What if the key to healing trauma isn't in the story you tell, but in the sensations you feel?
Dr. Brian Tierney talks with Robert Weiss, PhD—a retired psychologist with 52 years of clinical experience and the developer of Mindfulness-Based Somatic Emotional Processing (MBSEP).
Born in Lima to German Jewish Holocaust survivors, Weiss shares how his own early trauma shaped a career that evolved from behavioral training into Ericksonian hypnosis, EMDR, brainspotting, and finally MBSEP.
He explains why mindful attention to bodily sensations often heals more deeply than narrative or meaning-making, and how breath, resourcing, and therapeutic relationship can address dysregulation and fragmentation.
Through powerful case examples—intergenerational grief, workplace anger, childbirth loss, and even his own Parkinson's diagnosis—Weisz illuminates what it truly means to move into fear and transform through the body.
Highlights:
- How early trauma as a child of Holocaust survivors shaped Weiss's clinical path
- Why MBSEP focuses on sensation over storyUsing breath and "scene work" for regulation and resourcing
- How Ericksonian hypnosis built the foundation for relational safety
- Intergenerational trauma and the therapeutic use of numinous imagery
- Working with anger, shame, guilt, and mixed emotions
- Moving into fear as a practice—including Weiss's own journey with Parkinson's
- Ayahuasca, love as transformation, and the limits of "McMindfulness"
Guest: Robert Weiss, PhD
https://mbsep.com/about/robert-weisz-phd/https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Robert-Weisz/248111300
Host: Dr. Brian Tierney
www.somaticdoctor.com
We want to hear from YOU:
What resonated most with you—the intergenerational case example, working with anger, or Weiss's perspective on moving into fear with Parkinson's?
Let us know in the comments below.
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Hashtags:
#TraumaHealing #SomaticTherapy #MBSEP #BoundlessBodyPodcast #RobertWeiss #Mindfulness #Hypnotherapy #EricksonianHypnosis #IntergenerationalTrauma #ParkinsonsAwareness #EmotionalProcessing #SomaticExperiencing #IFS #Brainspotting #EMDR
