home > Pug > Psychology of the body, bioenergetic analysis. Read online book “Psychology of the Body. Alexander Lowen Psychology of the body. Bioenergetic body analysis

Psychology of the body, bioenergetic analysis. Read online book “Psychology of the Body. Alexander Lowen Psychology of the body. Bioenergetic body analysis

Beware of the first impression - it may be right

I'll explain briefly again. Alexander Lowen - authoritative author of books on psychosomatics and, accordingly, therapy for psychosomatic problems. Most modern psychotherapists trying to treat psychosomatic problems use his theories and methods. His teacher is Reich - his theories are even earlier and even less rational.

When I first tried to read Lowen’s book “Psychology of the Body. Bioenergetic Analysis of the Body,” I thought that I had made a mistake and did not understand something. On the second try, I realized that Loewen’s theory is old, unfounded, dogmatic, sad crap, it didn’t seem to me.

The essence of therapy lies in common breathing exercises and conversations. Some positive effect is not excluded, but exactly the same can be achieved with the help of any other breathing exercises + any other talking shop. You should not expect any other practical help from your therapist. Some exercises are harmful to everyone due to their mechanics.

I am posting one of his books with comments. I personally won’t waste time on any of his books or Reich’s books anymore, and I don’t advise you to. You can read the same material without my comments and with pictures here: http://www.aquarun.ru/psih/soma/soma4.html. I won’t even bother to insert pictures due to the pointlessness of this activity.

Bioenergy is a modern method of psychotherapy, rooted in the techniques of the work of Wilhelm Reich, an Austrian psychoanalyst who enriched psychoanalysis with the so-called body-work. (A very controversial definition. Bioenergetics is a science that studies energy processes in biological systems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioenergetics, post on this topic - H.B.) The creator of bioenergy is American psychiatrist and psychotherapist Alexander Lowen (born in 1910) (A blatant lie. People have been studying bioenergy for thousands of years - H.B.) - was his patient, then a student and employee. Taking from Reich the basic concepts of the energetic basis of psychophysical processes, he developed his concept of psychotherapy and founded the Institute of Bioenergetic Analysis in New York in the 50s. Over the next thirty years, several dozen similar institutions emerged in many countries.

Therapy consists of learning about character structure and “revitalizing” emotions frozen in the body. This leads to the release of large reserves of energy previously spent on restraining bodily impulses, which can be used in less stereotypical, more creative forms of adaptation and development of individuality. Of particular importance is the restoration of free breathing, the violation of which is closely related to fear.

The goal of therapy is to unblock the limitations of personality development. The focus is on the development of the ego and its integration with the body. Satisfaction of basic emotional needs and personal aspirations without unnecessary expenditure of energy is associated with a realistic orientation in the world around us. A mature personality has contact with the internal energetic pulsation of the body and changing feelings. She is able to equally control their expression and turn off self-control, surrendering to the flow of spontaneity (for example, during orgasm, in creative ecstasy, etc.). She has equal access to both unpleasant feelings: fear, pain, anger and despair, and to pleasurable experiences: sex, joy, love and empathy.

The bodily expression of emotional health is grace of movement, good muscle tone, good contact with people around you and with the ground under your feet (in bioenergetic terminology this is “grounding”), clear eyes and a soft, pleasant voice. (Soft pleasant voice from those who hold a gun in their hands - H.B.)

A complete individual bioenergy therapy program lasts about three years. (Boo-ha-ha, why not five or ten? That’s even more money - H.B.) Its completion, in addition to comprehensive education, is mandatory to obtain the right to use bioenergy in therapeutic practice.

Wise people will read your past life by your appearance, gait, behavior.
The property of nature is self-expression.
Even the smallest detail shows them something.
A person's face reflects that like a mirror. what's going on inside.
Ralph Ialdo Emerson

In this book I will try to show that health has a spiritual side. We will see that the subjective feeling of health is a feeling of pleasure received from the body, which sometimes reaches the level of joy. It is in such states that we feel connected to all living beings and to the whole world. Pain, on the contrary, isolates us from others. When we are sick, we not only experience symptoms of the disease, but we also find ourselves isolated from the world. We will also see that health is manifested in the graceful movements of the body, in the “radiance” of the body, as well as in its softness and warmth. The complete absence of these qualities means death or terminal illness. The softer and more flexible our body, the closer we are to health. As we age, our body becomes rougher and we approach death. (To avoid bullshit, you need to read the literature on hypermobility - H.B.)

Aldous Huxley describes three types of grace: animal grace, human charm, and spiritual charm or grace. (Aldous Huxley, The perennial Philosophy, New York, 1954.) Spiritual charm is associated with a sense of satisfaction of the highest order. A person's charm is expressed in his attitude towards others and can be more accurately defined as kindness and personal charm. We know the charm of animals from observing their lives in the wild. I love watching the squirrels play among the trees. Few people can even come close to the grace of squirrels and their confidence in movement. (So do squirrels live forever? - H.B.) The agile flight of swallows delights us. All wild animals have an excellent ability to move perfectly. According to Huxley, a person's true grace comes when he "opens himself to the spirit of the sun and the air" rather than deforming our body and hindering the manifestation of our innate spirituality.

However, people do not live and are certainly not able to live on the same plane as wild animals, to which (according to Huxley) the fullness of animal grace belongs. Such is the nature of man, he must live a conscious life. This means, as Huxley writes, that “animal grace is no longer sufficient for life and must be supplemented by a conscious choice between good and evil.” Is natural behavior, full of charm, possible if there is no basis - the charm of the body? When a person consciously adopts a style of behavior full of grace, but it does not come from a feeling of bodily pleasure, his charm is just a facade, built in order to surprise and attract others.

Before eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, as we read in the Bible, man lived in paradise without self-awareness, like other animals. He was innocent and knew the joy of living in the form of goodness. Along with the knowledge of good and evil, responsibility for choice came to him, the man lost his innocence, he became aware of himself and lost peace. The harmony that existed between man and God, between man and Nature was broken. Instead of blessed ignorance, homo sapiens now has problems and illnesses. Joseph Campbell attributes part of the responsibility for the loss of harmony to the Christian tradition, which separated the soul from the body: “The Christian division of matter and spirit, the dynamics of life and spiritual values, natural charm and divine grace, essentially destroyed nature.” (Joseph Campbell, The power of Myth, New York, 1988.)

Behind the Christian tradition is the Greco-Semitic belief in the primacy of the mind over the body. When consciousness is separated from the body, spirituality becomes something intellectual rather than a vital force, while the body becomes meat on a skeleton or, from the point of view of modern medicine, a biochemical laboratory. A body without a spirit has a low level of vitality and is completely devoid of charm. His movements are mechanical, since they are guided to a greater extent by consciousness or will. When the spirit enters the body, it trembles with excitement, becomes like a stream flowing down the side of a mountain, or moves slowly, like a deep river spilled over a plain. Life does not always go smoothly, but when a person is forced to force his body to move by willpower all day long, this means that his bodily dynamics are seriously disturbed, and there is a danger of illness.

True grace of the body is not something artificial, it is part of a natural person, one of the divine beings. However, if it is once lost, it can be found again only by returning its spirituality to the body. In order to do this, you need to understand why and how his charm was lost. But since it is impossible to find a lost thing unless you know exactly what you have lost, we must begin by studying the natural body, in which movements, feelings and thoughts are fused into something unified and full of charm. We will study the body as a separate, self-regulating energy system, which is closely connected with the environment and on which its existence depends. Looking at the body from an energetic perspective will allow us to understand the essence of bodily charm and spirituality of the body without mysticism. This will lead us to the knowledge of the connection between sensitivity and charm. In the absence of sensitivity, movements become mechanical, and thought becomes an abstraction. We can, of course, instruct a person whose soul is full of hatred with the commandments of love, but it is difficult to expect that there will be any benefit from this. However, if we manage to restore spirituality to him, love for his neighbor will blossom in him again. We will also study some disorders that destroy a person’s spirit, reduce the charm of his body, and undermine his health. Focusing on charisma as a criterion for health will allow us to understand many of the problems in emotional life that impair health, as well as to develop charm that improves it.

Spirit and matter are united in the concept of charm and kindness. In theology, kindness is defined as “divine influence emanating from the heart in order to revive it, bring it closer to God and preserve it.” She can also be defined as the divine spirit of the body. This spirit manifests itself in the natural charm of the body, as well as in the person’s gratitude to all living beings. Charm and kindness are a state of holiness, integrity, connection with life and with that which is divine. And these concepts are synonymous with health.

Alexander Lowen

Psychology of the body. Bioenergetic body analysis

Preface

Bioenergetics is a modern method of psychotherapy, rooted in the techniques of the work of Wilhelm Reich, an Austrian psychoanalyst who enriched psychoanalysis with the so-called body-work. The creator of bioenergy - American psychiatrist and psychotherapist Alexander Lowen (born in 1910) - was his patient, then a student and collaborator. Taking from Reich the basic concepts of the energetic basis of psychophysical processes, he developed his concept of psychotherapy and founded the Institute of Bioenergetic Analysis in New York in the 50s. Over the next thirty years, several dozen similar institutions emerged in many countries.

Bioenergetics considers the functioning of the human psyche in terms of body and energy, considering the source of neuroses, depression and loss of self-identification to be the suppression of feelings, which manifests itself in the form of chronic muscle tension that blocks the free flow of energy in the body. In early childhood, specific skills of avoiding pain, despair and fear and ways of obtaining security and love from others are manifested and then reinforced. They lead to the development of a person’s character structure, which consists of an often distorted image of the world and one’s own personality, rigid patterns of behavior and feelings, as well as patterns of “self-control” that limit the vitality of the body, also called the “shell of character.” Thus, a person’s physical appearance symbolically reflects his psyche. Therapy consists of learning about character structure and “revitalizing” emotions frozen in the body. This leads to the release of large reserves of energy previously spent on restraining bodily impulses, which can be used in less stereotypical, more creative forms of adaptation and development of individuality. Of particular importance is the restoration of free breathing, the violation of which is closely related to fear. The goal of therapy is to unblock the limitations of personality development. The focus is on the development of the ego and its integration with the body. Satisfaction of basic emotional needs and personal aspirations without unnecessary expenditure of energy is associated with a realistic orientation in the world around us. A mature personality has contact with the internal energetic pulsation of the body and changing feelings. She is able to equally control their expression and turn off self-control, surrendering to the flow of spontaneity (for example, during orgasm, in creative ecstasy, etc.). She has equal access to both unpleasant feelings: fear, pain, anger and despair, and to pleasurable experiences: sex, joy, love and empathy. The bodily expression of emotional health is grace of movement, good muscle tone, good contact with people around you and with the ground under your feet (in bioenergetic terminology, this is “grounding”), clear eyes and a soft, pleasant voice.

Keeping a methodology close to modern psychoanalysis, bioenergetics uses touch and pressure on tense muscles, deep breathing and special poses. The patient performs exercises that expand body awareness, develop spontaneous expression and psychophysical integration. A complete individual bioenergy therapy program lasts approximately three years. Its completion, in addition to comprehensive education, is mandatory to obtain the right to use bioenergy in therapeutic practice.

S.V. Koleda

Introduction

"Wise people will read

live by your past

your appearance

gait, behavior.

Property of nature -

self-expression. Even

the smallest detail

body shows something.

A man's face is like a mirror

reflects what's going on inside."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Aldous Huxley describes three types of grace: animal grace, human charm, and spiritual charm or grace. Spiritual charm is associated with a feeling of satisfaction of the highest order. A person's charm is expressed in his attitude towards others and can be more accurately defined as kindness and personal charm. We know the charm of animals from observing their lives in the wild. I love watching the squirrels play among the trees. Few people can even come close to the grace of squirrels and their confidence in movement. The nimble flight of swallows inspires our admiration. All wild animals have an excellent ability to move perfectly. According to Huxley, a person's true grace comes when he "opens himself to the spirit of the sun and the air" rather than deforming our body and hindering the manifestation of our innate spirituality.

However, people do not live and are certainly not able to live on the same plane as wild animals, to whom (according to Huxley) all the sweat of animal grace belongs. Such is the nature of man, he must live a conscious life. This means, as Huxley writes, that “animal grace is no longer sufficient for life and must be supplemented by a conscious choice between good and evil.” Is natural behavior, full of charm, possible if there is no basis - the charm of the body? When a person consciously adopts a style of behavior full of grace, but it does not come from a feeling of bodily pleasure, his charm is just a facade, built in order to surprise and attract others.

Before eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, as we read in the Bible, man lived in paradise without self-awareness, like other animals. He was innocent and knew the joy of living in the form of goodness. Along with the knowledge of good and evil, responsibility for choice came to him, the man lost his innocence, he became aware of himself and lost peace. The harmony that existed between man and God, between man and Nature was broken. Instead of blessed ignorance, homo sapiens Now I have problems and illnesses. Joseph Campbell attributes part of the responsibility for the loss of harmony to the Christian tradition, which separated the soul from the body: “The Christian division of matter and spirit, the dynamics of life and spiritual values, natural charm and divine grace, essentially destroyed nature.”

True grace of the body is not something artificial, it is part of a natural person, one of the divine beings. However, if it is once lost, it can be found again only by returning its spirituality to the body. In order to do this, you need to understand why and how his charm was lost. But since it is impossible to find a lost thing unless you know exactly what you have lost, we must begin by studying the natural body, in which movements, feelings and thoughts are fused into something unified and full of charm. We will study the body as a separate, self-regulating energy system, which is closely connected with the environment and on which its existence depends. Looking at the body from an energetic perspective will allow us to understand the essence of bodily charm and spirituality of the body without mysticism. This will lead us to the knowledge of the connection between sensitivity and charm. In the absence of sensitivity, movements become mechanical, and thought becomes an abstraction. We can, of course, instruct a person whose soul is full of hatred with the commandments of love, but it is difficult to expect that there will be any benefit from this. However, if we manage to restore his spirituality, love for his neighbor will blossom in him anew. We will also study some disorders that destroy a person’s spirit, reduce the charm of his body, and undermine his health. Focusing on charisma as a criterion for health will allow us to understand many of the problems in emotional life that impair health, as well as to develop charm that improves it.

Spirituality and grace

Our pursuit of health can only bear fruit if we consider a positive model of health. Defining health as the absence of disease is a negative definition, since this view of the body is similar to the mechanic's view of a car, in which he can replace individual parts without disturbing the operation of the entire mechanism. The same cannot be said about any living organism and about humans in particular. We can feel, but machines cannot. We move spontaneously, which no mechanism can. We are also deeply connected to other living organisms and nature. Our spirituality comes precisely from this sense of unity with a power and order greater than ourselves. It makes no difference whether we give this force a name, or, like the ancients, we leave it without a name.

If we accept the fact that human beings have a spirit, we must also accept that health is related to spirituality. I believe that the loss of a sense of connection with other people, animals and nature seriously interferes with mental health. At the individual level, we define this as a feeling of isolation, loneliness and emptiness, which can lead to depression and, in more acute cases, even schizoid withdrawal from life. What is generally not noticed is the fact that when the connection with the world is severed, there is also a loss of connection with one’s bodily self. It is the lack of sensation of one’s body that is the basis of depression and schizoid states. This occurs due to a decrease in the vital energy of the body, a decline in its spirit or energy state. In essence, it is impossible to separate mental health from physical health, because real health combines both of these aspects. Despite this, in medicine there are no reliable criteria for physical assessment of mental health. It can only be defined as the absence of complaints and disturbing elements in the patient’s personality.

Objectively, mental health can be determined by the level of vital energy, which is manifested in the quickness of the gaze, the color and temperature of the skin, the spontaneity of facial expressions, the liveliness of the body, and the grace of movements. The eyes are especially important - the windows of the soul. In them we can see the life of the human spirit. In cases where the spirit is absent (for example, in schizophrenia), the eyes are empty. In a state of depression, the eyes are sad, and deep melancholy is often visible in them. A person who is between these states has dull and motionless eyes, which indicates that the function of understanding what the person sees is impaired. In most cases, the eyes become dull from difficult experiences and traumatic situations in childhood. Because the eyes are important to our relationships with others and with the world around us, we will analyze their functions in more detail in chapter nine, entitled “Facing the World.” People with lively, sparkling eyes usually look each other directly in the face, establishing eye contact that connects people's feelings. The vibrant color and warmth of the skin is the result of good blood supply to the outer layers of the body by the heart, which beats under the influence of the “divine spirit”. This spirit is also manifested in the vital energy of the body and the grace of movement. The Greeks were right when they argued that a healthy mind can only exist in a healthy body.

In light of the above, one may ask: is it possible to treat mental illness without paying attention to the condition of the body? And is it possible to treat diseases of the body without paying attention to the patient’s mental state? If the goal of therapy is to cure a single symptom of an illness, concentrating on a limited fragment of the person in whom that symptom is present makes sense and may be successful. Almost all medical practices use this type of treatment. However, this does not restore full health and does not affect the cause of the disease, the so-called personal factors that predispose a person to the disease. Of course, there is not always a need to delve into these details. If we are dealing with a fracture or an infected wound, we can act directly on the sore spot to speed up healing.

Despite the local approach to diseases, Western medicine has achieved amazing results in their treatment. Although its relationship to the body is mechanistic, knowledge of mechanics in both the structural and biochemical fields allows doctors to work wonders. However, this type of medicine has obvious limitations that doctors do not want to notice. Many common diseases do not respond to such treatment. Lumbar spine disorders, which often involve irritation of the sciatic nerve, are very common in Western countries, but few orthopedic surgeons understand the problem or can treat it successfully. Another disease that is beyond medical knowledge is arthritis. Cancer is known to be invincible. Let me remind you that these are diseases of the whole organism, and they can only be understood through a holistic approach to a person.

As a therapist, I have studied it well. Let's call her Ruth. Ruth was a filigree woman, quite pretty, with a beautiful face. However, two features hindered her beauty. Her big eyes were full of fear, she was nearsighted. Her lower jaw was unusually tense and pushed forward. This gave her face an expression of intransigence, as if she wanted to say: “You will not be able to destroy me.” Amid the fear in her eyes, her jaw seemed to say, “I will not be afraid of you.” Ruth, however, did not notice this fear.

During the analysis, the following information emerged: Ruth was the only child of her parents, who emigrated to the United States after World War II, even before the birth of their daughter. As we established, each of the parents had their own emotional problems. Mother was a timid and full of fears woman. My father was sickly, but very hard-working. Ruth described her childhood as unhappy. She felt that her mother was hostile to her, giving her too many household responsibilities that left her no time to play. She was too critical of her. Ruth could not remember warm or close physical contact with her mother. In relation to her father, on the contrary, she felt warmth and felt his love. However, he pulled away from her when she was still a child.

Ruth's spirit was broken. There was an emptiness in her body, indicating that her spirit was weak. She wasn't aggressive. It was with great difficulty that she maintained good health. Her breathing was smooth and her energy level was low. She didn't realize that it was difficult for her to reach out to other people; she attributed this to her insecurities in relationships with people. Her bowel problems reminded me of this very uncertainty, as well as her inability to eat. It was as if she reacted to her mother's milk as if it were poison. She was not breastfed for long and; Even though she couldn't remember when it stopped, I consider that moment to be the first serious insult in her life. Surely the mother's hostility was poison. The second serious blow is the loss of close contact with his father, provoked by his mother's envy of his love for Ruth. Her father's departure disarmed her against her hostile mother and brought the feeling that no one needed her anymore.

Even though I tried to help Ruth, she didn't trust me. And although she felt better after each session, this improvement was short-lived until something amazing happened. Ruth had a friend who told her about a woman who was doing Christian Science health work. Ruth paid several visits to this woman, and she told her about the healing power of faith in Jesus Christ, explained to Ruth that the soul is immortal, that the body can die, but a person lives on in his soul. She also emphasized that Ruth identified herself with her illnesses, although she could interrupt this identification by explaining to herself that her illnesses were part of her body, not her soul. Ruth said to me at that time: “Imagine me, a Jew, believing in Jesus Christ!”

The amazing thing was that Ruth's seizures stopped completely. She began to look better and feel good. Even consuming foods to which she was allergic did not cause any unpleasant reactions. It looked like a miracle of faith, because faith is able to produce effects similar to miracles. I dedicated one of the following sections to faith. But Ruth's miraculous recovery can be explained in another way.

The explanation is based on the thesis that Ruth's illnesses and pathological conditions of the intestines arose due to the fact that she was identified with her mother, a sickly and suffering woman. An important feature of human nature is that this type of identification is always directed towards the offender. Ruth, as we have seen, felt persecuted by her mother, feared and hated her. At the same time, she sympathized with her very much and felt guilty towards her. In her subconscious, or in her spirit, she was connected to her mother. This is what she suffered from.

For a Jewish woman, accepting Christ means breaking with her family and her own past. By doing this, Ruth freed her spirit from pathological connections with her mother, at least for some time, thereby defeating the disease. In the language of psychotherapy, we call this a fracture. A fracture is an important step towards recovery and liberation of the patient’s spirit. It needs strengthening. After this event, Ruth became more relaxed, although her back and face were still tense and her eyes were scared. The dam that held her spirit captive had cracked, but Ruth knew she had a few more issues to work through and work with her body to restore its grace.

Another patient who achieved a breakthrough in therapy through the release of her spirit was Barbara. This sixty-year-old woman suffered from constant bouts of diarrhea for about ten years. Eating sugar or anything sweet usually triggered this attack. An additional factor was stress. However, the biggest source of tension for her was her second marriage, which was full of conflicts. Despite her problems, Barbara was reluctant to seek help, believing that she had to deal with her problems herself. When she finally began her treatment, progress was very slow. Barbara believed that she had to control the progress of therapy in the same way that she controlled her life. Control meant limiting feelings and reacting unemotionally to various situations. She was afraid that if she lost complete control and freed her feelings, she might go crazy.

Barbara’s turning point came only when she realized that she had lost. Her marriage was on the verge of collapse, and she was seized with panic. When Barbara began to admit her feelings to herself for the first time after many years, she broke down and burst into tears. She felt like she had lost. In her youth, she was her father’s “little daughter” and believed that she could always live up to her man’s expectations and keep him with her. The loss of her first husband, who died leaving her alone, did not stop this illusion. After a session during which she burst into tears, she felt intense anger at her father for not keeping his promise to love her “if she obeyed.” To be an obedient girl meant for her to control her feelings, as well as to be strong and dexterous. This was a good position, she thought, in her first marriage, in which she was the controlling party. However, this did not bring success in her second marriage, where she was forced to increase control. As a result, she developed colon hypersensitivity syndrome, which, under the influence of stress, led to bouts of diarrhea. After a turning point in therapy, Barbara’s seizures stopped. At first she attributed this to her studious avoidance of sweets. And only after she ate sweets and nothing happened to her, she realized that she got rid of this problem. It was also a healing of the spirit, because by freeing her feelings, she also freed him.

Ruth's case shows the potential of spiritual power to heal the body. Christian Science is known for its belief in this power and uses it in its health program. However, the medicine of the Western world, due to its mechanical orientation, does not want to recognize this force, which is a fundamental element of Eastern thought. In the East, attention is focused on maintaining health rather than curing illness. This requires a holistic, comprehensive approach to health that is foreign to Western medicine. Throughout the East, health is considered a state of balance, harmony between the individual and the cosmic. This principle underlies the practice of Tai Chi Chuan, a program of exercises aimed at developing a sense of unity with the cosmos through slow movements. The same principle is present in meditation, which leads to calming a person's consciousness so that he can feel the inner spirit and unity with the world spirit. The concepts of balance and harmony also refer to the two great forces that the Chinese call yin and yang. These two forces, one symbolizing the earth and the other symbolizing the sky, must be balanced in man, just as they are balanced in the universe. Disease can be seen as a lack of balance between the two. Ruth and Barbara's illnesses can be understood as an imbalance of these forces. These forces can be designated as ego and body, thought and feeling, good and evil. In both cases, the lack of balance indicated dominance of the head over the body. For Ruth, being good meant being sensitive to her mother's suffering and forgetting her own needs. For Barbara, being good meant being smart and strong, and being bad meant being sensual. In this book I will continually emphasize the need for harmony between the ego and the body as the basis of grace and true spirituality. It is important that we understand that Western and Eastern philosophies and religions view spirituality, or the feeling of oneness with a higher order, from different perspectives. While in Eastern thought spirituality is something bodily, Western thought considers it primarily a function of the mind. This difference can be expressed differently by the statement that in the West, spirituality is mainly a matter of faith, and in the East - of feelings. It is true that faith can influence feelings, just as feelings can determine beliefs. Thus, in the story of Ruth we see to what extent faith in Christ and the immortality of the soul can influence the physiological processes in the body. On the other hand, a transcendental experience in which we feel the power of the spirit can incline us to believe in a deity or strengthen this belief. However, we must recognize that there is a fundamental difference between these two views of man's connection with the world. The East has always shown more respect for nature than the West, believing that a person's happiness depends on his harmony with nature. Tao is the way of nature. The West, at least over the last few centuries, has been moving towards gaining control and power over nature, and this is noticeable in the Western attitude towards the body. Western man thinks of the health of the body in terms of efficiency, good condition, allowing it to work throughout its life like a good machine. This attitude can be counteracted in the physical exercises practiced in the West. This is lifting weights or training on special machines. Eastern exercises such as yoga or tai chi chuan reflect an interest in the vitality of the body or its spirituality.

The story of the loss of grace and charm is repeated at the birth of every new person. Like any other mammal, the human baby has an innate animal grace, despite the fact that its first few months of movement are clumsy, and it must develop the muscle coordination that will eventually allow it to move as well as it needs to. Even the charming chamois, immediately after birth, hobbles awkwardly before standing firmly on its feet for the first time. However, no animal makes a conscious effort to develop coordination, since it is genetically programmed and develops itself as the body grows. Already from the first months of life, the infant makes movements truly full of grace. The most obvious example is the stretching of the lips in order to reach the mother's breast and suck on it. There is a certain softness and graceful fluidity in this movement, reminiscent of the opening of flower petals under the influence of the rays of the morning sun. Lips are the first part of a child's body to develop. Sucking is essential for a baby's life. On the contrary, many adults I have met and worked with cannot extend their lips naturally. Many people have stretched and hard lips, and tense cheeks, which gives the face a dull expression. Some people find it difficult to even open their mouth wide. When a baby is just a few months old, he may reach out to touch his mother with a soft, delicate movement.

However, as children grow, they sooner or later lose their charm as they are forced to give in to external expectations while neglecting their internal impulses. When their own impulses are mixed with their parents' orders, children quickly come to believe that if they behave badly, then they themselves are bad. In almost all cases, the impulses and behavior of very young children are innocent, and the child is simply true to his nature. A typical example is the behavior of a tired child who wants to be picked up. Meanwhile, the mother herself may be tired, perhaps she is busy or carrying heavy bags that prevent her from lifting the child. In this situation, the crying child drives the mother into despair with her refusal to go. Some mothers scold the child and tell him to stop crying. If his unnerving behavior continues, the mother may hit him, which leads to an increase in the flow of tears. So far (in this example) the child has not lost his grace. While the baby cries, his body remains soft. Infants can often feel frustrated and in pain. This puts their little bodies on edge, but not for long.

Soon the child's chin begins to tremble and he bursts into tears. When a wave of crying passes through the body, its tension dissolves and the tension goes away. However, the time comes when the child begins to be punished for crying, and he must stifle his spasms and swallow his tears. It is at this moment that he loses the state of bliss and no longer “goes towards grace,” as Joseph Kembel said. Another natural emotion that many parents find difficult to accept is anger, especially when it is directed at themselves. And yet, children spontaneously attack their parents when they feel that they are being limited or their will is being imposed on them. Few parents can accept their child's anger as it threatens their power and control. Either way, they will teach their child that anger is bad behavior and that he will be punished for it. Even such innocent manifestations as running, screaming or active behavior can anger some parents who demand that the child calm down, behave decently and sit quietly.

For many children, the list of prohibited behaviors for which they will be punished is very long. A certain area of parental control is, of course, necessary in upbringing. However, the key issue too often becomes not what is good for the child, but what is right for the parents. This conflict very often degenerates into a struggle for power. It does not matter who wins in such a conflict, since in the end both sides lose. Regardless of whether the child gives in or rebels, the thread of love connecting the child with his father or mother is interrupted. Along with the loss of love, the spirituality of the child is lost, and he loses his grace. Losing grace is a physical phenomenon. We notice this by the way people move or stand. In consultations, I often see patients suffering from depression. As I wrote in my earlier work, depression affects not only a person's consciousness, but also movement, appetite, breathing and energy production. To fully understand this disease, I observe the body. I very often see someone in the “obedient child” pose, waiting for parental orders. This unconscious position has become part of their personality, ingrained into their body structure. When we allow patients to become aware of this behavior, we invariably find that their parents considered them to be obedient children. Such “good children” grow up to be good workers, but unless there is a radical change in their personality, they will never achieve the fullness of vitality and charm.

It is often said that we are created by our experiences, but now I want to say this completely literally. Our bodies reflect our experiences. To illustrate this statement, I will describe three cases from my own practice. The first concerns a psychologist from Holland who was a participant in a seminar I taught many years ago at the Essalen Institute. A common practice in bioenergetic therapy is to search the human body for clues to past experiences. This man's body had an unusual oddity, namely: a deep (six inches) depression on the left side of the body. I had never seen such a deepening before and was not able to explain it to myself. When I asked the Dutchman in what situation it appeared, he said that it appeared as a small depression in his left side when he was 11 years old. Over the next three years, the depression deepened, reaching the state in which I saw it. The Dutchman never went to the doctors, since the depression did not impede the normal functioning of the body. I asked if something important happened in his life when he was 11 years old. He replied that his mother remarried at that time, and that he was sent to a boarding school. This didn't impress the rest of the group, but it was important to me. I immediately understood the meaning of this depression: someone’s hand pushed it away strongly.

The second case was a young man with such broad shoulders as I had never seen before. When I brought this to his attention during the consultation, he told me about his father, whom he respected very much. He said that once, when he was 16 years old, he returned home from military school. The father asked him to stand next to him in front of the mirror. The young man noticed that he was equal in height to his father, and the thought occurred to him that if he grew up a little more, he would look down on his father. Since that day he has not grown an inch more, while his shoulders have become wider. It became clear to me that all the energy of growth went to the sides in order to save my son from the possibility of outgrowing his father. The third case could be a tall young man (about 190 cm). He complained that he felt separated from life. He said that while walking he could not feel the lower parts of his legs or his feet. When he took a step, he could not feel when his foot touched the ground. He reached his height when he was about 14 years old. When I asked him about his life, he noted that at this time his father moved out of his parents' shared bedroom and took over the boy's room. The latter had to sleep in the attic. In his own words, he took it as a “kick up.”

For most people, this kind of emotional abuse does not seem strong enough to produce such noticeable deformations of the body. However, as I have indicated, the depth and intensity of a person's feelings are often expressed in the reactions of the body. Every experience that a person goes through touches his body and remains in the psyche. If the experience is pleasant, then it has a positive effect on the health, vitality and grace of the body. In the case of painful negative experiences, the opposite is true. If a person can adequately respond to the insult inflicted on her, then its consequences will not be long-lasting, since the wounds heal. But if the reaction is blocked, the insult will leave a mark on the body in the form of chronic muscle tension. Let's think about what happens to a child who is taught that crying is a behavior that cannot be accepted. The crying response is located in the body and must somehow be blocked if it cannot be expressed. To cope with this reaction, the muscles involved in crying must be tense and remain in this tense state until the crying reaction has completely passed. However, this reaction does not die, but only retreats inside the body and continues to exist in the subconscious. It can be reactivated after many years in therapy or after some powerful experience. Until this happens, the muscle group involved (in this case, the muscles of the lips, cheeks, throat) will remain in chronic tension. That this is a common problem is evidenced by widespread cheek tension, which in severe cases is known as temporomandibular joint syndrome.

When chronic muscle tension occurs in the body, the natural response is subconsciously blocked. A good example is the case of a man whose shoulder muscles were so tense that he could not raise his arms above his head. This blocking was a case of inhibition of the impulse to raise a hand against the father. When I asked him if he was ever angry with his father, he said never. The thought that he could hit him was as impossible for him as it was for his father. However, the consequence of this prohibition was the suppression of natural shoulder movements. Several years ago, in Japan, I witnessed a three-year-old child punching his mother. What impressed me was that the mother did nothing to stop him or respond in any way. I learned later that it is only when a child is six years old that he is taught the control necessary to behave in society. Until a child reaches six years of age, he is considered an innocent creature, unable to distinguish between what should be done and what should not be done. In a six-year-old child, the ego is already so developed that learning occurs consciously, based on knowledge, and not on fear. At this stage, the child is considered mature enough to consciously model the behavior of his parents. The punishment for insufficient diligence in learning is physical violence, restriction in the expression of love for him or the feeling of guilt that arises in the child. At this age, the child begins to go to school. There is a strong tendency in our culture to start this process earlier. . Younger children also learn, but their learning is completely spontaneous. By forcing children to follow many regulations and rules until they reach this age, we limit their vitality, spontaneity and charm. Apparently, among the Japanese and other peoples of the East, the ability to appreciate a child as an innocent being comes from a deep respect for nature. If we live in harmony with nature and ourselves, we can also live in harmony with our children. Western people are trying to subjugate nature. If we exploit her, we will also exploit our children.

However, as the countries of the East industrialize, the people living there become similar to the people of the West. Industrial society relies on force, which is at first a force of action, but ultimately becomes a force of power. Power changes man's relationship to nature. The concept of harmony gives way to control, and respect to exploitation. The simultaneous desire for power and the desire for harmony interfere with each other. It is probably impossible to avoid the fact that Easterners will suffer from the same emotional disorders as Westerners, namely anxiety, depression and loss of mojo.

Returning to the old way of life, unfortunately, is impossible. Once lost, innocence cannot be regained. It is because of this that the old practices of Eastern philosophers are unable to solve the emotional problems that we are dealing with today. Even the longest meditation will not restore the ability to cry to a person whose crying reaction has been suppressed. No amount of yoga exercise will relieve the tension in the shoulders of a person who does not dare raise his hands in anger at the one who was his authority. This does not mean that meditation or yoga do not have any positive effects. There are many practices and exercises that have great health benefits. For example, massage is equally pleasant and valuable for health. Dancing, swimming and walking are forms of movement that I highly recommend. To regain physical charm, you need to know how it was lost. The main task of analysis is for a person to realize this.

I want to emphasize that when I talk about analysis, I do not mean psychoanalysis. You cannot make graceful movements by lying on a couch or sitting in a chair and talking about your experiences. This conversation is necessary and beneficial, but chronic muscle tension that comes with loss of grace must be addressed at the body level. This is what bioenergy does - an approach that I have been trying to develop and improve for about 35 years. This approach combines ideas from East and West and uses the power of the mind to understand the tensions that bind the body. It mobilizes the body's energy to release these tensions. The connecting thread here is the concept of energy, which we find in Eastern and Western medicine. Energy is the force behind the spirit. This is the foundation of the spirituality of the body. If used consciously, it becomes very powerful. In the next chapter we will look at Eastern and Western concepts of energy and show how bioenergy integrates them.

Eastern religious thought is characterized by integrating spirit or spirituality with an energetic view of the body. For example, hatha yoga assumes the existence of two opposing energies: “ha” - the energy of the Sun; “tha” - the energy of the Moon. The goal of hatha yoga is to achieve balance between these two forces. According to Yesudian and Heich, authors of Yoga and Health, our body is permeated with positive and negative energy flows, and when these flows are completely balanced, we enjoy ideal health. It is easy to understand why primitive peoples consider the Sun and Moon to be energy bodies: both of them directly influence the Earth and life on it. According to the Chinese idea, health depends on the balance of opposing energies, yin and yang, representing the energies of Earth and Heaven. In the Chinese practice of acupuncture treatment, the channels through which these energies move are distinguished. By pricking needles or pressing fingers on acupuncture points, the flow of energy in the body can be manipulated to cure disease and promote health.

Another way the Chinese use to mobilize the body's energy and maintain health is a program of special exercises known as tai chi chuan. Tai Chi movements are usually done slowly and rhythmically, using minimal force. According to Hermann Kahn, “the emphasis is on relaxation,” which “helps the flow of internal energy, called “chi” in Chinese and “ki” in Japanese. The reservoir of this energy is believed to be in the lower abdomen." I will address other aspects of Eastern thought that concern the movement of energy in the body in subsequent chapters of this book.

Western thought explains energy in mechanistic terms, as something measurable. But since these energies could not be measured by any available instruments, the Western mind, striving for accuracy, denies their existence. However, living organisms respond to some aspects of the body's energy in ways that machines cannot. For example, the excitement that a loving person feels when he meets his beloved is an energetic phenomenon that has not yet been measured by any device. The vitality radiated by the lovers is another example of an energetic phenomenon that has also not been registered by any instrument. Despite the fact that Kirlian photography showed the existence of an aura or energy radiation surrounding the body, no one has yet been able to explain this phenomenon in quantitative terms. Even before Eastern thought began to penetrate Western culture (which is quite recent), some scientists disputed the view that the body is just a complex biomechanical machine, animated by some vague spirit and ennobled by a metaphysical soul. In the last century, the French writer and philosopher Henry Bergson postulated the existence of a force or vital energy, the so-called elan vital which animates the body. Proponents of vitalism, as this movement was called, could not accept the idea that the functioning of a living organism could be fully explained in chemical or physical terms. However, with the development of techniques and methods of scientific research, which made it possible to elucidate the biochemical basis of bodily processes, vitalism began to be looked at as something not amenable to scientific research, not reflected in objective reality.

Modern medicine also adheres to this view. When I began studying medicine at the age of thirty-six, I thought a lot about how feelings might be important to health, and how we could explain things like love, courage, pride, and beauty. The knowledge that I received at the medical academy was very valuable, but none of the concepts mentioned below were even mentioned there. Even such important emotions as fear, anger and sadness were not considered, since these were believed to be psychological, not physiological, phenomena. Pain has been studied only from a neurological and biochemical point of view, but no one has studied the feeling of pleasure at all, despite the fact that it represents such a powerful force in our lives.

The most serious blind spot in medical education at that time was (and still is to some extent) human sexuality. Every doctor knows that this function is extremely important for life and health. And as much as the function of reproduction has been approached exhaustively, sexuality has been deprived of attention due to the fact that it does not relate to any one organ, but is associated with feelings that cover the entire body. Thanks to the study of this particular function, Wilhelm Reich understood the role of energy in the process of life.

Modern medical sciences deal primarily with the functions of organs. Doctors have to specialize in treating specific systems, such as breathing, blood circulation or digestion. The science of the whole person is unknown to Western medicine. You might think that this is the field of psychiatry or psychology, but these disciplines are limited to the study of mental processes and their effect on the body.

The idea that mental processes belong to one field, so-called psychology, and physical processes to another, so-called organ medicine, is not consistent with the model of the fundamental integrity of the human person. This view is the result of the separation of the spirit from the body and its limitation to the sphere of consciousness. This gap crippled psychiatry and exhausted medicine. The only way to cope with this violation of human integrity is to return the psyche to the human body. This was her original place. The unity of body and spirit is expressed in the Greek root psychein, which means breathing. A holistic view of the human body would lead to the recognition that the body is permeated by a spirit that animates the psyche and controls its functioning.

Since this definition of the psyche comes from vitalism, science cannot accept it.

Thus it was relegated to the realm of metaphysics. However, it was with the help of psychology in the form of psychoanalysis that the way was opened to understanding the spirit as an energetic phenomenon. This road led psychologists into sexuality territory that had been ignored by conventional medicine. Freud confronted the problem of sexuality, trying to understand hysterical symptoms, psychosomatic diseases that neither medicine nor psychology could explain until Freud published his classic teaching. He showed that hysteria is the result of the transfer to the physical plane of a mental conflict associated with sexuality and originating from an early traumatic sexual experience. However, Freud and other psychoanalysts were not able to explain how this transference occurs. As a result, psychosomatic medicine suffered from a gap between the psyche and the somatic and was unable to unite them.

Wilhelm Reich was able to unite the psyche and somatics, using the concept of energy for this. He realized that conflict arises simultaneously on two levels: mental and somatic. He approached the psyche and somatics as two aspects - mental and physical - of one indivisible process. A good metaphor might be the reverse and obverse of a coin, because whatever we do with a coin affects both sides. Likewise, consciousness and body constitute two different functions that mutually influence each other. Reich formulated his concept as the principle of psychosomatic unity and opposition. Community exists at the deep energetic level of the organism, while at the level of observable phenomena there is opposition. These seemingly complex relationships can be clearly represented by illustrating a model of these relationships (Figure 2.1).

Rice. 2.1. Reich views the psyche and body as one at a deep level, but opposite at a surface level.

A question arises regarding the nature of this energetic process, as well as the energy involved in it. Reich envisioned this process as a pulsation, as arousal and relaxation that can be felt as energy flows in the body. The idea of energy operating in the body (specifically in its sexual function) belongs to Freud. He discovered that other physical ailments, such as neurasthenia, hypochondria, or anxiety, were associated with sexual dysfunction. Since sexual intercourse is accompanied by emotional release, Freud believed that this release is energetic in nature and postulated that sexual desire arises as a result of the accumulation of sexual energy, which he called libido. At first, Freud believed that libido is a physical energy, but, unable to prove its existence, he later defined it as the psychic energy of sexual desire. By doing this, he widened the gap between consciousness and body.

Unlike Freud, Jung viewed libido as an energy that includes all functions and movements of the body. However, he did not call it physical strength. As a result of this, spirit, psyche and libido remained physical concepts, and spirituality remained a concept of consciousness.

Reich returned to Freud's original concept of libido as physical energy and conducted some experiments to determine whether it could be measured. He discovered that the electrical charge on the surface of the erogenous zone (breasts, lips and palms) increased when this zone was stimulated. A painful effect on this area lowered the charge. In addition, Reich showed that with pleasant stimulation, blood flow in the area of excitation increased, while painful stimulation corresponded to a slight decrease in blood flow.

Alexander Lowen

Psychology of the body. Bioenergetic body analysis

Preface

S.V. Koleda

Introduction

"Wise people will read

live by your past

your appearance

gait, behavior.

Property of nature -

self-expression. Even

the smallest detail

body shows something.

A man's face is like a mirror

reflects what's going on inside."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Before eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, as we read in the Bible, man lived in paradise without self-awareness, like other animals. He was innocent and knew the joy of living in the form of goodness. Along with the knowledge of good and evil, responsibility for choice came to him, the man lost his innocence, he became aware of himself and lost peace. The harmony that existed between man and God, between man and Nature was broken. Instead of blessed ignorance, homo sapiens Now I have problems and illnesses. Joseph Campbell attributes part of the responsibility for the loss of harmony to the Christian tradition, which separated the soul from the body: “The Christian division of matter and spirit, the dynamics of life and spiritual values, natural charm and divine grace, essentially destroyed nature.”

True grace of the body is not something artificial, it is part of a natural person, one of the divine beings. However, if it is once lost, it can be found again only by returning its spirituality to the body. In order to do this, you need to understand why and how his charm was lost. But since it is impossible to find a lost thing unless you know exactly what you have lost, we must begin by studying the natural body, in which movements, feelings and thoughts are fused into something unified and full of charm. We will study the body as a separate, self-regulating energy system, which is closely connected with the environment and on which its existence depends. Looking at the body from an energetic perspective will allow us to understand the essence of bodily charm and spirituality of the body without mysticism. This will lead us to the knowledge of the connection between sensitivity and charm. In the absence of sensitivity, movements become mechanical, and thought becomes an abstraction. We can, of course, instruct a person whose soul is full of hatred with the commandments of love, but it is difficult to expect that there will be any benefit from this. However, if we manage to restore his spirituality, love for his neighbor will blossom in him anew. We will also study some disorders that destroy a person’s spirit, reduce the charm of his body, and undermine his health. Focusing on charisma as a criterion for health will allow us to understand many of the problems in emotional life that impair health, as well as to develop charm that improves it.

Lowen Alexander - Psychology of the body: bioenergetic analysis of the body

www.e-puzzle.ru

Alexander Lowen

SPIRITUALITY OF THE BODY

Bioenergetics for Grace and Harmony

Alexander Lowen

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE BODY

bioenergetic body analysis

Institute of General Humanitarian Studies

Moscow 2004

UDC 615.8 BBK 88.4 L 81

Lowen A. Psychology of the body: bioenergetic analysis of the body / Translated from English. S. Koleda - M.: Institute of General Humanitarian Research, 2000 - 256 p.

The most famous psychologist, the founder of the powerful direction of modern psychotherapy, sums up the work of his entire life.

Through numerous compelling examples, he shows how by combining sexuality and spirituality, any of us can return to a natural and perfect life.

Body and soul, morality and sex, harmoniously interpenetrate and complement each other in a natural state. And this book is written about how to achieve this.

Read this book - it can truly renew your heart.

ISBN 5-88230-143-2

Preface.5

Introduction 8

Spirituality and grace.13

Energy.33

Breathing 54

Grateful body: loss of grace...77

Sensations and feelings.94

Sexuality and spirituality 117

Grounding: connection with reality... 139

Structural dynamics of the body.. 164

Facing the world 195

Calming the Mind 218

Love and Faith.230

Consciousness of the heart..240

Preface

Bioenergy is a modern method of psychotherapy, rooted in the techniques of the work of Wilhelm Reich, an Austrian psychoanalyst who enriched psychoanalysis with the so-called body-work. The creator of bioenergy - American psychiatrist and psychotherapist Alexander Lowen (born in 1910) - was his patient, then a student and collaborator. Taking from Reich the basic concepts of the energetic basis of psychophysical processes, he developed his concept of psychotherapy and founded the Institute of Bioenergetic Analysis in New York in the 50s. Over the next thirty years, several dozen similar institutions emerged in many countries.

Bioenergetics considers the functioning of the human psyche in terms of body and energy, considering the source of neuroses, depression and loss of self-identification to be the suppression of feelings, which manifests itself in the form of chronic muscle tension that blocks the free flow of energy in the body. In early childhood, specific skills of avoiding pain, despair and fear and ways of obtaining security and love from others are manifested and then reinforced. They lead to the development of a person’s character structure, which consists of an often distorted image of the world and one’s own personality, rigid patterns of behavior and feelings, as well as patterns of “self-control” that limit the vitality of the body, also called the “shell of character.” Thus, a person’s physical appearance symbolically reflects his psyche. Therapy consists of learning about character structure and “revitalizing” emotions frozen in the body. This leads to the release of large reserves of energy previously spent on restraining bodily impulses, which can be used in less stereotypical, more creative forms of adaptation and development of individuality. Of particular importance is the restoration of free breathing, the violation of which is closely related to fear. The goal of therapy is to unblock the limitations of personality development. The focus is on the development of the ego and its integration with the body. Satisfaction of basic emotional needs and personal aspirations without unnecessary expenditure of energy is associated with a realistic orientation in the world around us. A mature personality has contact with the internal energetic pulsation of the body and changing feelings. She is able to equally control their expression and turn off self-control, surrendering to the flow of spontaneity (for example, during orgasm, in creative ecstasy, etc.). She has equal access to both unpleasant feelings: fear, pain, anger and despair, and to pleasurable experiences: sex, joy, love and empathy. The bodily expression of emotional health is grace of movement, good muscle tone, good contact with people around you and with the ground under your feet (in bioenergetic terminology this is “grounding”), clear eyes and a soft, pleasant voice.

Keeping a methodology close to modern psychoanalysis, bioenergetics uses touch and pressure on tense muscles, deep breathing and special poses. The patient performs exercises that expand body awareness, develop spontaneous depression and psychophysical integration. A complete individual bioenergy therapy program lasts about six years. Its completion, in addition to comprehensive education, is mandatory to obtain the right to use bioenergy in therapeutic practice.

G. I. Koleda

Introduction

"Wise people will read your past life by your appearance, gait, behavior. The property of nature is self-expression. Even the smallest detail of mew shows something. The person's face is reflected in the mirror. what's going on inside."

Ralph Ialdo Emerson

Aldous Huxley describes three types of grace: animal grace, human charm, and spiritual charm or grace. (Aldous Huxley, The perennial Philosophy, New York, 1954.) Spiritual charm is associated with a sense of satisfaction of the highest order. A person's charm is expressed in his attitude towards others and can be more accurately defined as kindness and personal charm. We know the charm of animals from observing their lives in the wild. I love watching the squirrels play among the trees. Few people can even come close to the grace of squirrels and their confidence in movement. The dexterous flight of swallows arouses our admiration. All wild animals have an excellent ability to move perfectly. According to Huxley, a person's true grace comes when he "opens himself to the spirit of the sun and the air" rather than deforming our body and hindering the manifestation of our innate spirituality.

Before eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, as we read in the Bible, man lived in paradise without self-awareness, like other animals. He was innocent and knew the joy of living in the form of goodness. Along with the knowledge of good and evil, responsibility for choice came to him, the man lost his innocence, he became aware of himself and lost peace. The harmony that existed between man and God, between man and Nature was broken. Instead of blessed ignorance, homo sapiens now has problems and illnesses. Joseph Campbell attributes part of the responsibility for the loss of harmony to the Christian tradition, which separated the soul from the body: "The Christian division of matter and spirit, the dynamics of life and spiritual values, natural charm and divine grace, essentially destroyed nature." (Joseph Campbell, The power of Myth, New York, 1988.)

Behind the Christian tradition is the Greco-Semitic belief in the primacy of the mind over the body. When consciousness is separated from the body, spirituality becomes something intellectual rather than a vital force, while the body becomes meat on a skeleton or, from the point of view of modern medicine, a biochemical laboratory. A body without a spirit has a low level of vitality and is completely devoid of charm. His movements are mechanical, since they are guided to a greater extent by consciousness or will. When the spirit takes possession of the body, it trembles with excitement, becomes like a stream flowing down the side of a mountain, or moves slowly, like a deep river spilling over a plain. Life does not always go smoothly, but when a person is forced to force his body to move by willpower all day long, this means that his bodily dynamics are seriously disturbed, and there is a danger of illness.

True grace of the body is not something artificial, it is part of a natural person, one of the divine beings. However, if it is once lost, it can be found again only by returning its spirituality to the body. In order to do this, you need to understand why and how his charm was lost. But since it is impossible to find a lost thing unless you know exactly what you have lost, we must begin by studying the natural body, in which movements, feelings and thoughts are fused into something unified and full of charm. We will study the body as a separate, self-regulating energy system, which is closely connected with the environment and on which its existence depends. Looking at the body from an energetic perspective will allow us to understand the essence of bodily charm and spirituality of the body without mysticism. This will lead us to the knowledge of the connection between sensitivity and charm. In the absence of sensitivity, movements become mechanical, and thought becomes an abstraction. We can, of course, instruct a person whose soul is full of hatred with the commandments of love, but it is difficult to expect that there will be any benefit from this. However, if we manage to restore his spirituality, love for his neighbor will blossom in him anew. We will also study some disorders that destroy a person’s spirit, reduce the charm of his body, and undermine his health. Focusing on charisma as a criterion for health will allow us to understand many of the problems in emotional life that impair health, as well as to develop charm that improves it.

Spirituality and grace

Our pursuit of health can only bear fruit if we consider a positive model of health. The definition of health as the absence of pain is an ego negative definition, since such a view of the body is reminiscent of a mechanic's view of a car, in which he can replace individual parts without disturbing the operation of the entire mechanism. The same cannot be said about any living organism and about humans in particular. We can feel, but machines cannot. We move spontaneously, which no mechanism can. We are also deeply connected to other living organisms and nature. Our spirituality arises! it is from this sense of unity with a power and order greater than ourselves. It makes no difference whether we give this force a name, or, like the ancients, we leave it without a name.

If we accept that human beings have a spirit, we must also accept that health is related to spirituality. I believe that the loss of a sense of connection with other people, animals and nature seriously interferes with mental health. At the individual level, we define this as a feeling of isolation, loneliness and emptiness, which can lead to depression and, in more acute cases, even schizoid withdrawal from life. What is generally not noticed is the fact that when the connection with the world is severed, there is also a loss of connection with one’s bodily self. It is the lack of sensation of one’s body that is the basis of depression and schizoid states. This occurs due to a decrease in the vital energy of the body, a decline in its spirit or energy state. In essence, it is impossible to separate mental health from physical health, because real health combines both of these aspects. Despite this, in medicine there are no reliable criteria for physical assessment of mental health. It can only be defined as the absence of complaints and disturbing elements in the patient’s personality.

Objectively, mental health can be determined by the level of vital energy, which is manifested in the quickness of the gaze, the color and temperature of the skin, the spontaneity of facial expressions, the liveliness of the body, and the grace of movements. The eyes are especially important - the windows of the soul. In them we can see the life of the human spirit. In cases where the spirit is absent (for example, in schizophrenia), the eyes are empty. In a state of depression, the eyes are sad, and deep melancholy is often visible in them. A person who is between these states has dull and motionless eyes, which indicates that the function of understanding what the person sees is impaired. In most cases, the eyes become dull from difficult experiences and traumatic situations in childhood. Because the eyes are important to our relationships with others and with the world around us, we will analyze their functions in more detail in chapter nine, entitled "Facing the World." People with lively, sparkling eyes usually look each other directly in the face, establishing eye contact that connects people's feelings. The vibrant color and warmth of the skin is the result of good blood supply to the outer layers of the body by the heart, which beats under the influence of the “divine spirit”. This spirit is also manifested in the vital energy of the body and the grace of movements. The Greeks were right in asserting that a healthy spirit can only exist in a healthy body.

In light of the above, one can ask the question: is it possible to treat mental illness without paying attention to the condition of the body? And is it possible to treat diseases of the body without paying attention to the patient’s mental state? If the goal of therapy is to cure a particular symptom of a disease, concentrating on a limited element of the person in whom that symptom is present makes sense and may be successful. Almost all medical practices use this type of treatment. However, this does not restore full health and does not affect the cause of the disease, the so-called personal factors that predispose a person to the disease. Of course, there is not always a need to delve into these details. If we are dealing with a fracture or an infected wound, we can act directly on the sore spot to speed up healing.

Despite the local approach to diseases, Western medicine has achieved amazing results in their treatment. Although its relationship to the body is mechanistic, knowledge of mechanics in both the structural and biochemical fields allows doctors to work wonders. However, this type of medicine has obvious limitations that doctors do not want to notice. Many common diseases do not respond to such treatment. Lumbar spine disorders, often accompanied by irritation of the sciatic nerve, are very common in Western countries, but few orthopedic surgeons understand the problem and can treat it successfully. Another disease that is beyond medical knowledge is arthritis. Cancer is known to be invincible. Let me remind you that these are diseases of the whole organism, and they can only be understood through a holistic approach to a person.

During the analysis, the following information emerged: Ruth was the only child of her parents, who emigrated to the United States after World War II, even before the birth of their daughter. As we have established, each parent had their own emotional problems. Mother was a timid and full of fears woman. The father was sickly, but very hard-working. Ruth described her childhood as unhappy. She felt that her mother was hostile to her, giving her too many responsibilities around the house, which did not leave her time to play. She was too critical of her. Ruth could not remember warm or close physical contact with her mother. In relation to her father, on the contrary, she felt warmth and felt his love. However, he pulled away from her when she was still a child.

Ruth's spirit was broken. There was an emptiness in her body, indicating that her spirit was weak. She wasn't aggressive. It was with great difficulty that she maintained good health. Her breathing was smooth and her energy level was low. She didn't realize that it was difficult for her to reach out to other people; she attributed this to her insecurities in relationships with people. Her bowel problems reminded me of this very uncertainty, as well as her inability to eat. It was as if she reacted to her mother's milk as if it were poison. She was not breastfed for long and, despite the fact that she could not remember when it stopped, it was this moment that I consider the first serious insult in her life. Surely the mother's hostility was poison. The second serious blow is the loss of close contact with his father, provoked by his mother's envy of his love for Ruth. Her father's departure disarmed her against her hostile mother and brought the feeling that no one needed her anymore.

For a Jewish woman, accepting Christ means breaking with her family and her own past. By doing this, Ruth freed her spirit from pathological connections with her mother, at least for some time, thereby defeating the disease. In the language of psychotherapy, we call this a fracture. A fracture is an important step towards recovery and liberation of the patient’s spirit. It needs strengthening. After this event, Ruth became more relaxed, although her back and face were still tense and her eyes were scared. The dam that held her spirit captive had cracked, Ruth knew she had to work through a few more issues and work with her body to restore its grace.

Ruth and Barbara's illnesses can be understood as an imbalance of these forces. These forces can be designated as ego and body, thought and feeling, good and evil. In both cases, the lack of balance indicated dominance of the head over the body. For Ruth, being good meant being sensitive to her mother's suffering and forgetting her own needs. For Barbara, being good meant being smart and strong, and being bad meant being sensual. In this book I will continually emphasize the need for harmony between the ego and the body as the basis of grace and true spirituality. It is important that we understand that Western and Eastern philosophies and religions view spirituality, or the sense of oneness with a higher order, from different perspectives. While in Eastern thought spirituality is something bodily, Western thought considers it primarily a function of the mind. This difference can be expressed differently by the statement that in the West, spirituality is mainly the lot of faith, and in the East - of feelings. It is true that faith can influence feelings, just as feelings can determine beliefs. Thus, in the story of Ruth we see to what extent faith in Christ and the immortality of the soul can influence the physiological processes in the body. On the other hand, a transcendental experience in which we feel the power of the spirit can incline us to believe in a deity or strengthen this belief. However, we must recognize that there is a fundamental difference between these two views of man's connection with the world. The East has always shown more respect for nature than the West, believing that a person's happiness depends on his harmony with nature. Tao is the way of nature. The West, at least over the last few centuries, has been moving towards gaining control and power over nature, and this is noticeable in the Western attitude towards the body. Western man thinks of the health of the body in terms of efficiency, good condition, allowing it to work throughout its life like a good machine. This position can be seen in physical exercises practiced in the West. This is lifting weights or training on special machines. Eastern exercises, such as yoga or tai chi, reflect an interest in the vitality of the body or its spirituality.

The story of the loss of grace and charm is repeated at the birth of every new person. Like any other mammal, the human baby has an innate animal grace, despite the fact that its first few months of movement are clumsy, and it must develop the muscle coordination that will eventually allow it to move as well as it needs to. Even the charming sickle, immediately after birth, hobbles awkwardly before standing firmly on its feet for the first time. However, no animal makes a conscious effort to develop coordination, since it is genetically programmed and develops itself as the body grows. Already from the first months of life, the infant makes movements truly full of grace. The most obvious example is the stretching of the lips in order to reach the mother's breast and suck on it. There is a certain softness and graceful fluidity in this movement, reminiscent of the opening of flower petals under the influence of the rays of the morning sun. Lips are the first part of a child's body to develop.

Sucking is essential for a baby's life. On the contrary, many adults I have met and worked with cannot extend their lips naturally. Many people have stretched and hard lips, and tense cheeks, which gives the face a dull expression. Some people find it difficult to even open their mouth wide. When a baby is just a few months old, he may reach out to touch his mother with a soft, delicate movement.

However, as children grow, they sooner or later lose their charm as they are forced to give in to external expectations while neglecting their internal impulses. When their own impulses are mixed with their parents' orders, children quickly come to believe that if they behave badly, then they themselves are bad. In almost all cases, the impulses and behavior of very young children are innocent, and the child is simply believing his nature. A typical example is the behavior of a tired child who wants to be held. Meanwhile, the mother herself may be tired, perhaps she is busy or carrying heavy bags that prevent her from lifting the child. In this situation, the crying child drives the mother into despair with her refusal to go. Some mothers scold the child and tell him to stop crying. If his unnerving behavior continues, the mother may hit him, which leads to an increase in the flow of tears. So far (in this example) the child has not lost his grace. While the baby cries, his body remains soft. Infants can often feel frustrated and in pain. The ego makes their little bodies tense, but not for long.

Soon the child's chin begins to tremble and he bursts into tears. When a wave of crying passes through the body, its tension dissolves and the tension goes away. However, the time comes when the child begins to be punished for crying, and he must stifle his spasms and swallow his tears. It is at that moment that he loses the state of bliss and no longer “goes towards grace,” as Joseph Kembel said. Another natural emotion that many parents find difficult to accept is anger, especially when it is directed at themselves. And yet, children spontaneously attack their parents when they feel that they are being limited or their will is being imposed on them. Few parents can accept their child's anger as it threatens their power and control. One way or another, they will teach their child that anger is bad behavior and that he will be punished for it. Even such innocent manifestations as running, screaming or active behavior can anger some parents who demand that the child calm down, behave decently and sit quietly.

For many children, the list of prohibited behaviors for which they will be punished is very long. A certain area of parental control is, of course, necessary in upbringing. However, the key issue too often becomes not what is good for the child, but what is right for the parents. This conflict very often degenerates into a struggle for power. It does not matter who wins in such a conflict, since in the end both sides lose. Regardless of whether the child gives in or rebels, the thread of love connecting the child with his father or mother is interrupted. Along with the loss of love, the spirituality of the child is lost, and he loses his grace. Losing grace is a physical phenomenon. We notice this by the way people move or stand. In consultations, I often see patients suffering from depression. As I wrote in my early work (A. Lowen, "Depression and the Body" New York, 1973), depression affects not only a person's consciousness, but also movement, appetite, breathing and energy production. To fully understand this disease, I observe the body. I very often see someone in the "obedient child" attitude, waiting for parental orders. This unconscious attitude has become part of their personality, ingrained in the structure of the body. When we allow patients to become aware of this behavior, it invariably turns out that their parents considered them obedient children. Such “good children” grow up to be good workers, but unless there is a radical change in their personality, they will never achieve the fullness of vitality and charm.

The second case was a young man with such broad shoulders as I had never seen before. When I brought this to his attention during the consultation, he told me about his father, whom he respected very much. He said that once, when he was 16 years old, he returned home from military school. The father asked him to stand next to him in front of the mirror. The young man noticed that he was equal in height to his father, and the thought occurred to him that if he grew up a little more, he would look down on his father. Since that day he has not grown an inch more, while his shoulders have become wider. It became clear to me that all the energy of growth went to the sides in order to save my son from the possibility of outgrowing his father. The third case could be a tall young man (about 190 cm). He complained that he felt separated from life. He said that while walking he could not feel the lower parts of his legs or his feet. When he took a step, he could not feel when his foot touched the ground. He reached his height when he was about 14 years old. When I asked him about his life, he took revenge on the fact that at that time his father moved out of his parents’ shared bedroom and took over the boy’s room. The latter had to sleep in the attic. In his own words, he took it as a “kick up.”

For most people, this kind of emotional abuse does not seem strong enough to produce such noticeable deformations of the body. However, as I have indicated, the depth and intensity of a person's feelings are often expressed in the reactions of the body. Every experience that a person goes through touches his body and remains in the psyche. If the experience is pleasant, then it has a positive effect on the health, vitality and grace of the body. In the case of painful negative experiences, the opposite is true. If a person can adequately respond to an insult inflicted on her, then its consequences will not be long-lasting, since the wounds heal. But if the reaction is blocked, the insult will leave a mark on the body in the form of chronic muscle tension. Let's think about what happens to a child who is taught that crying is a behavior that cannot be accepted. The crying response is located in the body and must somehow be blocked if it cannot be expressed. To cope with this reaction, the muscles involved in crying must be tense and remain in this tense state until the crying reaction has completely passed. However, this reaction does not die, but only retreats inside the body and continues to exist in the subconscious. It can be reactivated after many years in therapy or after some powerful experience. Until this happens, the muscle group involved (in this case, the muscles of the lips, cheeks, throat) will remain in chronic tension. That this is a common problem is evidenced by widespread cheek tension, which in severe cases is known as temporomandibular joint syndrome.

When chronic muscle tension occurs in the gel, the natural reaction is subconsciously blocked. A good example is the case of a man whose shoulder muscles were so tense that he could not raise his arms above his head. This blocking was a case of inhibition of the impulse to raise a hand against the father. When I asked him if he was ever angry with his father, he said never. The thought that he could hit him was as impossible for him as it was for his father. However, the consequence of this prohibition was the suppression of natural shoulder movements. Several years ago, in Japan, I witnessed a three-year-old child punching his mother. What impressed me was that the mother did nothing to stop him or respond in any way. I learned later that it is only when a child is six years old that he is taught the control necessary to behave in society. Until a child reaches 6 years of age, he is considered an innocent creature, unable to distinguish between what should be done and what should not be done. In a six-year-old child, the ego is already so developed that learning occurs consciously, based on knowledge, and not on fear. At this stage, the child is considered mature enough to consciously model the behavior of his parents. The punishment for insufficient diligence in learning is physical violence, restriction in the expression of love for him or the feeling of guilt that arises in the child. At this age, the child begins to go to school. There is a strong tendency in our culture to start this process earlier. (Read about this stage of life in A.Lowcn’s work “Fear of Life” New York, 1981). Younger children also learn, but their learning is completely spontaneous. By forcing children to follow a lot of regulations and rules until they reach this age, we limit their vitality, spontaneity and charm. Apparently, among the Japanese and other peoples of the East, the ability to evaluate a child as an innocent being comes from a deep respect for nature. If we live in harmony with nature and ourselves, we can also live in harmony with our children. Western people are trying to subjugate nature. If we exploit her, we will also exploit our children.

Returning to the old way of life, unfortunately, is impossible. Once lost, innocence cannot be regained. It is because of this that the old practices of Eastern philosophers are unable to solve the emotional problems that we are dealing with today. Even the longest meditation will not restore the ability to cry to a person whose crying reaction has been suppressed. No amount of yoga exercise will relieve the tension in the shoulders of a person who does not dare raise his hands in anger at the one who was his authority. This does not mean that meditation or yoga do not have any positive effects. There are many practices and exercises that are of great health value. For example, massage is equally pleasant and has health benefits. Dancing, swimming and walking are forms of movement that I highly recommend. To regain that intimate charm, you need to know how it was lost. The main task of analysis is for a person to realize this.

The connecting thread here is the concept of energy, which we find in Eastern and Western medicine. Energy is the force behind the spirit. This is the foundation of the spirituality of the body. If used consciously, it becomes very powerful. In the next chapter we will look at Eastern and Western concepts of energy and show how bioenergy integrates them.

Eastern religious thought is characterized by integrating spirit or spirituality with an energetic view of the body. For example, hatha yoga assumes the existence of two opposing energies: “ha” - the energy of the Sun and “tha” - the energy of the Lupa. The goal of hatha yoga is to achieve balance between these two forces. According to Yesudian and Heich, authors of Yoga and Health, our body is permeated with positive and negative energy flows, and when these flows are completely balanced, we enjoy ideal health. (Selva Yesudian, Elisabeth Haich "Yoga ami Health", New York, 1953.) It is easy to understand why primitive peoples consider the Sun and Moon to be energy bodies: both of them directly influence the Earth and life on it. According to the Chinese idea, health depends on the balance of opposing energies, yin and yang, representing the energies of Earth and Heaven. In the Chinese practice of acupuncture treatment, the channels through which these energies move are distinguished. By pricking needles or pressing fingers on acupuncture points, the flow of energy in the body can be manipulated to cure disease and promote health.

Another way the Chinese use to mobilize the body's energy and maintain health is a program of special exercises known as tai chi chuan. Tai Chi movements are usually done slowly and rhythmically, using minimal force. According to Hermann Kantz, “the emphasis is on relaxation,” which “helps the flow of internal energy, called “chi” in Chinese and “ki” in Japanese. The reservoir of this energy is believed to be located in the lower abdomen.” (Herman Kanz, "The Martial Spirit", New York, 1977). I will address other aspects of Eastern thought that concern the movement of energy in the body in subsequent chapters of this book.

Western thought explains energy in mechanistic terms, as something measurable. But since these energies could not be measured by any available instruments, the Western mind, striving for accuracy, denies their existence. However, living organisms respond to some aspects of the body's energy in ways that machines cannot. For example, the excitement that a loving person feels when he meets his beloved is an energetic phenomenon that has not yet been measured by any device. The vitality radiated by the lovers is another example of an energetic phenomenon that has also not been recorded by any instrument. Despite the fact that Kirlian photography showed the existence of an aura or energy radiation surrounding the body, no one has yet been able to explain this phenomenon in quantitative terms. Even before Eastern thought began to penetrate Western culture (which is quite recent), some scientists disputed the view that the body is just a complex biomechanical machine, animated by some vague spirit and ennobled by a metaphysical soul. In the last century, the French writer and philosopher Henry Bergson postulated the existence of a force or vital energy, the so-called elan vital, which animates the body. Proponents of vitalism, as this movement was called, could not accept the idea that the functioning of a living organism could be fully explained in chemical or physical terms. However, with the development of techniques and methods of scientific research, which made it possible to clarify the biochemical basis of bodily processes, vitalism began to be viewed as something not amenable to scientific research, not reflected in objective reality.

The most serious blind spot in medical education at that time was (and still is to some extent present) human sexuality. Every doctor knows that this function is extremely important for life and health. And as much as the function of reproduction has been approached exhaustively, sexuality has been deprived of attention due to the fact that it does not relate to any one organ, but is associated with feelings that cover the entire body. Thanks to the study of this particular function, Wilhelm Reich understood the role of energy in the process of life.

Modern medicinal spiders are primarily concerned with organ functions. Doctors have to specialize in treating specific systems, such as breathing, blood circulation or digestion. The science of the whole person is unknown to Western medicine. You might think that this is the field of psychiatry or psychology, but these disciplines are limited to the study of mental processes and their effect on the body.

The idea that mental processes belong to one field, so-called psychology, and physical processes to another, so-called organ medicine, is not consistent with the model of the fundamental integrity of the human person. This view is the result of the separation of the spirit from the body and its limitation to the sphere of consciousness. This gap crippled psychiatry and exhausted medicine. The only way to cope with this violation of human integrity is to return the psyche to the human body. This was her original place. The unity of body and spirit is expressed in the Greek root psychein, which means breath. A holistic view of the human body would lead to the recognition that the body is permeated by a spirit that animates the psyche and controls its functioning.

Since this definition of the psyche comes from vitalism, science cannot accept it.

Thus it was relegated to the realm of metaphysics. However, it was with the help of psychology in the form of psychoanalysis that the way was opened to understanding the spirit as an energetic phenomenon. This road led psychologists into the territory of sexuality, which was ignored by traditional medicine. Freud faced the problem of sexuality, trying to understand hysterical symptoms, psychosomatic diseases that neither medicine nor psychology could explain until Freud published his classic teaching. He showed that hysteria is the result of the transfer to the physical plane of a mental conflict associated with sexuality and originating from an early traumatic sexual experience. However, neither Freud nor other psychoanalysts were able to explain how this transference occurs. As a result, psychosomatic medicine suffered from a gap between the psyche and the somatic and was unable to unite them.

Energy process

Fig.2.1. Reich views the psyche and the mind as one at a deep level, but opposite at a surface level.

These experiments allowed Reich to resolve the conflict between vitalists and mechanists. In dead matter there is no relationship between pleasant stimulation, swelling and an increase in electrical potential. However, he emphasized that "living matter functions based on the same laws of physics as non-living matter." These laws simply operate differently, since the living body is a special energy system.

But later Reich became convinced that a special type of energy was involved in the process of life. He called it "orgone" and argued that it was the proto-energy of the Universe. During the period of collaboration with Reich, I also believed in the existence of this energy. I believe that there are arguments that prove that the energy of the life process is an energy different from electromagnetism. We can agree that energy is needed to power life. To avoid the controversy that may arise when using the term orgone or other similar name, when talking about the energy of life, I use the term bioenergy. Because my form of psychotherapy is based on the concept of the body's energetic processes, I call it bioenergetic analysis.

To make it easier for readers to understand what follows, I will now begin a digression by explaining what bioenergetic analysis consists of. Personality in bioenergetic analysis is considered as a pyramidal structure. At the top is the head, where consciousness and ego are located. At the base, at the deepest level of the body, there are energy processes that force a person to act. These processes manifest themselves in movements that cause emotions and end with thoughts. The relationship between these processes is presented in Figure 2.2.

The dotted line between different levels of personality indicates the interdependence of these layers. In bioenergetic analysis, in order to understand the personality, each level is studied.

Rice. 2.2. Hierarchy of personality.

Because of their exceptional significance, the focus is on the energy processes underlying the pyramid. The object of close attention is the energy potential of a given person and the way in which it is used.

We know that energy is produced in the body through biochemical reactions. Despite all its complexity, the chemistry of metabolism is similar to the process where fuel becomes energy, according to the general formula:

P (fuel or food) + O = E (energy)

Living organisms are distinguished from inanimate nature by the fact that in organisms this process occurs inside a membrane, due to which the energy produced is not lost into the environment, but is used by the body to perform its vital functions. One of the main functions is to obtain from the environment the necessary elements for energy production. It is necessary that the membrane be permeable to food and oxygen, as well as to remove decay products. In the case of more complex organisms than bacteria or simple single-celled organisms, this process is combined with an active search for the necessary products. Therefore, the movements of the body cannot be random. They must be managed by some form of environmental sensitivity. As one of the leading researchers of the functioning of protoplasm noted, “protoplasm may not have a mind, but what it does is intelligent.” Isn't it reasonable to strive for food, love and pleasant contacts and retreat in the face of danger or pain? This is not a mechanical process, since every organism is constantly studying its environment. This approach and retreat is part of the pulsating activity. Inside the body, it includes heartbeat, breathing, intestinal motility, etc. All this is the result of stimulation of every cell and every organ of the body. Thus we can say that life is a state of controlled internal excitement; arousal produces the energy necessary to maintain internal functions, as well as to perform external actions that maintain or increase the arousal of the body.

We are born with a huge potential for sensitivity to motivating factors; With age, this sensitivity decreases. I think this loss of sensation can be explained by the fact that as we age, the body becomes more structured and rigid. Finally, a time comes when the older person is so entrenched in his stereotypical skills that he is practically unable to move spontaneously. I don't remember ever seeing an elderly person jumping for joy the way children do. Infants have the most alive and spiritual bodies, for they are more sensitive to the environment and other people than anyone else. At the same time, older people are spiritualized in a more conscious way, because most of them understand how strongly they are connected with the world around them. The concept of spirituality of the body contains a powerful spirit or a strong consciousness of spiritual satisfaction.

The process of building a connection with the outside world is an energetic process. To understand how this happens between two people, let’s imagine two tuning forks tuned to the same frequency. When they are nearby, a blow to one of them causes vibration of the second. The connection between two people deeply in love can be explained in a similar way. The image of two hearts beating as one may be more than just a metaphor. As we have shown, our hearts and bodies are pulsating systems that emit waves that can affect other hearts and bodies. Quite often, mothers have the ability to feel what their children are experiencing, which depends on this type of connection between them.

A feeling of unity with the Universe can be achieved by losing or overcoming your ego. The ego is the boundary that creates individual consciousness. Within this boundary is a self-sustaining energy system, the main feature of which is a state of excitation. In Figures 2.3 A-B, the body is represented as a circle around a pulsating root of energy. Without the existence of the boundary, consciousness and ego could not exist.

Pleasure = movement of blood and stimulation to the surface of the body

Pain = drainage of blood and energy from the surface

Boundary porous or weakened = weak ego

Waves of intense excitement overcome strong boundaries in a flood of feelings = joy

Rice. 2.3 Energy processes a mow.

A. Normal response to pleasure and pain.

B. An energetic process resulting from ego pressure.

B Energy processes are in a state of heightened excitement.

Rice. 2.3 L represents the normal energetic interaction of the organism with its environment when it experiences pleasure or pain. The ego acts as a mediator in the interests of self-preservation (when the body experiences painful stimulation) or self-realization (when the body receives pleasant stimulation).

Rice. 2.3 B shows how waves of excitation move from the root to the world in the case of weakening of the ego. In this case, consciousness is no longer individual. The result of such an experience, which can be experienced in deep meditation, is a state of silence and peace.

In Fig. 2.3 Internal arousal becomes so strong that the waves it emits - as during an orgasm or other joyful excitement - overwhelm the ego, radiating beyond its boundaries. In this case, a person experiences a feeling of unity with the cosmos, but this is not a feeling of peace, but ecstasy.

Let us now turn to the practical aspects of these discussions on the topic of energy. One of the most common health problems among people in our culture is depression. It is difficult to determine the frequency with which it occurs, since we have no objective criteria by which we recognize depression, except in its most obvious forms. A person in a state of clinical depression may lie motionless in bed or sitting in a chair, not showing the slightest desire to actively participate in life. In many cases, an accompanying symptom is a feeling of despair. For others, depression may be combined with anxiety or may alternate with periods of increased activity. When mood swings dominate, we say the condition is manic-depressive. In cases of this type, it is obvious that the patient moves from a state of overactivity to a state of underactivity.

While acute depression is easy to recognize, chronic depression is often not recognized at all. A person may complain of fatigue and attribute to this a decrease in his activity - this is one of the features of such depression. But if after a long rest you still feel tired, then the correct diagnosis would be depression. When a patient comes into contact with himself during therapy, one often hears comments such as: “Now I understand that I have been depressed most of my life. How come I did not notice it?” The answer is simple: we tried to stay busy. Most of my patients recognize that being active is a defense against depression; when they start to feel tired, they start a new business. Interestingly, such activities can contribute to the physical and mental awakening of a given person, the energy level will increase, however, sooner or later, depression will return.

A specific trauma that predisposes a person to depression is the loss of love. (For a complete analysis of the causes and treatments of depression, see A. Lowen, “Depression and the Body,” New York, 1977.) An infant who is deprived of close contact with his mother or with a person who has replaced his mother may fall into a state of depression and die. Regardless of age, we all need connection with someone who loves us to keep our bodies sensitive. Elderly people who have lost a loved one often lose the will to live. Most adults can reach out to many people to establish contact, while children and the elderly are limited in their ability to create bonds of love. However, the feeling of such unity is absolutely necessary for their health.

Even before birth, the child is closely connected with his mother. In the womb, this connection is the most intimate and closest possible. Having been born, the child tries to re-feel the warmth of this contact at the breast or in the arms of the mother. Such contacts are very important for infants. They stimulate his body, stimulate his functions, breathing and digestion. Pleasant physical intimacy has positive effects throughout life, renewing a person's enthusiasm and vitality.

The loss of a loved one often causes pain in the heart or a tightness in the chest. All but the smallest children can go through this experience and unblock the spasm within themselves as they mourn this loss. Crying releases tension and returns the body to a free state. When the heart pulsation becomes strong again, the waves of excitation reach the surface of the body and penetrate further. By exciting other bodies, these waves create energetic connections between them.

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