Embodied Enquiry: Phenomenological Touchstones for Research, Psychotherapy and Spirituality

✍ Scribed by Les Todres

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 218
• Edition: First Edition
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Drawing on a particular emphasis within the phenomenological tradition as exemplified by Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Eugene Gendlin, this book considers the role of the lived body as a way of knowing and being. The author, a psychologist, psychotherapist and qualitative researcher pursues this theme within three practical contexts that illustrate some of the nuances of embodied enquiry: qualitative research, psychotherapy, spirituality. The three sections of the book also provide examples of how embodied enquiry is not just a philosophical perspective but also a practice with very tangible implications for research, psychotherapy and spirituality.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 8
List of Tables......Page 10
Foreword......Page 11
Preface and Acknowledgements......Page 14
Publication Acknowledgements......Page 16
Introduction: An Embodied Path at Beginning and End......Page 18
Part I: Research Methodology: Towards Aesthetic and Embodied Practices......Page 22
1 The Qualitative Description of Human Experience: The Aesthetic Dimension......Page 24
2 The Meaning of Understanding and the Open Body: Some Implications for Qualitative Research......Page 31
3 The Bodily Complexity of Truth-Telling in Qualitative Research......Page 47
4 Writing Phenomenological–Psychological Descriptions: An Illustration Attempting to Balance Texture and Structure......Page 61
Part II: Psychotherapy: Embodying Complex Identity......Page 76
5 Humanising Forces: Phenomenology in Science; Psychotherapy in Technological Culture......Page 80
6 The Rhythm of Psychotherapeutic Attention: A Training Model......Page 93
7 The Primacy of Phenomenological Process and Sequence in Psychotherapy: A Case Study......Page 108
8 Globalisation and the Complexity of Self: The Relevance of Psychotherapy......Page 120
9 Freedom-Wound: Towards the Embodiment of Human Openness in Psychotherapy......Page 127
Part III: Spirituality: Embodying Freedom and Vulnerability......Page 142
10 Psychological and Spiritual Freedoms: Reflections Inspired by Heidegger......Page 146
11 How Does Liberating Self-Insight Become Tacit Understanding?......Page 158
12 The Wound that Connects: A Consideration of ‘Narcissism’ and the Creation of Soulful Space......Page 167
13 Embracing Ambiguity: Transpersonal Development and the Phenomenological Tradition......Page 181
14 Concluding Thoughts and Touchstones: A Wide Embrace......Page 192
Notes......Page 204
References......Page 205
Index......Page 213