Body Language

I've been reading and learning A LOT about the intelligence of the body lately, which has taken me on a fascinating journey into the writings of Wilhelm Reich (possibly the grandfather of body-based psychotherapy, which is often termed somatic psychology).  His experiential work allowed him to discover that "character" is a both a biological and psychological phenomenon.  In fact, he considered emotions to be manifest expressions of "plasmatic movements of tangible bio-energy" (Reich, 1935/1972, p. 356).  I'm not entirely sure I understand his language well enough to paraphrase it, but fortunately other people have done that for us.  Susan Aposhyan summarizes his findings in her book "Body-Mind Psychotherapy" in a way that helped me understand his conclusions in a profoundly empowering psychological context.  She suggests that Reich used clinical observations in conjunction with observations from natural science to find out how the mind and the body armor themselves in exactly the same way.  Reich was then able to develop a theory of "character armor", which attempts to expose the ways in which we inhibit our authentic emotional and/or energetic expressions by means of muscle control.  FASCINATING, right?!

So, naturally -- I started to get really curious about this relationship.  In fact, I've been working on myself and others in this way ever since.  And as it turns out, this is absolutely true:  the body reflects the mind, and the mind reflects the body precisely.  We hold our bodies in the same defensive or aggressive ways that we try to hold ourselves psychologically.

Don't believe it just yet?  Try these exercises out:  the next time you experience a tension headache, ask yourself about your relationship to self-criticism.  And the next time you have upper back, shoulder, or neck pain - try finding out which side of the body it's most concentrated.  If it's on the right side, ask yourself about your own feelings of "significance" in relation to self-esteem.  If it's on the left side, start exploring your beliefs about "belonging" in relation to self-esteem, as well.  Knee pain or inflammation?  Think about your attitudes concerning stubbornness and death energy.

After you've played around with those for awhile, start finding out what happens if you can relate to these issues by engaging the body and the mind simultaneously!  And if you need it, ask for help from people who know how to work these intelligences skillfully.