P-C Workshop VII

Title: Recognizing and Healing the Mind-Body Split –The Essence of Energetic Integration
Presenter: Frederic Lowen

A specific statement of how the workshop relates to the congress theme:

A mind disconnected from feeling is disconnected from its body and its sensations, senses, and common sense, reducing the experience of life to a prison of fear, anger, depression and anxiety. Widespread but little recognized and even less understood, the mind-body split is fundamental to psychological disorder and dis-ease, and to societal dysfunction as well. We will examine the mind-body split as an energetic disconnect between thinking and feeling, and will explore ways to heal it.

Description:

This workshop will explore the nature, causes, and clinical aspects of the mind-body split. The mind-body split, a disconnect between thinking and feeling, is a widespread but little recognized, and even less understood condition that is fundamental to individual psychological disorder and dis-ease, and societal dysfunction.

With a mind that is disconnected from its body, thinking is disconnected from feeling, and reality is a distorted subjective experience shaped by unconscious fears and other energetically-charged emotions and motivations. If the truth of one’s emotions and feelings are hidden from conscious awareness, the disconnected mind’s ego rationalizes, projects, and idealizes it’s desires and fears in a manner that is disconnected from reality, and thereby is destructive and potentially debilitating. Without an integrated connection between thinking and feeling, the mind-body split is an under-recognized factor in perhaps all psychological disorders, and unsatisfactory “normal” functioning as well.

Being disconnected from their bodies such minds are vulnerable to manipulation, and are prone to lies and lying as they cannot recognize or speak their own truth. Many individuals do not know their own truth, their own feelings of fear, anger, sadness and confusion. It is common and widespread for many people today to walk around without any feeling, often not knowing they don’t feel anything. Alternatively, emotionality, hysteria, and acting out overwhelms the mind when emotions run hot. The disconnected mind is helpless in its attempts to control behavior, feeling, and unwanted thoughts.

The workshop will consist of three segments: 1) a didactic powerpoint presentation including pertinent video film clips of Alexander Lowen, innovator of Bioenergetic Analysis, examining clinical and societal aspects of the mind-body split; 2) an experiential portion will raise participants’ energy for a personal and interpersonal exploration of their own fears which perpetuate the mind-body split; and their subjective experience of pleasure as the antidote. and 3) clinical demonstrations with participants who wish to explore their issues in the group setting will illustrate ways to implement this energetic understanding into our clinical work as Body Psychotherapists.

Language: English

Maximum: 40 participants

Biography:

Frederic Lowen, son of Alexander Lowen, M.D., psychotherapist and Bioenergetic therapist (CBT); Executive Director of The Alexander Lowen Foundation; manager of Lowen copyrights. With extensive experience in Bioenergetics, Bioenergetic therapy, workshop and training groups since 1968, Frederic seeks to expand the visibility, appreciation, and use of Bioenergetics for health and well-being.
Frederic lives and practices psychotherapy in Vermont, USA.