Engaging Feelings in the Body in Systemic Family Therapy

Abstract

A feeling in the body approach invites a way of knowing that includes the body, which can contribute to a quality of noticing often not visible in our talk. We often rely on descriptions of emotion to convey our feelings. However the use of words like sad, angry, depressed or happy does not show the affects of emotion. And even when we try to touch on feelings in the body, one is often hard pressed to see what it looks like. If we are to give bodily perspective a platform alongside dialogue we must use the language of the body in descriptions of our world and the world of others and include sensorial ways of understanding. The paper does not focus on one particular sense but explores how the systemic might interact with the senses from which emerge bodily feelings.