September 7th - September 14th

"Bioenergetics in Paradise; Costa Rica Workshop"
Leader excerpt #3 – Anna Miller, MSW on Bioenergetics in Everyday Life

"Lets focus on what Bioenergetics people can do to help individuals feel better. When we feel good, we do good for others."

The Alexander Lowen Foundation was honored to have Anna lead this workshop.

September 1st - September 7th

"Bioenergetics in Paradise; Costa Rica Workshop"
Leader excerpt #2 - Fred Lowen on Bioenergetics in Everyday Life

"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"
Leader excerpt #1 - Scott Winfield, LSW, on Body Reading

"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. There is a very good book if anyone is interested for body reading, Ron Kutz's Body Reveals."

August 18th - August 25th

Costa Rica Workshop Comment

"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

A Participant's Thoughts After Costa Rica Workshop.

Beauty of the Sadness

Raining (as usually in Belgium), but this time rain is cold.
Workshop In paradise has been finished.
I was really there, I mean my self was there.
That was a moment of my life when you bend your head not due to guilt or submissiveness but due to pleasure of listening and watching,
That you looking for someone eyes not hoping for approval or understanding but to see other person beauty
It was a moment when suddenly you stop acting all those roles and one most important is acted right now – your life
I am saying that if you crying after beauty then it is beautiful sadness
Life is celebrating natural beauty and that beauty makes you falling in love, in that mystery which in fact is every person, especially when he/she is consciously supporting to let go, to be open, to share, to be so is expressing voice of the body means love to me.

Love,
Rafal

August 4th - August 10th

Excerpt series from The Energetic of Bioenergetics - Interview with Dr. Lowen (5 of 5)

Dr. Hladky - Yes. Because real pleasure is a body awareness. Feeling aliveness.

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 

July 28th - August 3rd

Excerpt Series from The Energetics of Bioenergetics - Interview with Dr. Lowen (4 of 5)

Dr. Hladky - Certainly, socially our problems look like they're getting bigger and bigger all the time.

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. Hladky – And when you see the body, and see what the person’s experience has been, and where they are now, how do you begin the work?  

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. Lowen - Eventually, I got into therapy with Wilhelm Reich. And everything that I hoped for became possible for me. The road wasn’t easy. I had to work through a [body-mind] split, it is not something you can heal through your mind. 

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. Hladky – Well, give us some of your basic concepts. 

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

Courtesy of The Alexander Lowen Foundation Archives; Photo Date: 1970

June 23rd - June 29th

Courtesy of The Alexander Lowen Foundation Archives; Photo Date: 1990

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 9th - June 15th

REGISTRATION IS STILL OPEN FOR BIOENERGETICS IN PARADISE!

There is still time to join us in Costa Rica for Bioenergetics in Paradise, July 31st through August 8th! This workshop is sponsored by The Alexander Lowen Foundation and welcomes everyone interested in Bioenegetic Analysis. Punta Leona Hotel and Resort will be our venue for this workshop. So far, we have registered participants arriving from all over the world- Columbia, Vermont, Norway, Montreal, Louisiana, Mexico, Maryland, Venezuela, Belgium, New York and Florida.

Click here if you would like more information about the Bioenegetic workshop. To sign up for the workshop you can complete the registration form here.

June 2nd - June 8th

Getting to the Essence and the Core of a Person

"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 mind

...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)

May 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

Question about Vibrations at Finding Your Aliveness (Tulsa, OK - 2008)

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.

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

“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. 

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

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 AlexanderLowenFoundation@gmail.com
Click here to register for this workshop!

April 14th - April 20th

Countries in which our website's visitors live throughout the world!

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

“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.” 

-Harris Friedman, PhD., Introduction to The Language of the Body, 2003.

March 17th - March 23rd

Unity of Opposites

“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.' 

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.

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!

"...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."

-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

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!

". . . .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.

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

February 25th - March 2nd

Emotions are the Life of the Body

"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."

-Alexander Lowen, Transference and Countertransference, 1994

February 18th - February 24th

Sense of Joyfulness

“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.” 

-Alexander Lowen, Opening Address to the Ninth International Conference, Montebello, Quebec, May 1988.

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.

February 4th - February 10th

Finding Your Aliveness - Tulsa, Oklahoma

January 28th - February 3rd

Integrity - Quote from Spirituality of the Body

"...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."

- Alexander Lowen, Spirituality of the Body, 1988.

January 14th - January 20th

The Alexander Lowen Foundation Presents Its First London Event

The Bioenergetic Experience: Working with the Body in Psychotherapy

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.

Venue: Stanford Hall - Lutterworth, Leicestershire, LE17 6DH

Tel: 01788 860250
http://www.stanfordhall.co.uk

Dates: Friday, February 29th through Sunday, March 2nd 2008

Registration begins 7:30-8:30PM Friday evening
Workshop closes with a late lunch Sunday afternoon

Fees: Workshop fee £200 - Lodging and Food (optional)

Lodging: Stanford Hall (two nights; two per room) for £110

Food: Six meals can be provide for £90

Registration: Click Here to fill out the registration form.

If you have questions, please email us at AlexanderLowenFoundation@gmail.com or
call 1-386-462-0616

Residential Weekend Workshop with:

William O'Donnell, PsyD

John Yong, JD

Stefano Ferraiolo, MA

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 17th - December 23rd

Excerpts from Letters to the Foundation Written by Participants after Attending Finding Your Aliveness Workshop with Dr. Frank Hladky

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
Workshop Participant

“The workshop had Infinite Depth and Infinite Sensitivity.”

Robert Rabus, PhD
Workshop Participant

December 10th - December 16th

Excerpt #3 from Dr. Frank Hladky's Opening Comments at the Inaugural Foundation Workshop: Finding Your Aliveness

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 9th

Excerpt #2 from Dr. Frank Hladky's Opening Comments at the Inaugural Foundation Workshop: Finding Your Aliveness

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 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 5th - November 11th

Orgone Energy

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.

"In the years 1940-1947 Reich was actively engaged in research about the nature of the life energy. The research was begun in Norway in 1933 before he came to the United States. It stemmed from his deep belief that the libido was a physical energy. In Oslo he demonstrated that there was an increased electrical charge on the surface of the skin when it was gently stroked. It was known that the skin has an electrical charge. This was called the psycho galvanic reflex. Reich also showed that painful stimulation of the skin resulted in a decrease of this charge. Reich postulated that in pleasure there is an increased flow of energy or excitation to the surface of the body and a decrease or withdrawal of charge in situations of pain or anxiety. Reich could not believe that his energetic movement was electrical in nature. Electricity is experienced by the body as an alien force. The energy of the libido had to be different, life positive. That argument made absolute sense to me.

When Reich came to the United States in 1940 he brought his laboratory equipment to further his studies of this energy. He shared his research with his students. When I came to his home for a therapy session and later to attend seminars, he would invite me into his laboratory and showed me his research. I looked through his microscope, I saw the bions which were as he described them. He also had a room built like a Faraday cage to exclude any outside energy in which one could observe blue streaks and dots which were supposed to represent the life energy which he called Orgone. Reich found that working in this Faraday room he got a tan even though the room was dark and he also felt alive as if he had been out in the sun. Experimenting with bions he found that they had the ability to immobilize smaller particles. These and other observations made him believe that he was dealing with a new energy which was life positive as opposed to electricity which is life negative."

The Alexander Lowen Foundation
Expanding the Worldwide Bioenergetic Community

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."

Ann Hallock, ACSW

October 22nd - October 28th

~Viewer Responses to the Alexander Lowen Foundation (continued)~

October 15th - October 21st

~Viewer Responses to the Alexander Lowen Foundation~

"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:

Alexander Lowen, Narcissism (1985), p. 228.

October 1st - October 7th

Below is an excerpt from a note written by Malu Millerman in 2001 describing her interview with Dr. Lowen:

Much success to all and much energy to enjoy life.

Malu Millerman

Click Here to Read Interview in English
Click Here to Read Interview in Portuguese

September 24th - September 30th

Interview Series with Prominent Bioenergetic Practitioners: Eleanor Greenlee, M.F.T.

Please click here to listen to the audio recording of the conversation.

Eleanor 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.

Left: Eleanor Greenlee, M.F.T., and Alexander Lowen, M.D., presenting a workshop entitled "The Masters Workshop" in High Springs, Florida (Gainesville, Florida) on August 5th - 7th, 2005.

August 27th - September 2nd

A map of where our website's visitors live throughout the world!

August 20th - August 26th

"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).

July 30th - August 5th

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.

Please click Here to listen to the interview.

These monthly interviews appearing on the Alexander Lowen Foundation website will result in an anthology of interviews to be published. If you would like to be interviewed, please contact us.

July 23rd - July 29th

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 16th - July 22nd

New Portuguese Book Release: Uma Vida Para O Corpo

We're proud to announce the publication of Honoring the Body in Portuguese by Dr. Alexander Lowen. Here is a short synopsis of the book:

Neste livro, Alexander Lowen faz uma retrospectiva de sua vida e sua carreira de psicoterapeuta. Partindo da infância e adolescência no Harlem e passando pelo encontro com Wiulhelm Reich e pela descoberta da felicidade no casamento, o autor estabelece uma relação de cumplicidade com o leitor, revelando sua personalidade vigorosa e a busca incansável do fim da cisão corpo-mente.

July 9th - July 15th

Interview Series with Prominent Bioenergetic Practitioners: Dr. Harris Friedman

The Feature of this Week begins a series of live interviews between Dr. Robert Glazer and eminent bioenergetic theoraticians and practitioners. The first interview is with Dr. Harris Friedman, psychologist, certified bioenergetic therapist, editor of the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies and author of the foreword to Alexander Lowen's Voice of the Body and recently republished Language of the Body.

Please click Here to listen to the interview.

These monthly interviews appearing on the Alexander Lowen Foundation website will result in an anthology of interviews to be published. If you would like to be interviewed, please contact us.

July 2nd - July 8th

Exercise 3 / Letting the Belly Out Exercise

"The second commandment is to let the belly out. Many people find this hard to do at first. It violates their image of correct posture and good appearance. They have been brainwashed with the dictum for proper bearing: “belly in, chest out, shoulders up.” Perhaps this bearing is proper for a soldier who must function like an automaton, but it is the epitome of rigidity. It denies a person autonomy, spontaneity, and sexuality. The sucked-in belly makes abdominal breathing very difficult and forces one to over inflate the chest to get enough air. The continued over inflation of the chest is one of the factors responsible for emphysema. In the next chapter we will describe the healthy or correct breathing pattern more fully. As we shall see, it is dependent upon a relaxed abdominal musculature." — Excerpt from Lowen & Lowen, The Way to Vibrant Health (1977)