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The Child in the Adult As I touch the skin to offer a sense of containment I may also focus my attention towards the cellular membranes of the body, offering a deepening sense of holding and containment as I focus on the first movement of life, cellular breathing. This may allow the client to find a deep level of rest, and by bringing awareness into the cellular membranes they may begin to heal their damaged boundaries at the cellular level. Cellular holding reflects the uterine world, and the hope is that the client may experience the ‘therapeutic womb’ as a containing and nurturing enough environment to enable them to revisit and resolve early woundings (Hartley 2004: 95-119). As we follow the unfolding developmental process, work with the connective tissue might lead into movement which integrates all the body parts, reflecting the navel radiation pattern which develops in utero around the umbilical centre. When addressing imbalance in muscle tone throughout the body, such as chronic holding patterns or weak, flaccid muscles, a movement pattern which stimulates the development of physiological flexion and extension might be introduced. This involves a specific whole body flexion pattern alternating with whole body extension, and can support in an organic way the movement from the closed fetal posture into an expanded state. Physiological flexion and extension develop in utero during the last three months, and provide the underlying muscle and organ tone which will allow integrated movement and posture to evolve. A client who has been born prematurely will have missed out on some of this development and may show either chronic holding patterns which seek to compensate for the lack of underlying tone, or low tone throughout the body. Psychological development will unfold upon this incomplete foundation. As described in Sam’s story, movements which support the ability to push can also help the creation of personal boundaries and empower the adult client to, literally as well as metaphorically, ‘stand on his own feet’; it is important that the client is helped not only to regress and resolve early issues, but that he is supported to continue the developmental journey up and out towards individuation and healthy functioning in the world. Themes of reaching out for contact and relationship, or towards goals, may also be addressed using movement as a support for exploration and integration of the complex themes that can be involved; embodying early movement patterns can facilitate access to unconscious memories and feelings related to these issues, uncovering the needs and longings, the fear and shame as well as the joy of reaching out for what we desire. Integrating the Personality With some clients, when enough safety and trust in themself, their body, and the therapeutic container has developed, it may be appropriate to explore the myriad of feelings and attitudes embodied in the organs, glands, nervous system and fluids of the body. This is a rich area of exploration where unconscious memories and feelings can be accessed and integrated. As a secure enough sense of self is forming, the client may be ready to enter this world and engage with integrating the many aspects of their personality. Body awareness, touch and movement might be used to support this exploration. Authentic Movement is one approach I may use with clients who have a secure enough ego structure to allow for exploration of the deeper layers of the psyche; it is generally not appropriate for those with a fragile ego, or borderline or psychotic condition, who may be overwhelmed by material from the unconscious. Chodorow writes: ‘When movement is used in psychotherapeutic intervention, it activates both conscious and unconscious processes. By its very nature, movement as a therapeutic tool will explore, strengthen and integrate multiple aspects of the human psyche. However, in order to determine specific interventions, the dance therapist needs a sense of direction. This includes knowing whether the immediate goal is to move toward the unconscious or toward a more conscious, concrete reality.’ (Chodorow 1977/1999: 238) When a client is ready to open more fully to the unconscious, she is invited to close her eyes and attend to her inner world, waiting to be moved by sensations, images, feelings and movement impulses arising within her. As the process unfolds, memories, feelings, images, archetypal energies and healing moments may be evoked and find expression through movement. The movement that arises is an expression of the movements of the psyche, and in attending to the details of physical movement we engage with messages from the self. The presence of the therapist/witness offers a container, a safe space, in which the mover can surrender her ego consciousness for an agreed time and enter her inner world. The witness seeks to see the mover with clarity, compassion and non-judgmental acceptance; she pays attention to the sensations, feelings, memories and images evoked in her by the presence of the one moving. When, after the movement, mover and witness share their experiences, the witness endeavours to recognise and own her projections, interpretations and judgments, coming to understand how they obscure clear seeing of the other. Thus the inner witness of each develops within the context of relationship. The discipline of witnessing is a metaskill for being in relationship with a client no matter what approach is used, and it facilitates awareness of countertransference. Emily, a young university student, was drawn to Authentic Movement as a way to make deeper contact with herself and explore her inner conflicts. She had come into therapy suffering from depression, anxiety attacks, and a compulsion to pull out her hair; in her teens she suffered from an eating disorder which, after a period of psychoanalysis, had been overcome but was later replaced by the hair-pulling. The complex issue of self-harming behaviour has deep roots in parental complexes (Gardner 2001), and as we explored Emily’s symptom of hair-pulling it seemed that she was attempting to pull out the roots of something unacceptable within herself. Throughout the therapy, which included exploring current relationships and parental conflicts, Emily frequently asked to move. Through the movement she came to recognise two aspects of her personality. One was clear, rational and organised, the side of her which studied hard and could excel academically. The other she named ‘degenerate’; it was laid back and unmotivated, and she feared becoming lost in the inertia of this side of herself. The two sub-personalities were embodied in movements which were clear, focused and upright on the one hand, and which slumped and drew her down into the floor on the other. In the beginning of our work Emily’s rounded posture, when sitting talking with me, unconsciously expressed this feared and rejected side of herself; she would twist her body around herself, drop her head into her chest, often scratch her skin or pick at her clothes, and gave a general sense of lack of support. She projected the quality of ‘degeneracy’ onto her father and boyfriend; it was associated in her mind with sexuality and being out of control. Through many movement explorations, work with sub-personalities, and dialogue, Emily engaged with the relationship between these parts of herself and the conflicts she experienced in relationship to them and the men who represented them. As the movement qualities became more integrated she was also integrating these sides of her personality, coming to recognise and value the rejected ‘degenerate’ side as a softer, more relaxed, ‘feminine’ and sensual aspect of herself. With this acceptance she was able to find more support for her intellectually ambitious and focused ‘masculine’ side, and the stress that her studies had been putting her under dissolved. By the time her final exams came she felt calm, accepting and able to take care of herself with breaks from study to rest or be with friends. By now she was enjoying this formerly rejected side, and it showed in a transformation of her appearance. She had emerged from a tense and anxious body twisted up around itself, dressed in sweatpants and ragged sweaters, into a beautiful and self-possessed young woman taking care of her appearance and dress, who sat relaxed and upright, looking at me directly. She now only occasionally pulled her hair, but said it no longer felt like a problem. As Gardner writes: ‘The attack ..... needs to be replaced by a genuine sense of self-esteem and self-worth.’ (Gardner 2001: 101) By integrating, through movement and dialogue, two polarised sides of her personality Emily was finding her self. With a growing sense of self-hood and self-confidence she was now able to separate from her parents and an unsatisfying relationship. As she came to the end of her studies, and her therapy, she felt ready and excited to face the new challenges ahead. Concluding Words This chapter has explored the use of touch and movement in psychotherapy, relating Stern’s theory of the development of the senses of self to the therapeutic application of infant movement development.. A description of therapy with a young child demonstrated how bodywork and movement repatterning facilitated the development of a sense of core self, which supported psychological and relational growth. The embodiment of core psychological issues within specific body tissues was also described and related to developmental movement patterns, and the use of movement to access and integrate shadow material in adult clients was elucidated through further case material. Bibliography Adler, Janet (2002) Offering from the Conscious Body. Inner Traditions. Rochester, Vermont Chodorow, Joan (1977/1999) “Dance Therapy and the Transcendent Function'” Paper presented at First Regional Congress of the International Association for Social Psychiatry, Santa Barbara, CA. 1977; and First International Conference of the American Dance Therapy Association, Toronto, Canada. 1977. Reprinted in Authentic Movement, edited by Patrizia Pallaro _______ (1991) Dance Therapy and Depth Psychology - The Moving Imagination. Routledge, London and New York Cohen, Bonnie Bainbridge (1993) Sensing, Feeling and Action. Contact Editions. Northampton, MA Gardner, Fiona (2001) Self-Harm. Brunner-Routledge. New York & Hove Hartley, Linda (1995) Wisdom of the Body Moving - An Introduction to Body-Mind Centering. North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA _______ (2004) Somatic Psychology - Body, Mind and Meaning. Whurr Publishers Ltd. London Juhan, Deane (1987) Job's Body - A Handbook for Bodywork. Station Hill Press, Barrytown, New York Keleman, Stanley (1975) Your Body Speaks Its Mind. Center Press, Berkeley, CA Mills, Marghe & Cohen, Bonnie Bainbridge (1979) Developmental Movement Therapy. School for Body-Mind Centering, Amherst, MA Pallaro, Patrizia, editor (1999) Authentic Movement. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London & Philadelphia Rothschild, Babette (2000) The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment. W.W. Norton & Co., New York & London Stern, Daniel N. (1985)The Interpersonal World of the Infant. Basic Books, Harper Collins ©Linda Hartley. 2005 |
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continued … Embodying a Sense of Self |
