Keleman (2007), who is in the domain of Somatic Psychology in his article “Biological vision” is one who clearly can articulate what I am getting at. In this article Keleman is laying the foundational thinking for his development of his somatic psychology model called Formative Psychology. This psychology came out of his realization that not only are we psychological processes, but foundationally we are biological processes that expressed through the body. Through a life time an individual will have many different stages and evolutions, that are expressed though “shapes” within the body. These shapes can sometimes get stuck, but what Keleman brings to the field is that the shapes are “more plastic, mobile, and remoldable than we had been taught to believe”. (Keleman, 2007,p11) These thoughts and clinical observations led Keleman to see that through volunteers action an individual could deeply influence the shapes with in their biological process. Keleman says: “More importantly he would be able to shape both himself and the situation, to make his world.” Further on Keleman’s idea is that by utilizing the felt sense of the shape that is alive in the client, by feeling into the shape and its edges, one could begin to influence it by entering it deeper. This process of entering deeper is at the heart of the work as an individual moves more from their core of what moves them and excites them about being. Keleman clarifies this process: “When we say bodily, we don’t mean to reduce the person to the materialistic, mechanistic body implied by contemporary science. Neither do we imply occult vaporization. We mean the concrete experience of one’s existence. We work on the ground floor of the instinctual life, where there is no division between biology and personality.” (Keleman, 2007,p13) I see this article and Keleman’s Formative psychology as being a powerful addition to the field of Somatic Psychology for two reasons. The first is that he is clarifying the adaptive capability for any person to rally resources to their somatic aid through the basic biological function of growth, pleasure, and formation. Secondly he is adding to the clarity of language and thought that will be necessary to give Somatic Psychology a powerful stance in both clinical and academic applications.
Keleman, S. (2007). A Biological Vision. The USA Body Psychotherapy Journal , 6 (1), 10-19.