Levine Stephen. A response: Sally Atkins and Melia Snyder
“NATURE-BASED EXPRESSIVE ARTS THERAPY. INTEGRATING THE EXPRESSIVE ARTS AND ECOTHERAPY”
In his response to the book by Sally Atkins and Melia Snyder, Stephen Levine not only notes the high merits of their writing, recognizing it as the best book that he has read on nature-based expressive arts therapy, but shares his personal experience in relation to the environment. He notes the human need to set down roots, and also to going beyond the boundaries of a habitual environment.
Hampe, R. NATURE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY: THEORETICAL, METHODOLOGICAL, AND PRACTICAL FOUNDATIONS
This review outlines a two-volume edition in German and English that reflects the current state of diverse psychotherapeutic and rehabilitation approaches that integrate work with various aspects of the environment. The publication is one of the first basic works that introduces this relatively new area of therapeutic activity and psychosocial support.
TOWARD AN ECOLOGICAL CIVILIZATION – AN INTERVIEW WITH ARRAN GARE
The interview focuses on Arran Gare’s thinking about ecological civilization and the relation between it and new theoretical ecology, strong democracy and political philosophy based on “ecopoiesis” or “home-making.” Gare believes that it is possible to create a global ecological civilization that empowers people to augment their ecological communities. In order to make it happen, complex transformations including the social and economic organization of societies as well as a radical transformation of our conception of humans as a cornerstone of new ecological (eco-human) culture are required.
DAOISM AND ECOLOGY – AN INTERVIEW WITH JAMES MILLER
The interview focuses on James Miller’s thinking about the relation between Daoism and ecology. Miller believes that, to develop a foundation for ecological sustainability, we need to break down the separation between human beings and the world we live in. This can be done by Daoist techniques of bodily cultivation, based on the concept of the body as porous and interpenetrating with the environment. Practices such as these will lay the groundwork for an aesthetic foundation of ecology.
This review outlines Miller’s argument that the Daoist tradition offers an important perspective for ecological thought based on the pervasion of nature in human existence and the porosity of the human body. Somatic practices can build a basis for the aesthetic perception necessary for ecological action. The reviewer suggests that there is a possible convergence between Daoism and the thinking of poiesis that shows the importance of the creative and expressive arts in ecological theory and practice.
BOOK REVIEW, "ENVIRONMENTAL EXPRESSIVE THERAPIES: NATURE-BASED THEORY AND PRACTICE"
Publication of the book Environmental expressive therapies: nature-based theory and practice, edited by Alexander Kopytin and Madeline Rugh by the publisher Routledge is a significant event in the expressive art therapies milieu and related fields of the health-promoting practices based on the creative expression and human interaction with the environment.