Naropa University

Program Information

Degree Offered

MA Somatic Counseling Psychology: Body Psychotherapy

Format: Campus

Program Description:

Drawing upon the diverse field of body-centered psychotherapy, the Body Psychotherapy concentration trains students to integrate bodywork, movement, and somatic education principles with counseling and psychotherapy skills. Formed alongside modern Western psychotherapy through the work of Reich, Lowen, Keleman, Perls, Kurtz, Gendlin, and others, it integrates traditional therapeutic practices with attention to sensation and body states, allowing unconscious material to manifest and be worked with using breath, touch, movement, sensation and imagery. The Body Psychotherapy concentration focuses on the classical energy model of body psychotherapy, as well as Object Relations and Self Psychology, the Gestalt-based Moving Cycle and other modern models of sensorimotor tracking, conscious movement, and relational techniques.

Somatic Counseling Psychology is the study of human experience as fundamentally embedded within the structures, processes, and capacities of the body. By attending to the foundation of experience, Somatic Counseling Psychology brings an appreciation of the unique role of the body and its movement in understanding and transforming human behavior. In this way, somatic psychotherapy, which includes dance/movement therapy and body psychotherapy, is a holistic approach to personal growth and change. The challenge of the somatic psychotherapist is to engage the client in a verbal and nonverbal process that transforms lived embodied experience into knowledge for choice and change.

Accreditation:

Naropa University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

# of Credits Required:

60

Tuition & Financial Aid

Cost Per Credit Hour:

810.00 USD

Financial Aid Offered: Yes

Classification: Other Specialized Institutions

Institution Sector: Private not-for-profit

Locale: Small City

Size & Settings: 1,000 - 4,999