Thank you Sounds True and Netgalley for an ARC in return of my honest review.

Judith Blackstone explains trauma as undivided consciousness. As a psychotherapist she treats this through a process she has developed, called the Realization Process. This book is an interesting, in-depth book as to how trauma disintegrates our embodied wholeness and provides ways in which, and the importance of reintegrating the body and mind for healing.

This is a great book for people working in the field of trauma. Judith talks About the healing effects of meditation but how, in her view, it is not enough to repair trauma, that it is super important to join this with therapy to bring understanding to deeper beliefs relating to experience.

I recommend this book if you have been affect envy, or are working with people suffering trauma.

This is a great title for anyone who has suffered trauma, or those supporting them, as well as professionals in the trauma care field. Deep and insightful, this book will help you understand and guide you through the effects of trauma.

In Trauma and the Unbound Body, psychotherapist Judith Blackstone provides a very good explanation of how trauma fragments us, how those effects are stored in constrictions of the fascia, and how those constrictions continue to affect our emotions and behaviors. I would give 5 stars for these explanations, which I found easy to understand and very helpful.

She then discusses inhabiting the body as “fundamental consciousness” and describes her Realization Process to facilitate mind-body integration and release trauma-based constrictions. She offers many exercises throughout the book to allow the reader to practice this process. I could see how the exercises would probably be helpful, but I struggled to understand how to do them. I was also frustrated feeling like I didn’t understand what “fundamental consciousness” is, although the author says that she doesn’t know what it is either. It may be that these exercises just require a lot more practice than I’ve had so far—she does say the process sometimes takes months or years.

The book includes an appendix intended for therapists and other healers working with the Realization Process that had an interesting discussion of the evolution of the therapeutic relationship and some tips regarding how to apply the process to behaviors typical of different personality disorders.

References are provided in endnotes.

I think this book could be very helpful for both practitioners and those who have experienced trauma, although it will require patient practice. I suspect some familiarity with energy medicine or the chakras might make the process easier to understand.

I was provided an unproofed ARC through NetGalley that I volunteered to review. Because I have not seen the final published version, I cannot comment on the final editing and formatting.

This book is very deep and extensive in its coverage. It can be quite emotional when you dare to uncover the hidden traumas and skeletons in your 'cupboards'. This book is best read slowly so you can understand the process and get the most from it The author is extremely knowledgeable and it feels as though you are conversing with a therapist. Recommended reading for anyone and not just those with issues and problems to resolve. Thank you