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 Workshops & Seminars
Stirring the Depths
Transference, Countertransference and Touch

Seminar at the 12th EABP Congress of Bodpsychotherapy in Vienna - 29 October - 1 November 2010 

Touching is not just a skin to skin meeting but involves and affects our psyche and soma far below the surface. Tactile contact and touch embody essential aspects of human existence and development. Touch directs our attention both outwards and inwards. Perceptions and sensations of the external, the "not I", mingle with sensations of the living body and awaken the body-mind to itself.

Tactile sensations and perceptions of touch are permeated by associations with nurture, care and healing but also with erotic pleasures, desires and passions, taboos and exploitation. Paraphrasing Juhan*, if we touch the surface of the body we stir the depths. Not surprisingly, such depths prove evocative, provide rich opportunities for symbolism and projections, and give rise to powerful transference phenomena in psychotherapy. Developing our awareness and sensitivity for transferential dynamics and for intersubjective qualities of touch allows their meaning and creativity to come alive in the therapeutic relationship.
 
*Juhan - Jobs Body, Station Hill Press 1987