs, face, throat, and neck in the individual gross body.
In addition, we will begin to learn about the four bodies we have, two individual and two collective bodies, and how we can use them all in our work to improve diverse outcomes and reduce treatment times in all therapies.
We will begin to learn how to work with two layers of the individual subtle body; the ether element from the throat center and the air element from the heart center.
Course Content:
- The science of embodied cognition, emotion, and behavior
- The four steps of the Practice of Embodying Emotions
- The 7-Step Protocol for working with emotions when affect tolerance is low and/or physiological dysregulation is high
- Different types of emotional experiences
- Different types of defenses against emotional experiences in the individual gross body
- The role of the muscular system in generating and defending against emotional experience in the individual gross body
- Clinical strategies for working with the arm and leg muscles in the individual gross body for accessing and embodying emotions
- Clinical strategies for working with the face, throat, and neck muscles in the individual gross body for accessing and embodying emotions
- The introduction to the model of the psyche in ISP with four bodies, two at the individual level and two at the collective level
- The role of two layers of the individual subtle body in emotional experience, the ether element from the throat center and the air element from the heart center
- How defenses against emotions can form in the layers of ether and air in the individual subtle body
- Clinical strategies for working with the ether and air elements in the individual subtle body to improve the practice of embodying emotions.
Module 2
In this second module of the training, we will learn how we can facilitate greater embodiment of emotional experiences through the physiology of the torso musculature and the diaphragms of the torso, and through the organs, glands, and blood vessels governed by the autonomic nervous system in the individual gross body.
We will also study in greater depth how to work with the ether, air, and water elements in the subtle body to improve our capacity for accessing and embodying our emotions.
Course Content:
- The role of the torso musculature and the diaphragms of the torso in the individual gross body for generating as well as defending against emotional experiences
- Somatic strategies for working with the physiology of the torso musculature and the diaphragms of the torso in the individual gross body for accessing and embodying emotions.
- The role of the autonomic nervous system and the areas of governed by it (organs, glands, and blood vessels) in the individual gross body in generating as well as defending against emotional experiences
- Somatic strategies for working with the autonomic nervous system and the areas of governed by it in the individual gross body for accessing and embodying emotions
- Review: the role of the ether element from the throat center in the individual subtle body in emotional experience and the clinical strategies for working with the ether element for facilitating the practice of embodying emotions
- Review: the role of the air element from the heart center in the individual subtle body in emotional experience and the clinical strategies for working with the air element for accessing and balancing emotional experiences in the body
- The role of the water element from the sacral center in the individual subtle body in emotional experience
- Clinical strategies for working with the water element for accessing and deepening our emotional experiences in the body
Module 3
In this third and final module of the training, we will learn how we can facilitate greater embodiment of emotional experiences:
- by working with the physiology of the central nervous system areas of the brain and the spinal cord in the individual gross or physical body
- by incorporating four additional layers of elements of the individual subtle or energy body as well as our two collective bodies.
Course Content:
- The role of the central nervous system area of the brain and the spinal cord in the individual gross body in generating as well as defending against emotional experiences
- Somatic strategies for working with the physiology of the brain and the spinal cord in the individual gross body to improve the practice of embodying emotions
- The role of the fire element from the naval center in the individual subtle body in emotional experience
- Clinical strategies for working with the fire element for clarifying and intensifying our emotional experiences when necessary.
- The role of the earth element from the root center in the individual subtle body in emotional experience
- Clinical strategies for working with the earth element for containing and differentiating our emotional experiences when necessary
- The role of the common element from the third eye center in the individual subtle body in emotional experience and its connection to our changing and unchanging collective bodies
- Clinical strategies for working with the common element for improving the practice of embodying emotions and accessing higher archetypal resources for healing in our changing and unchanging collective bodies
- The role of the indefinable element from the crown center in the individual subtle body in emotional experience and its connection to our changing and unchanging collective bodies
- Clinical strategies for working with the indefinable element for improving the practice of embodying emotions and accessing higher archetypal resources for healing in our changing and unchanging collective bodies
Pre-requisites
Professional Background
Upon registering, please use the application form to describe your professional background.
If you are unsure whether your present work would benefit from ISP, please contact tracey@seaustralia.com.au to discuss your application.
Missed module 1 and would like to join the training ?
If you missed the first live training module you can join the Integral Somatic Psychology™ Professional Training live from module 2 after completing module one by video.
Two additional requirements apply:
Prior to attending ISP Module 2, you would be required:
- To attend one 3-hour practice group where you have the opportunity to participate in the ‘therapist’, ‘client’, and/or ‘observer’ role. These practice groups are often meeting online so people from various areas/countries can meet.
- To receive one personal session from an approved ISP provider where the provider names the four steps of the practice of embodying emotions.
The practice group and personal session do NOT count towards ISP certification.
ISP Practitioner Certificate
ISP Certificate Requirements
The ISP Practitioner Certificate is awarded to those who have:
- completed the twelve days of in-person or live online training
- received 6 hours of personal sessions
- received 6 credits of case consultations from approved ISP providers.
Missed module 1 and joined the live training at module 2 ?
If you completed module one by video, you may still apply for the ISP Practitioner Certificate by meeting certain pre-requisites.
Please refer to the Pre-requisites section above.
Professional Development Hours
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements vary across Professional Associations. Please contact your Association for specific requirements.
A Certificate of Attendance is provided for each of the three ISP modules – 24 hours per module of professional development.
To receive a CPD Certificate of Attendance for each ISP module, participants are required to pay the tuition fee in full, attend the Module plus complete an online evaluation form by a set submission date.
** Obtaining a Certificate of Attendance for every module does not qualify the participant as an ISP Practitioner.
Training Dates
All dates and times are based in the Australian Eastern Time Zone.
CLICK HERE to convert to your time zone.
| Module Dates | ||
|---|---|---|
| Module 1 | 1 - 4 May, 2026 | 10:30am - 6:30pm (AEDT) |
| Module 2 | 4 -7 September, 2026 | 10:30am - 6:30pm (AEST) |
| Module 3 | 4 -7 December, 2026 | 10:30am - 6:30pm (AEDT) |
Module 1 - Unable to Attend ?
If you are unable to attend the first live training module you may join the Integral Somatic Psychology™ Professional Training live from module 2, after viewing module one by video and completing additional pre-requisites. Please refer to the Pre-requisites section above.
The Super Earlybird price will apply.
Tuition Fees
You may enrol in either the full ISP program or for Module 1 only. Modules must be taken in sequence.
DISCOUNT when enrolling for all 3 modules.
- Receive a $240 discount if you enrol in the full program.
- Please use the Full Program enrolment button provided in the Enrolment section.
| Package | Enrol By | ALL 3 Modules | Module 1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Super Earlybird | 31 Dec 2025 | $3,990 | $1,390 |
| Earlybird | 31 Mar 2026 | $4,140 | $1,440 |
| Standard | 30 Apr 2026 | $4,290 | $1,490 |
Deposit: A deposit of $900 ($300 for 1 module) is payable within 7 days of enrolment to hold your place on the training.
Balance: The balance of payment is due by the relevant super early bird, early bird date or standard date, or as specified on a payment plan schedule.
Payment Plan
A variety of payment plan options are available. The Super Early Bird or Early Bird plans are ideal if you would like to receive the offered discount but prefer to pay the tuition fee in regular monthly instalments. The payment plan provides additional months to pay the tuition fee yet you still receive the relevant early bird discount.
You may start a payment plan as early as you wish and nominate your preferred number of instalments. A payment plan must complete 5 weeks prior to the start date of the first module being attended.
A $77 administration fee applies to any payment plan option. Conditions apply.
Regional Pricing
- For Australian Residents, the tuition Fees are inclusive of GST.
- For Non Australian Residents, the tuition Fees are exclusive of GST.
Enrolment
Enrol now to reserve your place and take advantage of the Super Earlybird rate.
You may enrol in either the full program or for module 1 only.
Modules must be taken in sequence.
When enrolling, the tuition fee defaults to the advertised tuition fee for the current registration date bracket of either Super Early Bird, Early Bird or Standard.
DISCOUNT when enrolling for all 3 modules.
- Receive a $240 discount if you enrol in the full program.
- Please use the FULL Program enrolment button provided.
| Enrolment | ||
|---|---|---|
| ISP Full Program - 3 Modules | May - December 2026 | |
| ISP Module 1 | 1 - 4 May, 2026 | |
Enquiries
If you have any queries, please email tracey@seaustralia.com.au
Please allow up to seven business days for a response.
Registration Terms
Refunds & Cancellations
To request a cancellation, please email info@seaustralia.com.au and include ‘ISP CANCELLATION’ in the subject line of the email. It is your responsibility to ensure that the notice of cancellation has been received by the Organiser. If a confirmation of cancellation reply is not received via return email within 48 hours please re-send the cancellation request.
Students may cancel within five (5) business days after their initial registration and receive a full refund of any tuition paid less an administration fee of $50.
Cancellations received after five (5) business days and prior to the Early Bird registration deadline will receive a full refund of any tuition paid less an administration fee of $200.
Students who cancel their registration after the Early Bird Registration deadline, and at least 21 days prior to the first module will receive a full refund of any tuition paid less the deposit.
Students who cancel their registration within 21 days of the first module will NOT receive a refund of any amount.
Transfer Registration
Students may transfer their registration to another applicant for a transfer fee of $150, up until the Early Bird Registration deadline. After the Early Bird Registration deadline, transfer requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Payment Due Dates
Excepting for those on a payment plan, the full tuition payment is due by the relevant Early Bird Registration deadline in order to qualify for the associated discount. If payment is not made by the relevant deadline, Standard Registration rates will take effect after Early Bird Registration ends, even if the participant has previously paid a deposit to hold their space.
Payment Plans must complete 5 weeks prior to the start date of module 1.
The tuition fee must be paid in full to receive access to any related videos, manual and hand-outs.
Wait List
Participants on a wait list will receive periodic updates via email, and be encouraged to withdraw from the wait list if they know they will not register for a class if invited.
Invitations to join a class from the wait list will be sent automatically via email when space becomes available. Invited participants will have two business days to register or make arrangements to hold the available space. After two business days, the space will be offered to the next student on the list.
Explore ISP
How Does ISP Differ from other Somatic Modalities?
Integral Somatic Psychology™ (ISP™) is based on the latest neuroscientific understanding of embodied cognition, emotion, and behaviour from the West, and from the East, a comprehensive understanding of the multiple bodies that contribute to our experiences.
Eastern Psychology has long established that our body consists of four levels. Based on older findings by Eastern phenomenologists it has since been corroborated by modern neuroscientists and quantum physicists.
- our individual gross or physical body
- our individual subtle or energy body
- our changing collective body of the universe
- our unchanging collective body of pure awareness that is the basis of all of our bodies and remains unaffected by any.
Each of these four levels contribute to all of our experiences and to their regulation, including emotion. Each of these levels is, therefore, crucial for our clients’ profound transformation.
ISP incorporates and works with all four of our bodies, compared to other somatic modalities that tend to include just our physical body.
In addition to the work at the level of the physical body, ISP works with the individual energy body: its role in generating as well as defending against all psychological experiences and the connections between the individual physical and energy bodies and the collective bodies they derive from.
ISP’s comprehensive and inclusive somatic approach of accessing all four levels of the body in relation to our cognitive, emotional and behavioral experiences, increases the effectiveness of therapeutic modalities.
Additionally, ISP supports the integration of other approaches you have learned: somatic, energetic, psychological, and spiritual.
Learn to Overcome the One-Body Limitation in Therapy
All somatic psychology approaches have contributed to significant improvements in therapy. Such improvements can be predicted because modern neuroscience has established that cognition, emotion, and behavior depend not only on our brain but also on our body and the environment, not just in traumatic experiences but in every experience in every moment of our lives.
Yet, body psychotherapies err in the assumption that we have only one body: The one that gets conceived in a womb and is laid to rest in a tomb. This assumption is based on science limiting reality only to things that can be perceived or measured in the physical realm.
Limiting our focus solely to the physical body undermines the effectiveness of our work, as we are dealing with only one-quarter of the deck.
This is what Dr Selvam calls the One-Body Error: When we limit ourselves to a one-body somatic approach, we limit our clients’ and our capacity for deep transformation.
For a detailed explanation, including how science has accumulated corroborative evidence consistent with Eastern findings of the different bodies and a detailed description of the Subtle and Collective bodies and their inter-relationship, please click on the link for Dr. Raja Selvam’s paper The One-Body Error in Psychology and Somatics: How to Overcome It?
“Both theoretical and empirical evidence support the claim that the embodiment work in Integral Somatic Psychology can improve outcomes to a significant degree.“
Raja Selvam, PhD, Founder and Developer of ISP
The Science Behind ISP
The emerging science of embodied cognition, emotion and behaviour in affective neuroscience and cognitive psychology increasingly establishes that our thoughts, feelings, and actions depend not only on our brain, but also on our body and our environment,
Our body’s lack of involvement of our body in any of these three inter-related functions can compromise all three and reduce our well-being. Not just in regard to traumatic experiences, but in every experience in every moment of our lives.
In addition, the research paradigm of embodied emotions in neuroscience has shown that the more the body is blocked from being involved in emotional experiences, the more difficulty the brain has in processing the situation, not only emotionally but also cognitively and behaviourally.
The field of body psychotherapy has identified that our inability to tolerate emotional experiences in our body is the main reason for the formation of physiological defense mechanisms such as muscle constriction. These defense mechanisms reduce our body’s involvement in cognitive, emotional and behavioral functions and cause psychophysiological symptoms.
Using these research results, Integral Somatic Psychology seeks to improve our thoughts, feelings and actions by making our body more available to them, improving the body’s ability to tolerate emotional experiences so that it does not shut down when confronted with difficult emotions within therapy or life.
ISP offers a neuroscience-backed, emotion-focused, and body-based as well as energy-based approach that has been developed to shorten treatment times and improve diverse outcomes, such as physical, energetic, cognitive, emotional, behavioural, relational and spiritual aspects, across all therapy modalities, including somatic psychology and body psychotherapy systems such as Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy.
ISP accomplishes this through the practice of embodying emotions.
The Practice of Embodying Emotions
How does ISP help you to take your clients deeper into their emotional process with more confidence and yet still maintain a high level of safety for clients as well as therapists?
The practice of embodying emotions is the conscious expansion of emotional experience to as much of the body as possible, to make emotional experiences more tolerable to be with, so the brain has more time to optimally process the situation cognitively, emotionally, and behaviourally.
Six unique features of ISP will support your work within any therapy modality.
ISP uses a broad definition of emotions.
Clients mostly seek help when they cannot tolerate one emotional experience or another. ISP works with primary, and secondary emotions and also includes the sensorimotor emotions, such as simply feeling bad or good. This allows the therapist to find and work with emotions in clients from the very first session.
ISP uses physical body techniques from Western Osteopathy and subtle body and collective body techniques from Eastern Psychology
Note: For more information about the ‘Eastern Subtle Bodies’ refer to ‘What is the Eastern Understanding of the Body’.
ISP works with physical, subtle and collective bodies to bring about a quick and deep transformation in clients.
These strong physical, subtle and collective body techniques can help:
- in undoing body defenses (such as constriction and low arousal) to access the activation they are holding back,
- release inherent body resources that the defenses are blocking in all our bodies
- be strong resources for containing, regulating and transforming the activation quickly.
These effective techniques are taught as easy-to-learn client self-touch and therapist-touch hand positions on the body. Therapists, with or without a prior background in body psychotherapy, can quickly learn and use the hand positions with their clients or teach them to their clients as self-help tools.
Awareness, intention, imagination, verbal and non-verbal expression and movement are other possible options for working with the body during the practice of embodying emotions.
ISP works with emotion in the body at the level of emotions, not sensations.
Contrary to the widespread perception that the experience of an emotion in the body is the felt sense of the body sensations that accompany the emotion, ISP distinguishes between sensations and emotions in body experience. This has two advantages:
- It has been shown that it is easier for people to track emotional experiences in the body than experiences of body sensations. Hence ISP techniques do not require clients to first become adept at tracking body sensations in detail.
- It avoids the neutralizing of emotions in the body, as well as the brain, that can happen when tracking body sensations whenever emotions appear in the brain or the body.
Neuroscience has clearly established that not only that emotion determines cognition and behavior in every moment but also that the presence of emotion in as much of the body is essential for the brain to process all aspects of the situation effectively, covering cognition, emotion and behavior.
Emotional experiences become more tolerable to be with when they are spread out. That is one reason why ISP can add more depth and safety to your work.
Another reason is the use of a number of easy-to-learn techniques for working with the body from Western Osteopathy and for working with the subtle and collective bodies from Eastern Psychology for containing and regulating emotional experiences.
These techniques do not require clients to first become adept at tracking body sensations in detail.
ISP focuses on building a capacity for emotions, especially difficult ones, in clients as quickly as possible, through the body.
This is important as people usually form psychological and psychophysiological symptoms because they cannot bear difficult emotional experiences.
Developing a capacity for difficult experiences and learning ISP self-help tools increases a client’s ability to self soothe, self-regulate, and even do further work on their own between sessions. This reduces client dependency and need for therapist’s support when the unconscious brings up deeper layers of emotional experiences for healing – adding to the level of safety that clients experience in working with you.
Building more capacity for difficult experiences will make clients more resilient in the face of their emergence in the same or different situations.
Having more capacity for opposites in affect tolerance or emotional experiences (especially difficult ones), is a known requirement for physical, energetic, and psychological health, and spiritual growth.
In traumatic experiences, more often than not, there is a combination of high levels of dysregulation of the brain and body, and high levels of emotional distress.
When one focuses more on downregulating physiological dysregulation, emotional experiences can be compromised. Why is that ?
Difficult emotions in the body are formed from dysregulation of the body physiology.
When one focuses more on downregulating physiological dysregulation, emotional experiences can be compromised because regulating the body can make difficult emotions go away, giving the impression that the emotions have been processed.
On the other hand, when one focuses more on processing difficult emotions, the level of dysregulation in the body can increase because that is what difficult emotions are in the body.
Is there is a way around this dilemma?
ISP provides an effective solution by working with both physiological dysregulation and emotional experience at the same time. The process is supported by ISP’s wide array of strong physical, subtle, and collective body techniques.
What tools can be used in the practice of embodying emotion?
Awareness, intention, imagination, verbal and non-verbal expression, movement, client’s self-touch, and therapist’s touch are possible options as tools for working with the body during the practice of embodying emotions.
A model of physiological regulation at the level of the individual gross / physical body and a model of energy regulation at the level of the individual subtle / energy body are used to access and expand emotional experiences in the body so as to make the experience of emotion as regulated as possible.
In addition, methods for connecting our two individual bodies to our two collective bodies for accessing archetypal resources for accessing and embodying our emotions are employed.
How is it done?
The practice of embodying emotions in Integral Somatic Psychology involves the following steps, whilst incorporating both the physical and subtle (energetic) bodies :
- The situation: Knowing how to work with details of a situation to evoke the emotional experiences as quickly as possible.
- The emotion: Knowing how to find and support a wide range of emotional experiences including the always-present and often-overlooked sensorimotor emotions such as feeling bad or good so as to work with emotions from the very first session.
- The expansion/regulation: Knowing how to work with physiological and energetic defenses in the body and brain physiology against emotions so as to expand and regulate emotional experiences in as much of the body as possible.
- The integration: Knowing how to find and support physical, energetic, and other resources that arise spontaneously in response to the increasing capacity for emotional experiences from the first three steps, to further stabilize the process of embodying emotions and to facilitate deeper healing in the body and the psyche.
What is the Eastern Understanding of the Body?
All somatic psychology approaches have contributed to significant improvements in therapy. Body psychotherapies tend to access the physiological aspects of the physical body.
Eastern Psychology, based on phenomenological investigations going back at least four thousand years, has long established that our body consists of four levels: Two at the individual level and two at the collective level.
Each of these four levels contributes to all of our experiences and to their regulation. Each of these levels is, therefore, crucial for our clients’ profound transformation.
They invite others to verify their findings by investigating their outer experiences of the world and inner experiences of their bodies phenomenologically, using their awareness as the primary tool in their investigations. Neuroscience and quantum physics are now corroborating these long-standing findings by Eastern phenomenologists.
The body’s four levels are:
- the individual gross body, also referred to as the physical body
- the individual subtle body, also referred to as the energy body
- the changing collective body of the universe and its paradoxical basis
- the unchanging collective body of pure awareness – the basis of all of our bodies that remains unaffected by any.
Why Does ISP Incorporate the Individual Subtle body?
The simple model of the individual subtle body in ISP consists of seven layers of elements or energies from seven chakras and is based primarily on the basics of Polarity Therapy, developed by an Austrian-born American, Dr. Randolph Stone, based on Western Osteopathy and Eastern understanding of the subtle body from India as well as China (Sills, 2001).
When we work with the gross body, it will affect the gross body. And when we work with the subtle body, it will impact the gross body. However, we cannot always guarantee that working at one level will be sufficient to bring about change at that level or another level. That is why we need to know how to work with each body to make a change in that body or another related body.
The work in ISP focuses on accessing and working with experiences, especially emotions, in the gross/physical body. However, we work with the layers of the subtle body whenever it might be expedient to undo the defenses in our gross or subtle bodies against emotions and to access, expand, and regulate them in our gross bodies to improve outcomes in all therapies.
Let us look at some examples of what is possible when we work with the layers of the individual subtle body and the benefits that can accrue.
Indefinable & Spirit Elements
The two higher elements are the common or spirit element from the third eye chakra and the indefinable element from the crown chakra. The two higher chakras connect the individual subtle body to the energies (elements) of the collective bodies.
Ether Element
The layer of the ether element through the throat chakra, when mobilized and distributed in the gross body, can expand and regulate the gross body, including the brain, and facilitate experiences such as spaciousness, calmness, stillness, balance, and harmony, which are the basic qualities or resources of the ether element. It is of particular use when the gross body is extremely shut down and low in energy, as in depression, or extremely dysregulated and high in energy, as in mania, and working with the brain or the body in the individual gross body is of no or limited use. The ether strategy has been used successfully in managing post-traumatic stress in Ukraine, Israel, and Palestine. And in working efficiently with what is called the global high-intensity activation of the central nervous system GHIA in Somatic Experiencing® (SE™).
Air Element
The layer of the air element through the heart chakra, because it is responsible for the movement of the entire subtle body, when mobilized and balanced in its distribution in the gross body, is a quick way to undo the defenses against emotional experiences in the gross and subtle bodies to expand and regulate them in the gross body. A typical pattern of defense against emotions in the subtle body is a heavy concentration of energy and emotion towards the head and chest areas, making the emotional experiences more unbearable than when the energy and emotion are more evenly distributed in the gross body. We can mobilize and balance the air element by working with the air element zones of the chest, the abdominal organs of the large intestine and the kidneys, the lower legs, and the heart chakra. If the experiences become overwhelming when we work with the subtle body, we can move down to the level of the brain or the body at the gross body level to access and embody the emotions in the gross body.
Fire Element
The layer of the fire element through the naval chakra, with its basic qualities or resources of intensity and clarity, mobilized and distributed through the navel chakra and the fire element zones of the head, the respiratory diaphragm, and the thighs, can support in accessing and regulating intense emotions such as passion, power, and anger, mobilizing the fight response in Somatic Experiencing (SE) to bring someone out of collapse, and to provide psychological, physiological, and energetic strength to face unbearable experiences. One ISP practitioner recently wrote that she was surprised how much the fire element helped her client to face and process her lifelong suffering of the fear of dying from early trauma.
Water Element
The layer of the versatile water element through the sacral chakra, that can be mobilized and distributed through the sacral chakra and the water element zones of the chest, pelvic, and foot areas, with its basic qualities of flow, flexibility, and receptivity as well as its ability to dissolve rigidities in both subtle and gross bodies, can be used to resolve rigid patterns in thought, emotion, and behavior to make stuck processes in any modality flow again, as well as help clients access the contents of the personal and collective unconscious through its quality of receptivity.
ISP FAQ
How does expanding emotional experience in the body increase one’s capacity to tolerate it?
The findings from research on the physiology of emotions shows that an emotional response, especially a difficult one, potentially involves the entirety of the brain and body physiology. This is because an emotional response to a situation is an assessment of the impact of that situation on the wellbeing of the whole organism.
Limiting the overall impact of a situation to one or more places in the brain and body physiology through physiological and energetic defenses in other parts of the body increases not only the level of stress and dysregulation in places where emotion is present but also throughout the organism.
The level of difficulty one has in tolerating an emotional experience is related directly to the level of physiological stress and dysregulation accompanying generation as well as the defence against the emotional experience.
Expanding and supporting the emotional experience to as much of the brain and body physiology as possible instead of concentrating it in one or more places reduces the level of stress and dysregulation involved in the emotional experience, locally (where emotion is present) as well as globally even in places it is not present, so as to make it more bearable. It can be likened to the experience of reduced difficulty in carrying a heavy load with two arms as opposed to one arm.
How does the practice of embodying emotion improve diverse outcomes?
When one develops a greater capacity for tolerating emotions in the body, the body is not as stressed or dysregulated or shut down, any more than necessary, in the face of difficult or unacceptable emotions. This can confer diverse benefits:
- Improvement in physical and energetic conditions including resolution of psychosomatic or psychophysiological symptoms.
- Healthy changes in cognition and behavior with the body more available for both functions and from more regulated emotions.
- Better relationships because emotional regulation is key for interacting with others in a healthy manner.
- With the body more open to the environment, better connection between the individual and the collective and its resources, improving conditions for individual healing and strengthening one’s (spiritual) connection with the whole.
- Increased chance of success on the path of enlightenment as the capacity to tolerate opposites in emotional experience is a key requirement for enlightenment.
The Practice of Embodying Emotions: A Guide for Improving Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral Outcomes by Raja Selvam PhD.
A comprehensive theoretical and practical guide for the practice of embodying emotions in Integral Somatic Psychology. The book has been translated into several languages.
“A grand accomplishment.” Peter A. Levine, PhD
Founder of Somatic Experiencing® and author of 'In an Unspoken Voice' and 'Waking the Tiger'
More Reviews
Kathy L. Kain, PhD Co-author of Nurturing Resilience and The Tao of Trauma
“This book is a must-read for anyone who is interested in understanding and working with the embodiment of emotions. It is the perfect combination of science, historical and cultural context, client case examples, and presentation of a well-articulated, innovative model.”
Jack Kornfield, PhD Author of fourteen books, including A Path with Heart
“A knowledgeable and skilled exploration of emotion and the body—and how to process and heal emotional wounds efficiently through the body.”
Ian MacNaughton, MBA, PhD Psychotherapist and author of Body, Breath & Consciousness
“Don’t miss this book! A valuable guide for therapists and interested folks alike. Introducing new concepts, solid theory, and grounded practice for working to embody emotions in gentle and innovative ways. The concept of sensorimotor emotions is a unique and much-needed contribution to the field of human consciousness.”
William R. Emerson, PhD Psychologist, winner of US National Science Foundation Award for Significant Contributions to Psychology
Selvam’s extraordinary book offers an in-depth explanation of how the human body is involved in generating, defending against, and later triggering traumatic emotional experiences—especially prelinguistic ones—and is therefore a vital source of understanding of the physiology of implicit trauma memories that dominate the work of those engaged in pre and perinatal psychology. The Practice of Embodying Emotions is brilliant and humble, research-based, and intuitive. It is a ‘game changer’ in the field of trauma therapy, and I personally rate it five out of five.”
Diane Poole Heller, PhD Author of The Power of Attachment and creator of DARe Training
“This book . . . is a must for all therapists who work with attachment and for those looking for a self-help approach to improve their relationships.”
Maggie Klein, LMFT Somatic Experiencing faculty, author of Brain-Changing Strategies to Trauma-Proof Our Schools
“Ripe for our times, this brilliant book sheds light on the vital importance of fully embodying emotions, whether painful, pleasurable, or in-between. As a couples’ therapist and a child advocate for mental health, I experienced this book as a joyous godsend.”
Maureen Gallagher, PhD Licensed clinical psychologist, certified psychoanalyst, Somatic Experiencing faculty
“The Practice of Embodying Emotions is a timely and necessary refinement to the practice of somatic psychology.”
Glen Slater, PhD Cochair of the Jungian and Archetypal Studies Program at Pacifica Graduate Institute
“Raja Selvam’s extensive work with traumatized individuals and groups has put this approach to the test, and the resulting techniques make an invaluable addition to all forms of psychotherapy. Every page of this book conveys depth, clarity, and substance.”
Lisbeth Marcher Founder of the Bodynamic Somatic Developmental Psychology System, co-author of The Body Encyclopedia
“I like it that this book is not only about changing emotional reactions but also about changing cognition and behavior (for the better) through regulating emotions—and that it shows scientifically how cognition, emotion, and behavior are intimately related to each other in the brain as well as the body. I also like it that it provides evidence that our cognition, emotion, and behavior are dependent on others as well as the broader environment.”
Tina Stromsted, PhD, LMFT Jungian psychoanalyst, dance/movement therapist, somatics educator
“The Practice of Embodying Emotions—a wise and soulful book—offers an effective method for developing greater affect tolerance and transformation through the body. Rooted in science and the author’s depth of experience and capacity for integrating multiple disciplines, it contains practical, comprehensive information and illuminating case examples. Highly recommended.”
Margret Overdick Psychoanalyst, psychotherapist, trauma therapist, and specialist in pre and perinatal psychological trauma treatment
“This book makes a substantial contribution to psychoanalysis, offering a safe, hands-off somatic approach for treating trauma. Ought to become a required reading for all psychoanalysts.”
Dr. Raja Selvam
Dr. Selvam is a licensed clinical psychologist, the author of The Practice of Embodying Emotions: A Guide for Improving Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral Outcomes, and the developer of Integral Somatic Psychology (ISP).
Dr. Selvam is also a senior trainer at Dr. Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing® International. He has taught internationally for twenty-five years in over twenty nine countries.
Dr. Selvam’s work is informed by older body psychotherapy systems of Reichian Therapy and Bioenergetic Analysis, newer body psychotherapy systems of Bodynamic Analysis and Somatic Experiencing, and bodywork systems of Postural Integration and Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy.
His work is inspired by Jungian and archetypal psychologies, Kleinian and intersubjective schools of psychoanalysis, affective neuroscience, quantum physics, yoga, Polarity Therapy, and Advaita Vedanta (a spiritual psychology from India).
Dr. Selvam’s work also draws upon his clinical psychology PhD dissertation on Advaita Vedanta and Jungian psychology, based on which he has published an article titled “Jung and Consciousness,” in the international analytical psychology journal Spring in 2013.
He did trauma outreach work in India in 2005–2006 with survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, based on which he has published an outcome study titled “Somatic Therapy Treatment Effects with Tsunami Survivors,” in the journal Traumatology in 2008. Dr. Selvam’s work is also inspired by the work he did in Sri Lanka in 2012–2014 with survivors of war, violence, loss, and displacement, and with mental health professionals engaged in treating them, after Sri Lanka’s thirty-year civil war ended in 2009.
Dr. Selvam is the developer of Integral Somatic Psychology (ISP), a science-backed, body-based, energy-inclusive and emotion-focused complementary approach designed to reduce treatment times and improve diverse outcomes in all therapy modalities, including Somatic Experiencing. ISP is an effective somatic therapy that effectively supports clients to relieve emotional difficulties, regulate thinking and behaviour, and improve well-being through the deep transformational work of embodying emotions.
Disclaimer
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