Somatics Research Bibliography: A Working Tool for Somatics and Somatic Psychology

Authors

Eleanor Criswell Hanna, The Novato Institute for Somatic Research and Training

DOI

https://doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2020.39.1-2.179

Abstract

Many years ago when Somatics magazine was young, it occurred to me that it would be valuable to collect and publish research article references in Somatics magazine that were relevant to the different somatics disciplines to encourage the development of the field. There were next to no studies devoted to Somatics itself, but there were many studies devoted to the elements of somatic practices. Somatics is a multidisciplinary field. It builds on the research findings from many fields, such as anatomy, physiology, neurophysiology, psychology, dance, biomechanics, and education. The references are selected to be suggestive to the interested researcher and practitioner for their purposes and of the many possible research avenues that are yet to be explored. I have collected these research references for more than four decades. I worked originally with Psychological Abstracts, then PsychInfo, and finally, PubMed. Over that time there has been more research done on the somatic disciplines themselves. The greatest amount of research has been done on yoga (the oldest and largest of the somatic disciplines) and yoga therapy. These studies are examples of the research that can be done with the other somatics disciplines as well. We are in an era that appreciates evidence-based practice and practice-based evidence. This is evidence. These research articles are selected according to the following criteria: The article combines both body and mind either in its research design or theoretical perspective; the research design incorporates convergent measures—that is, it includes physiological, behavioral, and psychological measures; subjective and objective measures; and the research focuses on the whole organism (human) from a somatic perspective—that is, the effect of a body therapy on a psychological state. Topics addressed include biofeedback, body psychotherapy, consciousness states, electrophysiology, kinesiology, mind and body, motor processes, neural basis of motor control, neuroscience, posture and emotion, psychophysiology, and yoga/yoga therapy.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Hanna, E. C. (2020). Somatics research bibliography: A working tool for somatics and somatic psychology. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 39 (1). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2020.39.1-2.179