Bioenergetics Today
By Harris Friedman
It has been over 50 years since Alexander Lowen developed
and launched Bioenergetic Analysis. During the course of
his career, he expanded on the themes he first introduced
but never altered the basic principals underlying his entire
system of Bioenergetic Analysis. He remained constant with
his holistic perspective and his work influenced tens of
thousands of people seeking a mind-body unity approach to
their problems and their lives.
Although the basic principles of Bioenergetics remain solid,
much has changed in our culture during the last five decades.
The predominant personality and character issues have shifted
as the cultural milieu has changed. However, the basic human
needs that effect character structure remain constant. In
this regard, the principles upon which Lowen developed Bioenergetic
Analysis are universal and timeless.
Originally, Bioenergetic Analysis was conceived within, and
as a challenge to, the psychoanalytic tradition. It provided
a way to go beyond the limitations of talk-oriented psychoanalysis
and experientially incorporate insights into bodily changes.
Today, much of psychoanalytic thought has been replaced by
the currently popular cognitive-behaviorism that is superficial
in its understanding, focusing on short-term symptom removal
as a goal and having little sense of the disturbances that
may underlie the symptoms. These disturbances are largely
untreated in contemporary psychotherapy and are frequently
masked by a proliferation of medications that largely preclude,
rather than foster, the growth of human potential. In addition,
cognitive-behavioral approaches essentially ignore the body
and its experience in favor of focusing on overt behavior
change. Simultaneously, there has been a development of numerous
approaches to personal growth that focus on the body and the
physical dimensions of human experience, such as the release
of muscular tensions through massage therapy, but these have
primarily occurred without any in-depth understanding of the
mind-body unity, which fuses somatic embodiment with psychological
dynamics. Neither psychological approaches that fail to address
the body, nor body-based approaches that fail to address psychology
are alone adequate to achieve sustainable change for many
of the most vexing problems treated by mental health professionals
today.
Mind-body unity is the most fundamental bioenergetic analytic
concept. The bodywork is inextricably grounded within a deep
understanding of personality and character dynamics, while
simultaneously these psychodynamics are grounded within the
lived body. Without such a holistic approach, addressing the
full range of human experiences, change is likely to be short-lived
for those whose issues are more personality and character
driven.
Although a vibrant school of psychotherapy with an international
reach has emerged out of Lowen’s pioneering work, only
a relatively small, but dedicated, cadre of practitioners
is now formally trained as bioenergetic therapists. Bioenergetic
analysis remains relatively unknown by the mainstream of mental
health practitioners.
It is the hope of the Alexander Lowen Foundation to assist
in rectifying this situation. If you have ideas and thoughts
on this, please use the
forum
pages or send an email through
contact
us.
