Vincentia Schroeder, Margit Koemeda-Lutz (Eds.) Bioenergetic Analysis 2010 (20)

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3 Vincentia Schroeder, Margit Koemeda-Lutz (Eds.) Bioenergetic Analysis 2010 (20)

4 »edition psychosozial«

5 Vincentia Schroeder, Margit Koemeda-Lutz (Eds.) Bioenergetic Analysis The Clinical Journal of the International Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis (2010) Volume 20 Psychosozial-Verlag

6 Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über < abrufbar. English E-Book edition 2014 original english print edition 2010 Psychosozial-Verlag All rights reseved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the publisher. Cover: Alexander Lowen, Heiner Steckel Draft design cover: Hanspeter Ludwig, Giessen ISBN print edition ISBN E-Book-PDF

7 Contents 5 Letter from the Editor 7 Memorial Notes about Alexander Lowen 9 Guy Tonella, Helen Resneck-Sannes, Bob Lewis, Vivian Guze, Heiner Steckel, Alice Ladas, George Downing, Bob Hilton, Eleanor Greenlee & Phil M. Helfaer (in order of notes) Memorial Note about David J. Finlay 29 Maê Nascimento Notes on Intimate Connections 31 David J. Finlay Introduction to Abstracts (in 6 languages) 49 Vincentia Schroeter Trusting the Wisdom of the Failing Body 53 From Well-Being to Illness: A Journey towards Wholeness Louise Fréchette Bioenergetic Analysis and Community Therapy 79 Expanding the paradigm Mariano Pedroza

8 6 Contents The Impact of Gender on Subjectivity 113 Fina Pla Information and Instructions to Authors 131 Reviewers for this issue were: Paula Buckley Garry Cockburn Maê Nascimento Tarra Stariell

9 7 Letter from the Editor Welcome to the twentieth volume of the clinical journal of the International Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis. Our founder, Alexander Lowen, died peacefully in his home at the age of 98. He died in October, 2008, shortly before we finalized the 2009 issue. To honor Dr. Lowen, this volume contains memorial notes from some members of the IIBA community. IIBA faculty and long-time member of the Board of Directors, David Finlay, also died in His article on intimate connections, introduced by Maê Nascimento, is included in this issue. There are three original papers from our international members. On the topic of the wisdom of the failing body, is an article by Louise Fréchette, adapted from her keynote presentation at the Southern California Bioenergetic Conference in March of Louise is from Canada. Our other original works are also from authors outside the USA. Fina Pla, from Spain, considers issues related to gender and identity. Mariano Pedroza, from Brazil, writes on issues related to working bioenergetically within a community model in economically disadvantaged areas. A new feature this year is translations of the abstracts of the three original articles. Some of our members do not read in English. In order to honor the international character of our community, we provide these translations in five languages besides English. These languages are German, Spanish,

10 8 Letter from the Editor Italian, Portuguese and French. I would like to thank the dedicated group of translators who worked on this project: Louise Fréchette and France Kauffman (French); Camile Milagres and Mariano Pedroza (Portuguese); Rosaria Filoni (Italian); Fina Pla and Edith Liberman (Spanish); and Margit Koemeda (German). I would like to thank those who reviewed the articles this year: Paula Buckley, Garry Cockburn, Maê Nascimento, and Tarra Stariell. I thank Steve Schroeter for re-typing the original scanned version of David Finlay s paper. I send my loving gratitude to my core editorial support group of Maê Nascimento and Margit Koemeda. You may feel sad reading memorial notes, intrigued with ideas from articles, and happy at moments of discovery. To be able to experience a myriad of varied feelings is part of feeling truly alive. This capacity to feel deeply, is the backbone of Alexander Lowen s life work. Through his theory and practice of Bioenergetics, he helped us learn how to define, promote, and value feeling deeply, and thereby, living fully. May this small volume contribute to moments of deeply felt aliveness for you. Vincentia Schroeter November 15, 2009

11 9 Memorial Notes about Alexander Lowen The following are reflections on the personal and professional legacy of our founder, Dr. Alexander Lowen. Three are written for this volume, while the rest are excerpts from speeches given at Dr. Lowen s Memorial, April, 2009, in New York. Alexander Lowen, May 2005, Heiner Steckel

12 10 Guy Tonella Tribute to Alexander Lowen Never let anybody make you doubt about what you feel! Guy Tonella The first workshop I did with Dr. A. Lowen had such impact on me that I decided to initiate my bioenergetic training and travel to New York to start a therapy with him. That was in 1979, exactly 30 years ago, when I was in the bosom of psychoanalysis. This experience was a turning point in my life and my personal life. What did Alexander Lowen have that was so special? He was a therapist fully identified with its own conviction that the energy sequestered in bodily tensions depleted the ability to be alive, to love, to create. He drew from his acting conviction an impressive force, a presence of warrior that my resistances and defenses could never damage. He was demanding, he never compounded, he provoked me every time to express my fears, my anger, and my vitality to the limit of bearable. His penetrating blue eyes, sometimes challenging, sometimes tender, remained focused on my body expressiveness: the only reliable truth. He provoked me to perceive, feel, understand and change. I am deeply grateful. One day, making me doubt during a session about what I was feeling, him perhaps having a different impression than mine, he saw my distress and said: Guy, never let anybody make you doubt about what you feel when your feeling forces itself upon you! He was just proposing to me that I trust in myself. I owe him since that day that constant search for deep identification with myself, with my own experience, my own perceptions and my own convictions. I have rarely seen someone identified as much with himself and not with external events or people passing. I remember this Christmas, 1979, invited to stay at his home with his family: Leslie, his wife and Fred, his son. I remember that Al was the same there as in his office in New York. He was with this

13 Memorial Notes about Alexander Lowen 11 permanent concern of being oneself. He was not perfect but it was rooted in his being himself. This has been for me and forever an ethical model of life. Lowen was a modern man, an observer of great intelligence and vision. I think he founded bioenergetic analysis around two central paradigms: 1) body-mind continuity builds from a basic, fundamental bodily identity, and 2) physical exercise combined with emotional expression provides sources of vitality, and continuously repairs and revitalizes somatic tissues and neurobiological circuits. Neuroscience now scientifically legitimizes this approach. I work today, as many of us do, to build on the invaluable legacy he left us. My gratitude to him is immense, and my thoughts are constantly inspired by the experience that he made me live and the invaluable work he wrote. Of course, my own history, my own personality, and my own culture commit me to developing and practicing bioenergetic analysis with my personal convictions and style, coherent with who I am. I also owe Alexander Lowen for what he said to me: Make your own way, not trying to imitate me. If you stay grounded in your body, you will do your own discoveries. Committing me today and for the future years in a mission backed by the United Nations Organization towards the peoples who suffer, I take my bioenergetic practice in my suit-case and I think to you, Al, to my heart you opened which can now receive the others and give, share and love. Thank you. Al Lowen Memorial, May 2009 Helen Resneck-Sannes The reason we are here today is that a great man, Al Lowen, died. He was charismatic, intelligent, passionate, a truly great thinker and writer, and attracted a group of intelligent and creative followers, some of whom you see here today. And the bottom line is that Al Lowen practiced and lived his ideas. He was as they say: the real deal.