Body psychology. Body therapy exercises. Caution TOP (Body Oriented Psychotherapy)

Freedom, grace, beauty, healthy body, healthy mind. Or, pain, discomfort, stiffness, tension…

What does your body choose?

- First option! What questions can there be?

So why then, looking in the mirror, we exclaim like O. Mandelstam, - " Give me a body- what should I do with him, so single and so mine?"

Throughout life, our unspoken desires and pent-up emotions are blocked in the body. Feelings are suppressed.

That's how it's formed muscular armor". Having dropped it, a person leaves behind a feeling of guilt, prohibitions associated with life in this world, anxiety, - he leaves" beyond this world". The release of feelings enlivens, the heart opens like a flower bud, somewhere inside you feel warm - and you are told that it is light next to you. You have a new, hitherto unknown sense of inner well-being, despite the fact that external circumstances can remain the same.Emotional flexibility appears.The body becomes relaxed and strong at the same time.These changes are pleasantly surprising.You listen to him and you are good with your body.

Man does not exist apart from his body. The body expresses what it feels, how it relates to life.

Returning back to your body and enjoying it helps a person body-oriented therapy- a direction of psychotherapy, which includes techniques united by a common view of bodily (physiological) functions ( breathing, movement, body static tension etc.), as an integral part of a holistic personality. The body will always tell you where the discord is. Body Oriented Psychotherapy is a new way of perceiving problems.

Founder of body psychotherapy Wilhelm Reich emphasized full and deep breathing and the ability to surrender to spontaneous and involuntary movements of the body. Breath, movement, sensuality and self-expression these are important functions of our body.

"A person who does not breathe deeply reduces the life of his body. If he does not move freely, he limits the life of his body. If he does not feel full, he narrows the life of his body. And if his self-expression is reduced, he limits the life of his body", writes Alexander Lowen, representative of body-oriented therapy and founder of bioenergetic analysis. A person cherishes and cherishes his body, but at the same time, betrays him, and he does it every day, for months, for years. And all the difficulties of a person come from this betrayal of his body, says Lowen.

With active breathing energy flow increases. When a person is charged with energy, his voice becomes more sonorous, bright, his face shines, literally. Body psychotherapy works with sensations, feelings, processes, impulses. You will not be treated, only helped to get to know your bodily habits, help you see their root cause, limiting beliefs that a person holds unconsciously. And then, by changing the habitual movements, you can form new healthy ones.

In body-oriented psychotherapy, a special role is played by touch as the primary form of contact. The man remembers with his body how his mother held him in her arms and pressed him to her; body froze, there was a feeling of goodness, warmth. But, touch is important not only for the baby. As an adult, touch is also essential for emotional health. In body therapy, the physical contact between therapist and patient places a great deal of responsibility on the therapist. Respect for the therapeutic relationship is essential.

The body is a continuation of the psyche, and by working with the body, with the experiences contained in it, you can heal the soul, you can learn to enjoy what is happening in life. Exercises offered body therapist, help to relive the tension that caused the formation of muscle armor and release it.

"In the body - comfort, in the head - pure, light, in the heart - love for people ... It seems that it was born again", - this is one of the reviews of a person who has undergone body-oriented psychotherapy.

The body is a kind of book, and the person himself is the writer of his life.. Once you become aware of your bodily habits, wherever you are now, return to your body, become aware of your true desires and feelings, and begin to rewrite the chapters of your life.

12 months ago

There is an opinion that any person reads all the information about the interlocutor in 10 seconds. The fact is that the body is like a cast from our psyche. All our traumas, stresses, fears are deposited in the so-called muscle clamps, which form signals recognizable to others: aggression, insecurity, fear.

In the form that it is now, body psychotherapy arose on the basis of psychoanalysis. A student of Freud, a certain Dr. Wilhelm Reich noticed that all neurotics are very similar. They have similar movements, body structure, facial expressions and gestures. A hypothesis arose that emotions create a corset, a kind of human muscular shell. Reich began to treat people through the body, removing the clamps one by one, and people began to feel happier. Destructive emotions left, neurosis receded.

It turned out that any physical and psychological traumatic events are deposited in the body. On the one hand, muscle clamping is a consequence of injury, and on the other hand, protection from negative emotions. The muscular shell helps a person not to feel, not to be aware of unpleasant emotions. They pass, as it were, past consciousness, settling in the muscles in the form of spasms. Over time, the muscle corset itself begins to generate emotion. Then we feel unconscious anxiety, fear, although there are no external reasons for them.

So what is Body Oriented Therapy? Who is it for? This is a non-verbal technique that is gentle on the client's psyche, restoring his contact with the body, turning a person to face himself and his needs. The method will be useful primarily to those people who are not used to talking about themselves, are poorly aware of their emotions and feelings, often do not understand what exactly is happening to them, but characterize their condition with one word: “bad”.

Characteristics of therapy

The characteristic of therapy in the body-oriented approach is determined by its general objectives. They are the same stages that a specialist works on in order to help a person overcome trauma and improve the quality of his life:

1. De-energization of impulses that provoke a feeling of unhappiness, rupture of neural connections that support negative complexes, expectations, fears.
2. Purification of the human psyche from negative accumulations.
3. Recovery of CNS reflexes.
4. Teaching methods of self-regulation, the ability to withstand psychological stress.
5. Learning new information about yourself and the world.

To achieve these goals, body therapy uses different methods and approaches.

These include:

• Reich's Vegetative Therapy.
• Rod energy.
• Bioenergetics Alexander Lowen.
• Breathing exercises.
• dance therapy.
• meditation techniques.
• Massage.

All body oriented therapy and exercises, various methods of body therapy are body oriented. Through the body and movements, various centers of the brain are activated. Thus, emotions and stresses begin to be processed, which for many years were driven deep into the subconscious and were manifested by outbursts of anger, addictions, and physical illnesses. The bodily oriented therapeutic effect pulls them out, helps to survive and clean out the memory of the body.

Body Therapy Techniques

Applying the techniques and basic methods of body psychotherapy, the therapist focuses on the person himself and his individual characteristics. According to the principle of an individual approach, a set of exercises is selected for each individual person. Some methods work in the treatment of this particular client, others do not. But there are exercises in body-oriented psychotherapy that help everyone. They can and should be applied independently.

grounding

When we are stressed, we do not feel supported. The grounding exercise is aimed at returning the energy connection with the earth. You need to focus on the sensations in your legs, feel how your feet rest on the ground.

We place our legs a quarter of a meter, socks inward, knees bent, bend over, and touch the ground. Straighten your legs, feel the tension and slowly, slowly unbend.

Breathing techniques

We never think about how we breathe, but we often do it wrong. Constantly nervous, we begin to breathe shallowly, preventing the body from being saturated with oxygen. “Breathe,” the therapist often says in psychotherapy sessions, because the client freezes and breathing becomes almost imperceptible. Meanwhile, breathing techniques help to relax muscles, remove muscle clamps and turn on the recovery mechanisms of the body.

Breathing in a square

We count: inhale - 1-2-3-4, exhale - 1-2-3-4. Repeat for 3 minutes.

Breathing for relaxation

Inhale - 1-2, exhale - 1-2-3-4.

Breath to activate

Inhale - 1-2-3-4, exhale - 1-2.

Healing breath

Close your eyes and concentrate on the process of breathing. Breathe deeply and confidently. Start mentally moving around the body and imagine that you are breathing in different organs and parts of the body. Track your feelings. If you feel discomfort in any organ, imagine that you are breathing healing sparkling healing air and watch how the discomfort leaves this organ.

Relaxation

Helps release muscle tension. There are many relaxation techniques, but the most accessible and simple is the alternation of tension and relaxation. You need to lie down comfortably and strain all the muscles with all your strength, including the muscles of the face. Hold it for a couple of seconds and relax completely. Then repeat again and again. Already after the third repetition, a person feels laziness and a desire to fall asleep.

The next relaxation method is auto-training. Lying or sitting with your eyes closed, imagine how the muscles of the body relax one by one. This method works well in combination with breathing techniques.

How does a body-oriented psychotherapist work?

While some of the exercises can be used on their own, their benefits are like a drop in the ocean compared to the work of a body-oriented therapist. The specialist uses deep methods of body-oriented therapy to remove the muscle shell forever. In addition, a therapist is needed in order to be close to a person when an emotion imprisoned in a compressed muscle breaks free, because it will somehow need to be accepted and experienced. Professional therapeutic techniques of body-oriented therapy are very effective. They remove even the strongest clamps and restore the normal flow of energy in the body.

Vegetotherapy Reich

The classical vegetative therapy of Reich, the founder of the method, uses several techniques:

1. Massage is the strongest impact (twisting, pinching) on ​​an inadequately clamped muscle. It increases the voltage to the maximum and starts the process of prohibitive braking, which dissolves the shell.
2. Psychological support for the client at the time of the release of emotions.
3. Abdominal breathing, saturating the body with energy, which itself, like water in a dam, demolishes all the clamps.

The first experiences of Reich's body-oriented therapy showed the high effectiveness of the direction. But the followers of the Reich exercises were not enough and, like mushrooms after the rain, new interesting methods began to appear.

Bioenergetics by Alexander Lowen
The symbiosis of Western and Eastern practices is the bioenergetics of Alexander Lowen. To the legacy of the founder, Lowen added a special method of diagnosing clamps with the help of breathing, the concept of grounding and many interesting exercises to accelerate the movement of human energy, relax the abdomen, pelvic muscles and release expression (getting rid of the squeezed negative emotions.

Bodynamics

Bodynamics, which is now fashionable, with the help of simple exercises, works out very serious things: boundaries, ego, contact, attitude and even lifestyle. Bodynamics has learned to test a person by studying his muscle clamps, the so-called hyper and hypotonicity. Practical experiments have shown that by influencing certain muscles, certain emotions can be evoked. It is on this that all bodynamic exercises are based. For example, if you want to evoke a feeling of confidence, strength and healthy aggression, hold something in your fist. This will help you get through the tough times. That is how, with clenched fists, man has always met danger and emotion has helped him to survive.

Biosynthesis

The next method of body-oriented therapy - biosynthesis attempts to bind together human feelings, actions and thoughts. Its task is to integrate the experience of the perinatal period into the current state of man. This method continues the improvement of grounding, the restoration of proper breathing (centering), and also uses various types of contacts (water, fire, earth) in working with the therapist. At the same time, the therapist's body is sometimes used as a support, thermoregulation is worked out and voice exercises are applied.

thanatotherapy

Yes, that's right, the concept of death is encrypted in the word thanatotherapy. It is believed that only in death is a person most relaxed. Thanatotherapy strives for this state, of course, leaving all participants in the action alive. The method uses group exercises when one is in a static state, for example, lies in a “star” position, and the other manipulates some part of the body, moving it as slowly as possible to the side. Participants talk about experiencing a transcendent experience of floating above their body and feeling completely relaxed.

Meditation

Meditative psychotechnics take their origins from Buddhism and yoga. It will take some time to master them, but the result is worth it. Meditation makes you focus on your body and makes it possible to feel the energy flows inside it. It allows you to restore integrity to the loose psyche and forms new missing psychological qualities.

Meditation is a great relaxation method. If you focus on any one thought or point of the body, all other muscles will lose tension and negative energy will go away.

What is the difference between body-oriented psychotherapy and other methods? From the very beginning of the use of the method, ever since the appearance of the Reich exercises, it was clear that this was a phenomenon unique to psychotherapy. Firstly, there was no need for long conversations, discussion of dreams, immersion in childhood memories. You could do without words. The psychotherapist got to the patient's trauma through the body.

All the exercises of the body-oriented therapy acted carefully, quickly, and as sparingly as possible on the client's psyche. This is the main advantage of body psychotherapy. In addition, the Reich technique killed two birds with one stone - along with mental health, it also returned bodily health.

Wilhelm Reich Techniques

“The armor blocks anxiety and energy that has not found a way out, the price of this is the impoverishment of the personality, the loss of natural emotionality, the inability to enjoy life and work.”
Wilhelm Reich

"Good" upbringing in childhood and constant suppression of emotions in adulthood fix the tension of the corresponding blocks on the muscles. This tension, becoming chronic, further suppresses the free movement of energy flows. Sooner or later, it leads to the formation of a "muscle shell", which creates fertile ground for the development of various resistance and even struggle with the outside world, and therefore with oneself, since the natural emotional activity of a person is suppressed. A person does not feel or cannot fulfill his true desires, come to a balance and understanding of himself.

Spending day after day, year after year in such a corset, a person becomes more and more "heavy", he is shackled by the burden of emotions that he carries around in the form of a kind of clothing, armor. As a result, a person ceases to notice his stiffness and lifelessness, loses a keen interest in life and completely moves to the head, where he spends his whole life.

Ocular segment- this is the first segment from which the process of removing the shell begins. It includes the muscles around the eyes, the forehead, the eyebrows, the top, sides, and back of the head, the back of the nose, and the tops of the cheeks. It also includes the muscles of the neck, located directly under the occipital part of the skull.

This entire area is a conduit for energy moving in and out of the body. The eyes are especially important here - they say that eighty percent of our energy enters and exits through the eyes. All our feelings can be expressed through the eyes, and in the same way they can be blocked in the eyes. Essentially, any place in the body through which energy enters or exits is potentially a place where energy can be blocked. Children are naturally open and vulnerable to energetic and emotional influences from outside.

When a child is surrounded by an atmosphere of love created by caring parents, he visually and energetically absorbs all these impressions with wide open and trusting eyes. When a child is between screaming, quarreling parents, then unconsciously begins to block this violent energy, not letting it in, especially through vision, because not a single child wants to see that such things are happening around him.

Blocks on them arise because of the so-called social fears. (Something is wrong in my relationships with people).

These include fears such as:

1. fear of making a mistake, a mistake, a mistake

2. fear of hearing (seeing) people's assessment of themselves

3. fear of offending (insulting) another person. It is associated with childhood memories, when, out of infantile naivety, we said “something is not right” to relatives, mothers, friends at home.

External manifestations of the block:

1. Abnormally shifty gaze

2. abnormally fixed gaze

3. strong and constant “frowning” of the forehead during a conversation

4. severe frowning of the eyebrows with the formation of a permanent wrinkle between the eyebrows

5. always "surprised" raised eyebrows and wide open "naively" eyes

Patient's feelings:

1. Complaint like "it hurts to look", a constant desire to squeeze the temples with your hands, "press" your eyes into the sockets

2. Reduced vision, most often myopia occurs

3. All complaints that may be related to the fact that the vessels that feed the eyes are chronically "clamped"

4. Complaint of headaches (excessive tension of the eye muscles)

5. Difficulty in crying (as noticeable abnormal condition)

6. Conversely, constant tearfulness (as a noticeable abnormal condition)

The tense muscles around the eyes contain repressed emotions. When the senses awaken and begin to be released, pouring out of the eyes, their awakening brings a new clarity to vision. Clear vision includes not only the eyes of the physical, but also the eyes of understanding and intuition. Physical eyes can see remarkably, while on a more subtle energetic or intuitive level, almost total blindness can occur.

Throat and jaw. There are a lot of emotionally significant themes in the mouth - not only anger, but also pain and fear - which will begin to appear in the process of breaking free from the shell. In this case, most likely, all those artificial smiles and superficial charm that have been accumulated over the years will be lost. As they go through the process of breaking free from the shell, they will discover a much more sincere smile, connected to their natural, authentic sources of love, laughter and joy.

* Reich called the second ring of muscles in the body the oral (oral) segment. The oral segment includes the mouth, lips, tongue, teeth, jaw, ears, lower half of the nose, and the back of the head behind the mouth. Enormous amounts of energy enter and leave the body here. All our sounds and words are expressed through the oral segment. Here all food, all nourishment is accepted or rejected. Through the mouth, as well as through the nose, breathing is performed, especially while running. It was with the mouth that we suckled our mother's breasts in infancy, it was with its help that we first experienced deep pleasure, which Reich considered a kind of oral orgasm. He argued that if a newborn is not given the mother's breast, the resulting tension or restraint in the mouth area will deprive him of his natural capacity for sensual pleasure.

* Speaking of pleasure, the mouth, lips, and tongue are all involved in kissing during pre-play and lovemaking, and play an important role in giving and receiving pleasure during sexual maturity.

* In addition, deeper feelings and emotions rising from the heart and abdomen pass through this segment to find their expression. Thus, the mouth is very actively involved in the expression of feelings. As with any segment that has a lot of energy flowing through it, there is also a lot of blockage and tension focusing.

* Breathing in neo-Reichian therapy is done through the open mouth, and this is where the first signs of blockage can usually be seen. A closed mouth cannot take in air or release sounds, energy, or emotions, so it is important to remind clients to keep their mouth open when they breathe.

* Here I want to briefly mention the nose, which, although it is an important part of the face, is not in itself a separate segment. It functions by interacting closely with the ocular and oral segments, and the nasal cavities through the back of the mouth exit directly into the throat. The nose is not very mobile and, as a means of expression, cannot be compared with the eyes or mouth, but it has its own language, revealing secret feelings that people would prefer not to display publicly.

* When it comes to blocking emotional expression, the mouth segment can be seen as an extension of the neck segment, located in the throat area, because they work together, in close relationship. In this chapter, I will describe the functions of both of these segments.

* When parents tell their children to stop crying or screaming, their throats try to choke out the rising energy and emotion, swallow them up, and their mouths shut tightly so that nothing can slip out.

* The cervical segment is the third Reichian segment, which includes the throat, back and sides of the neck, larynx, and root of the tongue. All vocal sounds that can be blocked by muscle contraction are formed here. This tension interferes with the movement of energy from the bottom up, through the mouth outward, and also prevents us from receiving energy from the outside. It is through the neck and throat that our head connects to the body. Here the mind and body literally meet, and the phrase: "keep your head up" indicates the need to maintain control over yourself.

* Here, in the third segment, more than in any other, you can clearly see and recognize the three main emotions - anger, fear and pain. The muscles of the throat and neck are easily accessible to work with the hands, and this makes the third segment one of the most interesting places where tensions in the body are concentrated. The throat is indeed a very clear and accurate map of repressed emotions.

* Anger is held in the muscles that start under the ear just behind the jaw and run down the sides of the neck, attaching to the center of the collarbone—these are called the sternocleidomastoid muscles. When we are angry but try to block the rising emotion, these muscles begin to visibly bulge, becoming tense and hard as ropes, indicating that we are ready to explode or charge into a fight. When the therapist presses or massages these muscles with his hands, most often anger starts to show up. At the same time, the client can turn his head from side to side, saying the word "no". It helps release anger.

* Many people block anger by making their voice soft and inexpressive, so making angry noises and shouting out words is very helpful to release this emotion from the throat. It is very effective to growl and grunt like a wild animal. Sticking out the tongue as you exhale with a sound helps to release the anger that is held in the upper part of the throat. Fear in the cervical segment is held in the back of the neck and throat.

* To get in touch with this emotion, you need to focus on the breath, opening your eyes and mouth wide. Inviting you to exhale with higher sounds, such as a high-pitched “eeee!”, also helps to connect with and release fear.

* You can very easily feel the constriction caused by fear if you imagine that someone is sneaking up behind you with the intention of hitting you on the head. Your shoulders will immediately rise reflexively, and your head will be drawn into your body to protect this vulnerable point. This is where we feel helpless.

* In humans, chronic tension held in the back of the neck turns the shortened muscles into a tight bundle, pulling the head back and the shoulders up into a habitual defensive posture. However, in most cases, the therapist's hands can penetrate these muscles, releasing tension and releasing fear.

* The pain is held in the front of the throat by the muscular sheath that runs from the collarbone under the jaw. It is here that tears were swallowed, it was here that sorrowful and sad words were left unspoken. The therapist can massage these muscles while maintaining a deep breathing pulse and inviting the client to make sounds. On an energetic level, I often find that if I run my hand up the throat without touching it, the energy will begin to flow in the direction of release.

* We begin to awaken and revitalize the energy in the mouth segment by grimacing and bringing awareness to the tensions around the mouth. Stretching your face in a continuous sequence of exaggerated and bizarre expressions is an effective and enjoyable way to relax your mouth muscles.

* By sticking out our tongue and looking at the other participants at the same time, we not only relieve the tension held in this area, but we also challenge societal norms and conventions that say, "Adults do not behave like this."

* As in an individual session, angry words spoken with feeling and energy can release emotions that have been suppressed for years.

* …It is not always easy to find the right point at which the client suddenly releases himself and an explosion of feelings occurs. To celebrate life, we must return to a more natural way of expressing ourselves, reclaim our energy and use it to reach higher states of consciousness. Expression is life, repression is suicide.

* ... As a result, the face comes to life again, becomes natural, restoring the ability to reflect a greater range of feelings. Of course, you can still keep a straight face while playing poker if you need to, but the face itself is no longer dead, it is no longer in the grip of chronic control mechanisms.

* In addition, you have opened the gate, the entrance to your energy system. You have removed the lid from the pot, and now it will be easier to get to everything that lies under it, in the lower segments. What's on the inside comes out more easily, and what's on the outside can go deeper into the core because the primary tools of expression—your eyes, mouth, and throat—can now assist this two-way flow of energy more.

Thoracic. In the system of bodily armor discovered by Reich, the heart is only a part of the thoracic segment. This segment includes the chest and all the muscles located in the chest area from the shoulders to the lower ribs, both in front and behind. In addition, it includes arms and hands, which are essentially an extension of the heart. We can easily feel this whenever we reach out to another person in search of love, or we push someone away from us, using our hands as the main means of expressing the feelings of the heart.

In addition, all the qualities of a loving heart: tenderness and sympathy, care and desire to protect - we express with the help of hands. Therefore, Reich's inclusion of the arms and hands in the cardiac segment certainly makes sense. The thoracic segment is expressed through a characteristic pause of inhalation - breath control, shallow breathing and immobility of the chest. As we know, the breath pause is the main way to suppress any emotion.

The next important thing to keep in mind when working with the heart center is that there is a strong connection between love and sex.

Perhaps now is a good time to remember how Reich explored the human body. Feeling that Freud's analytical techniques were ineffective in treating psychological problems, he developed methods of body-oriented therapy. Reich based himself on his own discovery of the fact that energy must flow freely through the seven segments of the body. The source of this energy, according to Reich, is the sexual impulse. Thus, the energy that we feel as love (here again we are talking about passion, falling in love), as a manifestation of a healthy heart, depends on sexual energy.

A special emphasis on purity (from low sexual energies) ultimately leads to the castration of the sexual animal that lives within us, and to disconnection from the energy source of love itself. As a result, the heart cannot radiate love because it receives too little fuel to ignite its flame. The work, or part of it, is precisely to set that fire ablaze again.

Emotions that arise in the region of the chest segment, we call "unbridled passion", "heartbreaking sob", "scream" or "unbearable longing". These natural emotions are inaccessible to a person chained in a shell. His passion is "cold", he believes that crying is "unmanly", that it is "childish" or something "inappropriate", and to experience "passionate attraction or longing" - "softness" and "lack of character".

The muscles of the thoracic segment form a complex system, especially around the shoulders, where they join and overlap with the throat segment. The throat, in turn, also plays the role of a means of expressing or blocking the feelings generated in the thoracic segment.

A lifelong habit of holding back fear usually results in a flattened or depressed chest. The tension is concentrated and held in the back of the neck and the top of the shoulder blades - the shoulders are compressed inward, as if protecting. You can experience this for yourself: contract the muscles at the back of your neck so that your head is thrown back and up, pull your shoulders up and forward-in, while trying to narrow your chest. This is what a contraction caused by fear looks like. Tension is created throughout the back, including the neck and shoulder blades.

Pain, unlike fear, is held in the front of the body, especially in the muscles of the anterior chest. It is also held in a layer of muscle that starts at the collarbone and runs up the front of the throat and jaw to the chin, lips, and root of the tongue. These muscles are involved in the expression or holding of tears, crying, sadness and grief.

Anger causes the chest to swell - fill with air. The shoulders straighten and look huge, the muscles in their upper part harden. The chest is constantly in a rigid expanded state and is not able to relax. Such breasts are ready to “explode” at any moment, and therefore the muscles on the sides of the neck also become stiff from the constant effort to contain anger. These muscles start just below the ears and run diagonally forward and down the neck to the center of the collarbones where the sternum begins. They are involved in turning the head from side to side as a sign of denial. These same muscles connect to the jaw, ears, sides of the head and temples, and thus all these areas are involved in preventing anger from escaping.

The chest armor is manifested in the clumsiness of the hands and is expressed in "rigidity" and "impregnability". The total armoredness of the head, neck and chest segments is typical of the patriarchal cultural environment - especially in the Asian "higher castes" - the atmosphere of "chosenness". This is consistent with the ideas of "inflexible character", "greatness", "detachment", "superiority" and "self-control". The image of a military man always corresponds to an external manifestation, embodied in a head, neck and chest chained in a shell. There is no doubt that the characteristic posture in these cases is associated with nothing more than with the shell.

The containment of the organs of the chest usually includes those movements of the hands that are expressed in "stretching" or "hugging". These patients usually do not give the impression of paralyzed mechanisms, they are quite capable of moving their arms, but when the movement of the arms is associated with the expression of craving or attraction, it is restrained. In severe cases, the hands, and even more so the fingertips, lose their orgonotic charge and become cold and damp, and sometimes rather painful. More often than not, it is just an impulse to choke someone who is encased in a shell of shoulder blades and arms and which causes the fingertips to tighten.

The containment mechanisms in the thoracic segment are associated with pain and injury to the heart. When we begin our work here, we encounter all sorts of emotional damage in this area, from mild to severe, from mild annoyance to deep emptiness. If a mother dies or leaves the family when the child is two or three years old, then such a tragedy leaves a deep mark on the heart. But we also carry smaller wounds in this segment, such as lack of parental attention at important moments in life and the resulting tendency to disappointment: "Mom doesn't care about me."

The rigidity of the shell in the thoracic segment can be different. If it is soft, then access to the senses is provided even with natural chest breathing. In cases where the shell is powerful and durable, then most likely you will have to deal with enormous muscle stiffness and strong protective compression: when you press your hands on the chest, it simply does not move. Such "reinforced concrete" chests are quite common; their bearers built up this heavy carapace to hide and contain pain and rage. The amazing thing is that these people on the outside can be nice, polite and pleasant.

Everyone has such a superficial layer - a “handshake mask”, a social personality interacting with other people in everyday contacts. If you think about it, it seems truly amazing that we, being dressed in an almost steel armor around the chest and heart, manage to maintain this pleasant external facade. The main way to open this segment, whether with a heavy or a light shell, is breathing - inhalation, exhalation, restoration of the most important life rhythm. This key opens, or rather dissolves, the tension that interferes with our contact with our own heart.

The lives of such clients are characterized by a lack of initiative and disability based on their inability to freely use their hands. In women, because of the breast shell, sensitivity in the nipple area often disappears; lack or insufficiency of sexual gratification and aversion to breastfeeding are also a direct result of this armored segment.

The pectoral shell is the central part of the entire muscular shell. It develops during critical conflicts occurring in the life of the child, apparently long before the formation of the pelvic segment of the shell. It is easy to understand that in the process of destruction of the thoracic segment, traumatic memories of all kinds invariably arise: about a bad attitude, the frustration of love and disappointment in parents. Revealing memories does not play a big role in orgone therapy; they are of little help unless accompanied by the appropriate emotion. Emotion in expressive movement is necessary to understand the suffering of the client, and if the work is done correctly, eventually the memories will come by themselves.

Diaphragm - this is a secret center of control and management, one of the "open secrets" of the human body: everyone knows that we have a diaphragm, but no one pays much attention to it and does not think about what it does. There are usually more interesting things going on.

When the stomach starts to hurt after eating a lot of junk food, we suddenly realize that we have an intestine. When we inhale too much smoke and start coughing, we are reminded of the lungs and their need for fresh air. When we feel sexual desire, our attention is drawn to the genitals.

But aperture? It just doesn't figure in the body picture. And yet it controls our emotional expression more than any other segment.

The diaphragm is a thin, dome-shaped group of muscles that sits directly below the lungs and is in constant motion. Whenever we inhale, the muscles in the diaphragm contract, moving downward to create space for air to enter the lower part of the lungs. Whenever we exhale, the diaphragm moves upward, pushing the air out.

Breathing is one of those bodily functions that never stops. It happens automatically, constantly and without interruption, from the moment of our birth until our death. Thus, the diaphragm is constantly pulsating, constantly moving up and down, and this constant pulsation makes it one of the main means of energy transmission in the body.

According to Reich, one of the basic principles of human health is that energy should flow freely through the seven segments, moving in waves or pulses through the fluid contents of the body. In this movement of energy up and down throughout the body, the diaphragm is a key site because it is here, more than anywhere else, that energy can become blocked.

Our breathing is, to a certain extent, subject to conscious control. If desired, we can hold our breath for a limited time, straining the diaphragm for this. You can try it right now. Take air into your lungs and hold it. Feel how you contract your diaphragm muscles to stop your breathing. This contraction significantly reduces the pulsation that occurs in the body, preventing the flow of energy. And since the flow of energy is closely related to the expression of our feelings, this means that by tightening the diaphragm, one can also impede the movement of waves of emotions. Thus, we have the ability to control our feelings from this place - which we do.

A little lower is the belly and the sex center, and in a way the diaphragm is like a passageway that leads to our inner animal energy, to all the primary feelings associated either with infancy or with sensuality - with the very foundations of emotions. Whenever we want to cut ourselves off from these feelings rising either from the abdomen or from the sex center, it is the diaphragm that is where we create tension to avoid contact with them, to push these primal impulses back, to drive them out of sight. and from our consciousness.

When we talk about a state of emotional splitting in a person, in which one part of the body expresses some desire and aspiration, and the other fights this impulse or rejects it, then often such a splitting passes through the diaphragm.

This is especially true in situations involving love and sexuality. The heart, located above the diaphragm, expresses a certain desire, while the sex center, located below it, may want something completely opposite.

In many ways, the mind is constantly fighting our basic needs, and the diaphragm plays a very active role in this.

The tension associated with inner thinking accumulates in the diaphragm, and therefore anyone who spends a lot of time thinking, planning, reasoning, and comparing will inevitably create chronic tension in this segment. This is another aspect of the role of the diaphragm as the main control center.

Looking at the Indian chakra system, you will see that the third chakra - an energy center located in the solar plexus, very close to the diaphragm - is traditionally associated with such topics as power, evaluation, competition, opposition and cunning. Thus Kelly and the chakra system agree on this point.

All three basic emotions—fear, anger, and pain—are held back by the diaphragm, and the resulting tension manifests as tightness. Muscles become stiff and difficult to move.

As the diaphragm moves down, we begin to get in touch with the fear that is held around the core of the energy body, roughly in the area of ​​the physical abdomen. As soon as the diaphragm begins to pass the downward flow of energy, the abdomen is involved in pulsation and at this moment the client comes into contact with fear.

This effect is most pronounced in thin women with flat stomachs. They are easily classified as the fear-holding type: they have weak muscles at the periphery of the body, and they themselves are very light, as if with wings on their heels, or as if their bones were made of light material. With such flat bellies, one can only wonder where their insides fit. However, a tense belly can store a lot of fear, and this is the first emotion we encounter when the aperture hatch opens. This can be very frightening because it is often associated with feelings of helplessness, fear of not being able to handle some important issue, or being unable to stand up to some powerful figure.

All the energy of people who hold back fear is withdrawn from the surrounding world to the center and compressed there. This is their way of escaping from some experienced threat or danger. But such compression leads to physical exhaustion. When the energy is pulled towards the center, all you can do is fall down. There is no power in the legs to stand, no power in the arms to defend themselves, and the eyes become blind and disabled. This is an extreme case, but I am highlighting it to show how people who hold fear have the periphery rendered ineffective by the unavailability of an energy source, since all the energy is held around the core.

When we breathe into the belly, allowing the energy to pass under the diaphragm, fear can be released. And only then is it possible to feel our strength, because the blockage in the diaphragm does not allow us to reach the vital energy stored in the lower body.

When the emotion being held is anger, the diaphragm freezes to prevent the energy from moving outward. In the case of holding the pain, it is immobilized in both directions - both when inhaling and when exhaling - so that the feeling itself is blocked.

Add to this the ability of the diaphragm to split the body in half, splitting energy in the manner already described, and you can see how important this segment is as a regulator of energy flow. And in conjunction with the throat, it can cause a complete cessation of energy, so that all movement will stop, and keep everything in a kind of lifeless balance.

The muscles of the diaphragm, with the help of tissues and ligaments, are attached around the circumference to the inside of the entire chest. Where the diaphragm connects to the back of the body, fear is held.

Reich talks a lot about holding fear in the back, saying that the shape of the body in this place gives the impression of waiting for a blow to the back of the head. It's the result of a shock, a surprise attack... everything seems to be fine, and then, "Bang!" The head goes back, the shoulders tense, the spine bends in an arc. It’s not for nothing that we say that a horror film “gets cold” because it touches the fear that is held in our backs.

Working with this area often brings to the surface surprising and unexpected things hidden there. Topics held in the back are something of a secret - that's why we hide them in the back.

The diaphragm is associated with many things that we have swallowed - literally, figuratively and energetically - and especially with swallowing something that would make us feel angry, disgusted, nauseated. Then, at the moment of swallowing, we could not give free rein to the natural gag reflex, but some exercises help to provoke it.

Nausea often sets in with such force that a person can actually vomit, which is good, because along with vomiting there is a powerful emotional discharge. Often, along with disgust, rage splashes out: “How dare you make me eat peas?” or “How dare you make me go to school?” Along with this nausea and rage, as the diaphragm relaxes, everything that we have ever been forced to do and that we did not want to do comes to the surface.

By now you already understand that our emotions can be contained, felt and expressed in all segments. But as we move down, these emotions begin to come out of the deeper areas of the body, and their intensity increases accordingly.

In particular, if the client begins to cry at the beginning of the shell-release process, then the energy of tears and crying will be expressed through the eyes, throat, mouth, and perhaps to a small extent through the chest. That is, the energy will remain in the upper body. Looking at the body of the client, I see that the energy does not penetrate below the chest segment, and crying is accompanied by high-pitched sounds, a kind of whining and complaining. Or it contains a certain quality of whining - an irritation that would like to turn into anger, but does not have sufficient strength, and therefore can continue forever.

As I invite the client to breathe deeply and begin to work on his chest, the lungs take deeper and deeper breaths, and then sobs begin to come from the heart area, rushing through the throat to the mouth and eyes. Then, if the client stays with this crying, there comes a moment when the diaphragm relaxes, the energy descends into the lower segments, and deep sobs rise from the abdomen.

You are familiar with the expression "heart-rending sobs" as well as the expression "pain that turns the guts inside out" or "feelings that turn the guts." This is a linguistic indication of how the intensity of emotions increases as we descend into the lower parts of the body.

Stomach is our next step in, or down, in the process of breaking free from the shell. This is where feelings arise. This is where the impulses of energy begin to move.

* The upper segments can be the means of expressing these feelings and impulses, while the abdomen is their source. Similarly, the upper segments can be receivers of impressions coming from outside, but it is the stomach that responds to them.

* Whatever we feel - pain, disgust, rejection, fear, anger... the source of these feelings is in the stomach.

* In Western countries, people are more accustomed to focus on the head, so the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe stomach as a receptacle for feelings may seem strange at first. For example, when a feeling of disgust arises, we may think that it originates in the head, and the direct expression of disgust is usually limited to the mouth, which is twisted in a grimace of disapproval, or perhaps the area of ​​the throat, where the corresponding sounds appear, indicating dislike. However, in traditional Chinese and Japanese cultures, the belly is seen as the seat of psychological and emotional well-being. This is especially true of the point (hara), which is located in the lower abdomen, about three fingers below the navel, and is considered the source of vital energy.

* In the Indian chakra system, in the lower abdomen, near the hara, is the second chakra, which is responsible for social interaction, group energy and communication, as well as for emotions and feelings.

* The second chakra builds on top of the first as the next rung on the ascending ladder of human needs. The first chakra takes care of the basic needs for survival - food, shelter and sex. And only when they are satisfied is it possible to enjoy social interaction - tribal and family life, as well as the resulting emotional atmosphere.

* Taking all this into account, it can be assumed that the Western habit of giving the mind a dominant position is nothing more than a local cultural feature. In fact, the processes of thinking and feeling are distributed throughout the body.

* The abdomen is the place where we were connected with the mother through the umbilical cord even before birth. Therefore, it is here that all these primary feelings “baby-mother” are located - needs and their satisfaction, nutrition and support - feelings that arose in the womb and were transferred to infancy.

* Due to their primitive pre-verbal nature, these feelings naturally find themselves buried under numerous subsequent experiences, laying down layer after layer and pushing our primary emotions into the subconscious. Because of this, in the abdomen there is a feeling of unconsciousness surrounding it, an atmosphere of something unknown, deeply hidden - including our oldest and earliest traumas - and especially those associated with fear.

* Any work with the abdomen is likely to affect this layer of fear, and with it a whole range of feelings, such as helplessness, loss of strength, the desire to run away, hide, not stay here for a second.

* Sometimes when these feelings are touched, people literally hide in the stomach. They cannot escape outward, and instead their attention goes deep inward. It becomes a way of cutting yourself off from any awakened fears.

* This coping strategy, developed in childhood, is equivalent to the proverbial behavior of an ostrich burying its head in the sand so as not to see the approaching danger. This image works well as a metaphor for certain forms of human behavior, especially the helpless child who cannot run away from an angry or aggressive parent. The only way out for him is to hide inside.

* One of the strongest emotions you are likely to encounter in the abdomen is fear. This fear-filled contraction must be approached very carefully, as it may be associated with shock, and then a vigorous approach will only cause re-traumatization or intensify the initial experience of shock.

* Usually, to get into the core, I emphasize taking deep breaths into the abdomen while maintaining eye contact. As I do this, I gently place my hand on those areas of my abdomen that feel hard or tense.

* Often I do not even touch the physical body, but only hold my hand an inch or two above the skin, establishing a connection with the energy. The energy body is easily accessible here because the physical body is relatively soft and fluid here. There are no bony structures, joints, or ligaments in the abdomen. There is only a wall formed by the muscles and holding the insides, as well as their constantly moving contents.

* In contrast to the tension held in the muscles of the upper half of the body, which usually accumulates in well-defined places, such as the jaw, the sides of the throat and others, the tension in the abdomen exists mainly in the form of an amorphous mass. In such a situation, direct pressure on the muscles with the fingers and palms is likely to be less effective than the impact on the energy level. This is especially true when dealing with fear.

* The main thing that the client should do at this stage is not to run away, not to hide, but to remain in contact with the discovered feeling. Courage and awareness are required here, because the instinctive reaction is to hide, to run either inward or outward. If the fear has been felt and released, then the way is open for the release of anger, which is often very impressive.

* It is not difficult to imagine what kind of rage can rise after the fear that blocked the natural response of the child has been released, and the possibility of a genuine reaction to coercive commands in childhood has become possible.

* Let's imagine that a child lives in an environment of constant threat to life: for example, he has a hot-tempered or almost always drunk father. This child cannot show his rage or anger, as this will provoke even more violence. Such emotions should be hidden deep in the stomach, where they can then lie for years. And when the individual is eventually given permission to get in touch with and release these long forgotten feelings, they often manifest as a deadly rage directed at the parent.

* Sometimes, after successive working of the segments up to the abdomen, the released energy and emotions begin to rise through the diaphragm, but are blocked in the chest or throat.

* As a result, after many sessions passed by the client, there comes a moment when a free channel opens all the way to the stomach, and then the person acquires the ability to work steadily from the depths. This usually happens towards the end of the course, when clients are already able to connect with what is in the deepest part of their being and accept what they have not wanted to see for their entire adult life - gut-wrenching sadness, grief or pain. It can be a huge loss experienced in childhood, such as the loss of a mother at the age of three or four.

* It is these kinds of feelings - the severity of the loss, the destructive disappointment, the deepest rage - that are held in the abdomen and energy core. The same themes can be encountered in the process of working with the upper segments. We may experience a traumatic experience many times, psychologically or emotionally, but each time we work deeper, we gradually get closer to the feeling that resides within the core. And suddenly, unexpectedly falling into the stomach, we find ourselves in the very middle of it, in full and absolute contact with it.

* The abdominal segment is associated with themes of mother-child relationships, with deep feelings, with unhealed emotional wounds - with something negative contained in the stomach. Now it's time to turn to the positive aspect.

* The stomach has a great capacity for pleasure. It includes, for example, the deep pleasure of an infant curled up in its mother's arms, suckling her breast or resting on her body. A person experiences pleasant sensations in the physical body through the energy center of the abdomen. In this segment, there is a commonality between the physical and energy bodies and their mutual penetration. Therefore, feelings in the physical body are easily felt and vibrate in the energy body. The child at the breast is completely absorbed in his occupation: his lips are sucked, his hands are touching, the stomach is filling, the whole body is being nourished. These sensations of nourishment and fulfillment are experienced through the abdomen, which receives the feelings and transmits them to the energy body. And it expands from pleasure, creating an aura of satisfaction and enveloping the entire physical body. The feeling of deep relaxation and contentment that comes after a child has eaten is also an experience of the energy or second body.

* In Reichian practice, after an intense session, a client who has experienced a strong emotional release naturally enters such a space of pleasant relaxation. This is one of those rare moments in an adult's life when he can really let go of all tension and anxiety, feeling that nothing needs to be done, that everything is fine.

* This feeling of organic integrity is a bioenergetic phenomenon, very pleasant, but for most people unattainable in ordinary life. In some situations, we can experience moments of happiness or excitement. But these sensations cannot be compared with the experience of wholeness, which causes a feeling of pleasure in our core.

* There is, however, another kind of experience that gives us almost the same pleasure, and that is sex. Sexual intimacy, achieving orgasm, love - all this can lead us to the same heights of bliss. Our ability to enjoy such experiences is completely determined by the healthy state and energy fullness of the next, pelvic segment.

Pelvic. * Sigmund Freud discovered and declared publicly that the vital impulse is sexual in nature, and it is the violation of this natural impulse in childhood and adolescence that underlies human suffering and neuroses.

* Sexual energy has endless possibilities.

* When people, for whatever reason, suddenly realize that they are not fulfilling themselves in life, some of them begin to look for ways to free themselves from the prison in which society has placed them. That's when they come to a psychologist. And just then they are introduced into the process of removing the muscular shell, the last segment of which is the sexual center.

* Reich called it the "pelvic segment". It includes the pelvis, genitals, anus, all the muscles in the thighs, groin and buttocks, as well as the legs and feet. In the chakra system, this segment corresponds to the first chakra, which is responsible for the physical body, the thirst for life, the primary desire for survival. How does damage occur in this segment? Obviously, the general atmosphere of sexual repression and sexual taboo in the child's home environment inevitably permeates the child's psyche, even if nothing is said directly.

* A variety of manipulations take place around sexuality. Of all our natural faculties, it is the most attacked. We need sexuality and want it, sexual energy overwhelms us and makes us strive for pleasure. And at the same time, there are the strictest taboos and rules around sexuality. The generally accepted solution to this problem through suppression is very similar to the following actions: a pot is filled with water, its lid is sealed tightly, after which the pan is put on the stove and the gas is lit - sooner or later something is bound to explode.

* The practice of pulsation takes a completely different approach: stripping off the shell and releasing the tension in and around the pelvic area opens up the possibility of living and celebrating the newly awakened sexual energy.

* From the very beginning of any pulsation group, we are constantly working with the pelvic segment, because that is where our life force comes from. Once released, the sexual energy begins to flow throughout the body. In a sense, this energy is like crude oil. As it ascends through the remaining segments and chakras, it becomes more and more refined, manifesting itself in a non-genital, non-sexual way. But the original fuel and power for all other forms of expression is sexuality. The source of both unimaginably pleasant sensations in the stomach and the overflowing love of an open heart is sexual energy.

* But although we work with sexual energy from the very beginning, I know that the sexual center cannot be approached directly until the armor in the other six segments is weakened. It is no coincidence that the pelvic segment occupies the last place in the Reichian process. Sex is at the very depths of our biology, and the themes of sexual pleasure are at the deepest roots of our psyche. And therefore, working with the shell of this segment is a very delicate task. This area is often so traumatized that direct contact with it will only lead to repetition of the injury and deepening of the wounds. In addition, direct contact with the genitals can provoke sexual arousal, which is not related to the process of liberation from the shell. The purpose of the process is to release tension and restore energy flow, not to stimulate erogenous zones.

* There are many other ways to get in touch with the pelvic segment. This is deep breathing into the sexual center, and pelvic movements, and kicks, and massage of tense muscles. Sometimes I can press hard on the adductors of the thighs - the adductor muscles located on their inner surface. Reich called them "moral muscles" because they are used to squeeze the legs, preventing access to the genitals - especially women do this. I may also ask the client to contract and release the pelvic floor muscles between the anus and genitals. This also helps to relax the shell of the pelvic segment.

* In the practice of pulsation, people who have done a significant amount of work in removing the shell naturally begin to connect with the pelvis and they may experience pleasant sensations. At the same time, they may also feel shame, embarrassment, or guilt. It is important for the therapist to see both of these aspects—pleasure and guilt—because this is one of those splits that are found in the pelvis. Along with the ability to enjoy and the desire of the body to receive pleasure, there is also a layer of conditioning that covers them, filled with all sorts of “possible” and “impossible”, “must” and “should not”.

* … all therapeutic exercises help the client stay in touch with the pelvis – not just the genitals, but the entire pelvic area – as a source of pleasure and vitality. It is very important to talk at this stage, and when I see the client go through a layer of guilt and shame, I gently ask him: “Who made you ashamed? Who made you feel embarrassed about your sexuality?"

Perhaps the client will answer: "My mother."

Then I will ask him, while remaining in contact with pleasant sensations, to talk to his mother, saying to her, for example, the following: “Look, mother, I am a sexy person, and this is good. There is nothing wrong. I like it. I have the right to be sexy. I have the right to enjoy my sexuality."

* Such affirmative statements can be of great support in the energetic opening of the entire pelvic region. Usually by this time we have already worked through all the segments, descended into the very depths of the body, and clients are very willing to do research and talk about everything they find. They have already learned that going into these dark forbidden places, into anger, into guilt, into dissatisfaction with not being allowed to experience their sexuality, is an important and liberating experience.

* After all this has been brought to light and released, the next step can only be enjoyment, because it is the desire for pleasure that lies at the basis, at the source, at the very core of our natural desires as biological organisms. And with the relaxation of the shell in the pelvis, there comes a moment when we can unite all the segments and feel the unity of energy flowing freely up and down throughout the body. In doing so, we discover a deep pleasure, satisfaction, a sense of oneness with Existence.

* When the body is in a state of balance, it can accumulate and hold a charge of energy without feeling the need to discharge it. In this case, the charge created in it brings pleasure with its light pleasant tension. Most of the "violent reactions" such as pelvic slams on the mattress, screams and screams of anger, hatred and disgust have hopefully been released by this time, and therefore it is now easier to hold a higher level of energy charge in the body and enjoy it. qualities.

* In this balanced state, we can open ourselves to the subtler realms of uplifting, intimacy, meditation, presence... in a word, the world of Tantra.

Body psychology. Body therapy exercises

Even in ancient times, a person began to look for sources of strength and energy that determine his health, success and well-being, the ability to achieve his goals and find a way out of difficult situations. A person began to look for ways to control his strength, his condition, his energy. This led to the emergence of traditional systems of self-regulation, such as yoga, Taoist alchemy, tai chi chuan, shamanic practices. Initially, this knowledge developed within the framework of their cultures and was ignored by European science, but since the beginning of the 20th century, Europeans in their scientific searches have begun to reach out to them more and more. As a result, body-oriented psychotherapy appeared, based both on classical psychological principles and on ancient practices of body and energy management.

Body psychology allows you to track the clamps that accumulate in the body, and body therapy exercises initially sharpened for the quick removal of bodily clamps and blocks.

The origins of body psychology

However, for the sake of science, we must start from another point. Body psychology arose at the beginning of the 20th century, within the framework, paradoxically, of psychoanalysis. Almost immediately, it separated from it and formed its own, diametrically opposite direction. A student of Sigmund Freud, Wilhelm Reich, noticed that, while lying on the couch during a psychotherapy session, the client always accompanies emotions with certain bodily manifestations. Therefore, the patient's body can often tell much more about his problems than words. The body captures all our experiences and feelings, significant events and life experiences. The body can even say what the mind does not yet guess.

Today, body-oriented psychotherapy is one of the main directions of modern psychological practice. This is a way to heal the soul through work with the body, to work with the experiences and problems of a person imprinted in the body. By the way, it was within the framework of the body-oriented approach that the scientific world "remembered" the ancient energy practices and systems of self-regulation. Everything that happens in a person's soul leaves an imprint in his body, everything that happens in the psyche affects the energy. Healthy energy determines physical health, physical health creates conditions for mental well-being, which, in turn, provides healthy energy.

A. Lowen, the founder of bioenergy analysis and one of the classics of body-oriented therapy, introduced the concept of bioenergy into scientific circulation, showing that the management of energy potential activates the internal resources of the individual, which contributes to self-knowledge, self-expression, self-realization. This gave impetus to the development of all kinds of energy schools and directions, many of which went beyond the scope of not only body-oriented therapy, but also any kind of science in general.

Body Psychology: General Principles

The postulate of bodily psychology is extremely simple: by working with consciousness, we can influence the body, and by acting on the body, we can work with consciousness. This echoes one of the basic postulates of NLP: mind and body are elements of one system. Where is the unconscious here? - you ask. Elementary - the impact on the consciousness through the body is carried out bypassing the consciousness itself. That is, the resources of the unconscious.

Therefore, the methods of working with a problem in body-oriented therapy, as a rule, practically do not concern the problem itself. Work goes with the bodily manifestation of this problem. For example, with fear or irritability, certain muscle groups are overstrained, which leads to clamps. Through the relaxation of these clamps, the problem that caused them is worked out. Leaving aside issues of identifying underlying problems and methods for solving them as more suitable for training courses for practicing bodybuilders, let's focus on how it can be used by an ordinary person in everyday life.

Based on the fact that any unconscious tension is a manifestation of some kind of problem or mental imbalance, we will adopt a simple setup: the more relaxed the body, the more harmonious the person is, and the more resources are available to him for solving everyday tasks. And the healthier the body becomes due to the study of the psychosomatic causes of diseases. From this it follows that you need to relax everything that can be relaxed.

Someone will object: but muscle tension provides a certain security and is associated with safety! And this will be one of the very common misconceptions. Muscle tension can only create a feeling ... not even security, but a kind of readiness for danger. That is, tension in anticipation of a threat. As you know, prolonged exposure to stress inevitably leads to stress and disruption of the nervous system, as well as "burnout" of the body. Is this the result we expected? On the contrary, a relaxed muscle is always faster than a tense one, therefore, in many hand-to-hand combat systems, they learn not so much to strain, but to properly relax the muscles. By the way, this also helps to increase the range of motion, optimize the expenditure of forces and energy, and minimize bodily injuries. A simple example: what will suffer more from an ax blow - a wooden board or a cloth thrown into the air? And most importantly, a relaxed body indicates that a person can afford to be relaxed (and therefore confident in his abilities), which provides a deep sense of security.

Someone will say that he is always relaxed. This is also a common misconception - there are always enough clamps in the human body, and total relaxation can be equated with total enlightenment. It is quite natural that in a “normal” state a person does not perceive his tension and, often, does not imagine how it could be otherwise. Moreover, there is such a thing as a "social body" - a set of bodily clamps that we must "dress" while in society, which form our adequacy, controllability and compliance with role stereotypes in certain situations. Therefore, relaxation is an art, which is mastered gradually. And the more they master, the more clamps they notice in themselves.

What promotes relaxation? The simplest meditative techniques that contribute to the inhibition of the psyche, which leads to a general relaxation of the body. Contributes, no matter how trite, the general appeasement, conflict-free behavior, goodwill, the ability to maintain a positive emotional mood. By the way, all these skills are well trained and developed. Such folk methods of relaxation as massage and bath are effective, especially in combination with an optimal psychological mood. Of great importance is bodily contact with another person, on which many exercises of bodily therapy are built. And most importantly, you need to feel your body and track the changes that occur in it.

Body therapy exercises

Active muscle relaxation

The idea is very simple: in order to relax the muscle as much as possible, you need to strain it as much as possible. And in order to evenly relax the whole body, you need to give it a uniform load. To do this, we sequentially strain all parts of the body: face, neck, shoulders, arms, abs, hips, shins and feet. For each part of the body, we try to create maximum tension and hold it for 10-20 seconds, and then fix our attention on relaxation.

Resetting clamps

To begin with, pay attention to the processes that occur in the body. On those centers of tension that it has. And ... try to find the position that will be most comfortable. To do this, it is enough to listen to your body: what position would it like to take? And then you can allow yourself to relax. Even deeper. And, covering the whole body with an inner gaze, one can notice how the centers of tension gradually melt away, and the inner space becomes more and more relaxed and light.

figurative breathing

This practice allows you to combine the effect of meditative trance and directed work with the body. First, close your eyes and focus on your breathing. You will notice how you can feel a slight coolness as you inhale and a slight warmth as you exhale. And let there be nothing in the world but inhalations and exhalations. Then you can imagine that you are breathing through the middle of your chest, continuing to feel the coolness of the inhalation and the warmth of the exhalation. Then we breathe through the solar plexus, lower abdomen, palms and feet (you can add the crown, but be careful - do not get carried away), and then through the surface of the whole body. For each part of the body we do 10-15 breaths and exhalations.

Development of body awareness

• For 5 minutes, without a break, say (out loud!) Everything that happens in your body .

• Allow yourself for a few minutes have no goals. Let the body do whatever it is really wants do and let me him to do it. Just be an observer and allow body to find the way of self-manifestation that is relevant Here and now.

• And then, while remaining in that state, let the body find the position in which it will be truly comfortable at this moment in time.

• And, remaining in this position, go through the whole body with your inner gaze: pay attention to the tone in which each part of the body is, what is happening in your inner space. Track the clamps you have in your body and let me them to relax.

Alexey Nedozrelov