Eleanor Criswell Hanna - In Memoriam

By Gabriel Posner

Like many of you, I first met Eleanor when I enrolled as a student in the training program at the Novato Institute. I knew very little about Eleanor when I first enrolled in the program, and 18 years later, I can confidently say that I barely scratched the surface of understanding this incredible and exceptionally humble soma.

As a director of the board, I have been fortunate to have had many opportunities to get to know Eleanor. She was a lifetime member of the board of directors of the Association for Hanna Somatic Education, Inc. When the AHSE was established, the board decided that only graduates of the Novato Institute (NI) could be voting members of the association and serve on the board of directors. The AHSE and NI have always been separate organizations, but they were and have been bonded together. For this reason, Eleanor was named a Designated Director on the board, serving as liaison to the HSE training program.

When you graduate from NI, before you become a certified Hanna Somatic Educator, you have a conversation with the NI Teaching Team. They ask you how you plan to utilize the knowledge and certification you obtained and what you want to do for the field. I knew then that I was interested in building a research foundation for HSE and was encouraged to pursue that direction. Five years after graduating from NI, I began looking for a school to complete a graduate degree that would help me become a researcher.

At some point in my research, I discovered Saybrook University, a mostly-online school with degree programs in psychology, counseling, nutrition, and the program I chose, mind-body medicine. Eleanor seemed to be aware of the program and, in typical Eleanor style, suggested that might be a good choice. She knew the Dean of the school, Don Moss, and put me in touch with him. The conversation with Dean Moss helped me make the decision to apply and enroll in the school where I received a doctorate in Mind-Body Medicine. I recall being shocked by how perfectly the program courses matched up with my true desire, which was to study somatics at a graduate school level.

I learned over the years that Eleanor did not automatically divulge information; that it had to be drawn out methodically and specifically. What Eleanor did not automatically divulge in this particular instance was that Saybrook University was the new name of the school she founded, originally called the Humanistic Psychology Institute (HPI). She also did not automatically divulge some fascinating pieces of information: that the second director of HPI was Thomas Hanna, that the invitation to take over HPI was what brought Hanna from Florida to California, or that HPI was where Thomas Hanna hosted Moshe Feldenkrais for the first training of the Feldenkrais Method in the United States. This was one of the fascinating, and I would say joyous, things about Eleanor––each conversation was an opportunity to get a little more information, another kernel of knowledge or life experience, another anecdote. And, I believe, that founding HPI, now Saybrook University, is one of the gifts we received from Eleanor. Not only did she carry on the HSE training program after Thomas died, but my understanding is that she essentially brought Hanna here where he was exposed to biofeedback, neurofeedback, the Feldenkrais method and all the other extraordinary mind-body practices developing in California for which he coined the term Somatics, and that led him to develop Hanna Somatic Education.

So, I went through my program at Saybrook University. I completed my dissertation there with a study of how HSE is currently being practiced (I encourage you to read the details of my dissertation on the AHSE website). I asked Eleanor to serve on my advisory committee for the study, as the content expert (she said yes, I probably should ☺).

And so, of course, when I completed my studies, I invited Eleanor to come to the graduation ceremony in Pasadena. I was very excited to hear that she would indeed be attending my graduation. As this was the first in-person graduation ceremony Saybrook was hosting after the COVID pandemic, graduates from 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 were all invited to attend. So, we filled a large auditorium with graduates and their supporters.

What Eleanor did not mention when she agreed to come to my graduation ceremony was that she, herself, was an honored guest at the ceremony and was being recognized during a 50th-anniversary celebration of Saybrook University (originally HPI).

And in the moment, during the graduation, I had a very somatic experience. I had what we think of as a second-person experience, observing Eleanor’s first-person experience through my first-person lens. In that moment, I realized that by fulfilling my dream of graduating and embarking on the next phase of my career as a doctor of Mind-Body Medicine, I was also partially fulfilling Eleanor’s dream of this school being a place for practitioners and researchers to explore humanistic and somatic principles. I realized in that moment that my vision was a part of Eleanor’s vision. Saybrook’s success was her success, my success along with the 200 or so other graduates that day was her success, and truly the success of all of us here, being practitioners of HSE, and growing our association into what it is has become, is a tribute to Eleanor’s grand vision.

So, while I miss hearing her voice and hearing her laugh, and I miss her thoughtful, wise advice, I am happy knowing that I, we, all of us are carrying on this amazing work and further realizing the vision of both Eleanor and Thomas.