From Duality to Nonduality

Since Descartes, the Western society with its modern culture has largely upheld a strict division between body, mind, and soul. This chapter challenges that enduring paradigm by revisiting the revolutionary work of Candace Pert, whose discovery of the psychosomatic network reconnected psychology and medicine in profound ways. Through the lens of embodiment theory and the evolution of classical and modern psychosomatics, the chapter argues for a holistic view – shifting from ‘body and mind’ to an integrated ‘bodymind’ concept. Readers are guided through a conceptual and evidence-based map of scientific overview that reveals why the body and psyche cannot meaningfully be separated, and why they should not be, either in theory or in practice. This section culminates in the introduction of the SomatoDrama method, distinguishing it clearly from more widely known approaches like psychodrama or Family Constellations, pointing out that SomatoDrama offers a fundamentally different experiential framework – one that allows the body's symbolic language and body memory to take center stage through spontaneity. By the end, readers are not only offered clarity, but a compelling reason to reconsider how we understand healing today.