Experiential anatomy is an embodied learning method that integrates interoceptive awareness and conscious movement to foster whole person healing. As an educational approach, experiential anatomy interweaves focused intellectual learning and gentle somatic inquiry that engages students on multidimensional levels.
In Experiential Anatomy as Therapy, Leila draws from over 30 years of experience educating movement professionals to teach embodied movement as therapy.
The carefully selected practices presented in this book create therapeutic potential by stimulating awareness and building skills that challenge habitual patterns. In the process of cultivating interoceptive awareness, self-knowledge and self-compassion are reinforced. In this approach, students learn to connect to deeper presence and inner resources that empower them to become active participants in their own healing process. The paradox of experiential anatomy is that working with individual parts can lead to radical shifts in experiencing inherent wholeness.
The first chapters explain the principles and framework for teaching experiential anatomy as a tool for transformation. The yogic model of the koshas is introduced as foundational to experiential anatomy as therapy and as an explanation for the energetic, emotional, mental and spiritual effects often generated by physical practices. In subsequent chapters, concise anatomical information is presented, then embodied through somatic explorations that strengthen a felt-sense of anatomical parts and their connection to the whole. This new learning is then integrated into yoga poses and everyday activities like sitting, walking and reaching. The framework of "learn it, feel it, heal it" offers an accessible approach to develop both personal awareness and the knowledge to teach experiential anatomy as therapy. Each chapter offers therapeutic applications to assist movement professionals in integrating experiential anatomy with their existing therapeutic movement resources. Chapters conclude with koshic contemplations to deepen subtle multidimensional aspects of the somatic learning.
Although Leila uses yoga therapy as the platform for integration of experiential anatomy, the approach and somatic explorations in this book apply equally to any movement professional interested in embodiment and transformation through movement. Physiotherapists, kinesiologists, bodyworkers, yoga and Pilates teachers, personal trainers and somatic practitioners will all benefit from this book personally and professionally. Videos recorded by the author enhance the experiential practices.
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Industry Reviews
In a league of its own in terms of extensiveness, expertise, and excellence in educating clients, patients and teachers inner awareness through experiential anatomy. It will appeal to all who are interested in translating intellectual information into an inner experience that can be understood and embodied in ways that facilitate healing and integration from within.--Carol M Davis, DPT, EdD, MS, author of Integrative Therapies in Rehabilitation and Patient-Practitioner Interaction
This book is a lovely companion to the concepts of experiential anatomy (EA), yoga, somatic work, and more. The author invites the reader (and embodied mover) to cultivate self-awareness throughout this work. Richly illustrated with anatomy drawings and photos of the demonstrated movement experientials, there is plenty of material to play with and Leila Stuart does a wonderful job of inviting the reader to see and feel the holistic nature of the body and how it connects globally.--Lauri Nemetz, author of The Myofascial System in Form and Movement and Professor at Pace University and Rush Medical
Drawing from her extensive experience and research, Leila Stuart expertly teaches the reader how to befriend the body, and heal what needs to heal. I love the way she encapsulates the process into three steps: Learn it, Feel it, and Heal it, a paradigm that she develops for each part of the body. The book is structured around the yogic teaching that we are holistic beings, with layers of consciousness that define our daily experience. Healing has to involve our physical, energetic, mental, emotional and spiritual selves, and these considerations are expertly woven into this book. Essential reading for anyone in the health care professions, and anyone who undertakes a journey of self-discovery, healing and empowerment.--Ellen Saltonstall, Certified yoga therapist, somatic educator, author of Empowered Aging, The Bodymind Ballwork Method, and Anatomy and Yoga.
Leila Stuart's brilliant book is a milestone in combining subjective experience with the frameworks and languages of many distinct disciplines: physiology, psychology, neuroscience, complementary medicine, yoga theory and practice, fascia release therapy, and pain rehabilitation. It will be of immense value to both health practitioners and those with chronic illness.--Jon Lieff, M.D., neuropsychiatrist, neuroscientist; author of "The Secret Language of Cells"; Past President, American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
