Embodied presence vs "talking cure":
The body as a resource in body-centered psychotherapy

Movies and TV shows keep presenting therapy as the "talking cure". But, in order to create the possibility of change, we have to go beyond what happens in ordinary conversation. In a session, you are not just talking about what happened to you at some earlier point, you are processing experience at a deeper level, in the moment. A very powerful way to be in the experiential moment is to pay attention to what's happening in the body. This shifts your focus from being purely in an intellectual or "talking head" mode, and creates more space for the emergence of an "aha" moment.

In the video below, you can see somebody use the body as a resource in the process of making sense of things. Please keep in mind that the person in this video, Carol "Tandava" Henning, is an actor and dancer. She is somebody who has developed a higher ability to be aware of her body and to listen to inner movement. So this video is not meant to represent a typical session, any more than what Carol is wearing in the video is meant to be typical attire for a session!

In fact, the key point is that creatively paying attention to the body is different with each person. Some people, like Carol, are very comfortable sensing and expressing through their body. On the other end of the continuum, some people don't do any kind of bodily sensing at all; I pay attention to their body language and voice as they talk, and this informs my understanding of what they say. And there's a whole continuum in-between. The idea is not to apply a "cookie-cutter" method to all, but to do what feels right for this person at this moment.

The video lasts a total of 14:18 minutes.

If you're unable to watch the video from this page, try the alternate page.

See also:

- Creatively working with dream meanings (1) and (2)

- Somatic (body-centered) psychotherapy

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