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One powerful form of therapy that provides such access and insight is Bioenergetic Analysis. Bioenergetic Analysis is a traditional, psychoanalytically-based therapy that works with the body as well as words. Established in the 1950s by psychiatrist Alexander Lowen, it developed directly out of the pioneering psychological work of Sigmund Freud and Wilhelm Reich in the early 20th century.

Bioenergetics explores the language of the body: it’s musculature, holding patterns and chronic imbalances, often manifested in various medical and mental disorders. A Bioenergetic therapist will pay as much attention to these bodily expressions as to what the client says verbally.

In Bioenergetic therapy, one learns to “tune in” to bodily sensations, particularly as they accompany thoughts and emotions. One comes to understand how they relate to important issues and relationships. As bodily awareness grows, one forms a stronger, fuller sense of self–no longer a self narrowly defined by the thoughts of the mind, but also experienced in the wisdom of the body.

For example, a young woman suffers from chronic and severe neck and shoulder pain that gets worse each time she must before professional peers, a task often required of her. In Bioenergetic sessions, she is encouraged to deepen her breathing and feel more contact with the ground, through specific exercises. She moves with and against the contractions in her neck and shoulders, paying attention to the physical sensations as well as the thoughts and feelings that arise. As she expresses herself to the therapist, sometimes in words, sometimes with simple sound, she comes to recognize important associations. She realizes that the contractions started when she began to develop sexually and her previously loving father became critical and cold. She remembers wearing baggy clothes to cover herself, curling in her shoulders to hide her developing form and protect herself from his hostility. She intuitively sensed her father’s withdrawal had something to do with her becoming a woman.

By her early 30’s this posture had become a rigid holding. Through her work in Bioenergetics, she gradually loosened the contraction, freed her breathing and came to accept the value of her personal and professional qualities. She became more comfortable in her body, and felt more free to express herself naturally. She lost her fear of speaking publicly.

Most importantly, the result of her therapy was that she felt more integrated and complete as a person, and therefore, more fully alive. She was able to pursue healthy pleasure in work, love and life.

The is the ultimate aim of any successful therapy. Bioenergetic Analysis directly addresses the body, so often marginalized in our contemporary mechanized culture, and helps return us to our full humanity.

If you would like to experience the energizing yet calming effects of basic Bioenergetic exercises, a newly released DVD takes the viewer through the movements easily and safely. These exercises are excellent to use to prepare for a challenging workday, or to release stress at the end of the day. It also includes a relaxing 10-minute body centered meditation. The DVD is available online at www.StresslessWorkplace.com. Written by: Maggie Locke, MFT, CBT and Nicole Dockter LCSW

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EMDR can be used to resolve memories of past difficult emotional experiences which can affect one’s current life such as physical and sexual abuse, rape, repeated business or job losses, relationship losses and prolonged grief. It can also be used to overcome the effects of current problems such as asking a boss for a raise, building the motivation to do a job search, reducing performance anxiety, setting limits with another person, reducing anxiety and distress, and overcoming phobias and panic attacks: Examples of EMDR successes include:

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Reducing extreme anxiety from witnessing a suicide so that client’s thoughts were no longer disturbing
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Reducing extreme anxiety and panic caused by a work incident that kept a client from applying for a job
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Overcoming obstacles that kept a sales client from making cold calls
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Overcoming belief of being incompetent
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Overcoming fear caused by previous stalking and physical abuse

EMDR is sometimes helpful when talk pyschotherapy reaches its limits as it may bring up past events to be processed that did not previously arise. It also helps people achieve their goals though positive imaging or imagining themselves meeting their goals while using EMDR. It is well known that Olympic champions do positive imaging or imagining at least 15 minutes a day. EMDR has been found to make this positive imaging even more effective. EMDR clients often have positive solutions to problems and positive feelings arise naturally in them.

HOW DOES EMDR WORK?
Research is constantly being conducted to understand how EMDR works. It is known that it works on the brain and produces a physiological change on a neurological level. We know that when a person becomes very upset by a difficult emotional experience or trauma, there is an overload on the system and information processing is blocked. There is an over excitation of the brain and a resulting change of neural elements. It is believed that the upsetting event also prevents REM sleep, the nightly sleep that helps people process normal emotional events of the day.

The neurological blockage causes the incident to remain in the body in its anxiety-producing form along with the original thoughts, feelings, flashbacks or nightmare.

Shapiro believes that EMDR unlocks the neural channels in the brain and increases REM sleep, allowing the brain to complete the processing which was blocked by the traumatic event.

EMDR is not hypnosis, and the client feels more in control as s/he is in a different brain wave state than under hypnosis. Research shows that the effects of EMDR are long lasting. One study of 80 subjects with post-traumatic stress improved significantly with EMDR and the beneficial process remained for at least 15 months.

HOW LONG DOES EMDR TAKE?
One or more sessions area needed for the therapist to understand and the problem to be solved. A typical course of treatment may be three to ten EMDR sessions, each 60 or 90 minutes long. EMDR, often used in conjunctions with talk therapy, may take longer, depending on the nature of the trauma and how many times it or related traumas occurred.

WHAT IS AN EMDR SESSION LIKE?
I typically guide the client to find a safe place in their mind such as a place in the mountains, by the water or at home. This is to relax the client and to provide a safe internal place for the client to go in case of any of the material experienced is disturbing. The client always has the option of stopping the session any time s/he pleases. I then ask the client to describe the disturbing information in detail as well as related emotions, body sensations, and any negative self-assessment that resulted from the incident such as “I’m trapped,” “I’m powerless,” etc.

Depending on the clients preferred method of taking in information, I have him/her process the experience using eye movements, sounds in alternative ears using earphones or with handles that stimulate each hand with a vibration. The idea is to obtain bilateral stimulation with these methods. After the disturbance is reduced, I then ask the client to image the event as she/he would have liked it to happen and continue with the eye movements, sounds or hand sensations. I keep asking the client to tell me what they are experiencing and guide them through the experience.

After an issue is worked through, clients typically feel empowered, less anxious, light, more positive and relieved. Having removed their blocks, they are able to move forward with the life changes they wish to make. EMDR does not work for everyone, but the powerful process has helped thousands of people to overcome the effects of anxiety and emotional distress and to achieve peak performance.

Minimum training for EMDR practitioners is two three day training sessions.

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