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Contemporary Body Psychotherapy: The Chiron Approach, edited by Linda Hartley, marks the imminent retirement of the founders of the Chiron Centre, and the end of the Centre's role as a provider of professional training. I was asked to review this book specifically as I am neither a body psychotherapist nor work from such a standpoint, and as such was faced with the challenge as well as the opportunity to delve into somewhat of an unfamiliar terrain.
Contemporary Body Psychotherapy is divided into two: core principles and new directions. The two parts effectively set out the credo and evolution of the Chiron Centre, and the application of its teaching. The book opens with a condensed course in the Chiron approach, beginning with Bernd Eiden setting out its fundamentals, development, and the essential difference between body therapy and body psychotherapy. The first three chapters of the book that comprise ‘Ground and Roots’ provides a welcome understanding of the various multiple lenses, where experimentation is at the heart of therapeutic contact and change.
The section entitled ‘The Crucible’ shifts from the fundamentals of the Chiron approach to its evolution. As the arguments outlined in Contemporary Body Psychotherapy broadened, so did my appreciation of the contribution of the Chiron Centre to contemporary psychotherapy. This section outlines the development of Chiron's move to integration and its embrace of the paradox of psychotherapeutic work as both wounding and healing. The authors present their work at many levels, while maintaining the humility of self-reflection, and, as I read, it became clear that this book is one that fully recognizes the complexity and challenges of modern psychotherapy.
The second part of the book focuses on applications of the Chiron approach, and it is an apt reflection of the multiple shoots that have sprouted from a training that encouraged individuality. However, the common thread is a willingness to mindfully extend the boundari