Postural Integration®, Energetic Integration® & Pelvic-Heart Integration® are three forms of Bodymind Integration and Body Psychotherapy, developed by Jack Painter, PhD. These methods are registered and fall under the auspices of ICPIT (The International Council of PsychoCorporal (Bodymind) Integration Trainers), itself member of EABP and WAPCEPC.
Introductory Workshop Bodymind Integration – Core Strokes™ – 18>19 April 2020
Introductory workshop⎮Core Strokes™ ⎮Postural Integration® ⎮ Energetic Integration®⎮18-19 April 2020
With Dirk Marivoet, MSc.
Trainer/Supervisor for Core Strokes™, Postural Integration®, Energetic Integration® and Pelvic-Heart Integration® – Teacher/Supervisor for Core-Energetics®
THE WEEKEND
During the weekend you will be introduced to the Core Strokes™, Postural and Energetic Integration® Therapy Models. 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 with 35 years of experience in Body Psychotherapy. 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 Core Strokes™ ?
Core Strokes™ is grounded in unconditional positive regard, empathy, congruence, authenticity, caring for the self and for the other, phenomenological assessment strategies, self-discovery, and insight. These core qualities permit therapeutic intervention in life areas which are otherwise hardly accessible, such as love, hope, meaning of life, loss, relationships, creativity, holism, spirituality, freedom, transcendence, personal growth, social justice, multicultural and gender issues, responsibility, and interdependence.
Core Strokes™ sessions invite a person to come out with a new part of themselves, or an old part of themselves that has been hiding in their body as symptoms. The presence of the therapist should give the client the courage to begin revealing, purifying and transforming all that is coming out of him/her.
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 Core Strokes™, Postural Integration®, Energetic Integration® & Pelvic-Heart Integration® – Teacher/Supervisor for Core-Energetics Body Psychotherapy.
Costs: € 200 (Incl. Group room – Excl. Food and Lodging). Early Bird 180 euro – until April 1st 2020
Send money to account number with BIC GEBABEBB and IBAN BE17001255696221 of Dirk Marivoet with in subject line: workshop Core Strokes™
Where: IBI, Destelbergenstraat 49-51, B-9040 Gent, België, Tel: +32 9 228 49 11
When: 18-19 April 2020
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⎮Core Strokes™ ⎮Postural Integration® ⎮ 2020
For more info please contact
dirk@bodymindintegration.com or see elsewhere on this website.
Currently we are running a PHI -3 year training in Hungary. For more information about this program, please go here.
In Body Psychotherapy, the body traditionally is seen as the “congealed life history” of the person. Evidence from neuroscience and research into the nature of consciousness reveals that “current awareness is a carpet that is woven with threads of memories from the past.” What this means is that we unconsciously tend to become entangled again and again in the same recurring patterns, which are based on impressions and conclusions from this (sometimes distant) past. From these entanglements arise ultimately all kinds of suffering, pain and discomfort that may affect our health.
The scientific research from the last 50 years, has shown that the CLIENT himself carries a vision as to the possible solutions and has implicit ideas about the desired change (a theory of change).
For the THERAPIST, the body is the guide to help reveal this theory of change, thus triggering an effective therapeutic process that leads to more satisfying, effective and satisfying interactions.
Body-oriented psychotherapists need in their guidance to learn how to trust their senses as necessary tools in the making of therapeutic contact. The ability to do this can throw the needed light on important aspects of the suffering that the client carries. These and other skills are demonstrated as well as practiced in this workshop.
Participants will be able to learn how to distinguish affective states from cognitive states. They can experience exercises in learning how to have an eye for and how to name the various emotional states as they appear in body posture, facial expressions and tone of voice. Naming the emotional states as opposed to only listen to the content of the words of the client, creates a kind of sheath to the emotions and makes them thus more manageable.
The process of becoming aware of feelings and cognitions evolves gracefully into specific forms of bodywork, in order to provide depth and feel to the process of transformation. For example, work with posture, movement, energy, voice, breathing, touch help to unlock, ground, limit and contain the powerful feelings and conflicts that are trapped in the bodymind. Gestalt process work, embodied psychodrama (bodymind drama) and deep bodywork help to release and integrate what you have learned to suppress and oppress – often associated with deficits in the satisfaction of basic needs. The way of working will help one to develop a perspective and an ability to be aware of how one feels and thinks without becoming immersed in those states.
The workshop is open to anyone interested in BodyMind Integration – Body Oriented Psychotherapy (both ” laypeople” and professionals can participate). Those who are interested in taking part in the body psychotherapy training will be provided all necessary information before enrolling.
- 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
Het holistische mensbeeld van de lichaamsgerichte psychotherapie
Het holistische mensbeeld – om het vereenvoudigd te beschrijven – vertrekt van de ondeelbaarheid van lichaam en geest. In de betekenis van Merleau-Ponty vertegenwoordigt het lichaam een pre-reflectieve eenheid, die zelfs door de lichaam-geest splitsing blijft bestaan. (Merleau-Ponty 1945; Seewald 1996b, 31)
De holistische opvatting impliceert, dat alle levenservaringen zowel psyche als ook lichaam vormen. Op lichamelijk vlak zijn deze terug te vinden in lichaamsbouw, houding, beweging en manier van ademhalen: „Het lichaam heeft niet enkel ervaringen in de zin dat ze ze transporteert, het is deze ervaring.“ (Lowen 1988,…) Freud zei dat het Ik eerst en voor alles een lichaams-Ik is (Freud 1999, Band XIII, 253) en Alexander Lowen beschreef het lichaam als een „geïncarneerde geest” (Lowen 1991, 231). George Downing spreekt van affectmotorische schemata, die zich vanaf de geboorte en in het samenspel van sensorische, motorische, affectieve en cognitieve vlakken ontwikkelt. Zo worden in de lichamelijke handelingen van iedere mens motorische overtuigingen zichtbaar, die hij als kind op grond van zijn emotionele en cognitieve ervaring opgebouwd heeft (vgl. Downing 2005, 2006). Iedere menselijke stoornis toont zich daarom steeds op fysisch zowel als op psychisch vlak. Dat menselijke subjectiviteit belichaamd is, kan als basisaxioma van de lichaamsgerichte psychotherapie beschouwd worden.“ (Marlock/Weiss 2006a, 7)
De vraag of psychotherapie zonder betrokkenheid van het lichaam überhaupt zinvol is, wordt afgewezen door de lichaamsgerichte psychotherapieën (Röhricht 2000, 25-47): „Dit geeft de emotionele en lichaamsgerelateerde reactivering van de vroege ervaringen de beste – wellicht ook de enige – mogelijkheid voor een passende therapeutische doorwerking.” (Maaz 2001, 31)
In het middelpunt van het lichaamspsychotherapeutische werk staat het subjectief beleefde lichaam, dat herinneringen opslaat en zich in relaties uitdrukt : Aanraking, ademwerk en beweging zijn belangrijke onderdelen van de therapie. Over gevoelens wordt wel gesproken, maar er wordt veel meer de mogelijkheid gegeven, deze rechtstreeks te ervaren en uit te drukken. Wat de lichaamspsychotherapeutische methodes verenigt, „is een holistisch georiënteerd perspectief, dat naast de psychologische dimensies van de menselijke ervaring, de lichamelijke dimensie gelijkwaardige aandacht geeft. […]
Marlock en Weiss (2006a, 8 e.v.) benoemen vier premissen, die aan de basis liggen van alle benaderingen van lichaamsgerichte psychotherapie:
1. Lichaam en Psyche zijn onlosmakelijk met elkaar verbonden.
2. Formatieve levenservaringen laten sporen na in het lichaam, die als karakterstructuren (Reich), als affect-motorische schemata (Downing), of complicaties (von Uexküll) worden aangeduid.
3. Het psychische niveau kan door het lichamelijke niveau beïnvloed en veranderd worden.
4. Het lichaams-psychotherapeutisch werk is gebaseerd op het geloof in zelfregulering en het ontwikkelingspotentieel van mensen.
De praktische omzetting van deze gemeenschappelijke uitgangspunten kenmerkt de verschillen tussen de Lichaamsgerichte psychotherapie-benaderingen. In Bodymind Integration (Painter, 1984) worden daarenboven aan het relationele aspect in de vorm van gelijkwaardigheid en ‘delen’ tussen cliënt en therapeut een bijzonder belang gehecht.
Referenties:
Downing, G. (2005). Emotion, body, and parent-infant interaction. In J. Nadel and Darwin Muir (Eds.), Emotional development (pp. 429-450). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Downing, G. (2006). Fruhkinlicher Affektausch une dessen Beziehung zum Korper. In G. Marlock & H. Weiss (eds.), Handbuch der Körperpsychotherapie: 333-350. Gottingen: Hogreve.
Freud, S. (1999): Gesammelte Werke. Bd. I – XVIII. Frankfurt / Main: Fischer. Bd. XIII: Kurzer Abriss der Psychoanalyse, 405-427.
Lowen, A. (1988): Bioenergetica.
Lowen, A. (1991): The Spirituality of the Body.
Maaz, H.-J. (2001): Integration des Körpers in eine analytische Psychotherapie. In: Geißler, P. (Hrsg.): Psychoanalyse und Körper. Gießen: Psychosozial-Verlag, 21-36.
Marlock, G. / Weiss, H. (2006): Handbuch der Körperpsychotherapie. Stuttgart, New York: Schattauer.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1945), Phenomenologie de la perception. Paris: NRF., in het bijzonder p. 81-232.
Painter J. (1984). Deep Bodywork and Personal Development. Mill Valley: Bodymind Books.
Röhricht, F. (2000): Körperorientierte Psychotherapie psychischer Störungen. Göttingen: Hogrefe.
Seewald, J. (1996b): Philosophische Anthropologie – Leiblichkeit / Körperlichkeit des Menschen. In: Haag, H. (Hrsg.): Sportphilosophie. Ein Handbuch. Schorndorf: Hofmann, 21-56.
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
