Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy

An International Journal for Theory, Research and Practice

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The embodied intersubjective space: the role of

clinical intuition in somatic psychotherapy

Jovahna Jasmine Peña

To cite this article: Jovahna Jasmine Peña (2019) The embodied intersubjective space: the role
of clinical intuition in somatic psychotherapy, Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy, 14:2,
95-111, DOI: 10.1080/17432979.2019.1606032

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/17432979.2019.1606032

Published online: 19 Apr 2019.

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BODY, MOVEMENT AND DANCE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY
2019, VOL. 14, NO. 2, 95–111
https://doi.org/10.1080/17432979.2019.1606032

The embodied intersubjective space: the role of

clinical intuition in somatic psychotherapy
Jovahna Jasmine Peña
Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Somatic Dance Movement Therapy & Somatic Body
Psychotherapy, Naropa University, Boulder, CO, USA

ABSTRACT
Interpersonal neurobiology has provided insight and given importance to
right brain implicit processes within the context of psychotherapy. This
includes intersubjectivity, awareness of bodily felt experience, and clinical
intuition. The field of somatic psychotherapy utilises the awareness of sensor-
ial experience and embodiment as sources of knowledge through the integra-
tion of mind and body in the process of healing. This article explores the
relationship between the somatic experiences of intuition and the field of
somatic psychotherapy through an epistemological vision of providing insight
and ground to a common, yet not fully understood phenomenon in clinical
practice. A definition of clinical intuition from a somatic perspective is pre-
sented as well as a three-phase non-linear model that incorporates under-
standings from neuroscience and interpersonal neurobiology. The embodied
intersubjective field, hemispheric integration, and embodiment practices are
explored in this model to serve as a bridge between theory and practice and
to hold the potential for transformation.

ARTICLE HISTORY Received 26 November 2018; Accepted 22 March 2019

KEYWORDS Clinical intuition; intuition; embodiment; intersubjective field; somatic psychotherapy;

implicit memory

This theoretical article examines the relationship of clinical intuition and

somatic psychotherapy through the interdisciplinary perspectives of inter-
personal neurobiology, neuroscience, and understandings in mind/body
approaches to psychotherapy. The phenomenon of intuition is explored
through various lenses, including a clinical perspective of the relevancy to
the field of psychotherapy as a whole. This conscious and critical investiga-
tion of what is elusive yet widely experienced provides the groundwork to
illuminate the similarities between intuitive recognition and the experience
of embodied understanding. Furthermore, intuition is discussed in the field
of somatic psychotherapy, which places emphasis upon the awareness of

CONTACT Jovahna Jasmine Peña jovahnapena@gmail.com

Submitted in partial satisfaction for the Somatic Counseling Psychology Program requirements of
a Master’s Degree in Dance/Movement Therapy and Body Psychotherapy.
© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
96 J. J. PEÑA

bodily felt experience. The connections between the two are explored, as
well as the proposition of the incorporation of intuition into clinical practice,
following the evolving zeitgeist currently within the field of psychotherapy.
This is presented as a theoretical model which aims towards providing
a solid framework through a clear definition of clinical intuition in the
context of somatic psychotherapy as well as a three-phase non-linear path
for approaching clinical intuition from a somatic perspective.

Literature review
Defining terminology/towards an understanding of intuition
Throughout the history of psychology, there have been few concepts that
have had as many various definitions as that of intuition (Epstein, 2010).
There is a certain amount of complexity to define a particular phenomenon
that necessitates bringing what is considered a subconscious experience to
consciousness in order to be studied. Biologically speaking, the areas of the
brain which are able to analyse and give description to intuition are actually
different from the areas in the brain that highlight the experience of intui-
tion (Schore, 2012). Despite this, there have been numerous attempts made
throughout history to describe a mysterious, yet informative phenomena
that seem to occur in the everyday experience, as well as in the field of
psychotherapy. There are psychological theorists and theories that highlight
the role and value of intuition (Charles, 2004; Epstein, 2010; Vaughn, 1979).
Definitions outside, as well as within the field exist simultaneously, each able
to elucidate understanding and provide meaning from the contexts in which
they arise from (Eisengart & Faiver, 1996; Goldberg, 1983; Schooler & Dougal,
1999; Schultz, 1998; Witteman, Spaanjaars, & Aarts, 2012).
It is particularly thought-provoking to note that many definitions of
intuition tend to emphasise what intuition is not, which can prevent it
from having a positive, or existing identity that could provide understanding
to what it actually is (Epstein, 2010; Tantia, 2011). One must consider the
context of what the prevailing model for obtaining knowledge in the
Western world has been over the past three centuries and the influence of
the rational-empirical model of scientism upon the field of psychotherapy to
comprehend why this is (Goldberg, 1983). The ideological underpinnings of
scientism have had tremendous implications that are reflected in uses of
vocabulary, systems of thinking spanning from intrapersonal to global
levels, as well as the marginalisation and often discreditation of intuition
(Goldberg, 1983; Sheldrake, 2013). Within such a context, Western psychol-
ogy has not remained unscathed by the influence of the outdated ideolo-
gies of scientific materialism, and has been thus significantly influenced
(Sheldrake, 2013; Vaughn, 1979). However, what is emergent is the gradual
 BODY, MOVEMENT AND DANCE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY 97

shift from materialist to post-materialist science. This holds the possibility of

significant importance to the evolution of human existence, through such
deeper inquiries into such phenomena as intuition, particularly within the
context of human relationships (Sheldrake, 2013). Within this shifting para-
digm holds tremendous potentiality for the deepening of understanding
and clinical application of intuition, within the field of psychotherapy,
particularly highlighted in the context of somatic psychotherapy.

Neurobiology of clinical intuition

Recent findings within the last decade in neuroscience have provided
insight in regard to the neurobiology of intuition, particularly within the
context of the interpersonal counselling relationship. The nascent and inter-
disciplinary field of interpersonal neurobiology approaches the understand-
ing of humans and human relationships from multiple perspectives,
including the role of the therapeutic relationship in its right brain to right
brain processes to support the process of change through the intersubjec-
tive field (Cozolino, 2014; Marks-Tarlow, 2012; Schore, 2012; Siegel, 2012). In
light of these understandings, many have begun to recognise a paradigm
shift in the field of psychotherapy, from a focus upon left brain explicit
processes to right brain implicit processes (Marks-Tarlow, 2012; Schore,
2011, 2014; Tantia, 2014).
Furthermore, the concept of intuition is also associated with implicit
knowledge and right brain processes (Schore, 2009, 2011, 2014).
Definitions of intuition would point to right brain, rather than left brain
processing, ‘generated in the subcortical-cortical vertical axis of the thera-
pist’s (and patient’s) right brain, from the right amygdala, right insula, and
right anterior cingulate to the right orbitofrontal system’ (Schore, 2011,
p. 89). Schore (2012) suggests that, ‘much of the therapist’s knowledge
that accumulates with clinical experience is implicit, operates at rapid
unconscious levels beneath levels of awareness, and is expressed as clinical
intuition’ (p. xiii).
Neuroscience has also related intuition to the unconscious, which
includes the non-verbal realm of physical sensations, feelings, images, and
metaphor (Volz & von Cramon, 2006). Volz and von Cramon (2006) speak to
how intuition is ‘embodied’ or a ‘gut feeling’ which is gathered from the
observer’s implicit understanding at a visceral level vs. the conscious extrac-
tion of explicit knowledge (p. 2084). The neuroscientific research of Stephen
Porges (2007) has linked the vagus nerve with providing afferent neural
pathways of communication that can be unconscious in their processes,
such as in maintaining homeostasis in the body. This may provide neuros-
cientific understanding of how unconscious processes that occur in the
feeling centres of the body, such as the head, heart, and gut may be related
98 J. J. PEÑA

to the unconscious processes that are associated with intuition. Mary

Whitehouse, a pioneer in the field of dance movement therapy pointed
out that one was ‘directly working with the unconscious’ when referring to
the body in clinical practice (Whitehouse, 1977, p. 4). Furthermore,
Whitehouse (1999) was one to speak directly to the use of intuition in
practice: ‘Intuition tells one what to do and when to do it’ (p. 87). It is
fascinating to see how recent discoveries in neuroscience confirm the links
between the unconscious, the body, and intuition and how that relates
directly to the work as a dance movement therapist within the framework
of somatic psychotherapy.
Furthermore, phenomenological descriptions of intuition in differing
streams of psychotherapy, neuroscience, and other schools of thought to
include right-brained, implicit, unconscious, and bottom-up processes are
similar to bodily-held experiences in psychotherapy that is somatically
oriented (Aposhyan, 2004; Gendlin, 1981; Kurtz, 2010; Levine & Frederick,
1997; Tantia, 2014). A common theory within the field of somatic psy-
chotherapy is that both implicit and explicit memory hold value, which
the former is explored through embodied awareness (Aposhyan, 2004;
Heller & LaPierre, 2012). Implicit memory is considered to be out of con-
scious awareness as well as verbal experience, including the ‘bodily memory
of motor skills, habits, and routines; and the memory of our emotional and
relational responses’ (Heller & LaPierre, 2012, p. 112).
Because of the non-linguistic and non-conceptual nature of implicit
memory, bottom-up approaches that work with sensation followed by
cognition, such as through body-based methods in somatic psychotherapy,
are particularly suited for this exploration (Heller & LaPierre, 2012). The body
has a particular role in both the formation and retrieval of implicit memory,
through the perspective in somatic psychotherapy that the body is the
threshold between implicit experience and knowledge and the explicit
understanding of that knowledge (Chodorow, 1991). From a trauma-
informed perspective, with events that have a powerful emotional charge,
even if things are not verbally processed, there is still an impression on
a subconscious level in the body (Rothschild, 2000). Furthermore, particular
approaches in somatic psychotherapy such as kinaesthetic attunement/mis-
attunement and mirroring are non-verbal ways for accessing and working
with body-based, implicit memories, which includes intuition.
A somatic therapist is trained to attune to non-verbal communication
when working with clients, which requires the shift from left hemispheric
attention that focuses upon localised detail to more of a panoramic right
hemispheric mode of attention and vice versa (Chace, 1975; Schore, 2014).
Kurtz (2010) suggests that therapists are to be attentive to particular non-
verbal cues. A clinical example of how a somatic psychotherapist shifts from
right hemispheric to left hemispheric attention may be when a client is
 BODY, MOVEMENT AND DANCE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY 99

speaking about a family member and the clinician’s attention becomes

drawn to the tapping of the client’s leg. Here, the somatic psychotherapist
tunes into the body memory of the client, which is unconscious and implicit
(Rothschild, 2002).
A core component to working as a somatic therapist includes utilising an
oscillation of attention while being with a client, having attention that is
both in/out, wide/narrow, structured/free-flowing, and across senses
(Caldwell, 2004). This would include things such as not only paying attention
to what is said but also through paraverbals and body language, including
posture and gesture (La Barre, 2013). Speeth (1982) further discusses the
importance of inner/outer attention and the art of developing fine-tuned
attention in psychotherapy practice through meditative awareness.
Interestingly enough, Welling (2005) notes that intuition is also associated
with preverbal character, affect, gestalt nature, and a global view, which are
all functions of the right brain. From this, one could gather that this allows
room for clinical intuition to be presently available within the right brain,
implicit, and bottom-up approaches that somatic therapists use in their
repertoire of working with clients. This neurobiological view of clinical
intuition suggests a relationship to embodiment, or an awareness of the
feeling and perceiving dimension that is intrinsic to the work of a somatic
psychotherapist.

Embodied intuition
The word ‘soma’ from somatic psychotherapy is derived from Greek origins
and describes the body as perceived from within (Hanna, 1988). This points
to an awareness that comes through the senses from the body’s conscious-
ness that arises internally (Tantia, 2013a). Embodiment is a word that is
similar in its description to soma, which Tantia (2013b) describes as an act
that goes beyond the mindfulness of paying attention to the experience of
one’s body and includes ‘the enlivened response’ to that attention.’ (p. 98).
Fogel (2013) considers this as ‘embodied self-awareness’ which is being able
to notice and feel sensations, emotions, and movements in the present
moment experience (p. 1). Notions of embodied mindfulness are similar to
this (Kaparo, 2012). These definitions highlight awareness as a fulcrum to
embodiment, similar to how awareness is related to intuition. Somatic
psychotherapy views an inseparable link between thoughts, emotions, and
sensations in the body, and has included the notion of embodiment as an
essential part of the experience of psychotherapeutic work (Levy, 2005).
There are experientially grounded approaches to training as a somatic
therapist, which includes not only the development of awareness of the
client’s body-held state of being, but also the clinician’s understanding of
one’s own body state of awareness of being (Levy, 2005).
100 J. J. PEÑA

Gendlin’s (1981) Focusing is a method of embodied inquiry that guides

clients to become aware of their embodied experiences through the process
of feeling internally while speaking. The very heart of this somatic-based
therapeutic technique is the intuitive process that is guided towards provid-
ing explicit understanding to the non-verbal body-based felt sense experi-
ence (Gendlin, 1981). This concept of the ‘felt sense’ is described as a bodily
awareness that helps to support new insights to emerge in ways that were
not previously known (Gendlin, 1981). Somatic psychotherapists generally
will invite clients to their experience of the felt sense during a session, which
supports one towards a body-based sense of knowing.
Expressions that suggest gut feelings or knowing in one’s bones point to
the physical dimension of sensations linked to intuition (Goldberg, 1983).
Goldberg (1983) notes that becoming more intuitive would include
a sensitivity and self-awareness towards being able to recognise and under-
stand the body’s messages. He also includes the perspective that intuition is
actually body awareness, and that to become more intuitive is to become
more in touch with one’s own body (Goldberg, 1983). Charles’ (2004)
research documented that there is indeed an embodied aspect of intuitive
experience, through her findings which showed that intuitive and sensing
types based upon Jung’s four psychological types, had greater body aware-
ness than the other types during an intuitive experience.
The link between embodiment and intuition becomes even more salient
through the recognition that one of the foundational approaches of dance/
movement therapy of Mary Whitehouse emphasises the therapeutic rela-
tionship and intuition (Levy, 2005). Her particular approach in regard to the
therapeutic relationship began with first trusting her own intuition, then
towards supporting clients to trust their intuition, and lastly emphasising
that the therapist meets the client where they were at in the moment (Levy,
2005). This process required that the therapist set aside any preconceptions
for the client and/or situation and take on the particular role of not knowing,
providing space for the client to find one’s own understanding (Levy, 2005).
This is similar to what Marks-Tarlow (2012) speaks of in how intuition fills the
gap between theory and practice, through being present in a moment-to-
moment experience and clearing the slate of top-down preconceptions. This
suggests a being – with instead of a doing – to way of interaction that
recognises the present moment embodied experience (Marks-Tarlow, 2012).
Interpersonal neurobiology also considers embodied experiences of intui-
tion such as through gut feelings to be the attunement to the body’s
autonomic nervous system and to limbic structures such as the insula,
which reads internal body states (Marks-Tarlow, 2014a). Being part of the
enteric nervous system, the gut essentially has a brain of its own and
contains over one hundred million nerves that conduct messages through
the spinal cord through all of the major neurotransmitters (Marks-Tarlow,
 BODY, MOVEMENT AND DANCE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY 101

2014a). Marks-Tarlow (2014a) makes the connection between clinical intui-

tion that comes in the form of gut feelings to somatic countertransference.
Similarly, Levy (2005) reflects upon Penny Lewis’ perspective that as a dance
movement therapist somatic countertransference occurs when the therapist
somatically receives images, thoughts, sensations, or feelings from the
unconscious and the body of the client. Furthermore, somatic countertrans-
ference describes ‘a kind of intuition that guides the dance therapist’s
interventions’ (Levy, 2005, p. 158). With the sensitivity to bodily cues and
attunement to non-verbal communication, the dance movement therapist
can skilfully reflect particular affect back to a client in service to help one
reclaim unconscious feelings (Levy, 2005). Levy’s (2005) reflections upon
Lewis’ descriptions of somatic countertransference as a type of gut
response, demonstrates the particular perspective a dance movement thera-
pist contains to provide further understanding for embodied responses of
intuition. However, Tantia (2011) offers the perspective that intuitive
moments while working with a client are different from somatic counter-
transference through her experience that the former does not contain
personal emotional relevancy while the latter does. Therefore, further stu-
dies are needed to differentiate or perhaps relate the two more intimately
through a clearer definition of somatic countertransference in relationship
to clinical intuition. Dosamantes-Beaudry (1997), suggests the ‘somatic inter-
subjective dialogue’ that describes the embodied relationship between
client and therapist, which includes ideas of somatic countertransference
and somatic transference. Dosamantes-Beaudry (1997) discusses the impor-
tance of attending to the somatic information as a way of fully understand-
ing the emotional nature of the intersubjective therapeutic relationship.

A non-linear view: somatic psychotherapy and clinical intuition

The following theory presented will expand upon the previously reviewed
literature that captures the ongoing paradigm shift from the explicit cogni-
tive to implicit affective realm in approaches to psychotherapy, including
the role and integration of intuition within somatic-based therapies. In
addition, in following the work of Schore (2009, 2011, 2012, 2014) and
Marks-Tarlow (2012, 2014a, 2015) the author proposes an emerging model
that includes an orientation from non-linear science that is essentially
embedded within interpersonal neurobiology. This model supports a non-
linear clinical path that embraces not-knowing, ambiguity, and contradic-
tion, which is essentially the emergent substance within the intersubjective
space between two people and a bridge between theory and practice.
Furthermore, this includes not only the acknowledgement of clinical intui-
tion in the therapeutic relationship but also embraces it as a support to
working with greater levels of human complexity in the ever-changing and
102 J. J. PEÑA

An
Intersubjective
Approach to
Somatic Clinical
Intuition (Figure
2)

The Art and

Science of
Embodiment
Clinical
Practices
Practice
(Figure 5)
(Figures 3 and
4)

Figure 1. A three-phase non-linear model for the somatic psychotherapist to approach

clinical intuition. It includes the intersubjective space, hemispheric integration, and
embodiment practices that each build upon one another and continue in a non-linear
path moving towards a depth of embodied understanding over time. Adapted from
Marks-Tarlow (2014a, 2014b, 2015).

evolving world that we live in. An overlay of clinical intuition and somatic
based approaches will be presented to support these viewpoints and per-
spectives through a three-phase non-linear model (See Figure 1). This model
provides a framework for the therapist to follow in the development of
incorporating clinical intuition into practice that includes the primacy of an
embodied intersubjective therapeutic relationship, a complementary right
and left brain approach to clinical intuition, and embodiment practices that
extend outside of the clinical therapeutic setting.
The paradigm shift in psychotherapy practice towards the acknowledge-
ment of the value of non-verbal, implicit processes in the clinical setting is
an exciting conversation for the field of somatic psychotherapy, which
intrinsically values and holds implicit, body-based experiences to be
included in the processes of psychotherapeutic work. Often overlaid within
the literature in regard to this are the connections between implicit pro-
cesses and clinical intuition (Schore, 2011). Additionally, notions of both
embodiment and intuition share the common thread of awareness, both
internally and externally. What is suggested is an emergence within the field
of somatic psychotherapy to both acknowledge and ascertain these inex-
tricable links and to provide a grounded framework from which to more
fully understand the clinical implications of intuition within the field and
practice; to perhaps provide a deeper understanding to a phenomenon that
is widely experienced but is vaguely understood. To initiate this, the author
 BODY, MOVEMENT AND DANCE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY 103

proposes an emergent definition of clinical intuition in the context of

somatic psychotherapy. This definition includes the what, how, and why of
clinical intuition to provide a thorough and grounded description that
advocates for its positive existence as a clinically relevant phenomenon in
the field of somatic psychotherapy in particular. It is derived from universally
acknowledged aspects of clinical intuition, arising from the theorists,
researchers, and practitioners previously overviewed, providing a somatic
perspective:
Clinical intuition is a way of knowing through sudden recognition, emer-
gent awareness, and/or non-verbal insight that is experienced in the inter-
personal, intersubjective field of a counselling session. It includes a right
brain, bottom-up, and implicit embodied mode of perceiving and/or know-
ing, which is guided towards holding complexity and facilitating change
(Marks-Tarlow, 2012, 2014a, 2015).

The embodied intersubjective therapeutic relationship as primary

Schore (2012) has described how clinical expertise ‘relies more on noncon-
scious nonverbal right brain than conscious verbal left brain functions’ (p.
42). This is within the context and understanding of the right hemispheric
functions of the brain, which includes creativity, attunement, empathy,
awareness of one’s own body, intuition, and intersubjective processes
(Schore, 2003, 2011, 2012). What comes from this is a deeper awareness
of the value of the therapeutic relationship and the centrality of a non-
linear and intersubjective point of view of relationship where one is seen
to ‘emerge out of a relationship with a significant other’ (Marks-Tarlow,
2014a, p. 49). This intersubjective space, in which right brain to right brain
affective states are exchanged between client and therapist, is essentially
the grounds for deep change to occur (Marks-Tarlow, 2012, 2014a). The
intuitively guided somatic therapist is essentially engaged in the presence
and process of feeling, including attunement to non-verbal aspects of the
present moment therapeutic exchange to support this process of change.
This begins first with the therapist’s ability to come into an embodied,
receptive mode of consciousness through becoming aware of inner sen-
sory, bodily based perceptions and feelings within self. This is essentially
the act of gathering one’s attention that arises from the connection with
the mind and body, and includes not only the experience of the therapist
but also the client. Through an embodied presence, the practitioner essen-
tially invites the client into their own embodied experience. In a non-linear
viewpoint, this is a two-way street for both therapist and client to enter
into the implicit realm of intuitive body-based awareness and experience
(See Figure 2 for illustration).
104 J. J. PEÑA

Intuitive experience
Inner guidance Implicit realm
Embodied awareness

Implicit realm Intuitive experience

Embodied awareness Inner guidance

Figure 2. A non-linear intersubjective approach to somatically oriented clinical intui-

tion for the therapist and the client. Embodied interoceptive processes that guide
intuition are just as important to the therapist as to the healing processes of the client.
Adapted from Marks-Tarlow (2012).

This intersubjective field creates a space for the novel experience of what is
new to emerge, which is also a part to affect deep change: ‘Whereas the left
brain can help people analyse problems, spell out choices, or make conscious
predictions about what might come next, only the right side carries the
creative capacity for something entirely novel, spontaneous or unpredictable
to emerge’ (Marks-Tarlow, 2014a, p. 159). Following the assumption within
somatic therapy that the body is always present, spontaneity is invited within
this process, and the effectiveness of a somatically oriented practitioner is
related to working with the awareness of bodily based experiences when they
emerge in the moment (Chaiklin & Wengrower, 2009). This also includes
working with implicit messages with an orientation surrounding meeting
the needs of the aspects of self that are split off, frozen, or out of explicit
understanding (Chaiklin & Wengrower, 2009).

The art and science of clinical practice

Although the right brain has been previously discussed as being associated
with the body and intuition, there is an acknowledgement in clinical prac-
tice in utilising both right and left-brain modes through shuttling back and
forth between the two (Marks-Tarlow, 2014a). This is essentially
a hemispheric integration which highlights the importance of interoceptive,
sensory and emotional realms with reason and thought based, cognitive
deliberation (Marks-Tarlow, 2014a). Siegel (2012) refers to this as ‘bilateral
integration’ (p. 41–46). It begins with an open focus (right) to focusing in on
detail (left) and then opening again (right). Over time, patterns shift from
right brain to left brain processing, as activities become no longer novel and
the implicit patterns transfer from the right side to the left (Marks-Tarlow,
2014a). As with any complex skill to learn, the more experience and exper-
tise developed, the more internalised and implicit it becomes. Therefore,
one is able to sharpen intuitive skills through being immersed in embodied
clinical practice itself through a process of left brain/right brain integration,
where the therapist processes novel experience and stores it as implicit
 BODY, MOVEMENT AND DANCE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY 105

embodied clinical intuition. This complementary approach can help to sup-

port the therapist in being able to be able to evaluate consciously what
occurs through asking questions, receiving feedback from supervision, and
witnessing and analysing what is occurring during the therapy session
(Marks-Tarlow, 2014a). This includes a self-reflective process that can help
to support clear boundaries between self and other in the intersubjective
field of clinical intuition, to be able to become more deeply aware of
somatic countertransference, as well as ruptures and repairs (Marks-Tarlow,
2014b). For a somatic therapist, this includes applications such as the
Kestenberg Movement Profile (KMP) (Kestenberg Amighi, Loman, & Sossin,
1999) which can be used for providing description, assessment, and inter-
pretation to non-verbal behaviour that may have been gathered through
clinical intuition. This could provide a language for clinical intuition, and
a way to integrate right brain and left brain processes to support the
clinician’s integrative, holistic clinical understanding (See Figures 3 and 4
for illustration).

A foundation for somatic based clinical intuition: embodiment

practices
Along with being able to traverse between right and left brain modes of
processing information that arise in the therapy session, the therapist must
also be able to discern between what is grounded and embodied clinical
intuition from moments that are guided through reactive impulse (Marks-
Tarlow, 2014a). Tarlow’s (2014a) points to how clinical intuition includes
being fully receptive, including remaining ‘open, engaged, and privy to
the whole context, both inside and outside our bodies’ whereas states of
impulsivity include defensive states of being, including countertransference
reactions and dissociate enactments’ (pg. 55). Because of this, safety and
trust are paramount, and is why the therapeutic relationship is
a foundational aspect from which to approach clinical intuition. The third
part to support this non-linear approach are embodiment practices for the
somatic psychotherapist to practice outside of the therapy room. Following
the thread of understanding that clinical intuition from a somatic perspec-
tive contains implicit, embodied understanding ‘it is not optional for the
somatic psychotherapist to be involved in a self-realizing movement mod-
ality or else intuition flails becomes the flakiness that scientific materialism
has labelled it as’ (Diaz, 2018). This is built upon the understanding of the
implicit nature of clinical intuition that becomes embodied within the
practitioner over time with clinical experience, cultivated by a relationship
to novelty and conscious, self-reflective processes as aforementioned. The
greater the diversity and breadth of experience as a clinician, the wider
range of implicit embodied wisdom becomes available in the moment,
106 J. J. PEÑA

Figure 3. Bottom-up cortical processes including sensation, movement, autonomic

arousal, and implicit and intuitive experience affect top-down, cortical processes such
as insight, reflection and beliefs. In this inter-looping system, the mind affects the body
as the body affects the mind. Adapted from Marks-Tarlow (2014a) and Ogden, Fisher,
Del Hierro, and Del Hierro (2015).

expressed as clinical intuition (Marks-Tarlow, 2015). This remains true for

embodiment practices for a somatic psychotherapist to engage in and hold
a relationship with continuously over time, creating a depth and breadth of
movement and feeling repertoire and capacity. Additionally, through
a discipline of practice, attention can become strengthened, and the ability
to interact skillfully with each situation as it arises in the moment can be
cultivated (Palmer, 1999). Therefore, freedom can be found in form, from
a perspective of disciplined movement arts such as the classical Indian yogic
and dance traditions, where mind/body/spirit become integrated (Gupta,
2000). These embodied practices must include a learning process which
goes from the unfamiliar to a feeling recall that is not linear memory, but
implicitly held. The practitioner learns one thing, then to another, building
an expansive embodied memory. The discipline of conscious mind/body
practices would be secondary to this foundation, which could further dee-
pen a self-reflective process to support clinical intuition as a somatic
 BODY, MOVEMENT AND DANCE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY 107

LEFT BRAIN RIGHT BRAIN

Verbal Sensory
Cognitive Emotional
Rational Intuitive
Explicit Implicit
Focused-Attention Open-Attention

Implicit
Embodied Clinical Intuition Novelty

Figure 4. The art and science of clinical practice supported through a left and right
brain hemispheric integration process. Novel information is processed through an
open-focused (right brain) to focused (left-brain) pattern that is stored as implicit
knowledge. The whole becomes evident through the parts of experience. Adapted
from Marks-Tarlow (2014a) and Siegel (2012).

psychotherapist. This third stage implies that, ‘a somatic psychotherapist

cannot be stagnant in the edge of the evolution of the feeling dimension in
their body’ and embodied practices are a part of this model for clinical
intuition (Diaz, 2018) (See Figure 5 for illustration).

Conclusion
The three-phase non-linear path for approaching clinical intuition is essen-
tially the integration of both knowing and not-knowing, which is alive in
every moment inside and outside of clinical practice. It is not only honour-
ing the mystery of life but also part of ethical practice for the psychothera-
pist to acknowledge the limitations of what can be understood in
a definitive or rational sense and turn towards the awareness of what
happens moment to moment, non-verbally and body to body. The thera-
peutic relationship has enormous subjective complexity that empirical
108 J. J. PEÑA

Figure 5. The relationship between embodied practices and clinical intuition.

Embodied practices inform and cultivate clinical intuition through an ongoing relation-
ship and must include novelty, to move from the unfamiliar to familiar to be stored as
implicitly held somatic intuition. Intuition becomes embodied through the cosmic
vessel of the body’s lived experience. Adapted from Marks-Tarlow (2014a, 2015).

validation cannot guarantee any outcomes with. This model aims to hold
the complexity of subjective, diverse lives and experiences intertwining and
to create a grounded framework in which to approach clinical intuition
through an embodied understanding. With knowing and not knowing,
there is acknowledgement of potential biases that can arise within this
model from subjective experiences such as through culturally based beliefs,
internalised oppression, and power and privilege (La Barre, 2013). This is
why there is an emphasis upon left and right brain integration for the
therapist to conscientiously navigate personal contexts. There is a clear
acknowledgement of the importance of a deepening of self-awareness.
This article has made connections between somatic psychotherapy and
the embodied experience of clinical intuition. It has explored clinical intui-
tion from an embodied, implicit perspective but has not explored other
aspects of intuition such as through clairvoyance or clear-seeing and clair-
audience or clear hearing (Palmer, 1999). There have also been recent
studies to suggest that embodiment extends outside of the body to the
surrounding kinesphere through imaginal and metaphorical realms of intui-
tive experience (Tantia, 2014). This may suggest that intuition is more than
an interoceptive process and could potentially move towards expanding the
definition of embodiment. What is clear, however, is that there is great
potential for the field of somatic psychotherapy to both further influence
and inform the field of psychotherapy as a whole with its perspective of
embodied clinical intuition. This article is a starting point with the intention
 BODY, MOVEMENT AND DANCE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY 109

to continue to unravel the mystery of clinical intuition to shed light upon

the genius of embodied understanding that can be cultivated in service to
health, well-being, and wholeness.

Notes on contributor
Jovahna Jasmine Peña, M.Ed., M.A. in Somatic Counselling with dual concentration
in Dance/Movement Therapy and Body Psychotherapy. Jovahna is an educator,
somatic psychotherapist, as well as practitioner of the Expressive Arts including
movement forms such as yoga and Odissi Indian Classical dance. She believes in
the power of the Expressive Arts to awaken consciousness, initiate transformation,
and heal through the deep alchemy of working on the physical, emotional, and
intuitive levels of experience.

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