From soma to psyche. The journey of the Sapiens
Abstract – for all contributions
Ferrari’s psychoanalytic hypothesis is based on the idea that the mind acquires the drive for its own evolution from the body. From this approach also derives the idea that disharmonious balances can be created between the components of the individual system, especially between the body dimension and the psychic dimension, which are in mutual relation, and sometimes also that a rediscovered balance of the body can help a path of recovery in states of mental suffering. The experience that Fausta Romano has been developing for some time, searching for practices that can accompany the path between analyst and analysand can be placed in this framework. After several attempts, the practice of Tai Chi Chuan, an ancient Chinese martial art in which balance and mental centering is fundamental, has been considered suitable to promote some initiatives to support the analysis. The following articles illustrate: the development of Ferrari’s hypothesis and thought, resulting from a constant study and theoretical/clinical research with the group of colleagues at the Institute, together with other Brazilian and French psychoanalysts interested in the subject; the personal journey carried out by Fausta Romano with Tai Chi Chuan, and the one made by some analysands; the results of the seminar with other therapists conducted by Anna Siniscalco, and assisted by Fausta Romano herself; an article by Anna Siniscalco on the origin and meaning of Tai Chi Chuan and an article by Roberto Seghetti, on the inseparable relationship between mental balance and body balance in Eastern martial arts as the result of a very ancient thought which, unlike what happened in the Western world with the clear separation between soma and psyche, has ended up permeating the Chinese mental universe, from medicine to philosophy, from military strategy to family life. Each contribution, although signed in a personal capacity, was nevertheless the result of an exchange of ideas and collaboration between the three authors who consider teamwork and mutual cooperation to be of great scientific value.
