Here comes everybody: Multicultural perspectives on the body in counselling, psychotherapy and mysticism

Abstract

A brief review of psychosomatic themes and body-oriented models of psychotherapy is offered. Differences in view are suggested about the place of the body in counselling theory and a focus on ambivalence towards the body is followed by a brief examination of somatic vulnerability and hurt and how these are expressed. Some positive and negative aesthetic attitudes towards the body in counselling, religion and art are suggested. The meaning of embodied mysticism is explained, with additional examples taken from spirituality, sex therapy and spirituality. Following this pluralistic trawl of mainly psychotherapy-oriented takes on the body, the problem of multiculturalism is used as a way of addressing the problem of the proliferation of models of counselling and psychotherapy alongside multicultural and academic differences in views on the body, language and social cohesion. It is argued that a significant opening exists for investigating a “pre-Babellian” and prelapsarian human unity that does not deny pluralism.

Keywords:

• psychosomatic
• body-oriented psychotheraphy
• embodied mysticism
• multiculturalism

Declaration of interest : The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the paper.