EMBODIMENT RESOURCES:
Topics
Embodiment in Counselling and Therapy
Embodiment is fundamental to the human condition and has inevitably become increasingly important in counselling and therapy. Aspects of embodiment are taken into account by many approaches and therapists typically consider embodied knowing and communication, including how distress can be expressed through the body. I will focus here on therapies with embodiment at their theoretical core.
Body Psychotherapy
This is a mainstream branch of psychotherapy that emphasizes the integration
of mind and body. Practitioners draw on a range of techniques including
direct physical interventions (e.g. touch, movement and breathing). Some
of these techniques derive from other therapeutic approaches (e.g. Biodynamic
Massage, Gestalt or Psychodrama).
Some strands of Body psychotherapy integrate elements of body therapies like Feldenkrais or Rolfing and some apply cognitive science research.
Bioenergetic analysis is a type of body psychotherapy developed by Lowen and Pierrakos from Reich's work.
Focusing
Focusing emerged from research conducted
by Rogers and Gendlin to evaluate competing therapeutic
approaches. The research recognized the existence of the felt
sense, a visceral sensation that carries meaning.
Dance and movement therapies
Dance therapy or Dance Movement Psychotherapy "uses movement
to address emotional, social, cognitive, and physical needs of individuals"
(American Dance
Therapy Association). It is based on the principle that movement is
the "primary language" of the body and is intimately related to
emotion and thinking. Thus "the body reflects our way of being
as humans" (Halprin, D. 2002; 17).