The Tao of a Woman

Dr. Michele Ritterman's latest book The Tao of a Woman (2009) is a tool for us to carry with us to move from the symptom trance to the healing stance. From Trance to Stance, is her latest understanding in a therapy of shifts, as occur in martial arts, instead of labels of people and visions of individuals as damaged, as opposed to wonderful, unique works in progress, like Michelangelo's Prigioneri series. WE ARE ALL WORKS IN PROGRESS! The goal of psychology is to help create a HUMAN FRIENDLY SOCIETY that caters to the bio-rhythms and other real and natural needs of the human organism.

Forward After a therapy session, I hand my client a post-it note that highlights what we have accomplished. These mysterious hypnotic mantras find their way to a wallet, a palm pilot, or a fridge door. They help the person reenter a replenishing meditation or mini-trance and sometimes they become part of the premises for the client to flourish. I have taken comfort in the mind-bending lines of the Tao Te Ching, Rabbi Nachman's Empty Chair and Eduardo Galean's The Book of Embraces. My own healers and mentors and favorite poets have helped me revision my course with the entrancing spin of a phrase, smooth as a well-worn stone. The confluence of these streams of wisdom worldly and spiritual are the heart of this work. Please carry this little book with you for those moments when suddenly you do not know where to turn. You may read these verses in the order presented: There are ten verses in each of ten thematic sections; or you may open to a random page to see what the book has to offer you in this moment. I hope you will find the counsel I wish for you and I know you will discover something more than I can know.

Michele Ritterman: Therapeutic Pioneer Michele Ritterman, Ph.D., is recognized as the Mother of the integration of Ericksonian hypnosis and family therapy, in her classic text: Using Hypnosis in Family Therapy (1982), she originated the concept of the symptom as a trance state that is actually suggested by various people and social structures. Michele has trained thousands of psychotherapists around the globe in her approach to working with couples and families -- shared and separate-track trances -- in family and couple interactions, and also the development of therapeutic counterinductions. Also a dedicated activist, her book, Hope Under Siege, (1986), with a foreword by Isabel Allende, considers the applications of psychotherapeutic principles in the larger context of political and social reality. In Dr. Ritterman’s words, “Reciprocity is the highest form of love. And love has everything to do with healing.” Her latest book The Tao of a Woman (2009) is a tool for us to carry with us to move from the symptom trance to the healing stance. From Trance to Stance, is her latest understanding in a therapy of shifts, as occur in martial arts, instead of labels of people and visions of individuals as damaged, as opposed to wonderful, unique works in progress, like Michelangelo's Prigioneri series. WE ARE ALL WORKS IN PROGRESS! The goal of psychology is to help create a HUMAN FRIENDLY SOCIETY that caters to the bio-rhythms and other real and natural needs of the human organism.