Lissa Wheeler’s book, Engaging Resilience: Heal the Physical Impact of Emotional Trauma: A Guide for Bodywork Practitioners.

Tamara: What inspired you to write Engaging Resilience?

Lissa: I’ve had a desire to write about emotional healing and bodywork for the past 20 years. I made a first pass when I sent a questionnaire through a Massage Therapy journal about what massage therapists would like to see in such a book. I was doing this project with a colleague. We got a lot of wonderful feedback and began putting the material together. She then became diagnosed with breast cancer and died within 2 years. This put an end to our project as her attempt to heal became an all consuming process.
 
Then, in 1993, I began studying a method called Integrative Manual Therapy where I found myself fascinated with a model for working with emotional trauma through the body. I studied everything I could about this method. Eventually I joined the faculty and began to teach this work. I became interested in everything that had to do with healing from trauma. This lead to my discovering Self Regulation Therapy or SRT. SRT explains how trauma is a physiologic process that is body based. This revived my interest in writing a book. With the encouragement of my teachers in SRT, I began the writing journey.

Tamara: Who is your audience?

Lissa: Anyone who works with the body. This includes massage therapists, occupational and physical therapists, movement therapists, and maybe even exercise teachers.

Tamara:  What do you hope people will learn from reading your book?

Lissa: It's important to understand how all trauma — both the body and the mind — will affect the physiologic pattern of the person’s body. I also hope they come to understand that working with a client who has experienced trauma doesn’t have to involve a psychological process. It is about understanding the physiologic process and that there are specific guidelines for working with trauma using any body-based modality. The path for understanding this process and these guideline form the core of my book.

Tamara:  What was the writing process like for you?

Lissa: It was very challenging as writing does not come easily to me. But I had remarkable support. I worked with six editors – each of whom brought a continuing deeper understanding of how to effectively communicate this important information.

Tamara: What is one piece of advice you would like to give to aspiring authors?

Lissa: Get lots of support. You don’t have to do it alone. It’s more fun with support.

You can check out Lissa Wheeler's book here or visit her website LissaWheeler.com.

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