Embodying research

Abstract

This article takes an experiential, relational perspective and explores how I engage an embodied, psychotherapeutic way of being in my research encounters. I argue that the embodied intersubjective relationship between participant and researcher – like the one between client and therapist – can be used as a vehicle to explore individuals’ experience and being-in-the-world. I seek to bring into the process the bodily experience both of my research participants and of my own self. The aim is not simply to be present to our mutual non-verbal behavior; it is also about inhabiting and exploring our embodied inter-subjective relationship. The focus is on the somatic duet lying beneath and between verbal interaction where significant implicit meanings arise in a more-than-verbal way. Specifically, I discuss the process “reflexive embodied empathy” and “embodied dwelling” to collect and analyse data. A distinction is made between researchers’ experience of somatic empathy and utilizing one’s felt-sense. In the second half of the paper, I offer two case examples which show my version of embodied phenomenological research in action.