The mindful body

​

What goes on in the mind affects the body, and vice versa. This means that the more attuned you are to your body, the more connected you will be to your thoughts and emotions. Sadly, most of us are detached from our bodies, and as a result have become stiff, weak, and tired. On this page, I'll cover a few, simple and playful techniques that you can use at home to help you fully engage with your body.

The body and mind in psychology

​

The father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud believed that when unconscious conflicts were made conscious psychological problems would disappear. One of his students, Wilhelm Reich, who after studying hundreds of patients treated according to Freud's method, found that this was not always true. Some of the most thoroughly analyzed cases remained uncured. 

When searching for a reason why, he discovered that the one factor that differentiated the cured from the uncured was a satisfying love life - cured patients were able to regularly achieve a pleasurable orgasm with total involvement of the body. This led him to realize that emotional wellbeing is intimately connected to the capacity for surrender. To let go!

The armored (rigid) body

​

When we are able to let our energy flow we are happy and content, but when we dam it up our emotions become rigid, and our muscles become stiff. Reich referred to this as body armor. There are several signs of body armor or rigidity

One of Reich’s student’s, Alexander Lowen, built on his work; developing a system of therapy he called Bioenergetics. The fundamental thesis of bioenergetics is that the body and mind are interconnected: that is, what goes on in the mind affects the body, and vice versa. 

Dr. Lowen wrote of the purely verbal therapies, “They may help a person become conscious of his tendencies to deny, project, blame, or rationalize, [but] this conscious awareness rarely affects the muscular tensions or releases the suppressed feelings. At the same time though, a purely physical treatment … such as massage and yoga has a positive value, but is not specifically therapeutic in itself."