I was fortunate to involve myself back in the 80s in somatic psychotherapy based on the concepts of Wilhelm Reich investigating what he called "character structure and armoring" - chronic muscular tension resulting from emotional trauma. If the tension can be stressed, it can be released and expressed in real time and life energy can again flow.
This is deep primal work and raw emotions are often expressed when released. I remember a group session attended by some "born again" Christians who interpreted the release of trauma as summoning the Devil. Paradoxically, the 'patient' experienced the release and sense of integration likely described it as finding God again. Healthy humanity is a balance, a harmony of body and Spirit.
There is a wonderful book by Dr. Alexander Lowen called "Spirituality of the Body." Lowen refined Reich's theories into a soma-based therapy which was very pragmatic, but also profoundly deep and spiritual. There is a split in the West between mind/body and also between religion/spirituality. His book attempts to explore and demystify the unfettered flow of divine energy through our human form, which he referred to as "grace."
In our culture, grace has both a secular and spiritual aspect. We admire the grace of an athlete or the smooth physicality of the movements of a wild animal, but we acknowledge a spiritual aspect of grace, a seamless energetic merging of Heaven and earth - "God's grace." The body is a conduit for this energy transfer and transformation from the etherial into form.
Eastern and Western spiritual philosophies look at one's connection to a higher order from different points of view. Eastern thinking sees spirituality as a bodily phenomenon, Western thinking views it primarily as a function of the mind. Another way of expressing the difference is to say that in the west spirituality is largely a matter of belief, where in the East is is more a matter of feeling - a "felt sense."
He noted the difference between wild animal grace and conscious human grace or graciousness. Aldous Huxley states that Man's nature is such that he must live a self-conscious life in time. "Natural animal grace is no longer sufficient for life and must be supplemented by deliberate choices between right and wrong." Lowen points out: "If animal grace is no longer sufficient for the conduct of human life, it may still be necessary. When one deliberately adopts a gracious style without grounding it in natural bodily feelings, such graciousness is a facade erected to impress and deceive the world." There can be no superiority of mind over body - grace demands a true parity, an effortless harmony of mind and Spirit.
Modern life is unbalanced and disruptive to our bodily sense of spirituality. Music, dance, "forest bathing" - anything to bring our focus back to our bodies is a spiritual practice. We must consciously turn down the volume of our heads and surrender to the deep wisdom of our guts and intuition. That is our only path to salvation and a return to Grace.
I know of Reich’s work. Good stuff. And had a lot of bioenergetic somatic support for some years, in Boulder. Boulder was my somatic embodiment happy place. We just moved back. Hoping to explore more again.
I was fortunate to involve myself back in the 80s in somatic psychotherapy based on the concepts of Wilhelm Reich investigating what he called "character structure and armoring" - chronic muscular tension resulting from emotional trauma. If the tension can be stressed, it can be released and expressed in real time and life energy can again flow.
This is deep primal work and raw emotions are often expressed when released. I remember a group session attended by some "born again" Christians who interpreted the release of trauma as summoning the Devil. Paradoxically, the 'patient' experienced the release and sense of integration likely described it as finding God again. Healthy humanity is a balance, a harmony of body and Spirit.
There is a wonderful book by Dr. Alexander Lowen called "Spirituality of the Body." Lowen refined Reich's theories into a soma-based therapy which was very pragmatic, but also profoundly deep and spiritual. There is a split in the West between mind/body and also between religion/spirituality. His book attempts to explore and demystify the unfettered flow of divine energy through our human form, which he referred to as "grace."
In our culture, grace has both a secular and spiritual aspect. We admire the grace of an athlete or the smooth physicality of the movements of a wild animal, but we acknowledge a spiritual aspect of grace, a seamless energetic merging of Heaven and earth - "God's grace." The body is a conduit for this energy transfer and transformation from the etherial into form.
Eastern and Western spiritual philosophies look at one's connection to a higher order from different points of view. Eastern thinking sees spirituality as a bodily phenomenon, Western thinking views it primarily as a function of the mind. Another way of expressing the difference is to say that in the west spirituality is largely a matter of belief, where in the East is is more a matter of feeling - a "felt sense."
He noted the difference between wild animal grace and conscious human grace or graciousness. Aldous Huxley states that Man's nature is such that he must live a self-conscious life in time. "Natural animal grace is no longer sufficient for life and must be supplemented by deliberate choices between right and wrong." Lowen points out: "If animal grace is no longer sufficient for the conduct of human life, it may still be necessary. When one deliberately adopts a gracious style without grounding it in natural bodily feelings, such graciousness is a facade erected to impress and deceive the world." There can be no superiority of mind over body - grace demands a true parity, an effortless harmony of mind and Spirit.
Modern life is unbalanced and disruptive to our bodily sense of spirituality. Music, dance, "forest bathing" - anything to bring our focus back to our bodies is a spiritual practice. We must consciously turn down the volume of our heads and surrender to the deep wisdom of our guts and intuition. That is our only path to salvation and a return to Grace.
https://johnhardman.substack.com/p/return-to-eden
I know of Reich’s work. Good stuff. And had a lot of bioenergetic somatic support for some years, in Boulder. Boulder was my somatic embodiment happy place. We just moved back. Hoping to explore more again.