What we feel deserves science.
Sensations and self-perception deserve a firm place in research, rather than being set aside as merely subjective.
What drives me
Three core messages
Ancient body knowledge describes real phenomena.
Many traditional concepts point to processes that can be studied once they are translated into the language of today's research.
Insight happens between disciplines.
New ideas emerge where disciplines meet and research stays close to therapeutic practice.
“Sometimes it matters more to describe a phenomenon precisely than to explain it quickly.”
Guiding idea of my research
- SenseWhat does a person perceive in their own body during a therapeutic situation?
- DescribeCapture the experience precisely and keep inherited explanatory models open for as long as possible.
- TranslateBring traditional body knowledge into a language that today's research can work with.
- InvestigateUse phenomenology, neuroimaging and digital methods to examine what happens in the nervous system.
And back into practice: research and therapy should move each other forward instead of running side by side.
Areas of work
Three places, one theme
Systems Neuroscience
Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology. I did pioneering work in functional imaging of the brainstem and hypothalamus – regions that control the autonomic nervous system but were long considered almost impossible to measure with fMRI. A second focus is how somatosensory therapies work.
MHH profileInstitute for Integrative Therapy Research
The institute studies how integrative therapies work, such as acupuncture, osteopathy or mind-body methods. The central question is what happens in the body and the nervous system. This field receives little public funding and is still poorly understood.
The work is phenomenological, close to therapeutic practice and free of disciplinary boundaries: a decentralised network of partners from medicine, psychology, sinology and data science collaborates with short paths and flat hierarchies. The institute is funded through its own projects, foundations and private supporters.
I founded the institute in 2020 and serve as its scientific director.
insula-institut.orgDevelopment on every level
A method for working with human experience – in therapy, counselling and beyond. It includes all levels of experience as equals, because what concerns us rarely affects just one of them. The solution often lies on a different level than the problem.
- felt
- atmospheric
- motor
- verbal
- imaginal
Since 2020 I have been developing sinosomatics together with Dr. Annemarie Schweizer-Arau, use it in my own therapeutic work and teach it at the sinosomatics academy.
sinosomatics.de
Current projects
What I am researching now
Placing emotions in the hands
In the EmoGrasp experiment, people place emotional memories into their hands. We study how this changes the perception of their arms and their bodily self-image.
Embodiment in the clinic
With EmoGrasp4Pain we tested the technique in chronic pain. Further clinical studies on embodiment techniques will follow.
What does Qi describe?
Do traditional concepts such as channels and Qi actually describe processes that can be felt in the body? And how can we investigate this? In the HELIX experiment we made early channel descriptions from the Han dynasty digitally visible.
Embodiment in the scanner
We have already studied EmoGrasp with fMRI. In future we want to investigate further embodiment techniques in this way and make visible what happens in the nervous system.
Lab and treatment room
Research that starts from experience
My questions often arise in the treatment room: what does a person feel when touch, breathing or attention changes something in them? In the lab I examine what of this is reflected in the nervous system, and bring the results back into therapy and teaching.
Talks
Topics for conferences, training courses and professional audiences
- When Western science meets TCM
The worst mutual misunderstandings between research and Traditional Chinese Medicine, and how to avoid them. A bridge for both sides.
- For
- TCM conferences, training courses, general audiences
- Recently at
- Rothenburg, Brunnen, Lions Club Hannover
- What do channels and Qi describe?
Historical sources, felt sensations and phenomenological approaches: whether traditional concepts describe processes that can be felt in the body. With results from the HELIX experiment on Han-dynasty channels.
- For
- Acupuncture and TCM professionals, medical historians
- Recently at
- Hugh MacPherson Memorial Lecture, Middelfart, SMS Congress Tutzing
- Acupuncture and the brain
What acupuncture and other forms of therapeutic stimulation do in the central nervous system. The current state of research from functional neuroimaging.
- For
- Medical acupuncture, neurology, training courses
- Recently at
- SMS Congress Tutzing, Rothenburg
- Embodiment techniques for chronic pain
“Placing it in the hands” as a way to regulate emotional memories: clinical and experimental findings from the EmoGrasp project, including fMRI.
- For
- Pain medicine, rehabilitation, psychotherapy, hypnotherapy
- Recently at
- German Congress of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, HEAD-Genuit
- Making bodily sensations visible
From pleasant to pulling: digital maps of bodily sensations in clinical work and research, and what they reveal about mind-body therapies.
- For
- Psychosomatics, body psychotherapy, research
- Recently at
- TAO Congress Graz, Coburg, Bielefeld, Witten/Herdecke
- New Phenomenology for practitioners
An introduction to Hermann Schmitz's New Phenomenology and what it means for the therapeutic encounter, atmospheres and felt bodily experience.
- For
- Therapists of all orientations
- Recently at
- Rothenburg
- sinosomatics in clinical practice
Integrative treatment for endometriosis, infertility or tinnitus: current studies and mechanisms between TCM and neuroscience.
- For
- Gynaecology, reproductive medicine, ENT, integrative medicine
- Recently at
- ICIM Rome, Bad Zurzach, ÖGA Symposium Vienna
Talks in German and English, as a keynote, specialist lecture or workshop. I am happy to adapt topics to your audience.
Career
From theoretical physics to therapy research
- since 2021Scientific DirectorInsula Institute for Integrative Therapy Research (non-profit), Hanover
- 2020Adjunct Professor (apl. Professor)Systems Neuroscience, Hannover Medical School
- 2016–2020Endowed Professor (W2)Somatosensory and Autonomic Therapy Research, Neuroradiology, Hannover Medical School
- 2014–2016Junior Research Group LeaderNeuroradiology, Hannover Medical School
- 2014HabilitationSystems Neuroscience, Friedrich Schiller University Jena
- 2009–2013Postdoctoral ResearcherHarvard Medical School, Boston · University Hospital Jena · University Hospital Frankfurt
- 2009PhD, summa cum laudeGoethe University Frankfurt and Max Planck Institute of Biophysics: fMRI of the human brainstem
- 2008Postgraduate degree in Traditional Chinese MedicineICBAS, University of Porto
- 2005Diploma in PhysicsTechnical University of Munich and Max Planck Institute for Physics
Awards
- 2019Young Investigator Award, German Society for Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders
- 2017Friedrich and Alida Gehrke Prize for research in pain therapy
- 2015Outstanding Senior Researcher Award in Translational Research, Society for Acupuncture Research
- 2011German Study Prize of the Körber Foundation, 2nd place, natural sciences and engineering
- 2010Best interdisciplinary dissertation, Goethe University Frankfurt
Boards
- Scientific Advisory Board, Societas Medicinae Sinensis (SMS), Munich
- Scientific Advisory Board, HanseMerkur Centre for TCM, Hamburg
- Center for Systems Neuroscience, Hanover
Publications
Full list on Google Scholar and ORCID.
Contact
Enquiries about talks, collaborations and press
Email is the quickest way to reach me. For questions about training, please contact the sinosomatics academy.
post@florian-beissner.de
Copied