After the body-oriented therapy is necessary. Body-oriented psychotherapy - exercises. Training in body-oriented psychotherapy online

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 the cure of 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, while having a clear concept and a variety of practical developments.

The physical state of a person is able to tell about his internal problems, about 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 pay such Special attention bodily training oriented psychotherapy.

The theoretical and practical systems of body-oriented psychotherapy are based on the belief that there is a strong relationship between the physical and mental health of a person. So, a psychologically enslaved, closed person will be enslaved in the physical plane as well. That is why, by acting on the body shell of a person, it is possible to eliminate or minimize his psychological disorders.

Benefits of Body Psychotherapy

The main advantage of body-oriented psychotherapy is the relatively unhindered opportunity for the doctor to "treat" the soul of the patient. Body psychotherapy acts as a kind of universal tool of a psychologist, which allows to expose the essence of the patient's problem with the help of methods of unconscious influence. Through the physical shell, the psychotherapist, using the TOP, works with the inner feelings of a person.

The undoubted advantage of using body-oriented psychotherapy is that in the course of treatment the patient does not feel the verbal influence of the psychotherapist.

TOP main concepts

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 impedes the movement of energy in any body systems. 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 is difficult to disagree with this, as a rule, a person in a state of depression looks lifeless and sluggish, which indicates a low level of his energy potential. One of important conditions exit from depression is proper organization rest and nutrition of the patient.

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

Muscular protection

Under the so-called muscular armor, psychotherapists who own the basics of body-oriented psychotherapy understand the state of permanent muscle tension in a person. 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 the muscles, resulting in a change or suppression human perception. And this, in turn, already causes physical stiffness and tightness of the human body.

Energetic contact with the earth

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

Practical application of body psychotherapy

All theoretical concepts of body psychotherapy have practical forms of application, which consist of a series of exercises aimed at achieving specific goals:

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

The main exercises of body-oriented psychotherapy have a primary task - to relax the patient. Through exercise body therapy the patient will be able to learn to relax, listen to his body, understand it and find harmony with the outside world.

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

Basic exercises TOP

Muscle relaxation - this exercise is the maximum relaxation of the muscles by their maximum tension. For execution this exercise it is required to consistently begin to strain all the muscles of your body, starting from the head and ending with the feet. In this case, the 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 feelings in the process of relaxing the muscle.

An exercise " correct breathing» aimed at perception own body through respiratory function. To perform this exercise, close your eyes tightly and focus on your breathing. During the exercise, you can feel freshness in the process of inhaling and warmth in the process of exhaling air from the lungs. Next, it is recommended to try to breathe 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 develop your “body awareness”:

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

All ways and methods of body-oriented psychotherapy give a feeling of completeness and uniqueness of life, the integrity of one's own being, increase a person's desire to live active life without all kinds of fears and fears.

Initially, the psychology of the body arose in line with psychoanalysis in the 30s of the last century. Its founder, Wilhelm Reich, was one of Freud's students. He noticed that during the session, patients accompany certain emotions with specific bodily manifestations. For example, if the client wants to contain his feelings, he may begin to touch his neck, as if squeezing his throat and pushing emotions back inside.

These observations allowed psychology to link the bodily and mental. At the junction of the two areas, body-oriented psychotherapy arose.

On the this moment the direction has gone far from psychoanalysis and is an independent trend in psychology with its own theoretical base and practical developments.

A feature of body-oriented psychotherapy in a holistic approach to a person is that a person is considered as a whole. Personality is body, mind and soul.

We are accustomed to perceive ourselves through the body. So the child in the process of his development first of all begins to realize himself at the expense of the body, which later becomes a part of the personality and a repository of emotions, feelings, sensations, experiences. Therefore, the body tells about the problems and character of a person much faster and more than he does it himself. For example, a physically constrained and constrained person will be just as closed and not free inside himself.

In addition, the body remembers all our experiences, responding to them with clamps, blocks, tension.

We seem to acquire a muscular shell that does not allow energy to circulate freely, worsening general state and hindering quality of life. But, acting on the physical shell, it really helps psychological state person. Through the body, you can work with emotions, the sphere of relationships, self-acceptance and much more.

This approach is used for the following purposes:

• stress relief, getting rid of chronic fatigue;
• treatment of neurosis, depression;
• therapy of psychosomatic disorders, getting rid of complexes and fears.

Body Oriented Psychotherapy with the help of special exercises aimed at achieving a specific goal, gently affects the human condition. It bypasses many of the barriers and resistance of the client that may arise in those areas of psychotherapy where the main mode of interaction is speech.

Body-oriented psychotherapy works in many ways faster and more efficiently than "verbal" techniques.

The psychology of the body is the shortest way to the origins of problems, which, in addition to solving psychological difficulties, leads to a general improvement of the body.

This area of ​​study is suitable for both specialists - psychologists, psychotherapists, doctors - and people who want to better understand their body and its reactions, learn methods of relaxation, harmonization and self-help through simple and effective exercises.

Psychotherapy is always a conversation. But not always traditional, with the help of words. There is a psychotherapy based on a conversation with the body, or rather, working with a person's problems and diseases through bodily contact.

The history of the development of body-oriented psychotherapy has almost 100 years. Wilhelm Reich is considered to be 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 a psychoanalytic couch, some strong emotions are accompanied by severe reactions from the side of the body.

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

Continuing his observations, he described how, in response to stressful situations chronic stress occurs individual groups muscles - "muscle clamps". “Muscular clamps”, when combined, form a “muscular shell” or “character armor”. In the future, this "armor" creates problems, both in the body and in mental sphere.

In the bodily sphere, there are restrictions on mobility, poor blood circulation, and pain. In the mental sphere, “armor” does not allow strong emotions to naturally manifest itself, and hinders personal growth.

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

So, the basis of bodily targeted therapy(hereinafter - TOP) formed 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 it is possible to 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 (failures occur in the work of the autonomic nervous system).

• 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 AMPIR 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 another 25 methods:

• art therapy,
• autogenic training,
• gestalt psychotherapy,
• hypnosuggestive therapy,
• group dynamic psychotherapy,
• dynamic short-term psychotherapy,
• cognitive- behavioral psychotherapy,
• personality-oriented reconstructive psychotherapy,
• logotherapy,
• non-directive psychotherapy according to K. Rogers,
• NLP,
• behavioral psychotherapy,
• psychodrama,
• classical psychoanalysis,
• rational psychotherapy,
• systemic family therapy,
• therapy creative 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 simply does not realize about himself. This acquaintance occurs with the help of external observation, definition and decoding of bodily sensations.

Actually used in therapy various techniques: respiratory, motor, meditative, contact ( special system touches).

The therapist helps the client to experience not only simple bodily sensations, but also those associated with strong emotions. This allows you to live through the feelings that have been suppressed and release them. As a result, a person becomes closer to his experiences and, accordingly, is 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 to me because of breathing problems. Often there was shortness of breath without serious physical activity, especially in emotionally significant situations, for example, while playing with a child.

The problems began about four years ago, but had little effect on everyday life so I didn't ask for help before. He does not note any significant stressful situations during that period (“everything was solvable”).

When we are talking about breathing problems, the thought of a strong suppressed feeling always arises, so I carried out the work with the help of TOP. In the third session, a critical moment occurred - while working with the breath, the patient recalled a situation that occurred five years ago, when she was deprived of a promotion, under very "ugly" circumstances (the betrayal of a friend).

I remembered the situation and, after that, feelings surfaced - resentment and anger. In the past, they were suppressed with a rational reaction - she pulled herself together, continued to work there, then moved to another company.

The feelings that have now surfaced in therapy have been acted upon (the therapist in this case creates an atmosphere of maximum security 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 got in touch, the symptoms did not reappear).

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

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

Case from practice:

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

The idea to use TOP arose from the fact that the problems were not obviously related to thoughts - “winding up” is often the cause of insomnia, but not in this case. In addition, according to the observations of his wife, the patient always slept in the same tense position, "as if 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”, “get ready to move” constantly go to the brain. As the saying goes, "no sleep." The therapy was aimed at relaxing spasmodic back muscles and changing body memory associated with sleep. While working as a doctor, you really had to be on the alert, but now the situation has changed and you can start sleeping “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, proceed much more clearly on the sphere of the body, because even at the cell level we have a “dying-birth” scheme. Particularly well with the experience of grief, loss or other major changes V. Baskakov's thanatotherapy works.

Case from practice:

Xenia, 35 years old. Went in for difficulties in going through a divorce. Legally and in everyday terms, everything was decided, and, according to the client, “I agree that divorce the right decision I understand everything with my head, but something prevents me from letting go.

At the level of behavior, this manifested itself, for example, in inaction regarding the search for new housing. Thus, it was about the need to "complete and move on." This topic is a very frequent request for work in thanatotherapy.

During the fifth session, the client had an image in which she was present at the funeral ceremony (I will not describe the details), and experienced great 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 - there was a feeling of completeness. 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 their emotional state through the body.

The methods used in TOP are quite specific, and this imposes certain requirements on the training of therapists.

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

Who is Body-Oriented Therapy for?

The second is the development of the potential of the individual: increasing stress resistance, improving contact with your body and accepting yourself, 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 feet. Alexander Lowen "Psychology of the Body"

Body-oriented psychotherapy is a way to get rid of emotional experiences through interaction with the body. Everything we experience is reflected in our body. Negative and traumatic experiences are fixed in the body in the form of clamps and tensions.

The body therapist helps to pay attention to the tense points of the body, and through them - to identify the experiences that caused them. Having understood the reason, it is already possible to work with it - to learn to get rid of the past and its binding influence.

Thus, the goal of body therapy is to get rid of the influence of past negative experiences on the present.

The founder of body therapy is Wilhelm Reich. He was a student of Z. Freud, but concentrated his attention on the study of effects on the body. His work was continued by many scientists in different countries peace. Today, body-oriented psychotherapy has many directions and continues to develop rapidly.

Advantages of the method:

• The main advantage of body-oriented psychotherapy is high efficiency.
• This type of therapy allows you to interact with the unconscious. Our subconscious mind is 90% non-verbal, that is, not through speech, but through the body. Bodily clamps are a reflection of negative experiences, conflicts that have not been released and are "fixed" in the body.
• The body psychotherapist reads these signals, helps to uncover their causes, let go negative emotions from the soul, and as a result - free the body from the clamps.
• Body psychotherapy can prevent the development psychosomatic diseases , which are caused just by internal conflicts and negative experiences that have not received an outlet.

Sometimes tightness, lack of contact with one's body reaches the point where a person loses the ability to catch his true feelings. In this case, consciousness replaces feelings - it “tells” a person in which situation one should experience admiration, interest, sympathy, and in which one - rejection. At the same time, the true feelings of a person can be completely different from those that consciousness imposes on him. This conflict can lead to serious internal conflict. Therefore, it is important to work with your body and respond to its silent signals.

Oksana Barkova, psychotherapist, gestalt psychologist:

In my work, I always pay attention to the Body, since it is impossible to work through any emotional, psychological difficulty without removing the body block.

Any difficulty has an imprint in the body, creating a kind of bodily and emotional "shell", not allowing you to more fully experience and realize your emotions, distorting them.

The body remembers everything from the moment of birth: emotions, situations, memories, so through the body you can work with any human experience.

The study of muscle tension, which underlies the psychological difficulty, allows not only to solve the problem, but also to proceed to the correct bodily regulation, to rely on the resources of the body. This is the main difference and advantage of body therapy over other psychotherapeutic methods.

In what cases can physical therapy help?

• severe stress (loss, divorce, separation and other life situations);
• conflicts in the couple and in the family;
• career difficulties: difficulties in relationships with colleagues and superiors, inability to defend and defend one's opinion, lack of job satisfaction;
• constantly Bad mood, apathy, restless sleep, tearfulness, depression;
• loss of the meaning of life;
• fear, obsessive anxious thoughts;
• aggression, irritability;
• frequent colds, prolonged illness.

It is important to note that body-oriented psychotherapy is not a substitute for conservative or surgical treatment diseases, but serves as its complement.

Why is bodywork important?

Man perceives reality only through the body. When the connection between the soul and the body is broken, a person feels the world of his own experiences and illusions more realistically than the surrounding reality. As a result, the brightness and fullness of feelings and emotions are lost, nothing brings pleasure, something is constantly missing in life. Some characterize this state as follows: “I live like a zombie”, “Like in a dream”, “Like frozen”.

To "return" to real world To feel it fully, you must first free your body. Muscular "armor" makes it very difficult not only to enjoy life, but even to breathe and walk. Imagine that you were put on two sheepskin coats and shod in heavy felt boots with galoshes. And you live 24 hours a day, even sleep in such attire. And now take and throw off this burden, remaining in light summer clothes. It got better, right? But none external conditions have not changed, only your body has got rid of the heaviness. Therefore, body-oriented therapy, working with muscle clamps and returning the body to its original, harmonious state, contributes to the solution psychological problems.

SELF center specialist's comment:

A man came to the consultation, his name was Ivan, 32 years old, with a request about the relationship with his wife - there was a betrayal. During the meeting, the man, describing his situation, lowered his head down, breathed superficially and periodically clenched his jaw. I drew his attention to how his body behaves when he describes his difficulty. It turned out that he had been in pain for several months. right shoulder, constantly, nothing helps, the pain radiates to the shoulder blade and spreads along the spine.

We began to explore this pain and its connection with what the man was experiencing and thinking.

What word is associated with pain?

- Sharp, sharp, furious.

At the same time, Ivan began to clench and unclench his fists, breathing became more "heavy".

“What emotion is begging to be noticed?” I asked. The man, restraining himself, replied that it was anger, rage, a desire to break something and hit someone.

Then I asked, “What are these emotions trying to protect, what feeling or image?” The man, with tears in his eyes, replied that it was impotence, despair and the inability to return the previous relationship with his wife.

After these words and allowing himself to be with feelings of sadness, powerlessness, anger, despair, he was surprised to notice that the muscles relaxed and the pain disappeared. emotional stress The energy generated by this feeling affected the muscles, causing them to spasm, blocking natural movement. And they immediately relaxed as soon as the emotion was identified and lived.

Body Oriented Therapy Techniques:

Exist different methods body therapy:

• massage,
• breath,
• various exercises that can be done standing, sitting, lying down.

The purpose of the techniques is not to "correct" the body. They are aimed primarily at the awareness of the body, the return of communication with it.

Often " side effect» body-oriented therapy is to improve the figure.

The fact is that lowered shoulders, poor posture, sunken chest are often not associated with poor health. physical form but with psychological problems. Unfulfilled desires, fears driven inside, complexes, experiences, emotions that do not find a way out accumulate in our body, make it bend and stiffen. When during therapy negative energy is released, the body straightens out, becomes plastic and relaxed.

How are physical therapy sessions going?

The first task of the body therapist is to determine what internal problems prevent you from fully enjoying life and freely controlling your body. To do this, he reveals problem area- a part of the body where the muscles are constantly and unnaturally tense, there are pain. This is an indicator that allows you to understand what worries a person - after all, this reason caused a muscle clamp. When it is possible to determine the cause, the body psychologist suggests special exercises, which help to re-experience the stressed state in order to let go of it forever. A sign that old problem really released, the body will become - it will relax, getting rid of the clamps.

Physical contact when communicating between the therapist and the patient is not necessary - its presence or absence depends on the wishes of the patient. Work can also be done verbally, without touching.

It should be noted that touch has a high psychotherapeutic effect, but only if the patient is disposed to this form of communication with the therapist.

How to choose a body therapist?

To choose "your" body therapist, pay attention to the following points:

• Techniques used by the specialist. Everyone has their own preferred body-oriented psychotherapy techniques. Someone works with breathing, someone uses massage. Choose a therapist who knows the technique that is comfortable for you.
• Where do therapy sessions take place? It is important that the room is cozy, that it has a comfortable temperature, good, but not too bright lighting. it the necessary conditions in order to relax and concentrate on your feelings.
• subjective impressions. The specialist with whom you will work should evoke positive emotions in you. Do not try to analyze your feelings - just feel whether you want to go to this therapist or not. A positive attitude is the basis for building trust, which is essential for effective therapy.

“Not all body-oriented psychotherapy is good for health” - from this phrase I want to push off in my article and describe the various distortions and problems that I see in the application of body-oriented psychotherapy (BOT) at the moment. And only in order to increase the critical thinking of consumers of these services, and maybe even something new for themselves, specialists will also learn.

I was inspired to write this article by the fact that clients often come to me and want me to save them from something in the body, they did not go to the doctor, and if they did, then there is no diagnosis. They are often disappointed that I explain that I am a psychologist and work with psychological material and if you are not ready to work with it, then I cannot give any guarantee that the reason for "your increased blood pressure” in the psyche, and this is not an insufficiently high-quality diagnostics of doctors. Of course, I believe that many diseases come from the head and from the head, but this does not mean that medicine can find any source of illness in five minutes, provided that the problem is only somatic. Many good diagnosticians cannot determine the causes for a long time. various symptoms, since medicine is now symptomatic, there may be thousands of options. Is the psyche easier? And if you have already decided that you have psychosomatics, now there is a trend in the psychological environment, then without your personal history it is impossible to establish a reason or quality care render. And besides, a psychologist or psychotherapist does not establish the cause, but works together with you to find possible ones. And if the client is not ready to go into the depths of himself, and this happens through a conversation, but wants a magic button, then most likely he is not for me. The button just doesn't exist. By the way, a psychosomatic problem can be solved without the use of body-oriented methods of work, but by working only verbally. It seems to me that there is some confusion that psychosomatics is equal to body-oriented work, but this is not so. Psychosomatic problem can be solved only by verbal methods of work or by supplementing them with body-oriented psychotherapy.

The second reason is the wide spread of bodily practitioners who, without psychological education, try to solve from more or less allegedly simple psychological problems to working with childhood developmental trauma, shock trauma, PTSD using bodily practices or the methods they have collected. bodily work. Unfortunately, at the moment it is dangerous only for the client, it is dangerous by retraumatization or triggering more serious pathological mental processes: various reactive and affective states, PTSD, the onset of schizophrenia and other psychotic states and reactions.

Now many psychotherapists have begun to call themselves, including body-oriented. On the one hand, this is a fashionable trend, on the other hand, it is the development and implementation of body-oriented trends in the psychotherapeutic environment. I think this is great, because dividing a person into "brain" and "body" is not useful. Our industrial environment is full of such divisions, so in the psychotherapeutic process it is more effective to connect. Yeah, that's the goal of deep psycho too therapeutic process- the integrity of the individual. But I believe that in order to be called a body-oriented psychotherapist, you need to master some kind of body-oriented method of psychotherapeutic work. And it turns out that, sat down, got up at the session and is already body-oriented, and also tell me what is wrong. Did you move? An exception, perhaps, can be called Gestalt therapy, which is more about feelings, emotions, the body and their phenomenological manifestations in the session. Also in the Gestalt session, bodily interventions are allowed. Gestalt teaching institutes have their own special courses, which are prepared and conducted by those specialists who have passed full course learning some body-oriented method. This individual training can be certified accordingly.

And this “sat down, got up” is the most harmless thing that can be. It's just that this has little to do with body-oriented psychotherapy. In general, there are a lot of body-oriented directions, of the most famous ones: Bioenergetics or Lowen's Bioenergetic analysis, Bodynamics, Biosynthesis, Reichian analysis of character structure, Hakomi, etc., many of them have their own personality theory. What is also very interesting is that recently in Austria the TOP entered the register of psychotherapy directions as a separate direction and can be paid for by insurance. The European Association for Body Oriented Psychotherapy (EABP) has a special course on TOP. In Russia, until recently, there was also such an association, accredited by a European association, where you could take a course and get a certificate. In such courses, a combination of methods is usually used for training, and the areas I have listed above have their own, as they say, branded programs from their school. In general, in order to understand what method a specialist uses for work, it makes sense to look at the historical aspect. How did it arise, from what previous direction did it grow, who was the ancestor, then you can more or less determine that this is not a complete gag, but a proven method. Although the proven directions were once a gag, but several generations of psychotherapists and clients have already checked them before you, and I think it will be possible to form an opinion. The directions listed above are well represented in Europe and the USA, as well as already in Russia. By the way, in Russia there is one domestic method of body-oriented psychotherapy - this is Thanatotherapy, although in general it was also created on the basis of Western trends. Historically, psychotherapy has developed in Europe and the United States.

Separately, I want to say a few words about the West. There is no need to treat everything that came from the West as useful, many Western experts have long understood that Russia is an excellent market for all kinds of techniques, methods, etc. and come to show themselves and earn. However, I can say with confidence that not all yogurts are specialists, and even more so directions are equally useful. That many are a profanation of psychotherapy, I was convinced by attending conferences on Bioenergetic Analysis and Body-Oriented Psychotherapy.

I think it's good and deep method body-oriented psychotherapy must have a theory of personality or an ideology, otherwise it will be a set of exercises that will either lead to something or not. A set of exercises dictated by a coach is not psychotherapy. By the way, there are methods of work in which there are exercises and following the process of the client, they are not TOP, but they occupy a separate niche and solve a lot of problems. May complement the psychotherapeutic process. For example, the Feldenkrais Method, founded by Moshe Feldenkrais, is one of the most powerful rehabilitation methods work, built on the awareness of movements that include all the muscles, and not just those that a person “remembers”, the return of memory about the muscles that a person “forgets” about in the process of life. On its basis, other directions have already appeared for working with cerebral palsy, rehabilitation after somatic and craniocerebral injuries. Bertsely's "TRE®" method, founded by David Bertsely, is based on amplifying vibration and releasing energy enslaved in bodily blocks. The method fits well with Lowen's Bioenergetic Analysis. Actually, among other things, David Berzeli is a certified trainer of Lowen's bioenergetic analysis. I would also include here Rolfing, founded by Ida Pauline Rolf in the 20s of the previous century, the method is based on deep tissue massage and the Rosen method, based on the American physiologist Marion Rosen, built on soft touches and awareness of tension in the process of these touches, I believe there is and domestic methods of work developed by physiologists.

Body-oriented psychotherapy is called so because it is focused on working through the body with the psyche, but in recent times psychologists began to forget the word "psychotherapy". I even began to think that the name became harmful, because it was invented as a counterweight to only verbal methods, and now any work with the body has become known as body-oriented psychotherapy. I am not against an adequate combination, because any of the methods described above can be brought into the psychotherapeutic process. True, it is important that the work at the same time be with psychological material, and not only with the tissues and subcortical structures of the brain, and for this you also need to have a psychological education, which, for all its availability in our country, many bodily practices do not strive to receive.

Now there are a lot of bodily practices and bodily practices that at least promise lightness in the body, and as a maximum, getting rid of psychological problems. They are also brought either from the West or from the East, as well as specialists who also come from abroad, or some techniques are collected by bodily practices here. Good progress as people are looking for getting rid of their problems. Unfortunately, most of them do not solve psychological problems, since they are not called to do this, but they pretend that they do, because for a while, it really can become easier. Therefore, if they tell you that they will “spare you”, it is better to take it critically. In no way do I want to say that bodily practices are harmful or that they should not be practiced, my idea is that you need to know the limits of your competence and not deceive people, do not replace one with another. Now there are a lot of practices that shake the psyche, as there were once many such trainings. In an altered state of consciousness, ideas or new behavioral reactions are easily introduced, in fact, for this, there was a buildup at those trainings, because the trainings were designed to quickly change behavior, for the result. Modern practices rather, they are called for temporary relief from bodily tension and for receiving endorphins. Maybe good ideas are broadcast somewhere, I don't know about it. Or cathartic techniques, dances or exercises by type OSHO meditation, which also lead to ASC. Firstly, all this is for a while, secondly, you can get hooked on it, thirdly, it does not solve psychological problems, but rather creates the illusion of their solution and people lose time, often coming again and again, like many others to a disco, in bar or fitness. Why are they so common? Unfortunately, this is how it has historically and possibly climatically developed. In the culture of our country, there is little bodily contact, and both the body and the psyche require and want it. There are a lot of studies and it is no longer a secret that the deprivation of body contact in childhood leads to serious mental disorders. And in our culture they don’t know how to relax, or take care of themselves, there are even folk jokes about it, and the folk unconscious is not mistaken.

In my opinion, bodily practices are everything that is done by the body and with the body, massage, walking, running, dancing. Why not bodily practices? If you want to enhance race walking, there is yoga, pilates, pool, taijiquan and others various methods body work and varying degrees including the subcortical layers of the brain. Is it possible to realize something in such practices? Of course, a person can realize something even lying on the couch, and motor processes stimulate the body, physiological processes in it, activate various subcortical structures of the brain, which, as a result, increases the activity of the cerebral cortex. Is it helpful? I think so, but of course it's best to check this on a case-by-case basis, as running, for example, is unlikely to be beneficial for people with a knee injury. Are these techniques or methods psychotherapy? I think not, since psychotherapy is work with psychological material, with the psyche and personality. Masseurs, osteopaths and other bodily practitioners do not work with them. However, I repeat, purely bodily techniques and practices fulfill their function, and, I hope, more often useful - health-improving, social. And they can complement the psychotherapeutic process.

One of major topics in any psychotherapy there is a study of the psychological boundaries of the client's personality. This is probably one of the most difficult topics that permeates the entire course of psychotherapy and the entire life of the client and the psychotherapist, too, in fact, of any person. Probably due to the impossibility of establishing boundaries or their constant violation, the client has today's problems. In the TOP, the therapist must be extremely careful about the boundaries of the client, there is even special literature on this topic. Therefore, if you see that the therapist has not had problems with touch for a long time and he can grab you by the face or other parts of the body without warning, this most likely means that either the therapist never understood what psychological boundaries are, or he had a deformity personality due to his favorite direction and he is not aware that other people may not have such a touch experience. Or you are not a psychotherapist. It is worth considering, but you need it if, the therapist asks you to do something that you do not want, hurts and insists on it, persuading that it is for good, touches without permission. We must not forget that the body-oriented psychotherapist works with the client's psyche, and not just with the body. Ask what kind of method the psychotherapist uses and why it is for you. Although many may use different methods or combined techniques or even something of their own, the psychotherapist must be grounded in the understanding that he is working with the psyche, with the personality of the client and that this is a process of two people. He is not a surgeon.

And one more fact that I often see and which I tested on myself, as I studied in an imported international program. Often psychotherapists come in forays and have either a few sessions or one and leave, I believe that this approach is only suitable for training, but not as not for the therapeutic process. Professional psychotherapists will always ask the client if he has a permanent psychotherapist, if he can cope with what may appear after the sessions, and body-oriented work has a cumulative and delayed effect. Exercises or processes are done either on the basis of some assumptions of the psychotherapist, or on the basis of the situation in order to expand psychological process Then it's psychotherapy. But someone will have to help the client wind down, complete and integrate, because the effect can overtake the client after the psychotherapist leaves the program. Analyzing similar situations, you can infer about the therapist or the training program as a whole.

Finally, I would like to share one of my dialogues with a German follower and trainer of the Feldenkrais Method. I once asked him, “What do you do if psychological material comes up, because it will definitely appear?” and he replied - "In cases where this happens, since I am not a psychologist and do not work with psychological material, I send the client to my colleague psychotherapist." So I think that a professional in his field, whether it be a masseur, osteopath, body practitioner, or a psychotherapist, or a body psychotherapist should feel the limits of his competence, and if there is such a specialist, he feels confident in his direction and deepens into it, and This means they can provide quality help.