Asaf Rolef Ben-Shahar, PhD

‘With The Heart In Mind’
Psychological Perspectives On Contemporary Art

I am a psychotherapist, writer and international trainer in psychotherapy. I founded two psychotherapy programmes in Israel and UK and am teaching regularly worldwide. I am Editor-in-Chief of the International Body Psychotherapy Journal, and an editor of three other journal, and have written numerous papers and book chapters. I have written four books on body and psychotherapy: Anatomy of therapy (Hebrew), Touching the relational Edge, When hurt remains and Speaking of Bodies.
Aside of the world of therapy, I am a father to two lovely girls, am a novice DJ and love nature and animals.
I take particular interest in improvisation and passion, in the connection between body and psyche, and the dynamic dance between aesthetics and the healing arts. It is my belief that good art is transformative and healing – regardless of its medium. There are myriad of nonverbal languages, including the bodily, the motoric and the visual, languages which can expand our consciousness, change our bodies, open possibilities and connect us to wider and broader realms. In this blog, I intend to look at contemporary art through the eyes of the heart, searching for ways in which art touches us and in return – ways in which we shape paradigms of aesthetics and order. At times, I shall do it by looking at specific exhibitions and exploring the work of particular artists, and at others – by looking at themes that interest me, themes which connect the emotional and psychological with the aesthetic and artistic.
It is my hope that this blog would stray from over-analysing art, but instead offer you a poetic and aesthetic experience, where words are given to the ways art can touch a heart, or churn a belly, or inspire more honesty, or allow for breath.