Home in the Body
Jung Journal October 2, 2025 DOI: 10.1080/19342039.2025.2570629 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that attending to bodily experience—sensation, movement, silence, breath—is essential for depth psychology to address early trauma and restore a sense of belonging. |
Abstract
ABSTRACT In Being with the Body in Depth Psychology: Development, Trauma, and Transformation in the Unspoken Realm, Barbara Holifield brings body and psyche into vital conversation. Grounded in Jungian and somatic traditions, her work invites clinicians to listen not only to words, but also to sensation, movement, silence, and breath as pathways to the numinous. The therapeutic relationship itself can be a place where unmetabolized emotional pain finds a home. Holifield draws on decades of experience—clinical, contemplative, and personal, and weaves in Jungian and post-Jungian ideas, trauma theory, developmental research, and embodied presence. She introduces Donald Kalsched’s concept of the archetypal self-care system into the body itself, showing how early defenses live in musculature, posture, and breath. Her voice is intimate and wise, guiding the reader to listen to interoceptive experience as a way home to nature, to soul, and to a felt sense of belonging in the cosmos.