ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the value of embodied conversations, an emerging path in collaborative therapies. Segments of the therapeutic conversation that takes place with Cathy will be examined along with relevant research on the brain, heart and gut, which justifies certain clinical directions. Brain research has highlighted the crucial role of emotions in shaping the brain’s activity and individuals’ responses to life. In Cathy’s situation, as with many other clients, there is an acute awareness of problem-related sensations and a reduced awareness of preferred-embodied sensations. This leaves clients fighting an emotion with reason and sensing the problem-related, but not the desirable, physiological activation. Cathy progressively articulates that she manages to not feel the anxiety, to freeze it, and replaces it with excitement. Because of the mood congruent recall phenomena, where the brain more readily remembers memories encoded in similar states, this fuels the recollection of another successful event, a book club meeting she organized at her home.
