Marianne Bentzen graduated as a relaxation therapist in 1980, and held a private practice in body psychotherapy until 1985, when she co-founded the Bodynamic Institute. After thirteen years there, first as a trainer and then as training director, she is now working as a freelance trainer and professional consultant in Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Russia, and North America. She is a member of the European Association for Body Psychotherapy and the Danish Psychotherapist Association. Bentzen focuses on establishing truth and peace in the field of consciousness. Her subjects include psychomotor development, neuropsychology, evolutionary psychology, trauma theory, and a spiritual framework for ego-formation.
Peter Bernhardt, MFT, is adjunct professor of psychology at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, California. He is a former core faculty member of the Somatics Department at the California Institute for Integral Studies and past president of the U.S. Association of Body Psychotherapy. He holds a private practice in the Bay Area.
Merete Holm Brantbjerg is co-creator, trainer, supervisor, and therapist in the Bodynamic System. She is Director of Bodynamic trainings in Scandinavia and originally trained as a psychomotor therapist. Brantbjerg has specialized in teaching body and cognitive coping strategies in relation to stress and shock, and also as related to self-care in the helping professions.
David Freeman received his MSW and DSW degrees from the University of Southern California. As Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia School of Social Work, his specialty is in family theory and therapy. Freeman maintains a private practice and is a highly regarded consultant to and a trainer of family therapists in the United States and Canada.
Dr. Freeman has written and edited six texts on family theory and therapy. His most recent books, Multi-Generational Family Therapy and Family Therapy with Couples: The Family of Origin Approach, emphasize the importance of working with the family elders.
Erik Jarlnaes is Co-creator of the Bodynamic System, a Cognitive Somatic Psychotherapy, and Bodynamic International. He has been creative director since 1982, and is presently director of Bodynamic International. He teaches and trains internationally, coaching Olympic chess players, European competitive runners, and world-champion rowing teams. He maintains a private practice in Denmark, his native country. Jarlnaes specializes in working with the concept of “peak experience,” the subject in which he has done extensive research on Olympic gold medal winners as well as those who have experienced traumatic events.
Steen Jørgensen is a founding member of Bodynamic Institute, Denmark. He has a M.Sc. of Psychology from University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He has Danish training as an examined relaxation and movement therapist, as well as training in the field of somatic psychotherapy. He is a certified therapist in Bioenergetic Analysis. His main interests include understanding body language, character structure, and the effects of shock traumatic experience on the personality, and he has contributed to various articles and books on the Bodynamic view on these topics.
Maggie Kline is a marriage and family therapist who maintains a private practice in Long Beach, California. She is also a school psychologist for Long Beach Unified School District. She graduated from the Somatic Experiencing Practitioner Program in 1998 and is a supervising therapist and faculty member for the Foundation of Human Enrichment. Kline holds a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from California State University, Long Beach. She has also trained in Bodynamics and is a graduate of the Body-Mind Institute for Postural Integration. She has been bringing Somatic Experiencing awareness into the public school system through parent workshops of special needs youngsters and has maintained a private practice for over fifteen years.
Peter A. Levine earned his Ph.D. in Medical and Biological Physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in Psychology at International University. He has spent the last thirty-five years studying stress and trauma and has contributed to a variety of scientific and medical publications. He authored the book, Waking the Tiger, Healing Trauma (North Atlantic Books, 1997), which has received international recognition. He teaches his approach, Somatic Experiencing, worldwide, including consulting with NASA during the development of the space shuttle. He has consulted at a number of hospitals and Mental Health Agencies.
Josette van Luytelaar is a photographer who likes to “freeze” people in different situations. As a psychologist, however, she specializes in “unfreezing.” Her main interests are peak and trauma work, panic disorders, and sexual problems. She is a certified therapist/supervisor in Bioenergetic Analysis, a Bodynamic Practitioner, and a European Certified Psychotherapist. She is also teaching general practitioners, unfreezing their professional attitude, at the University Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. E-mail: josettevanluytelaar@hetnet.nl
Lisbeth Marcher is Creator of the Bodynamic System, a Cognitive Somatic Psychotherapy, and Bodynamic International. Since 1984, she has been director of training. She is a teacher and trainer who presents internationally at universities and at conferences (bodypsychotherapy, cognitive, pre-perinatal). She maintains a private practice in Denmark, her native country. She specializes in working with children.
Erving Polster obtained his Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University in 1950. He is Director of the Gestalt Training Center in San Diego. He is also Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Along with his late wife Miriam, Polster is the co-author of an important text in gestalt therapy, Gestalt Therapy Integrated. Together they have also written From the Radical Center: The Heart of Gestalt Therapy. Polster is the author of Every Person’s Life Is Worth a Novel, A Population of Selves.