IN UTERO Feature Film Trailer [01:35] 2016 from Kathleen Gyllenhaal on Vimeo.
The film features several pre and perinatal psychologists who were pioneering this important yet much ignored field decades ago. It is an exploration into how our earliest environment creates the first imprint, which encodes our patterns of relating; to ourselves, each other and the planet.
Thomas Verny, the author of ‘The Secret Life of the Unborn Child’ was the first President of Association of Pre and Perinatal Psychology Health (APPAH) of which I am a member. It is one of the resources where I continue to update my ongoing learning in this area. I was lucky enough to hear Thomas Verny, William Emerson and many others speak at a prenatal conference in 2000.
I feel grateful to have studied mindfulness based psychotherapy at Karuna Institute. The Founders Franklyn Sills and Maura Sills were both educators in Pre and Perinatal Psychology and pioneers in their own right. Franklyn in Biodynamic Cranial Sacral therapy and Maura in Buddhist oriented psychotherapy. Their experience and knowledge became integrated in Core Process Psychotherapy. They created a potent and holistic psychotherapy training that attends to this early pre-natal territory of embodied patterning.
Core Process Psychotherapy is the oldest mindfulness based psychotherapy training in the UK. As a trainee I felt inspired by what I was learning. It was like a new door to my heart and mind opening up. As a tutor and practitioner, I am continually inspired by the potential of the heart, when given a spacious container and compassionate holding.
As this field becomes more widely known, I feel the privilege of having been taught by these pioneers and introduced to the potential of this territory. I’m also grateful to be part of the growing community trained by them and the ongoing work in this field.
The first issue of the journal of Pre and perinatal Psychology was birthed in Spring 1986 Edited by Thomas Verny. Here’s a picture of the front cover.
