Reading List – Embodied Anatomy and Movement Repatterning (Updated Aug 2023)
Required:
- Wisdom of the Body Moving – An Introduction to Body-Mind Centering, Linda Hartley. North Atlantic Books. 1995
- Sensing, Feeling and Action, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. Contact Editions, Northampton, MA. 1993.
- Job’s Body – Handbook for Bodywork, Deane Juhan. Station Hill Press. 1987
- The Anatomy Coloring Book, Wynn Kapit & Lawrence M Elson. HarperCollins
Other Core IBMT Texts:
- Wisdom of the Body Moving – An Introduction to Body-Mind Centering, Linda Hartley. North Atlantic Books. 1995
- Somatic Psychology: Body, Mind and Meaning, Linda Hartley. Whurr/J. Wiley. 2004
- The Fluid Nature of Being. Ed. Linda Hartley (a collection of writings by 21 IBMT practitioners from the 3 programmes in the UK, Lithuania & Russia.)
Highly Recommended:
Any large, comprehensive reference book, such as:
- Fundamentals of Anatomy & Physiology, Martini. Prentice Hall
- Principles of A & P – Tortora Grabowski
- Netter – many A & P books available.
- There are digital Anatomy Apps available that enable 3D rotation of images, such as https://www.visiblebody.com/
- Words That Touch. Nick Pole. Singing Dragon 2017 (A simple effective guide to using clean language to facilitate body-mind communication in therapy)
Recommended:
- Any of the ‘Anatomy Trains‘ – Thomas Myers
- The concise Book of Muscles – Chris Jarmey 2003 (a simple book of diagrams showing origin and insertion)
- Albinus on Anatomy – R Hale and T Colye 1979 (A book of 18th Century pencil drawings of bones and muscles)
- Embody the Skeleton – Mark Taylor 2019 (an excellent BMC based book)
- The Breathing Book – D Farhi. St Martins Griffin. New York 1996 (Simple practical guide to exploring breath by movement therapist and yoga teacher)
- The Female Pelvis, Calais-Germain.Eastland Press 2003 (Illustrated functional anatomy, self discovery practices)
- The Anatomy of Movement, Calais- Germain . Eastland Press 2008 (Simple black & white illustrated muscular skeletal anatomy of functional and dance movement)
- The Anatomy of Stretching, Brad Walker. North Atlantic Books (Colour illustration of primary and secondary muscles working in stretching, arranged by body area)
- Body Stories, Andrea Olsen. North Atlantic Books (31 daily experiential Anatomy explorations)
- Emotional Anatomy, Stanley Keleman. Center Press.1985
- Bodyfulness. C Caldwell. Shambala (2018) (A guide to sensing, moving and breathing to explore a more embodied life written by a somatic counsellor)
Some older historical or seminal books in the development of the somatics field:
- Behold Man, Lennart Nilsson. Little, Brown & Co.1973 (if available)
- Inner Bridges, Fritz Frederick Smith. Humanics New Age. 1986 (Helpful connections between physical structure and energetic flows)
- Bone, Breath & Gesture, Don Hanlon Johnson. North Atlantic Books. 1995 (Some of the pioneers of somatics)
- Energy Medicine, James l. Oschman. Churchill Livingstone. 2000 (intersections between physical and energy body, interesting ideas about touch healing)
- Anatomy of the Spirit, Caroline Myss. Bantam. 1997 (Perspective on connections between body systems/organs and psychological issues)
- Touching – The Human Significance of the Skin, Ashley Montagu. Harper&Row, 1971, 1986 (Seminal work on the importance of touch for infants and throughout life)
- Sensitive Chaos, Theodor Schwenk. Rudolf Steiner Press. 1965 (Fascinating exploration of the spirallic nature of growth)
- Human Movement Potential, Lulu Sweigard. Harper & Row. 1974 (historical roots of somatic movement practice)
- The Thinking Body, Mabel Elsworth Todd. Dance Horizons. 1937 (historical roots of somatic movement practice)
- Awareness through Movement, Moshe Feldenkrais. 1972 (includes clear ways of describing the process of neurological repatterning)