Body therapy psychology. Be careful TOP (Body-oriented psychotherapy)! Breathing in a square

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

-What does your body choose?

- First option! What questions might there be?

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

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

This is how it is formed" muscle armor"Having thrown it off, a person leaves behind feelings of guilt, prohibitions associated with life in this world, anxieties - he comes out" beyond this world"The release of feelings enlivens, the heart opens like a flower bud, somewhere inside you feel warmth - and you are told that there is light around you. You have a new, hitherto unknown feeling of inner well-being, despite the fact that external circumstances may remain the same. Emotional flexibility appears. The body becomes relaxed and strong at the same time. These changes pleasantly surprise you and you feel good with your body.

A person does not exist separately from his body. The body expresses what he feels, how he feels about life.

Helps a person return to his body and enjoy it body-oriented therapy- a direction of psychotherapy that includes techniques united by a common view of bodily (physiological) functions ( breathing, movement, static body tension etc.) as an integral part of the whole personality. The body will always tell you where the disorder is. Bodily oriented psychotherapy This new way perception of problems.

Founder of body psychotherapy Wilhelm Reich placed emphasis on complete and deep breathing and the ability to surrender to spontaneous and involuntary body movements. Breathing, movement, sensuality And self-expression This important functions our body.

"A man 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 fully, he narrows the life of his body. And if his self-expression is curtailed, he limits the life of his body", writes Alexander Lowen, representative of body-oriented therapy and founder of bioenergetic analysis. A person pampers and cherishes his body, but at the same time betrays it, and does this day after day, for months, for years. And all of a person’s difficulties come from this betrayal of his body, Lowen believes.

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

In body-oriented psychotherapy, a special role is played by touching, as the primary form of contact. A person remembers with his body how his mother held him in her arms and pressed him to her; body froze, a feeling of goodness and warmth came. But touch is important not only for the baby. Adults also need touch for emotional health. IN body therapy physical contact between therapist and patient places greater 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.

"There is comfort in the body, there is pure, light in the head, there is love for people in the heart... It seems that I 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 a person himself is the writer of his life. Once you are aware of your bodily habits, wherever you are now, return to your body, become aware of your true desires and sensations, and begin to rewrite the chapters of your life.

Modern psychology has a very wide range of methods of psychotherapeutic treatment, body-oriented psychotherapy is one of them. Body psychotherapy refers to somatic psychology, which means healing mental disorders by influencing physical body person.

The body is the mirror of the soul

The relationship between the body and the mental state of a person has been established for a long time, so active research in this area helps to significantly expand the possibilities of psychotherapeutic treatment. Body-oriented psychotherapy acts as an independent direction in psychology, possessing a clear concept and a variety of practical developments.

A person’s physical condition can tell about his internal problems, his mental and emotional state. The human body reflects all his feelings, emotions, experiences and fears. That is why psychotherapists and psychologists around the world devote such Special attention training in body-oriented psychotherapy.

Theoretical and practical systems of body-oriented psychotherapy are based on the belief that there is a strong relationship between a person’s physical and mental health. Thus, a psychologically enslaved, withdrawn person will also be enslaved physically. That is why, by influencing a person’s bodily shell, one can eliminate or minimize his psychological disorders.

Benefits of body psychotherapy

The main advantage of body-oriented psychotherapy is the availability of a relatively unhindered opportunity for the doctor to engage in “healing” of the patient’s soul. Body psychotherapy acts as a kind of universal tool for a psychologist, allowing one to reveal the essence of the patient’s problem using methods of unconscious influence. Through the physical shell, the psychotherapist, using TOP, works with a person’s internal sensations.

An undoubted advantage of using body-oriented psychotherapy is that during the treatment process the patient does not feel the verbal influence of the psychotherapist.

Main concepts TOP

Psychologists and psychotherapists around the world highlight the following important concepts of body-oriented psychotherapy:

• energy;
• muscle armor;
• grounding

Vital Energy

Energy is an important component of human life. The well-being of each of us is directly affected by everything that interferes with the movement of energy in any body system. Some psychotherapists are of the opinion that only good circulation vital energy in the human body is capable of providing excellent physical and mental health. It’s hard to disagree with this; as a rule, a person in a state of depression looks lifeless and lethargic, which signals a low level of his energy potential. One of important conditions exit from depressive state is proper organization the patient's rest and nutritional regimen.

According to psychologists, many mental disorders of patients are caused by an initial inattention to their own feelings and desires, as well as incorrect or inadequate understanding of them.

Muscle protection

By so-called muscle armor, psychotherapists who know the basics of body-oriented psychotherapy understand the state of permanent muscle tension in humans. In other words, human muscles act as protective shields from the effects of emotions and feelings.

Various psychological trauma or events that can cause mental disorders are blocked by muscles, which leads to change or suppression human perception. And this, in turn, causes physical stiffness and constriction of the human body.

Energetically contact with the earth

Grounding in body psychotherapy means a feeling of energetic stability and support, which allows a person to be in a stable psychological state. Finding contact with your feelings and emotions allows every person to remain healthy both physically and mentally.

Practical application of body psychotherapy

All theoretical concepts of bodily psychotherapy have practical forms of application, which consist of a number of exercises aimed at achieving certain goals:

• stress relief;
• relieving chronic fatigue;
• treatment of neuroses, depression;
• getting rid of fears;
• getting rid of feelings of dissatisfaction, etc.

The main exercises of body-oriented psychotherapy have the primary task of relaxing the patient. Thanks to bodily therapy exercises, the patient will be able to learn to relax, listen to his body, understand it and find harmony with the world around him.

As a rule, practical exercises are performed in groups of 6-10 people, since most exercises require pair work.

Basic exercises TOP

Muscle relaxation - this exercise is the maximum relaxation of muscles by maximizing their tension. To perform this exercise, you need to consistently begin to tense all the muscles of your body, starting with your head and ending with your feet. In this case, tension of each muscle should occur by holding it in this state, and then slowly relaxing. When performing the exercise, you should focus as much as possible on your sensations while relaxing the muscle.

The “correct breathing” exercise is aimed at perceiving one’s own body through respiratory function. To perform this exercise, you need to close your eyes tightly and concentrate on your breathing. During the exercise, you can feel freshness as you inhale and warmth as you exhale air from your lungs. Next, it is recommended to try breathing with other organs of your body. That is, imagine in detail that breathing occurs through the crown, chest, lower abdomen, palms, etc. At least 10-15 breaths should be taken for each part of the body.

The following series of actions will help you develop your “body awareness”:

• speak your feelings out loud;
• allow your body to do what it wants for a few minutes;
• find the most comfortable position for your body;
• while remaining in a comfortable position, analyze the condition of each part of your body;
• note the presence of tension and relax these places.

All methods and methods of body-oriented psychotherapy give a feeling of the fullness and uniqueness of life, the integrity of one’s own being, and increase a person’s desire to live active life without all sorts of fears and concerns.

Body-oriented psychotherapy is a method of soul therapy that has existed as long as humanity has lived. Her techniques developed in parallel in the eastern and western directions, since for centuries in the eastern movements there was a different culture of the body and physicality in general. Now different approaches are found in modern psychological body-oriented practice. Methods of this direction are easily superimposed on other methods psychological work. Moreover, very often, using a body-oriented approach, we can raise from the unconscious those deep contents that are blocked when working with other methods.

Finally, in our culture it has become more common to pay attention to the experiences of our own body, and not only when it is sick. They began to treat the body with more respect, but still often the dominant is shifted towards the head, and the body receives less attention. This is clearly visible in the statistics of the drawing test, when it is asked to draw a person, and many people do not have enough space for the body on the sheet. This is why throat problems are so common, because the throat connects the head to the body.

In the European tradition, the history of the bodily approach is difficult to trace; in psychology, it is customary to start with Wilhelm Reich. Despite his frequent criticism, he introduced all the concepts that body-oriented therapists use to this day. Modern European body psychotherapy has grown under the strong influence of , therefore it can be considered as a method of working with the same problem, but through a different entrance.

The bodily direction allows the psychologist to work with a client who is difficult to understand and verbalize his problem. He would be ready to explain why he feels bad, but he literally lacks words. The other extreme is when the client is overly talkative and even uses speech to avoid the problem. Body-oriented psychotherapy will deprive him of his usual defense and cover up of a psychological problem.

Methods of body-oriented psychotherapy

The body does not lie, revealing the very essence of emotional experiences. It is also difficult to hide your resistance in the body - you can even record it. You can deny your anxiety, but you cannot hide the trembling in your hands or the stiffness of your whole body. And since working with resistance when solving a psychological problem often takes most time, then an objective, materialistic bodily approach turns out to be very effective.

Absolutely all human experiences are encoded in the body. And those that we cannot decode through speech, perhaps reveal through the body. The volume of nonverbal information signaling a person’s state is simply enormous, and you just need to learn how to work with it. Problems of overcontrol appear in the head, in the arms and shoulders - difficulties in contacting people, and are reflected in the pelvis intimate problems, the legs bring us information about the difficulties of a person’s support, his confidence and movement through life.

Body-oriented therapy is built on an attempt to appeal to the animal body of a person, to what is in us in accordance with nature, is natural and contains a lot of useful information. However, our social body often comes into conflict with instinctive aspirations, taboos them and gives rise to many psychological problems. We often hear our body poorly and do not know how to interact with it.

Reich's body-oriented psychotherapy is based on studied psychological defenses and their manifestation in the body - the so-called muscular shell. This concept was introduced by Reich to denote tight muscles and constricted breathing, which form like armor, a physical manifestation in various ways psychological defenses considered by psychoanalysis. Reich's method consisted of modifying the state of the body, as well as influencing the compressed area. For each individual muscle group, he developed techniques to reduce tension and release trapped emotions. The techniques were aimed at breaking the muscular shell; to do this, the client was touched by squeezing or pinching. Reich saw pleasure as a natural flow of energy from the center of the body outward, and anxiety as a displacement of this movement towards the person himself.

Alexander Lowen modified Reich's therapy and created own direction– , widely known by this name today. Lowen's body-oriented psychotherapy views the body as a bioelectric ocean with a continuous chemical-energy exchange. The goal of therapy is also emotional release and emancipation of a person. Lowen used Reichian breathing techniques and also introduced various tense body positions to energize blocked areas. In the poses he developed, the pressure on the muscles constantly increases so much that the person is eventually forced to relax them, no longer able to cope with the exorbitant load. In order to accept one’s own body, the technique involved observing it naked in front of a mirror or in front of other training participants, who then gave their comments. The description of the body made it possible to create an image of the muscular shell characteristic of a particular person and the problems arising from it.

The method of the next famous psychotherapist, Moshe Feldenkrais, examines the conflict between the social mask and the natural feeling of satisfaction, motives. If a person merges with his social mask, he seems to lose himself, but the Feldenkrais method allows you to form new, more harmonious habits that will smooth out this conflict tension and give the opportunity to manifest inner contents. Feldenkrais considered deformed patterns of muscle acts, which, with their strengthening, become increasingly stagnant and act outward. He paid great attention freedom of movement in simple actions, the client was advised to independently search better position for his body, corresponding to his individual anatomy.

Matthias Alexander also studied bodily habits, postures, and posture in order to find more harmonious and natural positions. He considered maximum straightening, stretching the spine upward, to be the most correct. Alexander's therapy also uses pressure from the head and further down, as a result of which the client relaxes more and more, while trying to straighten up. The result is a feeling of liberation and lightness. This method is used often public people, dancers, singers, since Alexander himself invented this technique, having lost his voice, and thanks to the solution found, he was able to return to the stage again. It is also effective for therapy in cases of injuries, mutilations, and a number of chronic diseases.

Body-oriented psychotherapy – exercises

For any work with the body, it is primarily important to feel it and ground yourself. Stand up straight, straighten your legs, stretch the top of your head up and even push your chest forward a little. Feel how all the energy goes up from your legs, this is a state of elation and even some suspension. Inhale, then, bending your knees, relaxing your pelvis, exhale. Imagine that you are now sitting in a soft chair, as if you are growing your roots into the ground. Look around, you will feel more present, as if you can even feel the air on your skin. This is the simplest exercise to ground yourself and begin deeper work with anything, whether it concerns emotional experiences or further work with the body.

The next exercise is devoted to releasing the clamp in the mouth area - the jaw clamp. We often clench our jaws at the moment physical stress or the need to be persistent, to achieve a goal. Also, if we don’t like something, but there is no way to express it, we clench our jaw again. Sometimes the jaw clenches so tightly that blood circulation in the area is cut off. You can sit or stand to perform this exercise. Place your palm with the back side up under your chin and now try, while inhaling, with your mouth open, to lower your jaw down, but your hand should prevent this movement. As you exhale, the jaw relaxes and closes again. After several such movements, you will feel the place where the jaws close, you can massage it, relaxing the muscles. As a result, you will feel warmer, it will become easier for you to pronounce words and perhaps even breathe.

An example of a body block would be shoulders tucked up. If you tighten this clamp a little more, it turns out that the neck is literally hidden in the shoulders, which, like a turtle’s shell, protect it from a possible blow or push from behind. When a person has already become accustomed to this position of his shoulders, this means that there have been many stressful situations in his life when he had to shrink internally. The simplest exercise here is to try to throw something off your shoulder. To enhance the image, we can imagine how someone’s hand is on the shoulder, and we don’t want it to be there. Shake it off your shoulder and do it with confidence.

Another exercise with the same goal of freeing the shoulders is the push-off. Put your hands forward as if trying to push the unpleasant person away from you. A variation is also possible when you push back with your elbows. You can even help yourself pull away with words, saying no contact.

In exercises with the presence of another person, which is practiced by both Reich's body-oriented psychotherapy and Lowen's body-oriented psychotherapy, he can, with you lying on your back, being behind your head, massage your forehead, then the neck area behind your head. It is better if the action is performed by a professional therapist. Rock your body in time with the massaging movements. Next - move on to the neck muscles, massage the tendons, the places where the muscles are attached to the skull, gently stretching the muscle. Again you need to pull the neck and even a little hair, if the length allows.

At any moment, if tension is present, you can again return to the forehead area, knead, tightly touching your hands with your head. Requires support and absence sudden movements. In the scalp, you also need to perform kneading movements and stretch the scalp. This can be done in different directions with any movements, fingers and knuckles. With each new push, you can change the location of your fingers. Capturing the crease brow ridges, you can pull it to the sides and close it back.

After working with the frontal clamp, the transition to the facial muscles is made. Having placed your fingers symmetrically on the sides of the nose, they need to be slowly moved apart towards the ears. We move down along the nasolabial fold, stretching the muscle. We are working on jaw muscles, we pay special attention to places of tension. We relieve tension from the jaw bone, place our hands on the sides of the center of the chin and slowly move them back towards the ears. The slower the movement, the deeper it is. By working with facial muscles, we work with the emotions stuck in them.

Next, the work shifts to the neck and shoulders. If similar kneading techniques are used in the neck, then support and pressing hard in order to straighten them. Pressing is performed with rocking movements, then moving to the hands. Taking your hand, which should be completely relaxed, you need to swing, take the wrist and pull, then release and repeat the cycle from swinging again. This is followed by kneading the hand, which, like plasticine, needs to be stretched with the soft parts of the palms, and also kneading movements should be made on each finger, as if relieving tension. You can also use twisting movements. You need to finish everything off with a soothing rocking motion.

Techniques of body-oriented psychotherapy

The body, as our greatest resource, contains all the information recorded in itself. Like the rings on a tree, it stores the story of our life about those complex and emotionally intense situations that remain like notches on it, manifesting itself in pain and uncomfortable muscle tension. Working with the body makes it possible to get into the depth, the essence, those nuclear experiences that can persist as a result of conflicts in relationships, at work, internal conflicts, fears, insomnia, emotional stress, which is impossible to contain, up to panic attacks.

In any situation, the body is turned on, because it takes on absolutely all the stress that goes through a person’s life. At the moment of tension and excitement, breathing changes, followed by changes in the composition of the blood, hormonal background, which at the physiological level prepares a person for action. If the gestalt has not closed, this state is then deposited in the muscles.

For therapy negative states in the body-oriented approach they use various techniques, starting from the already described grounding. Then, centering is often used, when the client lies down in a star pose, and the therapist massages his head, arms and legs with contracting movements, relieving excess tension from each part. While the first technique can be performed independently and is suitable for use even outside of therapy, the second requires the presence of a therapist.

Common ones deserve special attention breathing techniques, which in various versions are known from ancient spiritual practices. By tracking a person's natural breathing pattern, it can be diagnosed psychological problems. Then, through changing the rhythm and depth of breathing, a new state of consciousness is achieved. IN superficial form this can be ordinary relaxation or raising the tone, which is also applicable in everyday use, when a person himself wants to calm down or, on the contrary, tune in to work. In therapeutic work, breathing techniques can be used much more actively, even in some cases to put a person into a trance. Of course, this requires the guidance of a qualified therapist.

Work with the body is aimed at turning to internal resources, developing a sense of this moment of life, full presence and releasing blocked, squeezed energy. All these are essential components of a full, joyful life.

Today's article is an interview that I gave to the Pharmacy Business magazine. We may forget childhood psychological traumas, but the body will never forget them. How to learn to stay in own body here and now, to free him from fears and pressures - I tried to talk about this in our conversation with Olga Alekseeva.

Thanks to Olga for asking interesting questions and preparing this material for release.

So, the method of body-oriented psychotherapy...

O.A.: If you try to explain in simple words, what is body-oriented psychotherapy (BOP)?
I.S. First of all, this is psychotherapy. The goals and objectives here are the same as those of any other direction in psychotherapy: there is a client’s problem that he wants to solve - the so-called “request”. What differs between psychotherapeutic directions is the way to solve this problem.

Working in line with TOP, we solve a psychological problem by using the client’s body. The body acts as a means of both psychological diagnosis and psychotherapeutic transformation. Unlike doctors, we work not with the body, but through the body. The body gives us access to the client's psychological world.

Therefore, a specialist with a basic psychological education, and not a medical one, can work in line with TOP.

O.A. What is the bodily approach based on, what are its capabilities and basic postulates?
I.S.: The basic law of TOP says: “The physical and the psychological are equal.” Figuratively speaking, the client’s body is a map of his soul. The body can tell a person’s story: key traumas, shocks, psychological portrait, areas of psychosomatic risk (in which dysfunctions are most likely to occur), individual life strategy, resources... We are not talking about genetic characteristics, but about those disorders that are formed during life, in in accordance with the experience gained.
So, in response to an emotion, a bodily reaction necessarily occurs. If someone long time experiences a certain experience, it is recorded in his body. For example, chronic fear and insecurity force you to press your head into your shoulders, while your shoulders seem to curl forward, in chest collapse occurs. And this posture becomes familiar.

Accordingly, based on habitual poses, movements, posture, facial expression, and muscle condition, we can create a psychological portrait. And by influencing the body - change psychological condition, self-perception, attitude.
At the same time, we influence the body not only through touch, although among the TOP methods there is, for example, massage. But we also use breathing techniques, static and movement exercises, meditation, bodily metaphors (for example, we ask the client to depict his problem with his body), and we include drawing (for example, you can draw a bodily symptom).
There is a certain ethics of touching in TOP. We always ask permission for physical contact with the client, respecting his right to say “No”. Almost always the client remains fully clothed - with the exception of techniques that require direct work with muscles.

Touching the genital area and breasts in women is always taboo.

The body reflects our entire history.

O.A.: The first who paid attention to human bodily reactions was Wilhelm Reich, then Alexander Lowen and others. Has anything changed since then, maybe research points to some erroneous conclusions or vice versa?
I.S. TOP has existed and developed for almost a century. Of course, a lot has changed during this time, knowledge is expanding and deepening. On this moment More than 100 TOP schools are recognized, but almost all of them are based on the somatic vegetative therapy of W. Reich. Its thesaurus, introduced operating principles, and basic theoretical concepts are preserved: the idea of ​​the “muscle shell” as chronic muscle tension.

Reich divided the muscle carapace into 7 segments (blocks), each of them endowed with certain psychological symbolism. But he was a psychoanalyst and sexualized a lot of people psychological processes. Modern TOP no longer considers sexuality as a central problem.

Also, modern TOP speaks about the influence of the prenatal period and the characteristics of the birth process on subsequent life. It is also worth noting that Reich considered only chronic muscle hypertonicity (the “fight” reaction) as a problem; later they began to talk about the problem of hypotonicity (the “surrender” reaction).

Wilhelm Reich - founder of TOP

O.A.: How does TOP differ from psychotherapy, and how does a body therapist differ from a regular psychotherapist?
I.S. TOP is one of the areas of psychotherapy. In order to work in this direction, you need to have a basic psychological or medical education, as well as undergo a special extra education TOP.

A body-oriented psychotherapist is a psychotherapist who has chosen to specialize in TOP, just as a cardiologist is a doctor who has chosen to specialize in cardiology.

O.A.: What is happening in the community of body therapists today, what prospects do this approach have? Are there several schools within TOP?
I.S.: At the moment there are more than 100 well-known and recognized TOP schools. Now almost all areas of scientific knowledge are developing and enriching at an incredible pace, and the same is happening with TOP. Most likely, TOP will become increasingly popular.

Firstly, the TOP is clearer to clients, because outwardly it seems close to the medicine they are used to - some kind of manipulation of the body.

Secondly, the average person lacks a healthy, loving relationship with their body. Our culture of physicality is instrumental, the body works for wear and tear, like a tool, care for it is neglected, but they demand that it be beautiful and efficient. TOP helps develop a loving, respectful attitude towards your body and increases self-acceptance.

O.A.: TOP is approached in combination with an analytical approach or is it completely independent course treatment?
I.S.: TOP is an independent direction in psychotherapy, with its own theoretical and practical basis. But for any psychotherapist it is not enough to be a specialist in only one direction. There is a recommendation for a working specialist: master 3-5 different directions in psychotherapy. This applies to any psychotherapist.

O.A.: What requests most often come to a body psychotherapist? Can you make a top list?
I.S.: You can come to a body-oriented psychotherapist with any psychological request, just like any other psychotherapist. But in accordance with the specifics of TOP, these requests most often concern the body. For example, the client recognizes that he is critical of his body, dissatisfied with it, and wants to increase self-acceptance.

They often come with chronic tension in the body, difficulties with relaxation - this common problem residents of the metropolis.

Also treated with somatic symptoms and psychosomatic disorders; In this case, we make sure to inform clients that the help of a psychotherapist does not replace the necessary medical care, they must be combined. Lately Increasingly, doctors began to refer people to body-oriented psychotherapists - in cases where it is obvious that “the disease is from the nerves,” that is, the patient needs to receive psychological assistance. The doctors and I are not competitors, we complement each other’s work, this increases the effectiveness of treatment.

O.A.: How is the TOP session going? Is the client doing the exercises or should we talk first?
I.S.: The main method of influence in any psychotherapeutic direction is discussion. We definitely talk with the client, like other psychotherapists: we collect his history, clarify the request (the purpose of the work), ask about important events, dreams between our meetings... At the end of the meeting we summarize. As for the TOP exercises themselves, there are those that are done almost silently, and there are those during which there is a dialogue.

O.A.: Is it better to study in a group or individually?
I.S.: There are both group and individual forms of work in the TOP. Each has its own advantages. Usually individual work passes more deeply, it is easier for the client to open up. But the group gives the effect of group support.

O.A.: Are there any contraindications to using the method?
I.S.: In general, there are no contraindications to the use of TOP, because in the TOP there is different methods and many techniques. There are restrictions on the use of specific exercises, at the level of common sense: for example, when working with pregnant women or with the elderly, exercises that require significant physical effort are not used. But if one thing does not suit the client, you can use another.

Therefore, TOP is used to work with a wide contingent: children, adolescents, adults, the elderly; with normality and pathology; with pregnant women; with addicts (alcoholics, drug addicts, gamblers...), etc.

O.A.: Psychotherapy can last several years, but what is the time frame for TOP?
I.S.: In TOP, as in other schools of psychotherapy, they distinguish “short-term work”: from 4 to 10 meetings. And “long-term psychotherapy”, over 10 meetings. This “beyond” can last for several months or several years. It all depends on what result the client wants to achieve and at what point he is now.

For example, a girl experiences difficulties communicating with the opposite sex. It's one thing if a little self-doubt gets in the way. It’s another matter if her history includes rape, and even with aggravating circumstances... These will be different stories psychological work, of varying duration.

O.A.: Do people often turn to you for whom verbal psychotherapy has not brought results?
I.S.: Yes, it happens, but in most cases the problem is not in the method used, but in the client’s unpreparedness - his reluctance to change. A trip to a psychologist can be “far-fetched”: fashionable, curious, forced by relatives... In this case, the client has no motivation and cannot be efficient work. The client begins to shift responsibility: “Wrong method”, “Wrong specialist”...

Remember Winnie the Pooh? “These are the wrong bees. They make the wrong honey."

O.A.: There is another modern approach - body dynamics, how does it differ from TOP? Or does the second include the first?
I.S.: Bodynamic analysis (bodynamics) is a direction in TOP that began to develop in Denmark in the 1970s. The founder is Lisbeth Marcher, she sometimes comes to Russia and teaches. Bodynamics is distinguished by clarity and structure, which is why doctors are interested in it - a similar mentality.

According to bodynamics, development is based on the desire to be interconnected with the world (and not Eros and Thanatos according to Z. Freud). Depending on childhood traumas, this desire is distorted: someone hides from the world, someone strives to please everyone or control everyone... This is how a character structure (psychotype) is formed.

Probably, of all the TOP schools in body dynamics, there is the clearest system of psychotypes: at what age, for what reason is the character structure formed, how does it manifest itself physically and psychologically, how can it be corrected...

In bodynamics, a pre-school study of the psychological content of more than 100 muscles was carried out - doctors will probably be interested in familiarizing themselves with it.

O.A.: When a person comes to you for the first time, can you immediately determine the location of the blocks, and therefore the main psychological problems, based on his posture, body language, facial expressions, and gestures?
I.S.: This is what body-oriented psychotherapists are taught - the so-called “body reading”. It can be carried out statically, dynamically (when a person is motionless or moving). This saves time in the office: in the first minutes you see the psychological portrait of a person and guess what basic topics need to be worked with.

O.A.: Does this skill of reading people hinder or help you in your life outside of work?
I.S.: It is important for a psychotherapist to separate the personal and professional. Do not become a psychotherapist for your loved ones. But elements of your knowledge can be used. For example, body reading skills help to better understand the emotional state of another person, develop empathy...

O.A.: If I understand correctly, the first thing that is clearly visible during TOP is the fears that are blocked in the body. Is it possible to draw a bodily map of fears yourself, and what to do with them after?
I.S.: We have 4 basic feelings with which we are born: anger, joy, fear, sadness. Then, at the age of about 2-3 years, the so-called “ social feelings"(not innate, but brought from society): shame and guilt. All these feelings can be imprinted in the body, “frozen”. And the pattern of frozen feelings is individual. There are people who have a lot of fear in their body; someone is filled with anger; or bent over with a load of guilt... If we are not in contact with the feelings “stuck” in the body, they can manifest themselves through pain and illness. Yes, there is such an exercise: you can draw your body and note where feelings live in it (you can be more specific: “fear” or “anger”). This helps you get to know your feelings and reduces the risk of somatization.

O.A.: Are there differences in attitudes towards the body among different nationalities?
I.S.: Yes, the “culture of physicality” is part of cultural characteristics. In some places the body is still a “source of sin”, in another culture the body is treated with respect, in a third they respect manifestations of physicality, except sexuality... We definitely need to take into account the cultural characteristics of the client.

Working in line with TOP, we first conduct a diagnostic interview, collecting information about his history. We also find out its origins, origins: nationality, belonging to religious denomination, the social environment in which he grew up...

Western culture now has a paradoxical attitude towards the body. On the one hand, great attention is paid to it: how many articles and programs about nutrition, plastic surgery, the fight against aging... On the other hand, this is a consumer attitude, the body is a kind of exploited object, it must perform a certain functionality and be a beautiful “business card”... Respect and love for your body is sorely lacking.

O.A.: How can you build a new, loving, warm relationship with your own body?
I.S.: Perceive it as an integral, full-fledged part of your personality, and not some kind of tool for life and a business card for society. Pay more attention to the signals coming from the body, do not neglect them. It's not just about pain symptoms diseases. Even small bodily signals, such as tension in the stomach, a lump in the throat, are clues to our intuition, for example, helping to sense the insincerity of the interlocutor.
Take care of the body not “objectively”, as if it were some inanimate object: wash the dishes, wash the windows, wash your body... But carry out this care with love.
Nowadays, beauty is often put first, but not health; in the name of physical beauty, many people destroy their health. The hierarchy is broken, because health should always come first, and a healthy body is always beautiful because it is harmonious. It is important to see your natural, natural bodily beauty, which every person has, it just may differ from social patterns.

O.A.: What may indicate the need to contact the TOP?
I.S.: You can contact a TOP specialist with any psychological problem. Working through the body is simply a way of addressing it, just as an art therapist might use painting. You can also come to a TOP specialist if you want to feel your body better, understand it and accept it.

O.A.: For those who do not yet have the opportunity to visit a physical therapist, can you give a couple of exercises for homework?

1. Sit in a comfortable, relaxed position or lie down. Close your eyes, tune in to yourself, to your body. Try to feel the signals coming from the body well. Answer yourself these questions:
- How relaxed is the body?
— Which parts of the body retain tension?
- How much area of ​​the body does this tension occupy?
— What are the patterns in localization? (right left, top part body - inferior, anterior surface body - back, limbs - torso...)
— Is this temporary tension or chronic?
- How long has it been in you?
— What feelings can this tension hold, what memories?
- Try to relax these parts of the body too.
Then, opening your eyes, make a drawing: sketch your body and note the tension in it.
By performing this exercise regularly, you will become better acquainted with your bodily characteristics and come closer to understanding the causes of this tension. Then it can weaken and even go away.

2. Make your “Body Map of Feelings.” Draw your body and note - where does what feeling live in it? Hint: remember when you experienced this or that emotion. How does the body respond, what zones are turned on? This feeling lives in them.
After making a drawing, look at it:
— What feelings are easiest for you to track in yourself? Which ones are difficult and why?
— Are there emotions that you haven’t noted in your body? Why? Are they definitely “not living” in you, or are you simply unable to detect them in yourself?
— Are there areas of the body that are left unfilled? Imagine what feelings may still live in them.
—Are there parts of the body that have a lot of feelings? Be careful - these are psychosomatic risk areas.
This exercise helps to establish contact with your body and feelings, integrates the bodily and emotional sphere, promotes differentiation of emotions.

Body-oriented psychotherapy (BOP) - a modern direction practical psychotherapy, which addresses the patient's psychological problems using body-oriented techniques. The approach combines psychological analysis and physical exercise. For TOP, personality = body + mind + soul.

Bodynamic analysis is one of the TOP methods; it is also called somatic developmental psychology. Knowledge of anatomy is key to the approach, since the creator of the method, Lisbeth Marcher and her colleagues, discovered the relationship between muscles and their psychological content. Namely, failures in the functioning of a certain muscle group indicate a certain pattern of patient behavior. Since at each stage of growing up a person reacts differently to the influences of the outside world, during diagnosis it is possible to determine the age at which the client experienced psychological trauma.

Psychotherapy is always a conversation. But not always traditional, with the help of words. There is psychotherapy based on talking with the body, or more precisely, working with human problems and diseases through bodily contact.

The history of the development of body-oriented psychotherapy goes back almost 100 years. Wilhelm Reich is considered the founder of this method. He was a student of Sigmund Freud, but gradually moved away from psychoanalysis and began to develop psychotherapeutic methods of influencing the body.

While working as a psychoanalyst, Reich noticed that in patients who lie on the psychoanalytic couch, some strong emotions are accompanied pronounced reactions from the side of the body.

For example, if the patient wants to hold back his feelings, he may begin to grab himself by the neck, as if squeezing his throat and pushing the emotions back.

Continuing his observations, he described how, in response to stressful situations chronic tension occurs separate groups muscles - “muscle clamps”. “Muscle clamps” combine to form a “muscle shell” or “armor of character.” In the future, this “armor” creates problems, both in the physical and mental spheres.

In the physical sphere, restrictions on mobility, deterioration of blood circulation, and pain occur. In the mental sphere, “armor” does not allow strong emotions to manifest naturally and interferes with personal growth.

Emotions suppressed since childhood (anger, fears, sadness, etc.) require release and cause many problems: from panic attacks and insomnia to psychosomatic disorders and difficulties in relationships.

So, the basis of body-oriented therapy (hereinafter referred to as TOP) is the following key ideas:

• The body remembers everything that has happened to us since birth: significant situations, emotions, feelings and sensations. Therefore, through the body you can work with any negative experience of a person, as well as with his attitude towards himself and the world.

• Unreacted emotions and traumatic memories of a person are restrained and imprinted in the body (this is the result of the work of psychological defense mechanisms). Stagnant emotional arousal is accompanied by somatic changes (malfunctions in the functioning of the autonomic nervous system occur).

• The protective shell subsequently prevents a person from experiencing strong emotions, limiting and distorting the expression of feelings.

In our country, thanatotherapy by V. Baskakov and AMPI by M. Sandomirsky arose.

Since 1998, body-oriented therapy has been included in the list of psychotherapy methods recommended by the Russian Ministry of Health.

By the way, in addition to the TOP, this list includes 25 more methods:

• art therapy,
• autogenic training,
• Gestalt psychotherapy,
• hypnosuggestive therapy,
• group dynamic psychotherapy,
• dynamic short-term psychotherapy,
• cognitive- behavioral psychotherapy,
• person-oriented reconstructive psychotherapy,
• logotherapy,
• non-directive psychotherapy according to K. Rogers,
• NLP,
• behavioral psychotherapy,
• psychodrama,
• classical psychoanalysis,
• rational psychotherapy,
• systemic family psychotherapy,
• therapy creative self-expression,
• transactional analysis,
• transpersonal psychotherapy,
• emotional stress psychotherapy,
• Ericksonian hypnosis,
• clinical psychoanalysis,
• continuum psychotherapy,
• existential psychotherapy,
• socio-psychological training.

How does this happen?

As part of the diagnosis, the therapist gets to know the client’s body, which “tells” about his problems and character, often this is information that the person is simply not aware of about himself. This acquaintance occurs through external observation, identification and decoding of bodily sensations.

Actually, various techniques are used in therapy: breathing, movement, meditative, contact ( special system touches).

The therapist helps the client feel not only simple bodily sensations, but also those associated with strong emotions. This allows you to live through feelings that have been suppressed and free yourself from them. As a result, a person becomes closer to his experiences and, accordingly, more resistant to life's difficulties.

Case from practice:

(All examples are given with the consent of the patients; after the end of therapy, names and details have been changed).

Olga, 42 years old, came in with breathing problems. Shortness of breath that was not severe often occurred physical activity, especially in emotionally significant situations, for example, while playing with a child.

The problems began about four years ago, but had little impact on everyday life, so I had not previously sought help. He did not note any significant stressful situations during that period (“everything was solvable”).

When we're talking about about breathing problems, the thought of a strong depressed feeling always arises, so I carried out the work with the help of TOP. At the third session, a critical moment occurred - while working with breathing, the patient remembered a situation that occurred five years ago, when she was deprived of a promotion, under very “ugly” circumstances (betrayal by a friend).

I remembered the situation and, following this, feelings surfaced - resentment and anger. In the past, they were suppressed using a rational reaction - pulled myself together, continued working there, then moved to another company.

The feelings that have now surfaced in therapy have been responded to (the therapist in this case creates an atmosphere of maximum safety and acceptance, where the patient can cry, scream, and express emotions in any other way). After this session, the breathing problems stopped (for 2 years the patient periodically contacted her, the symptoms did not recur).

Working through chronic bodily tension is not always aimed at releasing feelings. Many problems are associated with a person’s basic inability (more precisely, loss of ability) to relax the body.

For example, spasming muscles play a key role in causing headaches or, as in the following example, sleep problems.

Case from practice:

Yuri, 46 years old. Contacted for sleep disorders (difficulty falling asleep, frequent waking up), which previously arose against the background of the regime and nature of the work (resuscitator), but remained throughout the year after the change of activity.

The idea to use TOP arose due to the fact that the problems were not obviously related to thoughts - “overthinking” is often the cause of insomnia, but not in this case. In addition, according to the observations of the wife, the patient always slept in the same tense position, “as if he was ready to jump up at any moment.”

Chronic muscle tension, especially the muscles of the neck and back, leads to the fact that signals “be alert” and “get ready to move” are constantly sent to the brain. As they say, “no time for sleep.” The therapy was aimed at relaxing cramped back muscles and changing the body's memory associated with sleep. While working as a doctor you really had to be on your guard, but now the situation has changed and you can start to sleep “for real”. Stable results were achieved by the sixth session.

As already mentioned, our body, parallel to the psyche, experiences everything that happens to us. And some processes, for example, the completion of something, occur much more clearly on the sphere of the body, because even at the cellular level we have a “dying-birth” scheme. Especially good when experiencing grief, loss or other serious changes V. Baskakov's thanatotherapy works.

Case from practice:

Ksenia, 35 years old. Contacted me regarding difficulties in going through a divorce. Legally and in everyday life, everything was decided, and, according to the client, “I agree that the divorce correct solution, I understand everything in my head, but something is stopping me from letting go.”

At the behavioral level, this manifested itself, for example, in inaction regarding the search for new housing. Thus, it was about the need to “finish and move on.” This topic is a very common request for work in thanatotherapy.

During the fifth session, the client had an image in which she was present at a funeral ceremony (I won’t describe the details) and experienced intense sadness. After the session, she had a dream on the same topic, in which the ceremony was completely completed. The very next day the client felt changes in her condition - a feeling of completion arose. New housing was found within a week.

The third aspect of working in TOP is patient education independent use some techniques. As a rule, they are aimed at relaxing and normalizing one’s emotional state through the body.

The methods used in TOC are quite specific, and this places certain demands on the training of therapists.

If, for example, studying cognitive or gestalt therapy is possible on an independent basis (with a basic education, of course), then learning body-oriented methods is possible only “hand to hand”, with direct contact with the teacher and receiving personal experience as a patient.

Who is body-focused therapy suitable for?

The second is the development of the individual’s potential: increasing stress resistance, improving contact with one’s body and self-acceptance, establishing more trusting relationships with people and much more.

The real values ​​in life are health, grace, satisfaction, pleasure and love.
We realize these values ​​only when we stand firmly on our own two feet. Alexander Lowen "Psychology of the Body"