Why include the body in psychotherapy?

• Feelings are experienced in the body. Pleasure and pain, both physical and emotional, are experienced bodily.

• We protect ourselves from pain by deadening our bodies, by tightening our muscles and by not breathing enough and not moving enough. When we feel more alive by learning to relax and by breathing more deeply, our ability to experience pleasure increases. And we become more resilient, more able to meet the vicissitudes of life.

• Discomfort with the body is endemic in our culture. It is an important factor in emotional distress.

• If we think too much about our problems and try to find solutions by only by cognitive means, there is a danger of ending up lost in our heads and forgetting to experience life.

• Although verbal  communication and understanding are essential, referring to the body and working directly with the body can speed things up help and people to be fully themselves.