Healing Expressions: A Dance/Movement and Yoga Therapy Method for Emotional Sobriety

Substance use disorder (SUD) affects 1 in 12 Americans aged 12 or older and brings with it devastating consequences to the individual, their family, and society as a whole (SAMHSA, 2016). Considered a chronic disease, over 85% of individuals in recovery from SUD relapse within their first year of sobriety (Sinha, 2011). Poor emotional regulation and stress tolerance are noted among the highest predictors of relapse (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2020; Sinha, 2011). It is essential that these skills, termed “emotional sobriety”, be an integral element in the treatment process for those suffering from substance use disorder. This study explored the combination of dance/movement and yoga therapy, with their shared emphasis on interoception and self-awareness and their unique contributions of expression and regulation, to provide an effective intervention in addressing emotional sobriety in substance abuse treatment. The intervention was carried out at a residential treatment facility for adults with SUD over the course of two sessions. Results showed promising psychological and physical shifts within the participants and supports the validity of further research into the combination of dance/movement and yoga therapy for emotional sobriety

ПСИХОЛОГО-ПЕДАГОГІЧНІ ТЕХНОЛОГІЇ ЯК УМОВА ПІДВИЩЕННЯ ЕФЕКТИВНОСТІ ПРОФЕСІЙНОЇ ПІДГОТОВКИ ПРИКОРДОННИКІВ У РЕСПУБЛІЦІ ІНДІЯ

The article focuses on the analysis of psychological-educational technologies applied in the process of professional training of border guards in the Republic of India. The author outlines the purpose of the article – to describe three types of psychological-educational technologies in the process of professional training of border guards in the Republic of India and study the peculiarities of their implementation. Firstly, the notion of «psychological-educational technology» is defined as the use of combination of actions for improvement of educational process and systematic iterative process of application of various methods for enhancing of efficiency of professional training of future border guards; complicated and integrated process embracing all participants of training, their actions, ideas, devices and organization in order to analyze, develop, implement, evaluate and solve specific pedagogical tasks connected with formation of psychological readiness to perform service duties. On the basis of analysis of scientific literature we have revealed three psychological-educational technologies: yoga, traditional games and dance rhythmic therapy which have positive influence upon future specialists of border agencies. Psychological-educational technologies are used during lessons of physical training, hours of independent work, leisure time under supervision of ranking officers.Having found some unique psychological-educational technologies in the process of professional training used to develop psychological readiness to perform service duties in extreme situation, during conflicts of low intensity or in various geographical and climatic conditions, we have come to the conclusion that it is important to investigate the system of professional training of border guards in the Republic of India in details and reveal its strength with possible creative usage while training personnel of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.У статті визначено поняття «психолого-педагогічна технологія» та описано її особливості у процесі професійної підготовки прикордонників у Республіці Індія. Серед основних психолого-педагогічних технологій, які сприяють формуванню психологічної готовності майбутніх фахівців прикордонних відомств до здійснення професійної діяльності в особливих умовах, виокремлено: використання йоги, традиційних ігор та танцювально-ритмічна техніка. На основі аналізу наукової літератури доведено позитивний вплив психолого-педагогічних технологій на особистість майбутнього прикордонника.

The Art and Science of Somatics: Theory, History and Scientific Foundations

What is somatics? Somatics is the name given to the field of western mind-body methods, encompassing ways of working with the body that are therapeutic, educational, artistic, and physically expressive. This study analyzes philosophies of somatic movement educational methods to observe what scientific principles and processes ground somatic work. An extensive literature review investigates five historical pioneers of somatics and explores influences on somatic theory from the fields of somatic psychology, neuroscience, the human potential movement, physiology and human anatomy, and psychoneuroimmunology. Qualitative analysis studies from mind-body medicine and the somatics field are compared. Using an interdisciplinary theoretical approach, I attempted to bridge and consolidate ideas to explore the philosophical and scientific foundation of somatics as a field, focusing on the principles behind somatic educational methods. In this qualitative study I am looking for information that supports the hypothesis that somatics is a human science. Through this research I found somatic work to have a distinct, traceable history of evidence proving its efficacy

Scientization, instrumentalization, and commodification of mindfulness in a professional services firm

Peer reviewe

Embodied Conflict Resolution: Resurrecting Roleplay-Based Curricula Through Dance

Moving on from the authors’ seminal 2009 critique of the overuse of role-plays in negotiation teaching, Death of the Role-Play (chapter 13 in Rethinking Negotiation Teaching), Alexander and LeBaron have taken the rapidly increasing enthusiasm for experiential learning in a new direction: multiple intelligences. Their particular interest is in a use of experiential learning that focuses on kinesthetic intelligence, employing actual physical movement, particularly dance, to unlock creativity in other mental domains, as well as to encourage authentic participation by people whose skills are not primarily verbal or mathematical. Those who may be inclined to be skeptical should note that this work is receiving increased attention among people whose dominant skills are rational/analytical: this chapter serves as a brief introduction to a project whose longer work is to be published soon by the American Bar Association

Sexy For Me: Enjoyment Of Sexualization, Embodiment, And Psychological Well-Being In Recreational Pole Dancers

Purpose: Recreational pole dancing may have dual implications for women’s mental health. Previous research (Pellizzer, et al., 2016) conducted under the framework of Objectification Theory has reported that enjoyment of sexualization can exert negative effects on body image through self-objectification and positive effects on body image through embodiment. The purposes of this study were to a.) replicate findings from Pellizer et al., (2016) and b.) to examine the theorized outcomes of Objectification Theory not addressed by previous research (eating disorder (ED) symptomatology, depressive affect). Methods: Recreational pole dancers (N = 82) were recruited from five recreational pole dancing schools. Participants completed a demographics form, measures of ED symptomatology, depressive symptomatology, positive body image, enjoyment of sexualization, and self-objectification. Participants also provided information on their recreational pole dance practice. Results: The findings of Pellizer et al., (2016) did not replicate in this sample. Participants generally scored significantly higher than community samples but lower than clinical samples on measures of ED symptomatology. Participants scored significantly higher on depressive symptomatology than community samples and but lower than clinical samples. When controlling for physical activity results generally remained unchanged – self-objectification and embodiment did not mediate the relationship between enjoyment of sexualization and the outcome variables. Generally, enjoyment of sexualization was significantly associated with positive body image, and negatively associated with ED and depressive symptoms; self-objectification was negatively associated with positive body image, and positively associated with ED and depressive symptoms; embodiment was positively related to positive body image and negatively related to ED and depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Recreational pole dancing may have dual and conflicting associations with women’s mental health depending on if self-objectification, or embodiment is emphasized. Findings generally align with Objectification Theory in such that self-objectification was associated with deleterious outcomes. Given that participants broadly described recreational pole dancing as beneficial for their mental health, instructors should be mindful to maximize embodying elements during class. Future work should focus on how discrepancies between women’s current and ideal bodies influence observed relationships. Additionally, research should examine changes in variables over time to understand the temporal relationship between variables

The Lived Experiences of Yoga Practice for Female Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) permeates all aspects of personhood including the body. There is a surge in the interest in reviewing yoga’s potential usefulness for trauma survivors in clinical trials. However, very little research focuses on women’s perspectives who experienced CSA and have subsequently practised yoga in community settings. This study investigated six women’s lived experiences of yoga practice, mainly focusing on the helpful and unhelpful aspects of yoga that mediated their recovery. Adult women survivors with experience of movement-based yoga in a group setting for at least eight weeks in the last year were recruited. Data were collected using individual, face-to-face, and semi-structured interviews. The transcribed data were analysed using Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) underpinned by constructivist ontology, phenomenological epistemology, and feminist axiology. Three emergent themes were identified- “Coming to yoga”, “Process of becoming” and “Reclaiming life”. Women’s narratives in this study illustrated that they found yoga a useful and resilience-building resource in their journey of healing. With consistent and frequent practice, they reported feeling more present, self-aware, and compassionate towards themselves. Teacher’s qualities such as fostering safety, choice and holistic focus were identified as significant mediating factors that aided this journey, whereas crowded, mixed-gender, and posture-focused practice presented challenges for some respondents. This study has the potential to help Counselling psychologists (CoP), therapists, psychologists, mental health practitioners, yoga teachers, and health professionals involved in the care of the CSA survivors in implementing an evidence-based and holistic approach that facilitates self-directed recovery of CSA survivors. Further research is needed to establish if the benefits and challenges of different aspects of practice apply to the diverse population and its potential usefulness in various phases of recovery. Also, find ways to standardize the yoga practice considering variations in the approach to ensure safe and ethical practice

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

Embodied practice : do social work therapists explore client strengths as expressed in the lived experience of the body?

This study was undertaken to explore how seven social work therapists attend to client strengths, with an emphasis on embodied experience and embodied strengths where competency and resourcefulness are experienced. Besides asking questions about the obvious markers of a person\u27s physical experience (hobbies, work, etc.), questions about the psychoanalytic concept of body-self and attributes of certain popularized mind/body approaches or techniques social work therapists may use were also posed. Workers, whose practices are in community mental health, inpatient psychiatry, medical and private practice settings, provided experience-near narrative data. Major findings were workers\u27 belief in the clinical value of using a strengths perspective. Workers also offered a variety of experiences of, and reasons for, the barriers they commonly encounter to using this approach. In terms of embodied practice, however, most could not identify more than a few techniques they use currently. Techniques identified, while important, were under-articulated, such as being present with clients. (Other language used for this concept was being grounded and mindful in session, as well as the approach of using experiential treatment modalities.) One significant finding was that most workers identified a decreased use of embodied practice over the course of their careers. On a positive note, a significant finding was a belief that working in the clients\u27 environment greatly facilitates and enhances attending to client strengths, particularly embodied strengths