A Look At Core Energetics and other Somatic Therapy Approaches
This is a short presentation of a variety of somatic therapies and Core energetics, and specifically the curriculum at Seattle School of Body-Psychotherapy. The first part paragraph is excerpted from an older article of the same by my colleague Karyne Wilner *.
“Differences exist between Core Energetics® and other schools of body psychotherapy, and between Core Energetics® and other spiritual schools of counseling. Examples include focusing, a method developed by Gendlin (1981), which requires clients to experience sensations in their bodies through deep concentration. This technique does not use movement to unblock energy. The Rubenfeld synergy method integrates Gestalt therapy and the Alexander method, emphasizing the identification of here-and-now feeling states and therapist manipulation of the client’s body (the client lies on a massage table), but it does not acknowledge or work with energy per se (Simon, 1997). The Hakomi school (Kurtz, 1990) recognizes sensations and currents in the body but fails to stress strong physical release unless it erupts spontaneously from the client. Hakomi practitioners are trained to be extremely accepting and nonjudgmental, so as not to elicit resistance. In contrast, Core Energetic therapists welcome resistance, using confrontational techniques to bring it to consciousness to release the strong emotion repressed behind it. Holotropic Breathwork (Grof & Grof, 1990), another body technique, emphasizes breathing to resolve spiritual emergencies. However, unlike Core Energetics, it is not based on a comprehensive model of personality, nor does it use the body to diagnose underlying problems. Holotropic practitioners generally work with energy in a group format, using a form of breathing, with music in the background, that produces a state similar to hyperventilation. Finally, spiritual schools such as Jungian psychology and pastoral counseling rarely emphasize action methods or focus on the body. Instead, they use strictly verbal interactions between therapists and clients, emphasizing dreams, thoughts, metaphors, allegories, values, principles, and myths.”
(end KaryneWilner excerpt)
As Karyne notes, Core works with energy that is trapped in our body to free blocks that have led to armoring in the physical body and lead to consequences in our feeling states, our thinking patterns and our life choices. It is provocative and cathartic but the catharsis is a small part of treatment and not the point of the work; the goal of the work is to free the prana, the life energy from our Essence which resides at the core of our being and which John Pierrakos called “the Center Of Right Energy” (C-O-R-E). Generally in life, and especially in childhood, our responses to the demands of the world created blocks and muscular armoring have accrued over time and that inhibit the flow of energy. We work to allow dissolved the blocks and allow Core energy to move out to the periphery of the body and into the world. In grounding this transformation in our our psychosomatic experience, we become free to be ourselves in the here and now and not be reacting to old experiences over and over again.
Another somatic technique, Somatic Experiencing® was developed by Peter Levine and has evolved since the 70’s. SE is an intervention based on trauma theory that helps unwind trauma in the system and helps to stabilize nervous system dysregulation that occurs with trauma and can be further disrupted when revisiting the issues in treatment. The principles found here, as many of the above listed approaches, can and are utilized as part of Core Energetics treatment, but not unilaterally. The underlying understanding of developmental psychological theory and characterology that we get in Core Energetics enables students at Seattle School of Body-Psychotherapy to know more specifically when, how and with whom to apply them during the healing process. It also encourages people to speak their truth, saying “no” to something when that is what is right for us, so the no to the outside becomes a “yes” to oneself.
Core Energetics is the underlying theory at SSBP. It is based on the evolution of discoveries made by Wilhelm Reich and his students Alexander Lowen and John Pierrakos, and the spiritual Guide lectures called the Pathwork given by Eva Pierrakos. It is a study in energy and consciousness and how this forms our life patterns. It understands that blocks must be opened on the body, emotions, mental, behavioral and spiritual levels all at the same time in order to effect lasting change. At SSBP we also incorporate principles first purported by Gerda Boyesen in what she called psychoperistalsis. We use it to understand the body’s cycle of learning. And we also utilize trauma therapy and interpersonal neurobiology in our studies.
When not mitigated by the contemporary understandings from neurobiology and the effects of trauma on people, Core, as well as other therapies, can be triggering and create disequilibrium for clients. My goal is to help people find stabilization even as we destabilize the old ways of being as we change our way of perceiving the world through opening and moving old unexpressed energy that is trapped in our system and out of context of the time/ space continuum. We do this through expression of what we weren’t able to express in the original event, and recouping learning and integrating information that had been hidden from the client's awareness of himself.
It is my experience that as people begin to access energy from the Core of their being, they open more experiences of joy, pleasure and a deeper sense of who they are and what they want, developing authenticity. Utilizing our observer self is crucial to success in this endeavor and helps us to impact the patterns we have formed throughout our lives.
The curriculum at SSBP also draws from indigenous practices, working with Heart Perception (as developed both by ancient traditions and through the Heart Math Institute) and in the Imaginal Realm, the realm of the soul. These approaches utilize the door of the spiritual or non-material planes to effect change along with our work the other levels. Core Energetics also integrates this Spiritual door via the Pathwork material which Eva Pierrakos brought to the work.
In working with Heart Perception and the Imaginal Realms we are activating the movement of the Core right from the start of treatment. John Pierrakos emphasized that Core Energetics’ goal is to release the true energy of the Core rather than to correct specific distortions so these approaches facilitate this intention well.
The approaches at Seattle School of Body-Psychotherapy naturally awaken us to the living world around us. We begin to perceive a greater context for our existence which I believe to be integral to the satisfaction of and capacity for joy and fulfillment for ourselves and our clients for many generations to come. May it allow us to co-create our existence not just in the context of our human concerns, but as an equal part of a vibrant living breathing eco-system.
When we can perceive ourselves in this greater context we will be more equipped to deal with the problems facing the global world in these times, and and also to experience more fully what it means to be human and to perceive our interconnectedness to the web of life. We are training to learn this through direct experience rather than relying on experts or book knowledge and gives us personal tools for continued learning growth, making us fit for the continued evolution of our world. My hope is that this gestalt will make inroads into living in more elegant, sophisticated and sustainable ways on the earth.