Clarissa Cigrand, PhD, LPC,
Clarissa Cigrand, PhD, LPC, is a Core Assistant Professor and Co-Director of Faculty and Curriculum in the Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Counseling concentration of the MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. She is an educator, researcher, mental health counselor, and clinical supervisor and received her doctorate in Counselor Education and Supervision. She is passionate about the fields of transpersonal counseling, contemplative practice, contemplative pedagogy, ways of knowing, and social justice and liberation and deeply enjoys the honor of supporting bourgeoning counselors in their development.
22 Responses
Dan ,you’ve got a beautiful mind. Thank you for a shared time space.
Dan Siegel is in a category all of its own. There is so much intelligent and wise knowledge, so much heartfelt empathy for the human condition, and honesty and respect for the frail and struggling. A life-time of scientific research for us to tap into. He truly is a power source of a rare sort.
It is very effective for me to apply somatic approach therapy to the client.
It is very effective for the client.
Thank you Dan – especially your insights into the meaning of Self as the loving connectedness not only within ourselves but with all of life… to bring healing into the world Together
I have some of your books and some are even in an audiobook. I really like your calm way of explaining. Dan you explain in a step by step methode, which makes me wanting to finish the book in one day. It does take practice before getting the full feel for some exercises but you do pass on this information into an understandable one. Thank you for that.
This was a wonderful session. I’m so thankful to have learned from you both.
This sounds very similar to Buddhist self healing practices: the wheel, training the mind, etc. Please make your courses more affordable for all budgets. This economy is not the best! Thank you!
Great interview! Thank you for the recommended resources Dr. Siegel. I have always been interested in neurobiology. After watching this I found a book that you contributed to about Interpersonal Neurobiology and Clinical Practice. I will surely be looking into this book for more depth on this topic.
I’m a secondary Language Arts teacher and want to thank you, Dan, especially for Brainstorm, which celebrates the strengths of adolescence without slighting its challenges. It should be required reading in education programs everywhere.
I wanted to note that complex living systems self-organize – and self-maintain and self-transcend. I think that learning, like therapy, can be part of a creative path to self-transcendence, which I think can be understood as the fuller emergence of the potential of the living system of a human being throughout life- both the I and the MWe. Key to both practices, teaching and therapy, is facilitating the awareness that enables FACES and supporting people as they cultivate the qualities of the Tripod: these, I think, provide the dynamic steadiness that is self-maintenance.
I also want to say how moving, hopeful, and compelling I found Intra-connected to be. Thank you for the work you and all your colleagues are doing, Dan- from and for “MWe”: from the MWe I am, enriched by having come into relationship with you through your books, and for the pronoun itself. It’s proven to be a great catalyst for conversation with people in all kinds of environments and it has enriched the learning of students I’ve introduced it to- the tenor of the classroom shifts when we can talk about the “I”s we bring and the “MWe”s we’re becoming as we learn together.
I am completely enjoying the information that I find both tremendously insightful and also offering openings for healing.
Thank you all for your dedication years of study years of practice and for sharing your
loving motivations for humanity.
I am completely enjoying the information that I find both tremendously insightful and also offering openings for healing.
Thank you all for your dedicated years of study,, years of practice and for the sharing of your wisdom.
In short: all the loving motivations for humanity.
Great interview and explanations
Thank you Dan.
“Mwe” thank you too. A lot of insight into the integration of the mind and body. Thank you
Dear Dan, the world is blessed having you. Thank you for educating others in this important and deep field of wisdom.
Wonderful and enlightening to experience Dr. Siegel’s work more directly and hone in more on some key concepts and resources. Dr. Cigrand interviewed very effectively. Thank you to you both, and to Summit organizers!
While metaphors like “energy flows between brains” can sound appealing, they do not add clarity to our clinical understanding of client struggles. In reality, interpersonal dynamics and emotional regulation are grounded in observable neural, cognitive, and behavioral processes. We can explain complex relational and psychological issues effectively using well-established models of attachment, emotional learning, and nervous system activation — without the need for speculative or non-scientific language.
While the Wheel of Awareness offers a visually structured way to teach attention practices, it does not differ in substance from foundational mindfulness exercises or Herbert Benson’s clinically validated work on the relaxation response. It repackages well-established practices under a new metaphor without introducing fundamentally new scientific insights. It is essentially a guided mindfulness practice. For therapists who find the clinical anecdotes around the Wheel of Awareness compelling, I would encourage looking into the earlier work of Dr. Herbert Benson. His development of the Relaxation Response offers simple, accessible clinical practices that are grounded in well-established neurobiological mechanisms. It’s important to recognize that many techniques now being presented as innovative are actually built upon these solid, decades-old foundations. It might feel poetic to some listeners, but from a clinical standpoint, it’s unnecessary and misleading.
Thank you!!! It was amazing and full of feeling for me!
Thanks for making me aware of a whole new area of psychotherapy that I’m looking forward to exploring and learning about. The idea of Mindsight really resonated with me and gave me language to describe many things I’ve done to survive and heal, as well as hope that there is so much more that I have yet to learn. I’m looking forward to reading through your books.
Thank you, Dr. Siegel, for leaving the uncompassionate medical field behind for a whole new approach to healing. And thank you, Clarissa, for an amazing interview.
Rebekah
This was a very interesting conversation. I have not read any of Dr Siegal’s books but I have listened to a number of his talks before. His description of the wheel of awareness was very reminiscent for me of the 16 exercises of mindful breathing (Anapanasati sutta from Buddhist philosophy/practice) that I learned about through the teachings given by Thich Nhat Hanh, accessed through the Plum Village app…a life saver for me during the COVID-19 pandemic years. His description of self being more than just an “I” also reminded me of Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings on interbeing and that ” a flower is made of non-flower elements”. It is good that these ancient Eastern teachings on life and what it means to travel through this world are being studied and reinforced by the work of Western researchers and practitioners towards the ultimate intention of relieving suffering in this world of ours. Thank you for a conversation that made me engage mind, body and consciousness.