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2009 was an exciting year for The Alexander Lowen Foundation workshops. Over 150 new workshop participants had wonderful experiences in Poland, Miami, Florida, Columbia, Argentina, Costa Rica, France, New Canaan, Connecticut, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and completing the year with China!
Workshop leader John Yong sums his experience working Bioenergetics in China:
“A bioenergetic workshop was held at a catholic retreat center in an outlying island of Hong Kong named Cheong Chau. It’s about an hour ferry ride from Hong Kong harbor. We held the workshop in the Cantonese dialect of Chinese, the native dialect of Chinese spoken in Hong Kong and the Guangzhou region of China. The Organizers, Pheobe and Simon, believe it is the first bioenergetic workshop held in Hong Kong and in Cantonese. It was a memorable workshop for me. I spent my first eight years of my life in Hong Kong and seeing, hearing the sights, sounds of my childhood and using my limited Cantonese in a workshop brought me a sense of accomplishment that is hard to describe. Chinese people are brought up to not express their emotions, and to obey the wishes of the parents, and corporal punishment was encouraged to discipline children. While attitudes have changed in modern times, the vestiges of that upbringing is evident in the bodies of many of the participants. The participants took to the work well as if giving them a vessel where they can vent their sadness and despair. It was like giving a lifeboat in a sea of dormant emotion.”
Bioenergetic Workshop held in Hong Kong, China, November 2009.
The Alexander Lowen Foundation wishes you a Happy New Year. Here’s to another inspiring year of workshops in 2010!
December 14th - December 21st Happy Holidays
Countries in which our website's visitors live throughout the world! |
December 6th - December 13th 2009 The Master Series!!
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November 29th - December 5th 2009 Expanding the State of Being“Every chronic muscular tension in the body has associated with sadness, fear, and anger. Since tension is a restriction of our being, it makes us sad. It also makes us angry to be so limited. And we are frightened to show our sadness or express our anger, so we stay locked in a diminished state of being and tied to our fate. A therapy that aims at enlarging or expanding the state of being must take cognizance of the dynamic or energetic factor. More feelings means more aliveness, more excitation, and more energy in the organism. Tight contracted bodies cannot tolerate the increase charge or excitation. It threatens the integrity of the personality. Like too much air blown into a small balloon, the charge poses the risk of explosion or bursting, which the person will experience as a fear of dying or going crazy…I will discuss how we can handle fear. At this point I want to emphasize that a therapy for being involves a constant working out of the muscular tensions and working through of the underlying emotional conflicts with release of associated feelings.” -Alexander Lowen, MD, Fear of Life, Pg. 136-137
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November 22nd - November 28th, 2009 Defenses"The defenses we erect to protect us create the very condition we are trying to avoid. Thus, when someone builds a castle to protect his liberty, he ends up as a prisoner in his own castle because he dares not leave it. Similarly, one cannot assure peace by amassing arms, because armies by their very nature lead to war. This concept is particularly evident in the psychological defenses people develop. For example, the person who out of fear of rejection defends himself by not opening up or reaching out to people isolates himself and ensures by this maneuver that he will always feel rejected. No person is free who is tied to a defensive position. This is true of the neurotic character who erects psychological walls and armors himself muscularly as a protection against possible hurt, only to find that the hurt he feared is locked into his being by this very process.” -Alexander Lowen, Fear of Life, p.37
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November 15th - November 21st, 2009 Breakthrough and Breakdown"Therapeutic growth does not occur as an upward straight line. There are peaks and valleys in the therapeutic experience. The peak is a breakthrough to a higher level of excitation. The person breaks through one protective shell of his defense and steps forth to a new sense of freedom and light. Or it could be said that the person emerges with a greater awareness of self. The neurosis is a protective shell that insulates but also isolates the individual. Shells don't dissolve. One has to break out of the shell like a newly hatches chick. Similarly, one has to break through the barriers or limits that constrain the self. -Alexander Lowen, Fear of Life, p. 138. |
November 7th - November 14, 2009 Bioenergetics Workshop Photos fromWorking with Children: A Bioenergetic Approach to Play TherapyWith Frank Hladky, M.D. and Nancy Hazen, MA., LMHC. |
October 31th - November 6th, 2009
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October 23th - October 30th, 2009
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October 15th - October 22th, 2009 17 participants have registered for The Masters Series 2 Workshop
AND, There's Still Time! Click Here for More Information or to Register |
October 7th - October 14th, 2009 We're Looking For Rare Alexander Lowen Photos!
We are starting a new project cataloging videos and photos for the Alexander Lowen archives and are excited about seeing some new content. If you have any photos or other media that relates to Alexander Lowen that we may not have seen yet, please send them to... Email: info@LowenFoundation.org Phone: (386) 462-0616 or The Alexander Lowen Foundation |
September 29th - October 6th, 2009 Upcoming Bioenergetic Workshop...
Click Here For More Information on this Workshop and to Register. |
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September 21st - 28th, 2009 Upcoming Workshop... Next in "The Masters Series" at Dr. Lowen's Homestead
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September 13th - 20th, 2009
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September 5th - 12th, 2009
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August 28th - September 4th, 2009
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August 20th - 27th, 2009
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August 12th - 19th, 2009
The Memorial Get Together at Dr Alexander Lowen’s house
Or, contact us by email, telephone, or mail: |
August 4th - August 11th, 2009 The Alexander Lowen Foundation is
Leaving for the
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SCOTT WINFIELD, M.S.W. has been studying bioenergetic analysis and psychoanalysis for over thirty years and completed formal training in both. Through the years, Scott has led many workshops in North America and South America teaching Bioenergetics, Psychoanalysis and the therapy process. 
Silvina Henriquez, M.A.July 28th- August 3rd, 2009 Dr. Alexander Lowen Memorial Get-Together at His Residence
Dear Bioenergetic Colleagues and Friends,
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July 20th- July 27th, 2009
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July 12th- July 19th, 2009 August 23, 2009- Memorial Event at Dr. Lowen's Home
Memorial event for Alexander Lowen in his home in New Canaan, Conneticut on August 23, 2009.
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July 12th- July 19th, 2009 REGISTRATION IS STILL OPEN FOR WORKSHOP IN MONT SAINT MICHEL, FRANCE!
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July 4th- July 11th, 2009 An Experiential Workshop of Bioenergetic Analysis II
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June 27th - July 3rd, 2009 An Experiential Workshop of Bioenergetic Analysis I
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June 13th - June 19th, 2009 Dr. Lowen During a Bioenergetic Session in France, 1983
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June 6th - June 12th, 2009 Feedback on the Alexander Lowen Memorial DVD
"I have just watched the DVD about Doctor Alexander Lowen, which moved me "There won´t be a dry eye." -P.A. Germany "Thank you for the DVD. It is a treasure to have. Last night my sister and I watched it. She loved it as well and already wants to show a friend of hers." -L.C. Massachusetts, United States "Beautiful, Breathtaking." -T.B Florida, United States |
May 30th - June 5, 2009
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May 23th - May 29, 2009 The Societa Italiana de Analisi Bioenergetica
S.I.A.B. (SOCIETA' ITALIANA DI ANALISI BIOENERGETICA) con il Patrocinio Presenta PROGRAMMA 10.00 Apertura lavori Dott. Patrizia Moselli 10.30 In memoria di Alexander Lowen Break 20 minuti Dott. Marisa Orsini, Psicologa, Psicoterapeuta, Didatta S.I.A.B. e Dirigente A.S.L. Roma B “Il contributo dell’Analisi Bioenergetica alla riabilitazione psichiatrica” A Rough English Translation Taken From Google Language "The pleasure is the creative force of life" S.I.A.B. (SOCIETA 'ITALIANA ANALYSIS Bioenergetics) PROGRAM |
May 15th - May 22, 2009
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May 7th - May 14, 2009
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April 29th - May 7th, 2009
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April 21th - April 28th, 2009
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April 12th - April 20th, 2009
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April 5th - April 11th, 2009
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March 28th - April 4th, 2009
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March 21 - March 27th, 2009 A Workshop with Alexander Lowen in Columbia
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March 14, 2009 - March 20, 2009 “Exploring the Body's Energy” -- A Bioenergetic Workshop
“Me ha llenado de emoción este encuentro tan maravilloso. Conocerlos a cada uno de ustedes ha sido algo muy lindo en mi vida” Carolina Marín Tapia (Workshop participant) “I was filled with excitement this event so wonderful. Know each of you has been very nice in my life” (Rough English translation from Google Translate)
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March 7, 2009 - March 13, 2009
"Leslie and I were very excited about this book because the exercises are not done mechanically, but are connected to feeling." - In reference to The Way to Vibrant Health by Alexander and Leslie Lowen 1977. |
February 27, 2009 - March 6, 2009
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February 19, 2009 - February 26, 2009 "The nature that you see in Brazil is exciting; the mountains, the ocean, the plants and the light. And I would like to pass on to you my hope that you preserve that nature as much as possible. And you know the world is threatened ecologically and this threat stems from the fact that man has separated himself from nature. That separation is more evident in my country than yours. The more industrialized a country becomes, the more removed people are from the natural ways. And from the spirituality of the body." -- Alexander Lowen
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February 12, 2009 - February 18, 2009 Thoughts from the Bioenergetics Memorial Workshop in Miami Beach, Florida. "... my great thanks for that heart opening experience! "
"We've got such a sense of ourself that we didn't have before we left. We want to thank you and thank you and thank you for this amazing experience in all this 4 days together...all of you are so different and are able to come in your deep emotion in many different ways.
"Yes it was GREAT to share my 2 1/2 days with you...Of course a most special Thank You to Dr. Bob for all he did to make it a success...and the guidance and knowledge he shared directly with me."
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February 4, 2009 - February 11, 2009 Thoughts from the Bioenergetics Workshop in Poland. "Thank you very much for nice workshop. Finally a therapy reaches the core of issue, causes deep changes in the body and its energy and it is not only a surface talking. The workshop was nicely conducted by John, With great awareness, sensivity and honour to the patient and his energy."
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January 27rd - February 3, 2009
Contact The Lowen Foundation for more information at
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January 19rd - January 26, 2009
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January 11rd - January 18, 2009 Citation: Friedman, H., & Glazer, R. (in-press).
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January 3rd - January 10, 2009 Preview of the material to be presented at the Miami Workshop Memorial Dinner....
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December 26th - January 2, 2009 Happy Holidays from The Alexander Lowen Foundation
to the Vibrant Bioenergetic Community
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December 19th - December 26th Currently The Alexander Lowen Foundation is compiling media for its archives. If you have any media involving Alexander Lowen or Bioenergetics, please send it to the foundation to be archived and possibly used for the Alexander Lowen Memorial Workshop in Miami Beach, Florida this January. Please send it to: The Lowen Foundation Phone: (386) 462-0616 |
December 12th - December 19th
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December 5th - December 12
Click Here to Register! |
November 28th - December 5th Slideshow Tribute to Dr. Lowen "Every time that I was with him, he used to say:
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November 20th - November 27th
There is great appreciation for the tributes, memories, and photographs that so many of you are sharing right now through The Foundation's Guestbook Honoring Alexander Lowen. Thank you. |
November 13th - November 20th
Alexander Lowen passed away peacefully in his sleep between midnight and 2am on the morning of Tuesday, October 28, 2008. Al was 97 years of age, 2 months shy of his 98th birthday on December 23rd. Despite a debilitating stroke two years ago, Dr. Lowen enjoyed his last years in loving care at his home in Connecticut. An international group of caregivers, Nana from Ghana, Karen from Jamaica, Eddie from the Bronx, and Monica, his angel on Earth, from Brazil, cared for him and loved him in the comfort of his home. With their help, the help of others, his visitors, and all people wishing him well, he enjoyed and struggled, agreed and disagreed, argued and accepted, listened to music, danced, worked his body, and lived a full life to the end. A student and lover of life, his was a life that wished to live. He will be missed by many, even as he is still with those who knew him. Dr. Lowen's life touched all of us very deeply. We have been able to cherish and benefit from how he created Bioenergetic Analysis and touched tens of thousands of lives. He always had profound respect for the body and the power of the life force. He was buried at a private family funeral on November 8. His passing is deeply mourned by his son Frederic and family, wife Cheryl, and daughter, Sonia. Dr. Lowen leaves a sister, Sylvia Murray, 93. Two quotes from Dr Lowen's 14 books are very relevant. In Fear of Life, he wrote: "As one grows older, the sense of separateness is slowly reduced. Old people do not live on an ego level. Their concerns are not about their individuality but about the river of life, the family, the community, the nation, people, animals, nature, life. They can die easily if they are assured that life will continue positively, for they feel part of the river again, and soon they will be part of the ocean. When they are very old, they no longer belong to our time and space, but to all time and all space." In his Autobiography, Honoring the Body, he wrote: "If you have the willingness to accept the realities of life, you will live longer. It has allowed me to reach 93 years of age. I was raised to value the mind and intellect, not the body. Favoring the life of the mind went against my nature. Healing the split between my mind and my body has been my life's challenge. In the 60 years that I have practiced psychotherapy, I have learned that the pathway to emotional health is through the body. The underlying purpose of Bioenergetics Analysis has always been to heal the mind—body split." A memorial service open to all friends will be held at his home in Connecticut in late Spring 2009. You are welcome to post a tribute to Dr. Lowen on our website. The link to the "Honoring Alexander Lowen Guestbook" is http://www.lowenfoundation.com/guestbook.html. You can also send us an email at info@LowenFoundation.org. Some of you may even have pictures you can share with us. The Alexander Lowen Foundation was founded, funded, and established by Dr. Alexander Lowen, M.D. to continue his teachings and further develop his work. Frederic Lowen, Robert Glazer, John Yong Directors |
Alexander Lowen Has Passed AwayNovember 5th - November 12th Au Risque De Vivre
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October 28th -November 4th Au Risque De Vivre
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October 20th - October 27th Au Risque De Vivre
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October 12th - October 19th Au Risque De Vivre
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October 5th - October 11th Au Risque De Vivre
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September 28st - October 5th
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September 21st - September 28th "Bioenergetics in Paradise; Costa Rica Workshop"
How would you describe Bioenergetics to someone who has never heard of Bioenergetics? "We are always looking for expression. We are always looking for love and contact that we didn't get as a young child. The way to do that is through the body. I truly believe that the only way to heal is through the body." |
September 14th - September 21st "Bioenergetics in Paradise; Costa Rica Workshop"
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September 7th - September 14th "Bioenergetics in Paradise; Costa Rica Workshop"
The Alexander Lowen Foundation was honored to have Anna lead this workshop. |
"Lets focus on what Bioenergetics people can do to help individuals feel better. When we feel good, we do good for others."September 1st - September 7th "Bioenergetics in Paradise; Costa Rica Workshop"
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"Our ultimate goal is to share Bioenergetics with a critical mass of individuals to affect the quality of their everyday decisions, small and large. We look forward to a day when Bioenergetics is used in schools, fitness centers, hospitals, daycares, nursing homes,YMCA's, town squares, corporations, and workplaces. Bioenergetics is a way and means to heal and nourish that mind-body connection in psychotherapy and in life."August 26th - September 1st "Bioenergetics in Paradise; Costa Rica Workshop"
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"This is interesting for me to be asked to read the body first, because when I was in training, and as a person in the family I grew up with, it was an incredible 'having to know.' I had to know everything. I remember hearing that Alexander Lowen could look at you and tell you what kind of father and mother you had just by looking at you. So I had this idea, by god, that I had to know. It would cause me to try too hard in a mechanical way. So, it's interesting to be doing this. I intend to not try too hard when I work with the person and let the impression come to me. August 18th - August 25th
"I liked the experience. I found that all of the trainers were solid in their field... if it is possible for me to do another workshop, I will. Thank you for your generosity in your knowledge and kindness." |
August 11th - August 17th
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Beauty of the SadnessAugust 4th - August 10th Excerpt series from The Energetic of Bioenergetics - Interview with Dr. Lowen (5 of 5)
Dr. Lowen - Sure, sure. So, everybody is worried about health these days, and I think they are right to worry. Because they're not healthy. People are sick out there. Their bodies are grotesque. So let me say this, that a healthy person is really characterized by a body that is alive and vital. Eyes that shine, voice that resonates, a manner that is soft, a sense of grace, a character that is dignified and not dominated by his ego. There is sense of humility when he talks about things. So, I have to find that in myself, and if I find that in myself, I try to share that with my patients and help them reach it. Its a long road, Frank. These excerpts are taken from an interview of Dr. Alexander Lowen by Dr. Frank Hladky in 1998. The entire interview, along with a recording of Dr. Lowen teaching different aspects of Bioenergetic Analysis and conducting demonstrations with audience participants, is captured on the 90 minute DVD, The Energetics of Bioenergetics. The complete DVD is available through The Alexander Lowen Foundation at www.LowenFoundation.org/donate3.htm |
Dr. Hladky - Yes. Because real pleasure is a body awareness. Feeling aliveness.July 28th - August 3rd Excerpt Series from The Energetics of Bioenergetics - Interview with Dr. Lowen (4 of 5)
Dr. Lowen - When you lose contact with your body, you enter a little bit of an insane world. That's what insanity is. You become unreal. You don't feel yourself in a human way. As you see there's a lot of that going around here. I'm afrain that is going to get worse. Bu you know, if you're going to help people, you have got to first look at yourself and find out how you can deal with the problems that you've had from your childhood. Whe you can do that, it's not a quick job, but when you do that, you open your heart and your mind and your body to the real understanding of life. Dr. Hladky - And what people, I think, so often miss in talking about this is that with this comes real pleasure. Dr. Lowen - Joy, even. These excerpts are taken from an interview of Dr. Alexander Lowen by Dr. Frank Hladky in 1998. The entire interview, along with a recording of Dr. Lowen teaching different aspects of Bioenergetic Analysis and conducting demonstrations with audience participants, is captured on the 90 minute DVD, The Energetics of Bioenergetics. The complete DVD is available through The Alexander Lowen Foundation at www.LowenFoundation.org/donate3.htm |
July 21st - July 27th Excerpt Series from The Energetics of Bioenergetics - Interview with Dr. Lowen (3 of 5)
Dr. Lowen – Well, what you find is, that all the problems the person has are structured in his body. And the basic problems he has is that he is afraid to come alive and have feelings fully. That’s the basic problem. For good reason, but the fact is that this is the basic problem. Dr. Hladky – Oh, sure. Because usually as children they were reprimanded or rejected whenever they showed their emotions. Dr. Lowen – That’s right, oh even punished. When they get a little wilder, they were beaten you know, all kinds of terrible things happen. So we had to learn to cut off feelings, and the only way to cut off feelings is to deaden your body. That’s the only way for you to cut off feelings—dead bodies don’t feel. But getting back the feelings, when people are so frightened of feeling, is a long hard road. It’s a worthwhile road. The problem that we have is that the culture is not a body culture. It’s a head-end orientated culture. These excerpts are taken from an interview of Dr. Alexander Lowen by Dr. Frank Hladky in 1998. The entire interview, along with a recording of Dr. Lowen teaching different aspects of Bioenergetic Analysis and conducting demonstrations with audience participants, is captured on the 90 minute DVD, The Energetics of Bioenergetics. The complete DVD is available through The Alexander Lowen Foundation at www.LowenFoundation.org/donate3.htm |
July 14th - July 20th Excerpt Series from The Energetics of Bioenergetics - Interview with Dr. Lowen (2 of 5)
Dr. Hladky - Yeah, you feel it. Dr. Lowen - You have to feel it and you have to work it out on a dynamic level. You see. Well I was in therapy with Reich for three years and it was body therapy mostly. We didn’t do much talking and focused on breathing. Well, breathing is the most important thing in life. You don’t breathe, you don’t have any life! And he knew something about breathing. I had some great experiences in that session. And it really changed my life. These excerpts are taken from an interview of Dr. Alexander Lowen by Dr. Frank Hladky in 1998. The entire interview, along with a recording of Dr. Lowen teaching different aspects of Bioenergetic Analysis and conducting demonstrations with audience participants, is captured on the 90 minute DVD, The Energetics of Bioenergetics. The complete DVD is available through The Alexander Lowen Foundation at www.LowenFoundation.org/donate3.htm |
July 7th - July 13th Excerpt Series from The Energetics of Bioenergetics - Interview with Dr. Lowen (1 of 5)
Dr. Lowen – Well, you are your body right? That means if you are going to change in any significant way your body must change. And the body is not something you talk about. Your body is something that can be seen. So if I work with somebody I have to see the physical change on the body level, then I know they’re changing and what’s going on. But in, more important you see, you are your body and it tells the story of your life. And it also tells where your present problems are. It’s all about you. In fact, it is you. So knowing how to read the body, the body language, and understand that it portrays the history of the person, gives you some leverage in helping him make the changes he needs, to find some fulfillment in life. They aren’t easy. But if you don’t make them, I’m sorry for you, because you loose out on the meaning of life. You will never know the fulfillment, the joy of being fully free in your body, and all your life. These excerpts are taken from an interview of Dr. Alexander Lowen by Dr. Frank Hladky in 1998. The entire interview, along with a recording of Dr. Lowen teaching different aspects of Bioenergetic Analysis and conducting demonstrations with audience participants, is captured on the 90 minute DVD, The Energetics of Bioenergetics. The complete DVD is available through The Alexander Lowen Foundation at www.LowenFoundation.org/donate3.htm |
June 30th - July 6th
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June 23rd - June 29th
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June 16th - June 22nd Grassroots Campaign "Bioenergetics to the People" Going Strong As we transition into the summer of 2008, The Alexander Lowen Foundation's Grassroots Campaign, "Bioenergetics to the People", has been received warmly by the Bioenergetic community. Our main goal is to keep Dr. Lowen's work thriving in the community so many more people can experience the aliveness that accompanies Bioenergetic Analysis. The Foundation embraces all individuals interested in the work to connect with us through our workshops, website and/or forums.
Our summer workshop in 2008 will be "Bioenergetics in Paradise" held at Punta Leona Hotel and Resort in the beautiful country of Costa Rica. The following are quotes from our registered participants: "I'm so happy to have that fantastic opportunity to meet you and others - it would be my first personal contact with anyone involved in bioenergetics, it would be also my first time in that part of the world." "I am also more than thrilled to joining you in Costa Rica, one of my dreams is coming true." "Thank you very much for your attention...I'm very glad about the workshop." We planned a dynamic workshop that will encompass the wide spectrum of experience in all our participants. Registration is still open and we hope you join us for this experiential workshop. |
June 2nd - June 8th Getting to the Essence and the Core of a Person
...Another reason that I really like this work is that it changes people. That touches me greatly. It moves them internally into a differently place in their life and it makes them feel more fulfilled and satisfied. That's what we're all looking for- we want to live a fuller, richer life. Most of the time we're compensating, just to stay alive. It's not such a good place to be. So I feel that Bioenergetic therapy is an approach to work with the body and mind- you're getting to the essence and the core of a person." -Eleanor Greenlee at Finding Your Aliveness 2008 (Tulsa, OK) |
"I believe that is the piece that has been missing. Everything that has ever happened to us, in the present...even in the past, way back generations, its all patterned inside of our body. The part that we're most interested in- in Bioenergetic Therapy is what is in the body. My personal belief system is that we have to deal with both aspects. We have to deal with both the body and the mindMay 26th - June 1st Feedback from Participants attending Finding Your Aliveness Tulsa Workshop 2008 
"Beyond Belief" "Frank and Elenor are masters from whom I learn so much. Bob's lesson about the body was very good." "Lovely setting! Amazing food! Caring, professional community!" "Strengths: experience over many years, wisdom, kindness, knowledge (Frank's of Freud, Reich and Horney), Eleanor's use of circle to open and close, Frank's matter-of-factness" "Best about the [workshop]: seeing different clinicians work, seeing the magnitude of ways we all are embodied, morning exercises, the food & setting, the people, the weather.." |
May 19th - May 25th It's not magic...It's the aliveness - Finding Your Aliveness 2008 with Frank Hladky, MD
Dr. Hladky: I have a good feeling with this group working together. . . . John, how are you holding up? John Young: (Laughter) I am holding up pretty good. I just like to be here, with you, to see the magic. (More laughter). No, it’s true. I feel blessed to be a part of this. I feel happy to be a part of this. Dr. Hladky: That’s interesting that you had that reaction. I remember that I had that reaction the first time I saw Al work, maybe forty years ago. It’s not magic. It’s the aliveness...the further you get with it, the easier it is to help whoever you are working with. It’s like - I don’t do anything. People say that I do something. . . . But when I get focused, like I did yesterday, or that I almost always do, I really use a lot of energy. One thing that made me aware of this was yesterday which was a pretty warm day. After I finished working, I felt like an athlete that comes off of the field. I really got chilled. I had to put my coat on and keep the car warm. I was charging energy. I knew I was using a lot of energy. But, all I do, mainly, is keep focused...try to hear (I don’t hear much), but I do see and I keep focused on whoever I am working with. I stay in contact. I stay in touch. Then my organism helps me know what’s going on. Not just my thinking. It’s my organism more than my thinking that tells me what’s going on. I think, but it’s more a feeling of what’s going on and what might happen. |
May 12th - May 18th
Workshop Participant: This is related to vibrations [and bioenergetic therapy]. I have the impression that sometimes the vibrations are real gross or sometimes they are real subtle. Does it really matter? Dr. Frank Hladky: No, it doesn’t matter. You go with whatever is happening. Usually what happens is when they first start, they are strong. That might be because there is so much that needs to be discharged. There was too much to be discharged to just handle it. Then you go with whatever. Another thing is sometimes there are too many blocks. Al says, I think he says it in that book [The Way to Vibrant Health], that [the roughness or subtleness of the vibrations] doesn’t matter. It’s kind of like the old cars, like the Model T’s. When you first started them up, they were rough. But when they got warmed up and ran for a while, they got smoother. That’s the way with us, too. It doesn’t matter. Whatever happens with us and vibrations, you just let it happen. |
Question about Vibrations at Finding Your Aliveness (Tulsa, OK - 2008)May 5th - May 11th Video from "Finding Your Aliveness" 2008 featuring Frank Hladky, MD speaking about Vibrations |
April 28th - May 4th Character Type - Excerpt from Discussion with Frank Hladky During April 18 - 21 Tulsa Workshop
Al thought, and I thought, that too many people, after they got that information, began to type people. For example, they began to think that this is a ‘schizoid’ character or this is an ‘oral’ character and treat them accordingly. Al felt strongly and I do too, that when we do this, we loose some or even a lot of the contact and the consideration that each of us is an individual and unique... It does not mean that character structure is not helpful to know. Anybody that is studying Bioenergetics ought to know it. They should actually be able to see the types in the body and then be able to not think in these terms. Each person is an individual. And we should consider what is going on with this individual at this time, and what has happened in the past for them. We ought not to type anybody. We are all mixed anyway. There is no pure anything. [For example], there is no pure ‘schizoid’ – it doesn’t exist.” -Frank Hladky, MD, Finding Your Aliveness 2008 Workshop |
“We used to focus on character [structure] a lot. Al used to teach in terms of character type and we learned something from all of that. But, the reason that he stopped and I stopped is because after people got that information, they would type people. April 21st - April 27th Join us in Costa Rica for Bioenergetics in Paradise!
For more information: call us at (386) 462 - 0616 or email us at info@LowenFoundation.org |
April 14th - April 20th Countries in which our website's visitors live throughout the world!
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April 7th - April 13th Short Clip of Dr. Hladky Speaking at the 2007 Tulsa Workshop
Click here for more information about this year's Finding Your Aliveness workshop. |
March 31st - April 6th Translate The Alexander Lowen Foundation website into your native language! Thank you Google Translate for providing this translation feature for so many languages. We understand that this is a rough translation but it offers wider availability of this site to all countries. Additionally, we would like to express our gratitude to Kamila Jakimowicz for the pages she translated into Polish. Her dedicated intention of spreading Bioenergetics and Dr. Lowen's work throughout her country is appreciated. Click here to see parts of The Alexander Lowen Foundation site in Polish. The translation fuction for other languages can be found in the upper right corner of the webpages. |
March 24th - March 30th Mind-Body Unity
-Harris Friedman, PhD., Introduction to The Language of the Body, 2003. |
“Mind-body unity is the most fundamental bioenergetic analytic concept. The unique heritage of a Reichian tradition has been maintained and furthered by bioenergetic analysis, a tradition in which body work 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 experience, change is likely to be short-lived for those whose issues are more personality and character driven.” March 17th - March 23rd Unity of Opposites
Simple as it sounds, that is the very difficulty almost every person faces as he tries to connect with this body. He won’t really feel his legs, stomach, or shoulders, but, out of habit, he thinks about his legs, stomach, and shoulders. He pictures them to himself and thus avoids giving feeling-attention to them directly. This is, of course, one of the very mechanisms responsible for the dissociation of the body in the first place. Special attention should be given this tendency to conceptualize our feelings, and a special effort made to suspend, at least temporarily, this habitual translation of feeling-attention into thoughts and pictures.” -Ken Wilber, No Boundary, 2001, p.97. |
“We will be exploring ways to dissolve the boundary between the mind and body so as to discover again this unity of opposites lying asleep in the depths of our being. 'This split cannot be overcome,’ says Lowen, ‘by a knowledge of the energetic processes in the body. Knowledge itself is a surface phenomenon and belongs to the realm of the ego. One has to feel the flow and sense the course of the excitation in the body. To do this, however, one must give up the rigidity of one’s ego control so that the deep body sensations can reach the surface.' March 10th - March 16th Eleanor Greenlee's "wonderfully unique and respectful" style of Bioenergetic work Join us April 18th - 21st in Tulsa for the upcoming Finding Your Aliveness II workshop!
-Eleanor Greenlee, September 2007 interview response "...The group is so incredibly appreciative of the respect you [Eleanor] give them and continue to give them for the integrity of their work with their bodies and for the integrity of their spirituality and their values...There is always a profound way that you do bioenergetic work that respects the person." -Robert Glazer, September 2007 interview response |
"...When a human being gets in touch with himself after discharging the holding patterns, you have this wonderful human being that loves himself. The integrity that they have comes out in the form of their loving themselves. That is the real integrity of this person. They are able to love themselves and then turn around and love each other."March 3rd - March 9th Frank Hladky's "rock-solid, anchoring" style of Bioenergetics Join us April 18th - 21st in Tulsa for the upcoming Finding Your Aliveness II workshop!
When he looks at people, he basically feels--within himself--what their developmental issues are. He sees, in my view, everything…He gives, from over his 60 years of experience, at every session. He brings that rock-solid, rancher energy into every session... really something very special. He is a foundation upon which you can draw energy from and do your own process. That's how I would characterize him. He maintains his own energy so well, so firm and so rooted that you can do what it is that you need to do as a client to seek your own journey with him as an anchor. He always talks about 'aliveness'….to find your aliveness." -Interview with John Yong, February 2008 |
". . . .I had the great fortune of meeting my mentor, my surrogate father, Dr. Frank Hladky. I remember my first session with him where I felt very, very "seen." He basically held me like you hold a child and I just cried for 30 minutes. I had never before in my life felt that kind of release and discharge. Actually, as I was driving home, I had to pull over many times just to cry because the vibrations were moving through me.February 25th - March 2nd Emotions are the Life of the Body
-Alexander Lowen, Transference and Countertransference, 1994 |
"A psychotherapy which believes in the power of the rational mind to heal the sickness of the soul of modern man is unreal. It ignores the powerful role of emotions in human life and the fact that emotions are the life of the body as thoughts are the life of the mind. One cannot create feeling by a mental process. No one can make himself fall in love by any act of the conscious mind. We cannot feel anger by an act of will. And certainly we cannot feel joy by any kind of mental gymnastics. The conscious mind can suppress feeling but it cannot evoke it. We can destroy life by an act of will but we cannot create it. This is not to say that the mind has no role in the analytic process but that role is limited to understanding what happened. This can lead to change if sufficient emotional force or energy is mobilized to break through the bonds that imprison the spirit. Those bonds are physical and exist in the body as chronic muscular tension that block the full flow of excitation in the body and the full expression of feeling. The reduction of those tensions changes the form and motility of the body: its form becomes more beautiful and its movements more graceful. Only to the degree that one can observe these changes in the body of the patient can one speak of significant improvement."February 18th - February 24th Sense of Joyfulness
-Alexander Lowen, Opening Address to the Ninth International Conference, Montebello, Quebec, May 1988. |
“I have reached a point now where much of the time there is a sense of joyfulness in the body. It’s really a lovely feeling. Maybe as I get older I am less pushy; less driven. But still that sense of joyfulness is something very beautiful. I’m more connected to the ground. I move slower. I work easier with my patients. I have more understanding. Understanding is a very beautiful word. It means under, therefore the ground; standing on the ground; connected to the base of reality. And when you have that, you find out that you move with a sense of grace.” |
February 11th - February 17th Responses of Participants from the Staff Development Workshop in New Brunswick, Canada January 19th through 20th, 2008 
The goal of Staff Development Workshops is to introduce Bioenergetics to psychological and mental health facilities to integrate Bioenergetic skills into their professional activities. |
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February 4th - February 10th Finding Your Aliveness - Tulsa, Oklahoma 
Dates: Friday, April 18th - Monday, April 21st Leaders: Frank Hladky, MD; Eleanor Greenlee, MA, MFT; John Yong, JD; Rober Glazer, PhD Lodging: Best Western Kenosha Inn - 1200 East Lansing; Broken Arrow, OK 74012 Workshop Fee: $475 (includes four lunches) A follow up to last October's very successful workshop presented by Frank Hladky, MD and Eleanor Greenlee, MA, MFT, The Alexander Lowen Foundation presents "Finding Your Aliveness" in Tulsa, Oklahoma from April 18th through the 21st. In addition to Frank and Eleanor, two of the Board of Directors for The Alexander Lowen Foundation, Robert Glazer, PhD and John Yong, JD, will also be workshop leaders. "Finding Your Aliveness" in 2008 will blend the best techniques from all the leaders: Eleanor's strong body work, Frank's deep trust and personal warmth, John's innovative style of integrating group members and Bob's exuberance and masterful use of techniques. We hope you will join us for this refreshingly, powerful workshop led by leaders with over 130 years of combined Bioenergetics experience. |
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"...It is necessary to formulate and teach ethical
principles by which human beings can guide their behavior.
To be effective, however, such teaching must recognize
the basic role that the body and its feelings have in
all issues of morality. This requires an emphasis upon
the fact that moral behavior is designed to promote
the good feelings of the individual as well as the welfare
of the community. If a major goal of life is to be a
graceful and gracious person, as I believe, then that
must also be the goal of our educational programs, not
the acquisition of knowledge. We must not be reduced
into believing that knowledge and the power it offers
can lead to the "good" life. The failure to
live by principles that embody high ethical standards
entails the loss of the greatest gift life has to offer—joy.
Without integrity, physically and psychologically, one
cannot know the deep pleasure and good feelings that
come from moving gracefully, or experience the spiritual
ecstasy of being a gracious person. Without these qualities,
no matter how powerful or wealthy one is one lives in
a dark prison of fear, distrust, and enmity." |
January
28th - February 3rd|
- Alexander Lowen, Betrayal of the Body, 1967. |
January
21st - January 27th| January 14th - January 20th The Bioenergetic Experience: Working with the Body in Psychotherapy
Lodging: Stanford Hall (two nights;
two per room) for £110 If you have questions, please email us at info@LowenFoundation.org
or Residential Weekend Workshop with:
|
This
is a unique opportunity for people interested in the
work of Alexander Lowen, MD and the practice of Bioenergetics
to learn about and experience this work firsthand. 
January 7th - January 13th Excerpt #3 from Eleanor Greenlee's Exercise Group at the Tulsa Workshop - The Pelvis
"Ok, now, what I’m going to have you do is slowly lift your pelvis up off the floor. Just lift it up a little bit, so that it’s not on the floor. And I want you to rotate your pelvis. Actually, you might want to lift it up a little bit more than a little bit. Rotate your pelvis as you breathe. As you inhale, your pelvis drops back. We’re kind of exaggerating. But that’s because we want to get that pelvis where it’s suppose to be. So inhale, bring your pelvis way back, almost right where it touches the floor. And then when you’re ready to exhale, you bring your pelvis forward up towards the ceiling. Inhale and bring your pelvis back and exhale to bring your pelvis forward towards the ceiling. See if you can just move that pelvis, just that pelvis. You know, it moves all by itself. It’s not the whole torso. Make that pelvis move, that segment of its own. Good, good. Take your time. If you’re moving too fast, that means you’re hyperventilating. I don’t want you to do that. Even though you’re lying down on the floor, and if you pass out you’re already on the floor. I want you to move in time with your breathing. So it's inhale and now exhale. And wait for that inhalation. Wait for it. Ok and down, your pelvis on the floor. Just rest. Just rest. And just feel your pelvis. What does your pelvis feel like? Energized. Ok now, I just want to tell you that some of you were moving very fast. And If you were standing and you were breathing that fast, you would pass out. That’s called hyperventilating, ok? You can’t do that, ok? We’re going to do this one more time, but we’re going to do it with the movement is in time with your breathing. When your body needs a breath in, that’s when you know you can put the pelvis back. You wait until you finish taking that breath in. There’s a moment between the intake and the exhalation so you wait for that. Then when you’re ready to exhale, you move your pelvis forward, ok? And as long as it takes you to exhale, that’s how long you stay in that upward position. So try again. Lift your pelvis up off the floor. Maybe you know you need to bring your pelvis up a little bit higher than you did before. So now start to move your pelvis in time with your breathing. As you inhale, you will take your pelvis down as if you’re about to touch the floor, and when you exhale, you move it towards the ceiling as if you going to shoot an arrow at it." |
December 31st - January 6th Excerpt #2 from Eleanor Greenlee's Exercise Group at the Tulsa Workshop - The Neck
"Because there are some people who mentioned the neck to me, drop your head down and lets see if we can just let it hang this morning. Now let it stretch. Get those muscles in the back of your neck here and stretch. And just lift your head up a little tiny bit like you want to look to the right but your head is still down. Let a sound out. Move your head to the other side... to the right... and then the left. Lift your head up. Scan the ceiling, move your head down, and begin making circles with your nose. Go around. Catch a glimpse of those beautiful trees. Now you have to be very slow and you have to go around the other direction. Try to keep your head a little bit in. You know, some of you are feeling movement in your eyes when you stretch and they are moving. Because you’re moving your head and there’s that connection between your eyeball and the back of the head. As you do this, you’re stretching that connection between the eyes and the back of the head. One more time down, and then come to center, check in. We still have to do a little bit more. Put your ear down to your shoulder, which obviously you can’t do, so just go down there and then come back to the other side. Try to make the motion happen with your head, don’t move your body, just your head." |
December 24th - December 30th Excerpt #1 from Eleanor Greenlee's Exercise Group at the Tulsa Workshop - The Aligned Position
"All right, let’s get into the aligned position. This is really important because this is the starting place and the ending place that lets us know what we’re feeling, and where we have aches and pains. Let's just start the motor going a little bit. As we take our breath in, let's just bring our pelvis down and back. We’re bending our knees. When we’re ready to exhale, you just bring your knees up and let the pelvis come forward. Now this is an exaggeration of natural breathing, but we have to do this with our clients because our body doesn’t know that. So inhale down, bend your knees, pelvis down and then exhale up and pushing forward. Now, remember you are moving in time with your own breath. You’re not moving in time with what I’m saying or the person next to you. It’s your own movement that you have to follow. Inhale down and exhale up at your own pace. Remember to bring your pelvis forward when you exhale. Try to reach down a little further if you can. Now I’m just going to talk to you while you’re moving here. Remember that you want to look for that place, that center place of your body. When you reach it—sometimes you have to swing to the right or left, sometimes you have to lean a little forward or back—it's a magic place. Those of you who have found it, i'ts in the middle of your body and as soon as you hit it, the vibrations just roll up and down. It's wonderful, right to the top of your head." |
 December
17th - December 23rdExcerpts from Letters to the Foundation Written by Participants after Attending Finding Your Aliveness Workshop with Dr. Frank Hladky “I wish to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the care you put into the Foundation and making the workshop a reality. It was very humbling to be among so many individuals who have worked so hard on caring for the aliveness in their own being with gentle - steady - strength form Dr. Hladky and all. I keep feeling the workshop is a beautiful crystal chandelier in my head - each crystal tinkling as a shining memory. Not soft and watery, but with strong voices and hard cut edges.” Rose Danowski
Robert Rabus, PhD |
 December
10th - December 16thExcerpt #3 from Dr. Frank Hladky's Opening Comments at the Inaugural Foundation Workshop: Finding Your Aliveness “The most important thing we have with our clients is contact. What clients basically need first is contact.... Freud was the first one that listened to anybody. Nobody ever listened to people who were emotionally or mentally ill before. Freud listened. And, he gave the patient time. He listened for as long as it took. The patient could lie on that couch and talk and Freud did not interrupt. He gave the patient time and he listened. And then he began to understand that there are reasons for things. What happens in childhood leads to what happens in adolescence and so forth and so on. And nobody really got that before. There is a reason for emotional or mental problems....He also at times felt problems were energetic. He talked about libido as an energetic force that even with his genius he did not get hold of as a force to work with. It was Reich, who was one of the youngest of Freud’s disciples and one of the few great geniuses after Freud, who began to see that problems were not just symptoms. [He] did not just see the symptom and try to relieve the symptom, but he began to see that the problem was each person’s way of being. He called it their character. [He saw that] their way of being, which we would call their defense system, was what got them stuck wherever they were stuck. And as Reich worked on their character, he tried to understand it and he did understand it....He also began to see that the way people were had to do with the way they were in their bodies. It wasn’t just what they talked about, but, actually, what they were in their bodies was more important than what their words were. That was Reich. So, in addition to Freud hearing the patient, Reich began to see [the patient]. Lowen and Pierokas were students and patients of Reich...Lowen got [the patient’s] energy going. He saw them. He could see the problem and he could tell them the problem. He could analyze it and help them understand where they were caught and [how to] find a way out. Lowen also added a lot. [For example,] he taught the client to say “No”. Kick and say “No”. Until you find your “No,” if you don’t have the ability to say “No,” you have nothing in terms of being an individual. Lowen was not just analyzing, not just focusing on pathology, but giving the patients something they didn’t get. A lot of strength of the therapy with Lowen was with the contact, [though] he did not acknowledge it. Once in a while, he would touch somebody, but very rarely. Sometimes he would give a little hug. The contact was his personality. The force of his personality was tremendous.” |
 December
3rd - December 9thExcerpt #2 from Dr. Frank Hladky's Opening Comments at the Inaugural Foundation Workshop: Finding Your Aliveness “What [Lowen and Pierokas] did is unbelievable. They got the patient on his feet. Can you imagine? After all of those years of Freudian psychoanalysis and all of those wonderful years with the genius Reich, it was Lowen and Pierokas who got the patient on his feet. Al has told me, “I feel my main contribution is the feet.” I believe him because [this] led to all of our work on grounding. I did not hear the English language until over 40 years ago when I was forty something years old. “Calm down”, “settle down”, “let down”, “slow down” is in the English language. It knows what it means and I had never heard of it. And “upset”, “uptight”. It’s in the language. I had never heard it but Lowen heard it and started getting patients on their feet. “Feel your feet, bend your knees, exhale - exhale when you are bending down.” Then, from there, they started the patient as the active one – not only lying on the couch, not only standing. To express, if [the patient] needs to kick, he can kick. If he’s angry, he gets the racket and he hits the block. The patient becomes active. This changed everything. And it was with this, the patient being active, that we get Bioenergetics. We get to the energy. When they first talked about it, they called it Bioenergetic Analysis. I don’t like that at all because that says “analysis” and “analysis” just means analyzing. When you say analyzing, you are not doing anything physical. You are analyzing. [But,] the understanding is important, absolutely important. Al always told me that the first thing you have to do with a client is to understand what’s going on. But sometimes, you can look at them and see what’s going on. You don’t have to spend hours asking questions. But you have to understand and then do something. So I like [the term] Bioenergetics much better because what’s it mean? Live energy or living energy. The point is that what I focus on is being alive. We do need to focus on the pathology [only] to get the anger out, the fear out, the crying out. [This is] because you need to free the energy that is used to hold in all of these things. Anybody that has held in his anger all of his life is damn near paralyzed.” |
 November
26th - December 2ndExcerpt #1 from Dr. Frank Hladky's Opening Comments at the Inaugural Foundation Workshop: Finding Your Aliveness “As people are getting more and more away from their aliveness, it’s not only that they don’t feel anything, but they don’t feel any impulses. They don’t know what they want. They have to think what they want. They have to figure out what they want....I have a drink of water because I am thirsty, not because I have to figure out how long it’s been since I had my last drink....People are not that in touch any more. So, a big part of the therapy nowadays is to work with emotions, to get the imaging going, to get free from the old stuff. This is so [people] can begin to feel their aliveness, so they can feel what pleasure is, and feel what they want to do with their lives.... Lowen got the people on their feet; got the patient active; got the energy going. [He] believed in the energy, and worked on the breathing to get the energy moving. When energy gets going and is grounded, then the organism begins to integrate itself.” |
Marion Woodman, The Pregnant Virgin, p. 55. |
November
19th - November 25thNovember 12th - November 18th The Alexander Lowen Foundation has chosen to present the video, “Man’s Right To Know - The Story of Wilhelm Reich” to further participate in the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of Wilhelm Reich’s death.
|
November 3rd, 2007 was the 50th anniversary
of the death of physician-scientist, Wilhelm Reich.
We are including the following excerpt from Dr. Lowen's
early writings in our Feature of the Week in commemoration
of this event. More of Dr. Lowen's discussion of Reich
can be viewed on the videos within this website entitled
Something to Bring Split Together and Great Experience
with Breathing. |
November
5th - November 11th | October 29th - November 4th The Alexander Lowen
Foundation The Inaugural Workshop of The Alexander Lowen Foundation was held October 26th through November 1st in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Participants attended for three days (Oct. 26 – 28) or for seven days (Oct. 26 – Nov. 1). The workshop was a joyous and extremely rewarding experience for all 25 participants. Frank Hladky, MD, Eleanor Greenlee, MFT, John Yong, JD, and Robert Glazer, PhD, led over 50 individual sessions. Participants came from all over the world- Mexico, Costa Rica, Canada, California, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Vermont, Florida, and Michigan. The Inaugural Workshop began the first of many workshops to continue Alexander Lowen’s work. "The Alexander Lowen Foundation has
renewed an opportunity for fellowship and body work
with those who love and use the therapy that Dr. Lowen
founded. Being able to work with Dr.Hladky
again and receive the healing touch and support so necessary
to continue the work has been extremely valuable to
me. Finding the fellowship of other bioenergetic practitioners
and the joy of watching and knowing this will continue
in the spirit of Al Lowen, renews my faith in
life." |
October 22nd - October 28th
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| October 15th -
October 21st |
 October
8th - October 14thQuote from Forum Page: "I read Narcissism two weeks ago and loved it. I found it so interesting and it opened my mind up to what narcissism actually is: the split between the self and the image. The book concluded perfectly and the last few pages were a knockout punch. I'd like to learn more so that I can begin to apply these new insights I've gained. Thanks for an intriguing book." Concluding paragraph of Narcissism: " I am sure some of us have known moments of joy when our egos took a back seat and the child in us was free to laugh and love. Unfortunately, we lose our innocence too soon, an most unfortunately, we prize this loss. We don't want to be innocents, for that leaves us open to being ridiculed and hurt. We want to be sophisticated – that allows us to feel superior. Sophisticated people seem to have the most fun – partying, drinking, being a little wild, denying limits. What have the innocents got? An open heart, simple pleasures, faith. How much more alluring to have a sharp mind; to know all of life, the lows as well as the highs; to have power to be admired, feel special. The seduction of power is hard to resist, particularly when, as a child, one was hurt and betrayed by those one loved. To sell out the kingdom of heaven for power is a devil's bargain. It is the bargain that the narcissist makes."Alexander Lowen, Narcissism (1985), p. 228. |
 October
1st - October 7thBelow is an excerpt from a note written by Malu Millerman in 2001 describing her interview with Dr. Lowen: Dear Friends and Bioenergetics Analysis Colleagues. My name is Malu Millerman and I am a Bioenergetics analyst (CBT). I graduated from the Bioenergetics Analysis Institute in São Paulo. Since I moved to New York City in 1993, I have had the privilege of systematically working with Dr. Alexander Lowen, both as a client and as a student, since I do client supervision with him. I also had the honor of being invited by him to work in his New York City office where I was able to be in touch with him and with colleagues, discussing several life issues. This increased my admiration for the very knowledgeable person that he is. This year [referring to the year 2001], Dr. Lowen decided to close his New York City office and work from his beautiful home in Connecticut, surrounded by plants, ducks, a lake, and peaceful living with his wife, Leslie, who still coordinates the Exercise Classes for groups. This year I still attend to my sessions at his house and take the opportunity to record a few questions and answers, something I have been doing for some time. In August of 2001, I was with him on a beautiful summer day. I found him healthy and full of energy, convincing me ever more of the value of a well-practiced Bioenergetics. Before beginning my therapy session, I asked him to record a few words for students and trainers who would be attending the Latin American Federation meeting in Brazil. He was happy to do it and I gladly pass along to you this short interview since due to prior commitments, I am unable to be with you at this time. Much success to all and much energy to enjoy life. Malu Millerman |
 September
24th - September 30thInterview Series with Prominent Bioenergetic Practitioners: Eleanor Greenlee, M.F.T. This Feature of the Week is a conversation between Eleanor Greenlee, M.F.T. and Robert Glazer, Ph.D. Eleanor has been a bioenergetic trainer since 1976. A year later, she became an International Bioenergetic Trainer and has since taught Bioenergetics all over the world, training hundreds and hundreds of practitioners. The purity of Eleanor's style of Bioenergetics stems from her deep respect of the gift of each individual. We are extremely fortunate that she will join Dr. Frank Hladky in Tulsa, Oklahoma during the Foundation's inaugural workshop starting on October 26, 2007. Please click here to listen
to the audio recording of the conversation. |
 September
17th - September 23rdEleanor Greenlee Joins Frank Hladky in Presenting “Finding Your Aliveness” Workshop We are exceptionally pleased to announce that Eleanor
Greenlee, M.F.T., Senior International Bioenergetic
Trainer with over thirty years of Bioenergetics experience,
is joining Frank Hladky, M.D., in presenting the inaugural
workshop for The Alexander Lowen Foundation in Tulsa,
Oklahoma on October 26th. When Eleanor learned
of the workshop, she said she “absolutely wanted
to be there because of my love for Al Lowen and Bioenergetics.”
The workshop’s afternoon breakout groups will
be led by Eleanor Greenlee, M.F.T., Robert Glazer,
Ph.D., and John Yong, J.D. For more information
or to register, click here. |
 September
10th - September 16thClosing Statement Taken from a Talk Given by Alexander Lowen at The Evolution of Psychotherapy Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, 1995. “My evolution had brought me to understand that the body would heal itself if one surrenders to it. The surrender to the body means feeling it fully from head to feet. It means sensing all the chronic muscular tensions in the body, understanding their history and their function in the present. It means feeling one’s pain and sorrow and crying. It means being able to protest the loss of one’s innocence and one’s joy. And it means the ability to be angry about it. Finally it means an acceptance of the failure of all one’s efforts to overcome one’s problems, “to make it”, to succeed. It means to have faith in the body for it is the abode of God, and trust its feelings because they express your truth. I had to learn this before I could teach it to my patients. And I have to learn it again and again because my narcissistic ego still thinks that it knows best.” |
 September
3rd - September 9thBackward Stretch "One of the main purposes of bioenergetic exercises is to help you sense or get in touch with your body. This is necessary because too many people live in their heads, with very little consciousness of what is going on below their necks. They are not aware when they hold their breath or whether their breathing is shallow or deep. Most people do not sense their legs and feet. They know that they are there, but they use them merely as mechanical supports. Sensing is not a mechanical function. An automobile may run very well, but it senses nothing. Sensing is a function of feeling. Here is a simple exercise that will help you sense a part of your body you are not normally aware of. Let us assume that you are sitting in a chair while reading this book. Raise your arms and arch backward over the back of the chair. Make a good stretch and hold it for about thirty seconds. While doing so, breathe easily and deeply through your mouth. * Did you feel your back pressing against the chair? Did you sense whether your back was tight or relaxed? Was it painful? Could you breathe easily in this position? * When you stretched your arms backward, did you feel any tension in your shoulders? * After you returned to your usual sitting position, were you aware that you tended to hunch forward? You may have sensed a need to stretch backward again to overcome this common tendency to hunch forward. Do this exercise again and sense how much easier it is the second time. Stretching the muscles of the back has relaxed them somewhat." — Excerpt from Lowen & Lowen, The Way to Vibrant Health (1977) |
August 27th - September 2nd
|
 August
20th - August 26thExcerpts about Character Structure from Fear of Life by Alexander Lowen: "The masks, facades, and roles become structured in the body because the child believes that this pose will gain the parent's approval and love. Our bodies are molded by the social forces in the family that shape our character and determine our rate…which is that we must try to please to gain approval and love." (Lowen, Fear of Life, p. 67). "The roles we adopt in life become structured into our bodies as our way of being in the world…but they become the only way we can be and thus severely limit our being. This is another way of saying that a person's fate is determined by his character, which is structured in the body by chronic muscular tensions". (Lowen, Fear of Life, p. 95). "Each tension is part of a total pattern, which constitutes the character structure and which is intended to ensure the survival of the individual. To step out of character is too frightening. It is experienced as a loss of identity, a momentary nonbeing, or death." (Lowen, Fear of Life, p. 110). |
 August
13th - August 19thFINDING YOUR ALIVENESS Workshop with Frank Hladky, MD. Tulsa, Oklahoma Oct 26-28, 2007 - 3 Day Track - Fri-Sun Oct 26-Nov 1, 2007 - 7 Day Track - Fri-Thur The Alexander Lowen Foundation is pleased to announce this inaugural workshop led by Frank Hladky, MD. Frank has played a pivotal role in the development of Bioenergetic theory and practice. His style of bodywork is based on his strong bond with Alexander Lowen and over 40 years of his association with him. Frank's unique contributions center around boundaries, his integration of group members in the Bioenergetic Therapy process and his gift of personal warmth and deep trust in the body. Click here for more information. |
 August
6th - August 12th"The Energetics of Bioenergetics" Available on Sept. 15, 2007. The Energetics of Bioenergetics (seen throughout our site) is a 90 minute DVD with a recording of Dr. Alexander Lowen teaching different aspects of bioenergetic analysis and conducting demonstrations with audience participants. The footage was captured by film maker David Weiser in 1998 at the IIBA's International Conference in Pawling , New York. Also included in this DVD is an "off the cuff" interview of Dr. Lowen done by his colleague Dr. Frank Hladky. David Weiser describes the making of this film as "a bit magical," and notes that "Lowen wanted something preserved on film of quality of himself" that could be used in the future. You will receive this DVD for free when you make a $125 donation to the foundation. Click here for more information. Available Language: English |
|
Interview Series with Prominent Bioenergetic Practitioners: John Yong In addition to being a practicing attorney in New York
City , John Yong is on the Board of Directors of The
Alexander Lowen Foundation and has led bioenergetic
workshops in North and South America. His expertise
is in leading bioenergetic groups by utilizing a unique
way of integrating group members energetically
into the bioenergetic process while an individual
is receiving a session. In this interview, John describes
some of his experiences with Dr. Lowen, Dr. Hladky,
and Bioenergetic Analysis. John talks about meeting
"(his) mentor, (his) surrogate father" Dr. Hladky, and
his first bioenergetic session with Frank. |
July
30th - August 5th|
Quote from Alexander Lowen - The Betrayal of the Body, 1967. "The conflict of modern man stems from the opposing values represented by his ego and his body. The ego thinks of achievement, the body of pleasure. The ego functions with images, the body functions with feelings. When image and feeling coincide, the result is a healthy emotional life. When, however, the feeling is subordinated or suppressed in favor of the ego image, the result is a life of illusion and desperation. The illusion contradicts the reality of the body's condition, the desperation evades its needs. Behind every illusion is the desire for freedom and for love. The desperate individual strives for freedom and love through the illusion of power. In his mind, power is the key to freedom and love. Although this illusion serves to sustain his spirit in its despair and helplessness, we have seen that it also maintains the despair and helplessness when the critical period of childhood has passed. To overcome the illusion of power, the reality of freedom and love must be experienced as bodily feelings. This is accomplished by concentrating upon the physical tensions of the body. When a person feels the rigidity of his body, he will know that he is not free, regardless of his rebellion and defiance. If he feels that his body is frozen, he will know that he is shackled, whatever his external situation may be. If he becomes aware that his respiration is inhibited and his motility reduced, he will realize that he is not able to love. The emotional significance of muscle tension is not adequately understood. The unresolved emotional conflicts of childhood are structured in the body by chronic muscular tensions that enslave the individual by limiting his motility and capacity for feeling. These tensions, which grip the body—mold it, split it, and distort it—must be eliminated before one can achieve inner freedom. Without this inner freedom it is illusory to believe that one can think, feel, act, and love freely." |
July
23rd - July 29th|
New Portuguese Book Release: Uma Vida Para
O Corpo |
July
16th - July 22nd|
Interview Series with Prominent Bioenergetic
Practitioners: Dr. Harris Friedman Please click Here to listen
to the interview. |
July
9th - July 15th|
Exercise 3 / Letting the Belly Out Exercise |
July
2nd - July 8th|
Exercise 2 / Flexing the Knees Exercise If you would like to practice the Flexing the Knees Exercise, please click here. |
June
25th - July 1st|
Exercise 1 / Basic Vibratory and Grounding
Exercise If you would like to practice the Basic Vibratory and Grounding exercise, please click here. |
June
18th - June 24th|
Quote from Dr. Alexander Lowen's farewell
address as reported in the September 1996 Clinical
Journal of the International Institute for Bioenergetic
Analysis: |
June
11th - June 17th|
Audio Clip - "Connecting" from presentation by Dr. Alexander Lowen In this short audio clip, Dr. Lowen is discussing the
energetics of connection. |
June
4th - June 10th|
Video - Century of the Self The BBC Documentary The Century of The Self is a 4 part series that examines the role of psychoanalysis and its use for the manipulation of the collective unconcious beginning in America in the 1920s. It is a real eye-opener, and it clarifies where some of today's craziness comes from. Very few Americans have seen it, we highly recommend it. Click Here for Part 1 of
the Video. |
May
28th - June 3rd|
Article - Molecules of Emotion An interview with Candace Pert, Ph.D. (formerly Chief of the Section on Brain Biochemistry of the Clinical Neuroscience Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health) speaks about the neurological link between the mind and the body in a system she calls bodymind. Please click
here to view the article. |
May
21st - May 27th