ABSTRACT
Neurological research shows the way emotional self-regulation develops during early interactions between parent and infant. Psychotherapy often has a tendency to overlook laughter and positive emotions, perhaps finding them inappropriate when the focus is so often on pain. Something happening in the body affects the emotions; equally, emotional activity affects somatic processes. Any change in physiological state is accompanied by change in "mental" emotional state and vice versa, whether conscious or unconscious. Recent Western research into emotion has led to a re-evaluation of both the constitution and the importance of emotion in human being. Earlier scientific interest concentrated upon knowledge and knowing, and cognitive reason was valued at the expense of embodiment and emotionality. Meditation, rather than being actually included in psychotherapy as a distinct practice, may be of profound benefit for psychotherapy as a way of working with the emotions, for the therapist in training and in practice as well as for the client.
