Pelvic-Heart Integration® is a form of Bodymind Integration and Body Psychotherapy, developed by Jack W. Painter. ICPIT (The International Council of Psychocorporal (Bodymind) Integration Trainers) is the only responsible organ for the recognition of Pelvic-Heart Integration® practitioners.
Introductory Workshop Bodymind Integration 9>10 February 2019
Introductory workshop⎮Postural Integration® ⎮ Energetic Integration®⎮9-10 February 2019
With Dirk Marivoet, MSc.
Trainer/Supervisor for Postural Integration®, Energetic Integration® and Pelvic-Heart Integration® – Teacher/Supervisor for Core-Energetics®
THE WEEKEND
During the weekend you will be introduced to the Postural and Energetic Integration® Therapy Model. During these two days we work with a synthesis of Reichian Breathwork, Gestalt, Body Reading, connective tissue work, bodymind drama and character analysis. Participants will have the opportunity to experience this work – focussing on “Posture” (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual) and on “Energy Economy” – in a safe and inviting environment under the guidance of an experienced teacher and supervisor. This is an opportunity for personal work and development in a group context. Given the integrative discipline-transcending character, this workshop is open to interested students and professional therapists. Bring especially your curiosity, your willingness, and your desire to move with you so that you can experience your body, feelings and emotions. For people who are interested in following the professional training in 2020, this Workshop gives you a sense whether to train yourself in this modality. The contents and working methods that are provided in the training are adequately covered.
What is Postural Integration®?
Postural Integration® is an approach that supports a growth process of the whole person, based on his posture. Your posture tells a lot about who you are. By profoundly liberating the myofascial tensions in your body in combination with simultaneous work with breath, movement, energy and the interpersonal relationship, the different body areas can be made aware individually and in relation to each other and the surrounding environment. Unprocessed and unconscious – possibly traumatic – experiences from your personal history can thus be integrated. Energetic Integration® works with the model of Jack Painter’s Energetic Cycle to improve “Energy Economy” and transforming stress, fatigue and blocked energy into flow and pleasure.
You can experience in this workshop the many ways in which you yourself prevent yourself from living deeply and fulfillingly. By learning to move the blocked energy and the associated emotions in a targeted way and to bring them into interaction, you come into a positive lifestream. You will find out how your body and your feelings are an important guideline for change in your life.
You will experience how in this process your entire body begins to change visibly and tangibly. In the work we do, we integrate Reichian insights and practices, Gestalt work, Acupressure (based on 5-elements theory), Bodymind Drama (Embodied role playing, Triangle work (Child, Father, Mother, Ancestors, other placeholders), etc.
People who have experienced this work firsthand, tell us that they become livelier, more powerful, joyful, courageous …. Postural and Energetic Integration® are creative, dynamic and ultimately enjoyable ways to fully experience the creativity, dynamism and joy of your own life force.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Facilitation: Dirk Marivoet, Trainer/Supervisor for Postural Integration®, Energetic Integration® & Pelvic-Heart Integration® – Teacher/Supervisor for Core-Energetics Body Psychotherapy.
Costs: € 220 (Incl. Group room – Excl. Food and Lodging).
Send money to account number with BIC GEBABEBB and IBAN BE17001255696221 of Dirk Marivoet with in subject line: workshop PI/EI
Where: IBI, Destelbergenstraat 49-51, B-9040 Gent, België, Tel: +32 9 228 49 11
When: 9-10 February 2019
Hours: Saturday 10 am – 6pm and
Sunday 10 am – 5 pm
Lunch: There is a one hour lunchbreak. Bring your own lunch.
Lodging: There are a several B&B’s in the neighborhood.
Language: English (translation where necessary) For more information, inscription and payment, please contact us.
International Training in English⎮Postural Integration® ⎮ 2020
For more info please contact
dirk@bodymindintegration.com
Currently we are running a PHI -3 year training in Hungary. For more information about this program, please go here.
- Published in Body Psychotherapy, Bodymind Integration, Deep Bodywork, Energetic Integration®, Introductory Workshops, Latest posts, Pelvic-Heart Integration®, Postural Integration®, Postural Integration®, Energetic Integration® & Pelvic-Heart Integration®
International Pelvic-Heart Integration® Workshop in English – Belgium (Lasne) 20>23 September 2018
Living the Mystery
of the
Masculine and Feminine
International Pelvic-Heart Integration® (PHI) Level I Workshop in Belgium : 20>23 September 2018
Beyond Attraction-Rejection, Happiness-Frustration,
Joy- Heartbreak
International Workshop guided by Dirk Marivoet (B) and Elisabeth Renner (A), Licensed Psychotherapists and International Trainers and Supervisors for PHI.
Are you longing to create and sustain healthy, dynamic relationships? Would you like to experience your full sexual energy and pleasure? Are you able to harness the innate action energy of your masculinity and tap into the receptivity and intuition of your femininity?
We often resign ourselves to repeating cycles of being attracted to and then rejected by the opposite sex. This pattern of finding short lived happiness and joy often leads to plunging back into unforeseen frustration and heartbreak. We can become intrigued and overwhelmed by the mystery of the opposite sex. Yet, when we really feel both the masculine and feminine already inside of us and then letting these parts of us interact with each other, we can find our way to sustainable excitement, deep love and even ecstasy. Our sexuality then comes from the wonderful mystery within us and guides us in our relationship with others.
In this workshop we will discover how our characteristic breathing patterns, thoughts, emotions, and body armour block the free flow of our life force and inhibit our capacity for sensual pleasure and orgasmic release. We use breath, movement and mindful touch to feel the unity of love and satisfaction. Psychodrama, imagery and role plays are helping us to explore the sexual and heart energy from our ancestors and our inner triangle (father, mother, child) which becomes a template for future relationships. Experiencing the spiritual presence of our ancestors is powerful and helps us to heal old wounds carried through generations. Pelvic-Heart Integration® is helpful and supportive in creating a new wave of consciousness in all of us.
Pelvic-Heart Integration® explores together with you the unconscious emotional body armor and breathing patterns, as well as habitual protection and defense patterns, that were learned in the Triangle Mother/Father/Child that determine your relationships in the here and now. Role playing, Imagination, Body Talk, „Hands-on” techniques, expression and movement, as well as exchanges in the group, accompany you in this process. Work with our ancestors and their spiritual force support you in bringing old, passed on wounds though generations, to a healing movement. New pulsating vibrancy and creativity begin to flow and to create a new source of Bodymind Consciousness.
SEMINAR LEADERS:
DIRK MARIVOET (B):
Psychotherapist, Trainer for Pelvic-Heart Integration®, Postural Integration® & Energetic Integration® – Teacher and Supervisor for Core-Energetics®. Loves the Fire, Father of two children, from Ghent (Belgium).
ELISABETH RENNER (A): Psychotherapist, Clinical Psychologist, Trainer for Pelvic-Heart Integration®, Postural Integration® & Energetic Integration®. Loves the Water, from Graz (Austria).
WHEN: Thursday September 20th at 5.30 pm until Sunday September 23rd at 4 pm.
WHERE: Route d’Ottignies 9c (in front of 34) B-1380 Lasne Chapelle. Contact Béatrice Lacroix: bea@jjlacroix.be – Phone : +3226551308
COSTS for Workshop:
EARLY BIRD RATE: Enroll before August 15th and pay 420 €
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 12
NORMAL RATE: Enroll after August 15th and pay 450 €
Send money to: Bank account number (Inst. for Bodymind Integration): BE24 0017 2768 0538 with mention “PHI-workshop Lasne”
REGISTRATION AND CANCELLATION
- Registration per email (Dirk Marivoet: dirk@bodymindintegration.com) or the contact form and our confirmation email counts as definitive enrollment
- Cancellation is possible via a confirmation email from us
- Cancellation until 3 weeks prior to the workshop: a cost of 25% of the workshop fee is due.
- In case of cancellation within the last 3 weeks prior to the workshop (also in case of sickness or not showing up), the total amount will be withheld unless a substitute can be found.
- In case the workshop does not meet the required minimum number of participants at least one month in advance of the workshop, the workshop may be cancelled. A full refund will be issued to anyone registered for the event.
- TRAVEL INSURANCE: We are not responsible for refunding any costs associated with travel, lodging, or incidental losses incurred in the event the workshop is cancelled or you back out for any reason.
- FOOD and LODGING :Snacks, tea and coffee are served by the venue.If you want to stay overnight at the venue, you need to book and pay for your stay at : Béatrice Lacroix: bea@jjlacroix.be
- Phone : +3226551308
- Send the Money for Food / Lodging here) : JJ Lacroix (BIC : GEBABEBB / IBAN: BE 0327 1012 1787 84)
HOW TO GET THERE :
- BY AIR :
- Airport : Brussels-National Airport
- Other Airports :
- Brussels South (Charleroi)
CONTACT and INFORMATION:
Dirk Marivoet: dirk@bodymindintegration.com
Elisabeth Renner: elisabeth@bodymindintegration.at
Pelvic-Heart Integration Workshop in Corsica 30/03 > 02/04/2018
Living the Mystery
of the
Masculine and Feminine
Pelvic-Heart Integration® (PHI) on the beautiful island of Corsica : 30/03 > 02/04/2018
Beyond Attraction-Rejection, Happiness-Frustration,
Joy- Heartbreak
International Workshop guided by Dirk Marivoet (B) and Elisabeth Renner (A), Licensed Psychotherapists and International Trainers and Supervisors for PHI.
Are you longing to create and sustain healthy, dynamic relationships? Would you like to experience your full sexual energy and pleasure? Are you able to harness the innate action energy of your masculinity and tap into the receptivity and intuition of your femininity?
We often resign ourselves to repeating cycles of being attracted to and then rejected by the opposite sex. This pattern of finding short lived happiness and joy often leads to plunging back into unforeseen frustration and heartbreak. We can become intrigued and overwhelmed by the mystery of the opposite sex. Yet, when we really feel both the masculine and feminine already inside of us and then letting these parts of us interact with each other, we can find our way to sustainable excitement, deep love and even ecstasy. Our sexuality then comes from the wonderful mystery within us and guides us in our relationship with others.
In this workshop we will discover how our characteristic breathing patterns, thoughts, emotions, and body armour block the free flow of our life force and inhibit our capacity for sensual pleasure and orgasmic release. We use breath, movement and mindful touch to feel the unity of love and satisfaction. Psychodrama, imagery and role plays are helping us to explore the sexual and heart energy from our ancestors and our inner triangle (father, mother, child) which becomes a template for future relationships. Experiencing the spiritual presence of our ancestors is powerful and helps us to heal old wounds carried through generations. Pelvic-Heart Integration® is helpful and supportive in creating a new wave of consciousness in all of us.
Pelvic-Heart Integration® explores together with you the unconscious emotional body armor and breathing patterns, as well as habitual protection and defense patterns, that were learned in the Triangle Mother/Father/Child that determine your relationships in the here and now. Role playing, Imagination, Body Talk, „Hands-on” techniques, expression and movement, as well as exchanges in the group, accompany you in this process. Work with our ancestors and their spiritual force support you in bringing old, passed on wounds though generations, to a healing movement. New pulsating vibrancy and creativity begin to flow and to create a new source of Bodymind Consciousness.
SEMINAR LEADERS:
DIRK MARIVOET (B):
Psychotherapist, Trainer for Pelvic-Heart Integration®, Postural Integration® & Energetic Integration® – Teacher and Supervisor for Core-Energetics®. Loves the Fire, Father of two children, from Ghent (Belgium).
ELISABETH RENNER (A): Psychotherapist, Clinical Psychologist, Trainer for Pelvic-Heart Integration®, Postural Integration® & Energetic Integration®. Loves the Water, from Graz (Austria).
WHERE?
LODGING:
- In a double shared room in Calenzana: 150€
- B&B in the neighborhood:
- http://www.ombre-du-clocher.com
- http://www.casadiucuginu.com/index.php
- Direct reservations with https://www.airbnb.fr/s/Calenzana/homes?allow_override%5B%5D=&ne_lat=42.575671822728054&ne_lng=8.913369896607037&search_by_map=true&sw_lat=42.452170094693564&sw_lng=8.756814720825787&zoom=12&s_tag=4oFRUjXb
HOW TO GET THERE :
- BY AIR : Air Corsica – Air France – EasyJet – ASL
- Closest Airport : Calvi-Sainte Catherine – 20260 Calvi (12 km)
- Other Airports :
- International Airport of Bastia – Poretta – 20290 Lucciana (98 km)
- Ajaccio – Campo Dell’oro – 20090 Ajaccio (165 km)
- International Airport Figari-Sud-Corse – 20114 Figari (229 km)
- BY SEA : Corsica Linea – Corsica Ferries – You arrive in Calvi (12 km) or L’Île-Rousse (26 km).
COSTS for Workshop:
EARLY BIRD RATE: Enroll before February 15th and pay 420 €
NORMAL RATE: Enroll after February 15th and pay 450 €
REGISTRATION AND CANCELLATION
- Registration per email and our confirmation email counts as definitive enrollment
- Cancellation is possible via a confirmation email from us
- Cancellation until 3 weeks prior to the workshop: a cost of 25% of the workshop fee is due.
- In case of cancellation within the last 3 weeks prior to the workshop (also in case of sickness or not showing up), the total amount will be withheld unless a substitute can be found.
- In case the workshop does not meet the required minimum number of participants at least one month in advance of the workshop, the workshop may be cancelled. A full refund will be issued to anyone registered for the event.
- TRAVEL INSURANCE: We are not responsible for refunding any costs associated with travel, lodging, or incidental losses incurred in the event the workshop is cancelled or you back out for any reason.
REGISTRATION
Sophie Anquetil : lewatsu@gmail.com Phone: +33 664 785 610
CONTACT and INFORMATION:
Dirk Marivoet: dirk@bodymindintegration.com
Elisabeth Renner: elisabeth@bodymindintegration.at
Pelvic-Heart Integration Workshop Brussels 22>25 June 2017
Living the Mystery
of the
Masculine and Feminine
Pelvic-Heart Integration® (PHI) in Brussels : 22 > 25 June 2017!
Beyond Attraction-Rejection, Happiness-Frustration,
Joy- Heartbreak
International Workshop guided by Dirk Marivoet (B) and Elisabeth Renner (A), Licensed Psychotherapists and International Trainers and Supervisors for PHI.
We often resign ourselves to repeating cycles of being attracted to and then rejected by the opposite sex. This pattern of finding short lived happiness and joy often leads to plunging back into unforeseen frustration and heartbreak. We can become intrigued and overwhelmed by the mystery of the opposite sex. Yet, when we really feel both the masculine and feminine already inside of us and then letting these parts of us interact with each other, we can find our way to sustainable excitement, deep love and even ecstasy. Our sexuality then comes from the wonderful mystery within us and guides us in our relationship with others.
In this workshop we will discover how our characteristic breathing patterns, thoughts, emotions, and body armour block the free flow of our life force and inhibit our capacity for sensual pleasure and orgasmic release. We use breath, movement and mindful touch to feel the unity of love and satisfaction. Psychodrama, imagery and role plays are helping us to explore the sexual and heart energy from our ancestors and our inner triangle (father, mother, child) which becomes a template for future relationships. 
Experiencing the spiritual presence of our ancestors is powerful and helps us to heal old wounds carried through generations. Pelvic-Heart Integration is helpful and supportive in creating a new wave of consciousness in all of us.
Pelvic-Heart Integration explores together with you the unconscious emotional body armor and breathing patterns, as well as habitual protection and defense patterns, that were learned in the Triangle Mother/Father/Child that determine your relationships in the here and now. Role playing, Imagination, Body Talk, „Hands-on” techniques, expression and movement, as well as exchanges in the group, accompany you in this process. Work with our ancestors and their spiritual force support you in bringing old, passed on wounds though generations, to a healing movement. New pulsating vibrancy and creativity begin to flow and to create a new source of Bodymind Consciousness.
SEMINAR LEADERS:
DIRK MARIVOET:
Psychotherapist, Psychomotor Therapist & PT, Trainer for Pelvic-Heart Integration®, Postural Integration® & Energetic Integration® – Teacher and Supervisor for Core-Energetics®. Former Medical Faculty member at University of Leuven. Founder and Director of The International Institute of Bodymind Integration in Ghent.
Loves the Fire, Father of two children, lives in Belgium
ELISABETH RENNER: Psychotherapist, Clinical Psychologist, Trainer for Pelvic-Heart Integration®, Postural Integration® & Energetic Integration®. Loves the Water, lives in Graz and in Hawaï. Founder and Director of The Institute of Bodymind Integration Austria.
WHERE:
Tao Massage Brussels
Rue Alphonse Asselbergs,58
contact Tessa Raffaella Lavezzi: tessa.raffaella.lavezzi@gmail.com
0032 (0) 485 22 44 68
COST:
EARLY BIRD
420 € (Before June 1st 2017)
450 € (After June 1st 2017)
FOOD and LODGING:
Bring or get your healthy lunch. Snacks, tea and coffee are served by the venue.
The workshop is non-residential: You will need to book and pay for your own hotel.
The number of Places is limited!! To ensure your participation, we recommend you to enroll early!
Language of the workshop is English. Translations possible in Dutch, French and German.
Pelvic-Heart Integration® Brussels: Contact Tessa Raffaella Lavezzi at tessa.raffaella.lavezzi@gmail.com (more…)
- Published in Body Psychotherapy, Pelvic-Heart Integration®
Pelvic-Heart Integration (PHI)Workshop in London (GB)
Pelvic-Heart Integration® (PHI) in London : 23 > 26 March 2017!
Beyond Attraction-Rejection, Happiness-Frustration,
Joy- Heartbreak
International Workshop guided by Dirk Marivoet (B) and Elisabeth Renner (A), Licensed Psychotherapists and International Trainers and Supervisors for PHI.
We often resign ourselves to repeating cycles of being attracted to and then rejected by the opposite sex. This pattern of finding short lived happiness and joy often leads to plunging back into unforeseen frustration and heartbreak. We can become intrigued and overwhelmed by the mystery of the opposite sex. Yet, when we really feel both the masculine and feminine already inside of us and then letting these parts of us interact with each other, we can find our way to sustainable excitement, deep love and even ecstasy. Our sexuality then comes from the wonderful mystery within us and guides us in our relationship with others.
In this workshop we will discover how our characteristic breathing patterns, thoughts, emotions, and body armour block the free flow of our life force and inhibit our capacity for sensual pleasure and orgasmic release. We use breath, movement and mindful touch to feel the unity of love and satisfaction. Psychodrama, imagery and role plays are helping us to explore the sexual and heart energy from our ancestors and our inner triangle (father, mother, child) which becomes a template for future relationships. 
Experiencing the spiritual presence of our ancestors is powerful and helps us to heal old wounds carried through generations. Pelvic-Heart Integration is helpful and supportive in creating a new wave of consciousness in all of us.
Pelvic-Heart Integration explores together with you the unconscious emotional body armor and breathing patterns, as well as habitual protection and defense patterns, that were learned in the Triangle Mother/Father/Child that determine your relationships in the here and now. Role playing, Imagination, Body Talk, „Hands-on” techniques, expression and movement, as well as exchanges in the group, accompany you in this process. Work with our ancestors and their spiritual force support you in bringing old, passed on wounds though generations, to a healing movement. New pulsating vibrancy and creativity begin to flow and to create a new source of Bodymind Consciousness.
SEMINAR LEADERS:
DIRK MARIVOET:
Registered Psychotherapist, Trainer and Supervisor for Pelvic-Heart Integration®, Postural Integration® & Energetic Integration® – Teacher and Supervisor for Core-Energetics®.
Loves the Fire, Father of two children, lives in Belgium
ELISABETH RENNER: Registered Psychotherapist, Trainer and Supervisor for Pelvic-Heart Integration®, Postural Integration® & Energetic Integration®. Loves the Water, lives in Graz and in Hawaï
WHERE:
wimbledon village.
www.core-london.co.uk
contact Melissa Alacheff: melissa@core-london.co.uk
COST:
375£ (After February 1st 2016)
EARLY BIRD
350£ (before February 1st 2016)
FOOD and LODGING:
Healthy lunch and snacks prepared by a chef at the venue.
The workshop is non-residential: You will need to book and pay for your own hotel.
The number of Places is limited!! To ensure your participation, we recommend you to enroll early!
Pelvic-Heart Integration® London: Contact Melissa Hillery : RSVP[at]core-london.co.uk
- Published in Body Psychotherapy, Pelvic-Heart Integration®
Pelvic-Heart Integration (PHI) Workshop in Milano (I)
Vivere il Mistero del Maschile e Femminile
- Segreteria AIPT
- Segreteria ICPIT
- Elisabeth Renner: +43 676 3121929 elisabeth.renner@me.com
- Il corso è riservato ai soci AIPT
- Per i nuovi soci la iscrizione ad AIPT è compresa nel costo del seminario
- La iscrizione al workshop è valida solo dopo aver effettuato il versamento
- In caso di cancellazione fino a 3 settimane prima del workshop il 25% della somma sarà trattenuta.
- In caso di cancellazione nelle ultime 3 settimane precedenti il seminario (anche in caso di malattia o non presentandosi), l’importo totale sarà trattenuto.
Information in English :
Living the Mystery of the Masculine and Feminine.
Workshop Pelvic-Heart Integration with Elisabeth Renner and Dirk Marivoet. Presented by Massimo Soldati
From 18.11 (18.00u) until 21.11 (16.00u)
Download the Flyer (not available yet)!
We often resign ourselves to repeating cycles of being attracted to and then rejected by the opposite sex. This pattern of finding short lived happiness and joy often leads to plunging back into unforeseen frustration and heartbreak. We can become intrigued and overwhelmed by the mystery of the opposite sex. Yet, when we really feel both the masculine and feminine already inside of us and then letting these parts of us interact with each other, we can find our way to sustainable excitement, deep love and even ecstasy. Our sexuality then comes from the wonderful mystery within us and guides us in our relationship with others.
- Published in Body Psychotherapy, Introductory Workshops, Pelvic-Heart Integration®
Pelvic-Heart Integration (PHI) Workshop in Graz (A)
With Elisabeth Renner and Dirk Marivoet
From 30.06 (18.00u) until 03.07 (16.00u)
Next workshop Pelvic-Heart Integration (PHI) in Graz (Austria) from 30 June until 3 July 2016
PHI-Workshop_Graz_2016 Download the Flyer!
We often resign ourselves to repeating cycles of being attracted to and then rejected by the opposite sex. This pattern of finding short lived happiness and joy often leads to plunging back into unforeseen frustration and heartbreak. We can become intrigued and overwhelmed by the mystery of the opposite sex. Yet, when we really feel both the masculine and feminine already inside of us and then letting these parts of us interact with each other, we can find our way to sustainable excitement, deep love and even ecstasy. Our sexuality then comes from the wonderful mystery within us and guides us in our relationship with others.
- Published in Body Psychotherapy, Introductory Workshops, Pelvic-Heart Integration®
Transformation of the Self with Bodymind Integration
TRANSFORMATION OF THE SELF WITH BODYMIND INTEGRATION- Ed. Holzinger H W
This publication by the International Council of PsychoCorporal (Bodymind) Integration (ICPIT), Ghent, Belgium, comprises a series of papers on the theory and practice of Bodymind Integration, especially Postural integration (PI). It gives an overview of the experiences that have been accumulated in more than 40 years of practising and teaching in every continent of the world.
To people interested in the field of bodywork, personal growth, self-development, body psychotherapy and healing, this collection of papers and articles presents innovative knowledge and specialised developments in practice of the different yet related bodymind methods. These are Postural integration (PI), Energetic Integration (El), Pelvic Heart Integration, Bodymind Drama and Psychotherapeutic Postural integration (PPI).
The introduction and honouring of Jack Painter, PhD. – the founder of these powerful approaches – is followed by articles about the history of Bodymind Integration in the development of body psychotherapy. There then follow basic articles on methodological and theoretical backgrounds. Articles about the practice of Bodymind Integration work are presented at the end.
The authors were all trained by Jack Painter. This publication contains articles written by PI-trainers from ten different countries and three continents to honour the lifetime achievement of Jack Painter, Ph.D. whose work has been recognized with the highest award of three golden stars by the European Association of Psychotherapy (EAP), Vienna, Austria, in 2011.
Articles written by:
– Raffaele Cascone (I)
– Anton Adam Eckert (D)
– Rita Erken (D)
– Dirk Marivoet (B)
– Niall O’Siochain (IRL/D)
– Jack Painter (USA)
– Carmine Piroli (I)
– Bernhard Schlage (D)
– Günter Schwiefert (AU)
– Rosa Maria Sevilla Padron (MEX)
– Massimo Soldati (I)
– Claude Vaux (F)
– Beverly Wilkinson (ZA)
– Silke Ziehl (GB/D)
Embodiment in Body Psychotherapy
Embodiment in Body Psychotherapy
Embodiment can be defined as a subjective experience, as a felt sense of being in my body, identifying with the ‘lived body’ moment-to-moment.
There is a lot going on in the body, on all kinds of levels, every second, and it is one of the functions of consciousness to screen out the bulk of it. So ’embodiment’ cannot mean that I am aware of everything that is going on, that is impossible as we know from neuroscience. However, it does mean that reflective awareness and spontaneous processes come together, pretty much in the sense of Winnicott’s phrase “psyche indwelling in the soma” (1987). In simple terms it means that sensing, feeling, imagining and thinking are working together as aspects of an organismic, embodied experience of “interdependent self” as process.
The crucial aspect of embodiment, therefore, is not the body per se, but the mutual, reciprocal, self-regulating and self-organizing relationship of body and mind as antagonistic and complementary poles of experience: psyche and soma coming together as differentiated poles, being experienced as intimately related, as the ground of subjectivity. In this definition, then, there is no ’embodiment’ without subjectivity or intersubjectivity.
Embodiment also means that parts of our conceptual system and therefore some aspects of our language are structured by the features of our bodies and the functioning of our bodies in everyday life. Embodiment encompasses more than the (human) body. The body is some particular living entity whereas embodiment refers to a general process. Images and texts are embodied in media, a measuring system becomes embodied in an instrument, meaning is embodied in signs, habituation is an embodiment of ways of life, etc.
About intersubjectivity, Donald Winnicot once said: ‘there is no such thing as an infant’, meaning, of course, that whenever one finds an infant one finds maternal care, and without maternal care, there would be no infant. Ana-Maria Rizzuto adds ‘Communications between mother and child involve their entire bodily being; voice, posture, gestures, closeness of bodies, and ways in which their bodies fit into each other in moments of physical contact.’ The principle that ‘nurture’ gets internalized and embodied as what was previously conceived of as pure ‘nature’ was implied in character analytic theory all along: emotional interpersonal processes become internalized and embodied as body/mind processes. The way the infant is held and related to becomes the way the person’s mind is capable of holding and relating to their feelings, which is reflected in the way the brain relates to body physiology, which is reflected in the way different sub-systems of the brain relate to each other (e.g. the cortex to the limbic system).
Dirk Marivoet, Registered Psychotherapist (BVP-ABP, EABP, EAP, WAPCEPC) and Psychomotor Therapist (VVPMT), CCEP, PT
May 2013
Introductory Workshop Body Psychotherapy – Bodymind Integration
- 1
- 2