Profile: Cambridge Body Psychotherapy
Centre
Part 2: About Our Work
Kathrin Stauffer
Introduction
The common ground of those who work at the Cambridge Body Psychotherapy Centre
is our rootedness in the body, our belief that being embodied is a prerequisite
for mental and emotional well-being, and that is a deep connection our-body, our
and our spirituality. We try to emphasise a transpersonal understanding of the
human soul without neglecting its intrapersonal and interpersonal aspects,
Within this common premise, we deliberately aim to be as inclusive, diverse and
mindful of our differences as we can, in the belief that our different
personalities can provide a fuller range of services to the community, We also
share a commitment to the social and political context in which we and our
clients work and live.
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Training background
We identify ourselves as firmly embedded in the humanistic tradition. We have
been trained at different institutions, among them the Gerda Boyesen Institute,
the Chiron Centre for Body Psychotherapy, the Institute for Biosynthesis, and
the Karuna Institute, We are all either accredited by UKCP or working towards
that accreditation. The Centre provides high quality, in-depth, long-term
psychotherapy for individuals, as well as training in body psychotherapy and
biodynamic massage.
All of us have had previous careers in other professions and undergone big
changes in professional orientation. This means that there are histories of
great "quests' at the Centre, and that many of us experience the work we now do
as a profound homecoming, a sense of having found something very precious,
something that our souls needed, after a long, hard search. As a group, we like
to attend to both the wounds that this has left in each of us, and also to the
strengths that it gives us.
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Theoretical lineage
As with all body psychotherapies, our founding father is Wilhelm Reich. From
him, we can trace several strands that have developed more or less independently
of each other, which contribute to our lineage. The common factor of all these
approaches is the principle of functional identity between body and mind as
postulated by Reich (Reich 1990), The different lineages range from cathartic
and vigorous bodywork (Lowen 1958; Pierrakos 1987; Peris 1951; Rosenberg 1985)
to more soft and allowing ways of melting secondary functioning (Boyesen 1981,
1982; Southwell 1988; Kurtz 1990), to the very subtle ways of encouraging
movement of energy in the body and soul of the client (Boadella 1987; Sills
1999; Donington 1994), We are fortunate in that most of our teachers have been
familiar with -a broad variety of these approaches, thus allowing each of us to
find our own ways to work most comfortably and usefully, The one more separate
strand that does not trace itself back to Reich but is important to most of us
is analytical psychology, which some of us have learned through being in therapy
with Jungian analysts.
Of course the lineages going back to Reich have not developed entirely
separately, but body psychotherapists have for a long time influenced and
cross-fertilised each others' thinking and work (see for example Staunton 2002).
We therefore do not always separate clearly where a particular concept comes
from but tend to see the body psychotherapy that we practice as a synthesis of
the teaching of many different people.
We tend to think in terms of energy when we think about the functioning of the
human organism. We make a distinction between "primary' and "secondary'
functions, or energy movements. One very convenient way of thinking about this
is to say that primary, spontaneous impulses tend to flow along the vertical
body axis, and secondary, defensive or reflexive impulses tend to have a more
horizontal direction (Southwell 1988). For example, if I have an impulse to cry
(primary impulse), I will perceive that as arising out of my belly or chest,
through my throat to my face along the vertical axis of my body. If I stop
myself from crying (secondary impulse), I do that by tightening my diaphragm and
my throat and the muscles in my face. These muscles lie more or less horizontally in the body. So I
can say that the horizontal element serves to contain, modify, or block the
vertical flow of energy, just as the more highly developed elements of the
personality contain, modify, or block primitive impulses. As it happens, the
horizontal element consists largely of skeletal muscle and can therefore more
easily be identified with on a conscious level, while the vertical element is
more associated with fluid movements that are less under voluntary control.
We also generally think in terms of developmental models if we try to describe
particular secondary (or defence) mechanisms, and the Reichian character
structures are a useful conceptual framework for this albeit not the only one (Eiden
2002). Our thinking is as much along the lines of developmental deficits as
phase-specific conflicts.
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Core elements of our work
In the most general terms, we can say that our aim in psychotherapy is to help
our clients achieve a good balance and flexibility between vertical and
horizontal energy flow, and to make them as aware as we possibly can of their
inner aliveness, their spontaneous impulses. We therefore try to nurture and
coax whatever strikes us as the most alive thing in any client at any given
moment. We also see this as a part of our commitment to humanism.
All of us would identify as an important element of our work the concept of
following process. In order to do this, we use multiple phenomenological
'tracking variables' ranging from visible and palpable energy flow in the
client's body to breathing to the flow
of words to our own felt sense of what is happening in the relationship. We
regard it as essential that we can hold an awareness of a process on many
different levels simultaneously, and also be available to the client on
different levels.
We believe that to be body psychotherapists means to experience ourselves in our
bodies. Our awareness of our own bodies is the sounding-board that continuously
gives us a wealth of information about what is happening in this room, right
now, what is happening in the client, in a way that complements emotional and
mental resonance and empathy. This constant use of somatic resonance or somatic
countertransference is perhaps the hallmark of all the training backgrounds that
we bring together.
Another important point of this commitment to being embodied is our aim to
always be in relationship with the client as bodies as well as minds.
Particularly when we touch clients, we try to always be aware of our own
physicality, and of the messages that our touch may give to the client, as well
as of the messages that we receive through the touch. For many people it is a
very difficult task to be in contact with another person and at the same time to
be in contact with themselves. But it is also a very important skill, because it
helps to sort out issues around boundaries, contact, relationships, sense of
self, and reality testing for clients - whilst for therapists it is invaluable
as a resource for engaging with a client and disengaging at the end of a
session. This ability to engage as fully as possible and subsequently disengage
as fully as possible helps to preventourselves from burning out. Body awareness
is helpful in learning this skill for both client and therapist.
Being embodied also means that we pay a lot of attention to the physical
environment of our work, from making sure that both client and therapist sit (or
lie, or stand) comfortably to the atmosphere and comfort of the building and
surrounding grounds. In fact, I've heard more than one client comment about how
nice it feels to simply be here, and how much even the building holds a space
for them to return to themselves.
Body awareness is a central concept for all of us, and simply encouraging
clients to be aware of their body sensations and to let those develop,
elaborate, and grow into anything from deeply regressed sounds and movements to
creative fantasies or artistic work, is a 'staple' of our sessions. We have also
more recently taken on board the various ways in which body awareness can be
used as a tool for slowing down the process of clients who get overwhelmed by
their feelings, particularly in states of post-traumatic stress (see for example
Rothschild 2000).
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Individual variations in approach
In order to allow for many different therapeutic approaches to be used, all the
rooms at the Cambridge Body Psychotherapy Centre are equipped with two chairs, a
mattress, lots of cushions, and a massage table. Many of us are trained to use
biodynamic massage as part of our approach and make extensive use of it. This
comes mostly out of our own experience as recipients of biodynamic massage and
the resulting, directly embodied knowledge that it is a powerfully
healing therapy. We also hold the knowledge that biodynamic massage opens a
deeply spiritual place that allows both therapists and clients to hold and
process our life experiences. At the same time the decision to use biodynamic
massage is a personal preference that arises out of the sheer pleasure of
working with our hands.
Other approaches that some of us use come out of the Gestalt tradition. The
emphasis that Gestalt places on phenomenology is very useful and compatible with
a more psychospiritual attitude of non-judgemental, compassionate attention.
Equally, Gestalt teaches us to pay attention to the quality of contact that
clients make with us. We are committed to engage as fully as we can in the
relationship with each client in such a way as to empower the client to make
more meaningful relationships in their life.
We also sometimes use our bodies as 'objects' for the client's use - objects to
push against, to meet, to reach out to, to touch and be touched by. In this way
we have a powerful tool for accessing material in the client that cannot easily
be put into words, and provide our clients with ways of experiencing themselves
as more embodied beings.
There are always writing and drawing materials available at the Centre for
clients to express their dreams, visualisations and fantasies. Other means of
expression that we might use involve movement, dance, 'cushions work', and using
breath and voice. Occasionally we might encourage a client to use more cathartic
means of expression.
One of the important concepts for many of us is breath. We may work with
breathing patterns; or use breath as a tracking device to follow process; or as
an agent to induce more charge in the client; or simply experience
breathing together with another person in a
of deep connectedness which reminds us that being is more important than doing.
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Spirituality
Most of us have a personal spiritual practice, and we often start staff meetings
and also teaching sessions with a breathing meditation to centre ourselves and
still chattering minds. Our trainees get used to this and experience for
themselves just how much easier it is to communicate with others from such a
centred and spacious place.
We value pleasure as a healing principle (as opposed to pain), It feels
important to clarify that by pleasure we mean something that goes a lot deeper
than mere well-being, that is more sustained than momentary delight, and more
embodied than bliss or joy. Unfortunately a freight of rather pejorative
meanings have become attached to the term, such as a narrow focus on sexual
orgasm, or overtones of cheap consumerist gratification. What we are talking
about is, at its deepest, pleasure as a whole-body experience of opening to our
aliveness and sustaining a charge of flowing and vibrant sensations and
feelings.
Our work is permeated with the knowledge that psychotherapy is a profoundly
spiritual process that both client and therapist end with a great enrichment in
wisdom and understanding of themselves and the world in which they live. We know
that there is a 'still place' in the depth of our soul, the place where true
transformation can happen, and that to find that still place is a deeply healing
experience. It is one of our greatest ambitions, as well as one of our greatest
joys, to be able to simply be in that place with a client.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Sally By ford, Janet Croft, Jane Frances,
Claudius Kokott, Gaye Langham, Alastair McNeilage and Gill Westland for their
lively and creative contributions to this article.
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Further Reading
Boadella, D, Lifestreams ~ An Introduction to Biosynthesis. London: Routledge&Kegan
Paul 1987
Boyesen, G. and Boyesen, M.L Collected Papers of Biodynamic Psychology, Volumes
1 and 2. London: Biodynamic Psychology Publications 1981,1982. Reprinted from
Energy and Character, Abbotsbury Publications 1969-1979
Donington, L. Core Process Psychotherapy. In Jones, D. (Ed.) Innovative Therapy,
a Handbook, London: Open University Press 1994
Eiden, B. Application of Post-Reichian Body Psychotherapy: a Chiron Perspective.
In Staunton, T. (Ed.) Body Psychotherapy, Hove: Brunner-Routledge 2002, p. 27
Kurtz, R. Body-Centered Psychotherapy; The Hakomi Method. Mendocino, CA: Life
Rhythm 1990
Lowen, A. The Language of the Body, New York: Collier Macmillan 1958
Perls, R, Hefferline, R. and Goodman, P. Gestalt Therapy. New York: Julian Press
1951
Pierrakos, J, Core Energetics. Mendocino, CA: Life Rhythm 1987
Reich, W. Character Analysis, NY: Noonday Press 1990(Copyright date 1945)
Rosenberg, J. Body, Self and Soul - Sustaining Integration. Humanics 1985
Rothschild, B. The Body Remembers - The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma
Treatment, New York/London: Norton 2000
Sills, M. Licking Honey from the Razor's Edge. In Watson, G., Batchelor, S.,
Claxton, G. (Eds.) The Psychology of Awakening: Buddhism, Science and Our
Day-to-Day Lives. Rider 1999
Southwell, C. The Gerda Boyesen Method: Biodynamic Therapy. In Rowan, J. and
Dryden, W, (Eds.) Innovative Therapy in Britain. London: Open University Press
1988, p. 178
Staunton, T. (Ed.) Body Psychotherapy. Hove: Brunner-Routledge 2002
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