Contemporary Body Psychotherapy

The Chiron Approach

Linda Hartley

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9780415439381
• eBook ISBN: 9781134070312
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Contemporary Body Psychotherapy: The Chiron Approach looks at the ground-breaking work of the London based Chiron Centre for Body Psychotherapy, a training centre recognised worldwide by professionals in the field. The book brings together Chiron trainers and therapists, describing how their integrative approach has enabled cutting-edge thinking.

Divided into two parts, the book deals with topics including:

• the roots and the development of the Chiron approach
• self-regulation – an evolving concept at the heart of body psychotherapy
• the evolution of an embodied, integral and relational approach to psychotherapy
• moving towards an integrative model of trauma therapy

At a time when the psychotherapeutic profession has turned its interest towards the body and its intrinsic psychological dimension, Contemporary Body Psychotherapy: The Chiron Approach offers a timely and valuable contribution to the literature. It will provide essential reading for those practicing or involved with body psychotherapy, offering a new synthesis with the psychoanalytic tradition, as well as appealing to a wider audience of mental health professionals and academics with an interest in the area.

Part I
Development of core principles and theory

GROUND AND ROOTS

Linda Hartley

In Ground and roots the main theoretical and clinical approaches that informed Chiron’s origins are introduced. Bernd Eiden will trace the Centre’s development within the wider socio-political, cultural and psychotherapeutic field, and introduce the historical roots of Chiron’s emergence; the earlier stages of its development, including core principles taught in the training module Body and Energy, and Reich’s vegetotherapy, are described. He explores some of the conflicts and integrations that occurred between the phenomenological and character-analytical approaches, and addresses the complex issue of the use of touch and biodynamic massage in body psychotherapy.

In Chapter 2 Monika Schaible, teacher of the Biodynamic Massage course within the Chiron training, describes this practice and how it has been integrated into body psychotherapy. She addresses the history of biodynamic massage and its value as a psychotherapeutic process, exploring the dilemmas as well as the benefits of retaining this particular method of contactful touch as an approach within body psychotherapy practice.

In Chapter 3 Alun Reynolds writes about an approach to gestalt body psychotherapy that was developed at Chiron and integrated with the other modalities taught. His description brings us into the immediacy of embodiment and styles of contact, emphasising the importance of embodied presence for the psychotherapist. He describes techniques that are fundamental to the Chiron psychotherapist’s practice.

During the first two years of the Basic Training, courses in Body and Energy, Biodynamic Massage, Holistic Human Biology, Gestalt Body Psychotherapy and Group Psychotherapy gave the trainee a grounding in embodied presence, energetic attunement and somatic resonance. This is drawn upon whether the relational approach being taken with a client, at any particular moment, is one of ‘authentic I–Thou relating’ (Buber 1958), ‘treatment’ through the medical model, or ‘strategic relating’, including working through the dynamics of the transference and countertransference. In discussing how the changing needs of clients coming to him caused his own approach to move towards working with the transference, Reynolds prepares the ground for the ‘relational turn’ which will be addressed in the second section of the book.

In the third year, the subtle and complex integration of modalities was deepened; alongside Gestalt Body Psychotherapy II (which evolved into Charge in the Therapeutic Relationship), a module in Massage and Psychotherapy and a series of seminars on Therapeutic Theories and Character Structures were taught. In the module Advanced Training in Body Psychotherapy, trainees were given the unique opportunity to engage in intensive practice sessions, in groups of three, under the supervision of a trainer who brought close attention to the integration of bodywork and the relational dimension. Developing upon the foundation of the first two years, and led by active dialogue within the staff group, a sophisticated integration could evolve, and a flexibility which allowed trainees to find their own individual approach. Although the structure of the training remained fairly constant throughout, within the stability it offered, change and evolution could occur.

Reference

Buber, M. (1958) I and Thou. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark.

Chapter 1
The roots and the development of the Chiron approach

Bernd Eiden

Introduction

Body psychotherapy has been in existence for more than 100 years, but it is in the last twenty years that it has become organised as a discipline of its own and gained recognition. The work here at the Chiron Centre for Body Psychotherapy over the last twenty years mirrors this process. As a member organisation of UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), we represent body psychotherapy in the wider professional field.

I am one of the founding members of Chiron and since the beginning have worked as a trainer and supervisor. Together with co-founder Jochen Lude, I led the organisation. As managing directors we have lived through and resolved many conflicts and instituted changes at Chiron which were crucial for the evolution of a contemporary approach to body psychotherapy. Our integrative belief requires a commitment to conflict, tension and diversity. Our leadership style was democratic and pluralistic and provided the staff with a creative space to develop their own ways of thinking and integration. Those were then shared and modified in team discussions – mostly a varied, enriching and enjoyable process. Hence the Chiron approach is a result of good team-work, which utilises the contributions each individual makes from their own personal and educational background. I would like to thank all of the members of our staff, present and past, for their invaluable contributions. I apologise for not naming you specifically in this chapter.

This discussion of the Chiron approach will begin with an overview of our heritage and the development of body psychotherapy and its application. I will illuminate the basic principles of body psychotherapy and illustrate Chiron’s emphasis on the integration of the body/mind and our move away from traditional body psychotherapy approaches to a more integrative and relational one. I will present this historically, emphasising cornerstones and turning points which led to our unique approach.

Socio-political background to Chiron’s foundation

Together with the other Chiron co-founders, Jochen Lude and Rainer Pervöltz, I was involved with the political left of the late 1960s and early 1970s in Berlin, Germany. This was a time of turmoil and excitement. We were all experimenting with new ways of living and working; for example, we believed in sexual liberation and enjoyed our bodies through expressive dance and nudity. Having trained as a teacher, I resisted working within the repressive school system and instead was hired by a private kindergarten project funded by the Berlin City Council. This innovative programme involved children and parents in defining and creating educational methods, drawing on the ideas of A. S. Neill in his book Summerhill and inspired by Wilhelm Reich’s progressive attitude (Boadella 1974: 61).

Reich’s theories on the effects of authoritarian oppression by society and its impact on the personality made a deep impression on us and motivated us to engage with the ‘Human Potential’ movement of the 1970s and participate in encounter groups. Having grown up in Germany during the Depression following World War II, we felt a deep longing for freedom, spontaneity and self-actualisation, values proclaimed by the emerging humanistic movement. Gestalt therapy and body psychotherapy were enthusiastically welcomed by the avant-garde in those years, and the movement grew and flourished. Body psychotherapy had been rediscovered after having made a rather brief shadowy appearance in the 1920s and 1930s. Its disappearance was partly due to the psychoanalytic movement’s rejection of the body after Reich’s and Ferenczi’s expulsions from the fold and partly due to the bad reputation Reich gained through his later work subsequent to his emigration to the USA.

My colleagues and I turned towards body psychotherapy when we realised that the student political revolution did not enable the societal changes we hoped for. We read Reich and were inspired to put his theories into practice by setting up self-help groups. The decision to train as body psychotherapists expressed our hope of promoting change in individuals and groups. It also held the potential to break down rigid barriers in society and contribute to reforms through psychological approaches (Waterston’s chapter will explore these ideas). In 1983 Chiron was founded in London.

The foundations of body psychotherapy

Body psychotherapy has its origins in psychoanalysis. Freud used touch in his early period of working, including massage or putting his hand on the forehead of the patient in order to facilitate free association. His pupil Ferenczi offered his patients physical holding to help them to modulate strong affects and Reich in particular focused on the bodily dimension, while he developed his concept of vegetotherapy in the 1930s and 1940s (Reich [1942] 1973). Janet also deserves to be honoured as a body psychotherapy pioneer, as he recognised well before Reich in 1885 the correlation between muscular contraction and the formation of the neurotic structure, and used massage and touch in his work (Boadella 1997).

Since the seventeenth-century philosopher Descartes, there has been a clear separation between the mental and the physical, and the processes of the mind were regarded as superior to those of the body. When psychotherapy grew into a discipline in the early years of the twentieth century, the body/ mind dualism was well cemented. Freud abandoned the body when he developed psychoanalysis, arriving at the principles of abstinence and neutrality and giving his theory of transference the greatest importance. He came to disregard the use of touch, one reason being that touch could communicate libidinous desires and in that way sexualise the analytic encounter.

Reich and Ferenczi, amongst other psychoanalysts, did not accept Freud’s ‘talking cure’. They resisted ‘the correct’ way of working by breaking the touch taboo and questioning prevailing assumptions about body/mind relationships. Both Reich and Ferenczi ended up being ostracised and were excluded from the international psychoanalytic society.

Nowadays, new paradigms are developing which include a holistic understanding of dualisms such as subject/object, body/mind, etc., acknowledging interdependence and interconnectedness (Capra 1982). The most basic manifestation of this for body psychotherapists is the interrelationship between the physical and the mental, the body and the mind. Damasio is prominent amongst those who have given neurobiological evidence that thought and reflection arise out of and follow feeling and sensation (Damasio 1994). Reich’s thinking was already in line with these new paradigms.

I will summarise briefly those principles of Reich’s which became fundamental to body psychotherapy and will further expand on their application and limitations when discussing the Chiron approach.

• Reich introduced an energetic model, expanding on Freud’s drive and libido theory. He postulated that the energy behind a repressed situation/ conflict and the expression of the energy as a feeling was as important as remembering and talking about the situation/conflict. Those three elements together (the what, the how and the why) enable an experience to be fully integrated. The emotional expression was often neglected and needed to be discharged, hence his plea for working ‘with the energy’ which could lead to regression and catharsis.
• Reich’s formula for the healthy energetic cycle of tension–charge–discharge–relaxation illustrated how energy was circulated and expressed through the body. This went in tandem with the functioning of the autonomic (vegetative) nervous system with its sympathetic and parasympathetic aspects (Eiden 2002: 43).
• Reich recognised that body and psyche were functionally identical, which meant that a person’s beliefs and feelings manifest in physical tensions, and conversely that energetic blockages are closely linked to emotional problems. Body and mind interact dynamically with each other and mirror each other. Reich found that physical work could reach and influence the deeper psychic level and vice versa. As a result, Reich introduced the notion of ‘body armour’ and ‘character armour’ and developed his concepts of ‘character analysis’ and ‘vegetotherapy’ as a way of working with the body’s defence system (Eiden 2002).
• Reich trusted the organism’s capacity for self-regulation and inner wellbeing. His therapy process aimed to reach the core, the deeper primary level, which was by nature positive, spontaneous and motivated to make contact. Reich’s unconscious, unlike Freud’s, was not divided in two (Eros and Thanatos) and therefore had no destructive core. Hence, Reich promised a sense of wellbeing if we could surrender to the innate ‘vegetative’ forces and work through the distortions and negative attitudes of the secondary layer. In her chapter in this book, Carroll will look at the theme of self-regulation as it has been developed, including the influence of attachment theory.

Characteristics of the initial Chiron approach (1983–1992)

Body oriented, holistic, humanistic and integrative

It was clear to my colleagues and me that we wanted our work at Chiron to remain anchored in the body. Having gone through training in body psychotherapy, we had experienced the changes in ourselves. We knew how significantly body psychotherapy contributes to what it is to be an embodied human being – being more alive and energetic, creative and spontaneous, more present in the here and now and more connected to sensations and feelings. It opened a deep understanding of ourselves, others and life itself, which we had never experienced before. Our training in body psychotherapy provided an invaluable understanding of the human personality on the physical, psychological and spiritual levels. I want to acknowledge the debt to our mentors, especially Gerda Boyesen, John Pierrakos, David Boadella and Jack Rosenberg who were pioneers in our professional field. Their teaching formed the foundation of the Chiron approach and became the springboard for our integrated contemporary theory of body psychotherapy.

In establishing our training programme, we aimed to create a holistic and integrative approach, while incorporating the best of various psychotherapeutic models. Our approach was ‘eclectic’, as we were searching for an identity, and our own version of ‘integrative’ work emerged over the next two decades. Twenty years ago the field of psychotherapy was disparate and divided into a multitude of factions, schools and approaches and there was little exchange and dialogue between them. This fragmentation was also tangible within the various schools of body psychotherapy. They isolated themselves with an air of exclusiveness, wanting to be special and different, each emphasising their own way of working with their own methodology and definitions.

Postmodernism has helped to change perspectives to move away from one universal truth and to respect contradicting theories as complementary.

Now, two decades after Chiron’s beginning, we are supported by a creative process where new developments emerge due to a paradigm shift, fostering a tendency towards integration of different approaches and learning from each other. Psychoanalysts have become interested in being more spontaneous, immediate and inclusive of dialogue and the body. Body psychotherapists are now more aware of the need for relationship theory. Both are challenged and inspired by new research in neuroscience and attachment theory.

At Chiron, we regard our work as holistic because we do not see the psychological manifestations of human development as separate from the body or the mind. Physical symptoms have psychological meaning, emotions occur within the body, mental processes engender bodily reactions. It is in the body that our experiences live and are perceived as emotions and moods. Thought and language alone do not constitute reality. It is the body’s sensations that add vitality and a felt evidence for our perceptions and memories, which makes them ‘real’.

By working psychotherapeutically within a holistic framework, we cut across the dualistic thinking which perpetuates splits between body– emotion–mind–spirit, and we are able to address the inner experience of fragmentation. Motoric and sensory explorations elicit different memories, especially preverbal experiences, that words or concepts cannot reach. By teaching within this perspective we hope to contribute to a development where integration between body, mind and psyche is seen as the basis for the assimilation of different psychotherapeutic approaches.

We also subscribe to humanistic principles:

• an openness towards the possibility of equality in the therapeutic relationship
• a belief in the clients’ capacity to heal themselves
• a view of the clients’ potential and strengths
• a questioning of the ‘medical model’ and the idea that the therapist has to direct the process.

Experiential learning is highly valued in the humanistic tradition where the therapist takes on an interactive and experiential presence, sometimes using exercises, role play, dialogue work, guided imagery, etc. As body psychotherapists we tend to give priority to such a phenomenological and explorative way of working, to help the client’s awareness to grow and facilitate self-regulation and self-actualisation. We hope to engender ‘embodied’ knowledge and ‘emotional intelligence’, perceiving and thinking with body and mind, which require a particular sensitivity and awareness. We therefore conduct our training in a way that helps students develop the capacity to use themselves as a body of resonance, finely attuned to the non-verbal, subliminal communication and body language of the client. This is why time must be given to learning through experience in the ‘here and now’. The intention is also to encourage...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• PART I Development of core principles and theory
• GROUND AND ROOTS
• THE CRUCIBLE
• PART II New directions and applications
• AN INTIMATE PERSPECTIVE
• CHANGING SOCIO-POLITICAL CONTEXTS
• Concluding words
• Appendix: Professional bodies