Abstract

Using a contemporary synthesis of Jungian and Post-Jungian imaginal perspectives, animate ecological phenomenology, somatics and recent scholarship in dance movement and progressive spiritualities, this unique book discusses how the promotion of a fluid relationship between imagination and movement can bring the mover back into relationship with soul and spirit. This connection with soul and spirit is considered as an essential and powerful resource in mental health. The book provides a rich digest of theory and produces a clear framework for the application of transpersonal theories to Dance Movement Psychotherapy (DMP) practice, writing and research, illustrating the use and value of transpersonal perspectives through detailed case studies.

Providing spiritual, soulful and mythological perspectives on DMP rooted in theory and practice, this book will be essential reading for dance movement psychotherapists, drama psychotherapists, expressive arts therapists, and dance movement psychotherapy students, drama psychotherapy students and arts therapy students.

With this book, Jill Hayes joins the many voices arising throughout the world urging the recovery of a fading sense of how the cultivation of the infinite possibilities of body movement are crucial not only for negotiating the challenges of everyday life, but for the development of the soul itself. She articulates clearly how moving in depth, into and through suffering, opens one's heart to the world, finding the courage and compassion that so many spiritual traditions have made the ultimate goal of their works. It is an important work of philosophy and vision, a healing work.
Don Hanlon Johnson, PhD, founder of the first graduate studies program in Somatics, and professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies.
Jill Hayes new book, Soul and Spirit in Dance Movement Psychotherapy, is an exciting development to the field of dance movement psychotherapy. Her attention to a poetic language of the body takes us on a gentle journey of awareness and insight in what she calls transpersonal dance movement psychotherapy. In this approach we seek to re-forge a compassionate relationship with our bodies and the world body as living expressions of soul and spirit. With the notion that our somatic core is our spiritual centre she carefully outlines, using poetic and embodied language, a range of conceptual and theoretical terrains. This practical embodied use of language helps the reader to journey fluidly, like butterfly or hawk, toward a deeper understanding of this terrain. Drawing our attention to new research in cognitive and neuroscience, philosophy and the broader field of dance movement psychotherapy, she posits that this approach operates from the premise of a wholeness of the human, rather than a divided body, mind and spirit. The use of raw and evocative clinical material reveals how, in Hayes' terms, our organic rhythms can be felt, sensed and moved and so release our rigidity. Working in this way, with careful embodied attention, provides a safe container where we can move toward healing the trauma of our lives through a re-animation, a remembering of our soul and spirit.
Professor Jane Bacon, Authentic Movement and Focusing practitioner, Jungian psychotherapist, performance practitioner and Professor of Dance and Somatics, University of Chichester, UK
This finely crafted book offers us a practice-based guide to transpersonal Dance Movement Psychotherapy beginning with the embodied story that arises from the fleshy substance of the living body. The writing flows smoothly from theory to research to practice, guiding us through stories of transformation and discovery that emerge from the practice of transpersonal Dance Movement Psychotherapy. We are challenged to encounter the physicality of our existence in the living, breathing organism that is the self and from the inner darkness of that physical self, we learn how our creativity and imagination can flow, as matter and spirit converge. The writing cleverly leads us into a liminal space between our own mortality and the infinite arena of the universe and in that sacred chamber, expressive movement becomes a catalyst for transformation. This book connects the reader on a deeply human level to the transpersonal practice of Dance Movement Psychotherapy in a quest to find the essence of soulful living.
Caroline Frizell, Dance Movement Psychotherapist and Coordinator of the DMP MA at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Jill Hayes was a Senior Lecturer in Dance at the University of Chichester, UK. She had 20 years' experience as a dance movement therapist working with a variety of populations and developing transpersonal frameworks and approaches to Dance Movement Psychotherapy (DMP).
This delicate, articulate and embodied account of the approach, methodology and skills of transpersonal dance movement psychotherapy is nourishing, stimulating and informative for therapeutic practitioners and for all those interested in the visible and invisible processes of health, creativity and vitality. At the core of this transpersonal approach Jill Hayes redefines soul and spirit in a detailed, joyful and rigorous way. Her meticulous definitions are free from religious dogma and yet permeated with an embodied respect for the mystery of unknown. Embedded in practice and reflecting on frequently unexamined aspects of the therapeutic relationship, this book celebrates the layers of a healing journey through metaphors, stories and succinct analysis.
Dr Sandra Reeve, movement artist and teacher
This is a remarkable book. Hayes combines personal reflections and poetry like soft mantras with detailed research, providing invaluable and moving insights to her many years' experience as a Transpersonal Dance Movement Psychotherapist. The book is imbued with wisdom and care. By weaving together her own methods and belief systems with the stories of some of her clients, Hayes positions her therapeutic practice within a wider network of somatic practices, theoretical standpoints, philosophies and literature. We read careful explanations of terms that may be familiar; soul, spirit, flow, metaphor - but rarely given such detailed consideration. Above all, Hayes' call to recognise the centrality of the body, of movement, and expression through movement as fundamental to transformation and bodily wholeness, sings through each chapter. The first hand reflections captured in the case studies of her clients, and in particular the journey taken by Lauren, most clearly demonstrate the symbiotic relationship of words (poetry) and the body moving (dance) to create images, told in most part through her clients' own words. This is a book for everyone as much as for psychotherapists, those who have or might be considering psychotherapy, healthcare professionals and for anyone who would find interest in writing that attends so deeply to the complexities of the human spirit, and the metaphors that enable us to find strength and solace in how we move through living in the world.
Sarah Whatley, BA PhD, Professor of Dance and Director, Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE), Coventry University
I love how the stories in Jill's book make visible the subtle and transformational processes of creativity and movement. This is a wise, deeply thoughtful and much needed book that articulates the power and beauty of embodied process. It will be a valuable resource for anyone engaged in dance, community and somatic wellbeing.
Miranda Tufnell, dance artist, movement educator and Alexander teacher.
This is a vital text – vital for practitioners and students involved in somatic movement modalities, transpersonal movement forms and Dance Movement Psychotherapy – vitally important because it addresses invisible, yet perceptible, sensory spiritual processes somatically encountered through movement that have hitherto eluded academic debate. Jill Hayes articulates the delicate felt presence of spirit and soul, bringing a methodologically innovative, and highly sensitive awareness to transformational processes in Dance Movement Psychotherapy. Jill's text, developed through decades of immersion in practice and academia, will be of great value to students and practitioners, setting forth a new framework that attends with integrity to spiritual experiences - in contrast to those experiences remaining ephemeral and fleeting in academia and practice. This is a playful, colourful, rigorous and deeply moving text – its value extends beyond the subject discipline of Dance Movement Psychotherapy into the wider field of Dance Studies.
Amanda Williamson, principle editor of the peer reviewed academic Journal of Dance, Movement and Spiritualities, Intellect Publishers.
Jill Hayes dares to bring academic discussion to those ineffable experiences known more easily to the moving body: soul, spirit, and the creative life force. She does so with the voice of someone steeped in years of experience in the transformative somatic arts. Hayes' writing takes us straight to what she calls "the centre," bringing us inside a more poetic handling of the practice of transpersonal Dance Movement Psychotherapy. We honour the way she invites readers to share her passion for the wisdom of the body.
Hillary Keeney, Ph.D., and Bradford Keeney, Ph.D., co-authors of Circular Therapeutics: Giving Therapy a Healing Heart, and Seiki Jutsu: The Art of the Non-Subtle Life Force.