From Our Founding Editor Follow us at www.issuu.com/SomaticPsychotherapyToday Greetings from Sunny California, I grew up with the concept that you always have a plan A and a plan B; my life’s experiences also taught me that I’m never blocked, never stuck, if I’m willing to change direction. This philosophy has guided me throughout most of my life’s journey. Talking with Ellyme Skove, the 2013 APPPAH Congress Chairperson, about their upcoming Congress, she noted that in life there’s also the reality of a plan C—cancer. Cancer enters many of our lives, sometimes more than once. I am thankful to be living with my parents again as my 83-year-old mother goes through chemotherapy for the second time. While there are many blessings that come with living at home, there is also the added benefit of a great copy editor! So I offer this issue with my mother’s close critical read helping guide the grammatical presentation. The contributors in this issue offer us many vantage points for regulation of Self and with Others. From breath work to mindfulness and movement, our writers share their personal experiences and how they influence their work today. Our writers offer introspective views regarding how we find our way into and out of our lives professionally and personally, how the combination of Self and Other twists with the needs and wants that may arise in our relationships. Serge Prengel and Lynn Somerstein’s new release, Defining Moments for Therapists, reviewed on page 54, offers an insider’s perspective into the experiences we are faced to regulate that result in our knowing, or coming to know, who we are in relationship to ourselves and to one another. There are many resource reviews to explore as well. Books are reviewed throughout this issue; an old mainstay from my classroom teaching days—summer is the time to catch up reading all those books that looked interesting. Our reviewers offer their take on many of the newest books available to enhance your practice and enlighten your knowing. As always, I offer my sincerest thanks to all who contributed to this issue be it writers, interviewees, photographers, advertisers, Facebook Friends, LinkedIn colleagues, and of course, you, our readers. We write to be read, to be seen and heard, and we invite your response. Every author has an email address at the end of his/her story and all of us welcome and want your feedback. I see the pages of Somatic Psychotherapy Today as a jumping off ground for more in-depth conversations via our Facebook page as well as emails directly to one another. Warmly, Nancy Eichhorn M.A., M.Ed., M.A. writetobe@myfairpoint.net
From Our Cover Designer Finding or making the right art for the cover of a magazine can be a daunting task. I have found more and more talented artist on-line to help me with this, and I want to introduce the artist who is featured on the cover of this issue. Molly Pepper is a yoga instructor, massage therapist, painter, and seamstress in the San Francisco area. She runs the on-line shop Yogabee Vintage, her art and other works can be found here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/YogaBeeVintage I appreciate her openness and willingness to share her art here. If it were not for people like Molly and the other artists we have featured, I would be up a creek without a paddle. Sincerely, Diana Houghton Whiting, M.A.
Somatic Psychotherapy Today | Summer 2013 | Volume 3 Number 1 | page 6