Johanna Putnoi has given us, out of her many years of work and study, one of the first truly accessible guidebooks of Somatics. These pages are clear and artistic expressions of an incredibly exciting way to learn about ourselves. With great gratitude to Johanna, I invite you to enter into this study of the life in the human body. It could change the way you view yourself and the world. It could even bring more compassion into the history of the human race, and we could all benefit from that.

       - Robert K. Hall, M.D.

The vital message in Johanna Putnoi's new book is profound in its elegant simplicity: Let the course of your life's journey be guided by the body's compass. In our technologically constructed world where cerebral cyberspace replaces people space, and virtual reality substitutes for human sensation and sensuality, it's time to return to some fundamentals of our existence.

      SENSES WIDE OPEN helps us do so by sensitively teaching us about the A-B-C's of the natural wisdom of the body:

• Acknowledging Bodily Communications
• Allowing Bodily Connections
• Accentuating Bodily Compassions
• Alleviating Bodily Concerns

       - Philip G. Zimbardo, Ph. D., Professor of Psychology, Stanford
        University, author, Shyness: What It Is, What To Do About It

This book is lovingly written with clarity, warmth, and kindness. Johanna Putnoi brings the reader into direct contact with the profound healthful nature of the natural intelligence of the body. Then she goes on to show us how to distinguish the difference between clear thinking and neurotic thinking, healthy embodiment and hedonism, intellectualizing and genuine feeling. Senses Wide Open brings us back to our bodies with practical and splendid exercises. I heartedly recommend it.

       - David N. Daniels, M.D., clinical professor, Department of Psychiatry
        and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford School of Medicine.

Women approaching mid-life and menopause know firsthand what it means to feel disconnected from their bodies. Far from respecting the body's natural wisdom, we sometimes feel betrayed by it. Johanna Putnoi calms us down, helps us breathe, and shows us how to embrace our bodies and rediscover ourselves within them. I really love this book!

       - Naomi Lucks, co-author, A Woman's Midlife Companion:
        The Essential Resource for Every Woman¹s Journey

Johanna Putnoi's intelligence, wit, compassion and perceptive insights combine to create liberating and transforming somatic work. Her ingenuity lies not only in her ability to teach people how to see themselves without judgment but also in her skill in encouraging them to accept, nurture and develop the best within themselves. This is not empty new age spirituality or trivial popular psychology. Johanna's work offers substance, integrity and grace.

       - Rose McDermott, Ph.D., Cornell University, author, Risk-Taking in
        International Politics: Prospect Theory in American Foreign Policy

Johanna Putnoi has developed a fascinating thesis rooted in somatic knowing. Her book promises to be a timely call for a return to the senses and to bodily wisdom as the wellspring of pleasure, knowledge, and healing. Her teaching is inspirational.

       - Janice L. Ross, author, Anna Halprin: A Performance Response to
        AIDS, Lecturer, Dance Division, Stanford University Drama
        Department

Johanna Putnoi is a unique and remarkable teacher/writer in the field of applied somatics. With this book she promises to bring the core wisdom pertaining to body intelligence and awareness to light.

       - Sabonfu & Melidoma Somé, teachers and authors:
        Echoes of the Ancestors