Body-mind
Encyclopedia
Bodymind is a compound of body
and mind
, which, in the New Age
disciplines of humanistic psychology
and spirituality
, researchers in the second half of the twentieth century had begun studying in order to move beyond the dualist conceptions of body and mind towards a unified and interrelated concept of a bodymind. The term is related to the older concepts psychosomatic and somatopsychic
.
who established as his deepest and most lasting philosophical legacy the thesis that mind and body are really distinct—a thesis still called "mind-body dualism". He established that he had a mind without needing to assume that he had a body. He reached this conclusion by arguing that the nature of the mind (that is, a thinking, non-extended thing) is completely different from that of the body (that is, an extended, non-thinking thing), and therefore it is possible for one to exist without the other. Descartes offers two versions to support his thesis, firstly:
And in a second argument:
These arguments give rise to the famous problem of mind-body causal interaction still debated today: how can the mind cause some of our bodily limbs to move (for example, raising one's hand to strike something), and how can the body’s sense organs cause sensations in the mind when their natures are completely different?
, therapeutic
as well as in a medical sense
is that:
Bodymind therapy combines the strengths of "talk" therapy
with bodywork, such as touch, postural alignment, or movement education
and exercise to increase body awareness, also known as mind-body or somatic therapy
. It helps people become deeply aware of their bodily sensations as well as their emotions, images and behavior. Clients become more conscious of how they breathe, move, speak, and where they experience feelings in their bodies.
The body holds all experience - including physical stress and emotional injury, as well as delights and exuberant experiences - stored in the body cells which informs and directs here and now responses to life events through the stored pattern of expectations and "rules about reality" acquired so far. In a bodymind therapy process, clients can become aware of and choose to change patterns of expectation and limitation that are more difficult to connect with so directly on the level of focusing on the mind alone. Unacknowledged feelings from past experiences are stored in the body and then unconsciously have a powerful effect on who you are, how you behave, and how you feel about yourself. Using the body as the gateway to awareness, buried feelings and memories can surface, freeing from old patterns and energy blocks that keep us feeling stuck and unable to live life to its fullest. Our mind may avoid certain emotions and memories, but our body remembers it all.
Bodymind therapy is a psychotherapeutic process that works on the relationship between the body and the emotional processes of the client, and is intended to address deep-seated and old patterns of relating to self and other, that are not easily accessible to change through talk therapy alone.
, MD, has pioneered bodymind research, focusing on stress and the "relaxation response" in medicine. In his research, the mind and body are one system, in which meditation plays a significant role in reducing stress responses (Benson 1972).
Jack Painter Ph.D., (1933–2010), a pioneer of the human growth work, developed a conception of 'bodymind' in the 1960s. As professor of Philosophy and Psychology at the University of Miami he engaged with many of the people who were later grouped together in the 'Human Potential Movement
'. He personally explored many different approaches – Zen, Yoga, Gestalt
(with Fritz Perls
and Marty Fromm), Rolfing
(with Bill Williams), Reichian therapy
(with Raffale Estrada Villa) and many others. In the process Painter became increasingly interested in integrating influences and aspects from different approaches into an effective and coherent method of personal growth, self-development and healing, stating however that -- "the form of bodywork which I created is not an eclectic combination of techniques I experienced or learned -- it is a singular approach to the whole person". From the seventies on he developed Bodymind Integration approaches like Postural Integration©
, Energetic Integration and Pelvic-Heart Integration. Bodymind Integration combines working with the physical, energetic and cognitive as well as the emotional processes in the bodymind. The International Council of PsychoCorporal (Bodymind) Integration Trainers (ICPIT) carry on and develop Postural Integration and Energetic Integration.
John Money
developed a conception of 'bodymind' as a way for scientists, in developing a science about sexuality, to move on from the platitudes of dichotomy between nature versus nurture
, innate versus acquired, biological versus social, and psychological versus physiological, both for science and in gender and sexuality studies. He suggests that all of these capitalize on the ancient, pre-Platonic, pre-biblical conception of body versus mind, and physical versus spiritual. In coining the term bodymind, in this sense, Money wishes to move beyond these very ingrained principles of our folk or vernacular psychology, in understanding sexuality, and aspects of humanness.
Money suggests that the concept of threshold—relating to the release or inhibition of sexual behavior—is most useful for sex research as a substitute for any concept of motivation. It confers a great of advantage of continuity and unity, to what would otherwise be disparate and varied. It also allows for the classification of sexual behaviors. For Money, the concept of threshold has great value because of the wide spectrum to which it applies. "It allows one to think developmentally or longitudinally, in terms of stages or experiences that are programmed serially, or hierarchically, or cybernetically (i.e. regulated by mutual feedback)."
Anthropologists Nancy Scheper-Hughes
and Margaret M. Lock have developed a concept of bodymind for medical anthropology
to provide a basis for research that is not limited by the view that the body and mind are distinct from one another.
Body
With regard to living things, a body is the physical body of an individual. "Body" often is used in connection with appearance, health issues and death...
and mind
Mind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
, which, in the New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
disciplines of humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective which rose to prominence in the mid-20th century, drawing on the work of early pioneers like Carl Rogers and the philosophies of existentialism and phenomenology...
and spirituality
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
, researchers in the second half of the twentieth century had begun studying in order to move beyond the dualist conceptions of body and mind towards a unified and interrelated concept of a bodymind. The term is related to the older concepts psychosomatic and somatopsychic
Somatopsychic
Somatopsychic is a medical term for the effects of the body on the mind. Somatopsychic is used to describe a body-mind relationship, as does psychosomatic. Psychosomatic, however, refers to the mind's effect on the body.-External links:**...
.
Dualistic concept
Perhaps the leading exponent of an earlier dualistic theory of body and mind was René DescartesRené Descartes
René Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...
who established as his deepest and most lasting philosophical legacy the thesis that mind and body are really distinct—a thesis still called "mind-body dualism". He established that he had a mind without needing to assume that he had a body. He reached this conclusion by arguing that the nature of the mind (that is, a thinking, non-extended thing) is completely different from that of the body (that is, an extended, non-thinking thing), and therefore it is possible for one to exist without the other. Descartes offers two versions to support his thesis, firstly:
- I have a clear and distinct idea of the mind as a thinking, non-extended thing.
- I have a clear and distinct idea of body as an extended, non-thinking thing.
- Therefore, the mind is really distinct from the body and can exist without it.
And in a second argument:
- I understand the mind to be indivisible by its very nature.
- I understand the body to be divisible by its very nature.
- Therefore, the mind is completely different from the body.
These arguments give rise to the famous problem of mind-body causal interaction still debated today: how can the mind cause some of our bodily limbs to move (for example, raising one's hand to strike something), and how can the body’s sense organs cause sensations in the mind when their natures are completely different?
Interrelated concepts
The present day understanding of bodymind both in a psychologicalPsychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, therapeutic
Therapy
This is a list of types of therapy .* Adventure therapy* Animal-assisted therapy* Aquatic therapy* Aromatherapy* Art and dementia* Art therapy* Authentic Movement* Behavioral therapy* Bibliotherapy* Buteyko Method* Chemotherapy...
as well as in a medical sense
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
is that:
- The body, mind, emotions and spirit are dynamically interrelated.
- Each time a change is introduced at one level, it has a ripple effect throughout the entire system.
Bodymind therapy combines the strengths of "talk" therapy
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
with bodywork, such as touch, postural alignment, or movement education
Feldenkrais
Feldenkrais can refer to either:* the Feldenkrais method in movement education* Moshé Feldenkrais, physicist, judoka and inventor of this method....
and exercise to increase body awareness, also known as mind-body or somatic therapy
Somatic Experiencing
Somatic Experiencing is a form of therapy aimed at relieving and resolving the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental and physical trauma-related health problems by focusing on the client’s perceived body sensations . It was introduced in Dr. Peter Levine's 1997 book Waking...
. It helps people become deeply aware of their bodily sensations as well as their emotions, images and behavior. Clients become more conscious of how they breathe, move, speak, and where they experience feelings in their bodies.
The body holds all experience - including physical stress and emotional injury, as well as delights and exuberant experiences - stored in the body cells which informs and directs here and now responses to life events through the stored pattern of expectations and "rules about reality" acquired so far. In a bodymind therapy process, clients can become aware of and choose to change patterns of expectation and limitation that are more difficult to connect with so directly on the level of focusing on the mind alone. Unacknowledged feelings from past experiences are stored in the body and then unconsciously have a powerful effect on who you are, how you behave, and how you feel about yourself. Using the body as the gateway to awareness, buried feelings and memories can surface, freeing from old patterns and energy blocks that keep us feeling stuck and unable to live life to its fullest. Our mind may avoid certain emotions and memories, but our body remembers it all.
Bodymind therapy is a psychotherapeutic process that works on the relationship between the body and the emotional processes of the client, and is intended to address deep-seated and old patterns of relating to self and other, that are not easily accessible to change through talk therapy alone.
Other unified concepts
Herbert BensonHerbert Benson
Herbert Benson, M.D. , is an American cardiologist and founder of the Mind/Body Medical Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He graduated from Wesleyan University and Harvard Medical School....
, MD, has pioneered bodymind research, focusing on stress and the "relaxation response" in medicine. In his research, the mind and body are one system, in which meditation plays a significant role in reducing stress responses (Benson 1972).
Jack Painter Ph.D., (1933–2010), a pioneer of the human growth work, developed a conception of 'bodymind' in the 1960s. As professor of Philosophy and Psychology at the University of Miami he engaged with many of the people who were later grouped together in the 'Human Potential Movement
Human Potential Movement
The Human Potential Movement arose out of the social and intellectual milieu of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people...
'. He personally explored many different approaches – Zen, Yoga, Gestalt
Gestalt therapy
Gestalt therapy is an existential/experiential form of psychotherapy that emphasizes personal responsibility, and that focuses upon the individual's experience in the present moment, the therapist-client relationship, the environmental and social contexts of a person's life, and the self-regulating...
(with Fritz Perls
Fritz Perls
Friedrich Salomon Perls , better known as Fritz Perls, was a noted German-born psychiatrist and psychotherapist of Jewish descent....
and Marty Fromm), Rolfing
Rolfing
Rolfing is a therapy system created by The Rolf Institute of Structural Integration and is a system whereby the alleged manipulation of the fasciae by specific methods is theorized to yield therapeutic benefit....
(with Bill Williams), Reichian therapy
Vegetotherapy
Vegetotherapy is a form of Reichian psychotherapy that involves the physical manifestations of emotions. The basic and founding text of vegetotherapy is Wilhelm Reich's Psychischer Kontakt und vegetative Stroemung , later included in the enlarged edition of Reich's Character Analysis .- Practice...
(with Raffale Estrada Villa) and many others. In the process Painter became increasingly interested in integrating influences and aspects from different approaches into an effective and coherent method of personal growth, self-development and healing, stating however that -- "the form of bodywork which I created is not an eclectic combination of techniques I experienced or learned -- it is a singular approach to the whole person". From the seventies on he developed Bodymind Integration approaches like Postural Integration©
Postural Integration (PI)
Postural Integration is an alternative process-oriented, body based therapy originally developed in the late 1960s by in California, USA, after many years of self-exploration in the fields of humanistic psychology and the human potential movement...
, Energetic Integration and Pelvic-Heart Integration. Bodymind Integration combines working with the physical, energetic and cognitive as well as the emotional processes in the bodymind. The International Council of PsychoCorporal (Bodymind) Integration Trainers (ICPIT) carry on and develop Postural Integration and Energetic Integration.
John Money
John Money
John William Money was a psychologist, sexologist and author, specializing in research into sexual identity and biology of gender...
developed a conception of 'bodymind' as a way for scientists, in developing a science about sexuality, to move on from the platitudes of dichotomy between nature versus nurture
Nature versus nurture
The nature versus nurture debate concerns the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities versus personal experiences The nature versus nurture debate concerns the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities ("nature," i.e. nativism, or innatism) versus personal experiences...
, innate versus acquired, biological versus social, and psychological versus physiological, both for science and in gender and sexuality studies. He suggests that all of these capitalize on the ancient, pre-Platonic, pre-biblical conception of body versus mind, and physical versus spiritual. In coining the term bodymind, in this sense, Money wishes to move beyond these very ingrained principles of our folk or vernacular psychology, in understanding sexuality, and aspects of humanness.
Money suggests that the concept of threshold—relating to the release or inhibition of sexual behavior—is most useful for sex research as a substitute for any concept of motivation. It confers a great of advantage of continuity and unity, to what would otherwise be disparate and varied. It also allows for the classification of sexual behaviors. For Money, the concept of threshold has great value because of the wide spectrum to which it applies. "It allows one to think developmentally or longitudinally, in terms of stages or experiences that are programmed serially, or hierarchically, or cybernetically (i.e. regulated by mutual feedback)."
Anthropologists Nancy Scheper-Hughes
Nancy Scheper-Hughes
Nancy Scheper-Hughes is a professor of Anthropology and director of the program in Medical Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley. She is known for her writing on the anthropology of the body, hunger, illness, medicine, psychiatry, madness, social suffering, violence and genocide...
and Margaret M. Lock have developed a concept of bodymind for medical anthropology
Medical anthropology
Medical anthropology is an interdisciplinary field which studies "human health and disease, health care systems, and biocultural adaptation". It views humans from multidimensional and ecological perspectives...
to provide a basis for research that is not limited by the view that the body and mind are distinct from one another.
See also
- Bodymind (in meditation traditions)Bodymind (in meditation traditions)Bodymind is a compound of body and mind and may be used differently in different meditation traditions. These different understandings often inform each other.Buddhist philosopher, Herbert V...
- Mind-body dichotomyMind-body dichotomyThe mind-body problem is a philosophical problem arising in the fields of metaphysics and philosophy of mind. The problem arises because mental phenomena appear to be qualitatively and substantially different from the physical bodies on which they appear to depend. There are a few major theories on...
- NamarupaNamarupaNāmarūpa is a dvandva compound in Sanskrit and Pali meaning "name and form ".-Nāmarūpa in Hinduism:The term nāmarūpa is used in Hindu thought, nāma describing the spiritual or essential properties of an object or being, and rūpa the physical presence that it manifests...
– the BuddhistBuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
concept of "Mind and Body" - SomatopsychicSomatopsychicSomatopsychic is a medical term for the effects of the body on the mind. Somatopsychic is used to describe a body-mind relationship, as does psychosomatic. Psychosomatic, however, refers to the mind's effect on the body.-External links:**...
- Expressional Philosophy - EmergentismEmergentismIn philosophy, emergentism is the belief in emergence, particularly as it involves consciousness and the philosophy of mind, and as it contrasts with reductionism. A property of a system is said to be emergent if it is in some sense more than the "sum" of the properties of the system's parts...