Engaging the Body in Psychotherapy: Contemporary Bioenergetic Analysis

Laurie Ure, LILCSW, CBT
Laurie Ure, a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and Certified Bioenergetic Therapist, has over 25 years of experience as a Bioenergetic Therapist. In addition to work with individuals, she leads Bioenergetic workshops and trains Bioenergetic Therapists in the United States and internationally. Laurie directs the Massachusetts Society for Bioenergetic Analysis and has published many articles about the bioenergetic approach. www.laurieure.com Vincentia Schroeter
Vincentia Schroeter, PhD, is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over forty years experience as a Bioenergetic Analyst. She is a member of the international faculty of the IIBA, member of SCIBA (Southern California), and past editor of the IIBA journal (2008-2018). She is a co-author with Barbara Thomson of Bend Into Shape, Techniques for Bioenergetic Therapists (2011); author of Communication Breakthrough: How Brain Science and Listening to Body Cues Can Transform Your Relationships (2018); and author of Tilt: Seeking Balance in Troubled Times (2021). www.vincentiaschroeterphd.com Robert Coffman
Robert Coffman, PhD, is a licensed Clinical Psychologist with over forty-five years experience as a Bioenergetic Analyst and trainer. He is a member of the international faculty of the International Institute of Bioenergetic Analysis (IIBA). He assists as a clinical facilitator for Somatic Experiencing training and has an ongoing private practice in California. www.drrobertcoffman.com

The course provides an introduction to the theory and practice of contemporary bioenergetic analysis. It is geared to clinical social workers and other mental health professionals. It includes both lecture and experiential aspects to help social workers increase their skills and understanding in helping their clients.

From the perspective of bioenergetic analysis, early childhood experience impacts the form of a person’s body, along with their beliefs about life, themselves, and their expectations in adult relationships. Attachment wounds frequently underlie the problems causing clients to seek mental health treatment. Addressing these early wounds requires an integrated body/mind approach as clients are often unaware of the impact of their developmental experience on their present functioning.

In the class we will thoroughly describe the innovation of working with the body as part of the psychotherapy process. We will explain how working with the body along with the mind enhances clinical work by going beyond words. We will demonstrate and provide practice exercises that help social workers link client’s presenting problems to their early experiences through body awareness. Linking a person’s early history to their presenting problem expands the skills of social workers as it can increase understanding and compassion for client’s life struggles, across diagnoses and presenting problems. We will incorporate information from contemporary trauma-informed theory, neuroscience, and attachment research.

The course promotes social justice by teaching techniques that expand appropriate self-expression and build self-confidence and self-esteem. Working with the body and addressing developmental wounding bridges diagnostic categories, economic realities, sexual preferences, and racial/cultural differences, as all human beings have the commonality of living in our bodies and being raised in some form of family unit and cultural context which impacts adult experience.

Engaging the Body in Psychotherapy: A Contemporary Bioenergetic Analysis Approach
Pre-recorded Content/Recorded Live Session Agenda Module 1: Overview of Contemporary Bioenergetic Analysis – 1 Hour = 1 CE
Module one covers the theory, history, and basic concepts of Bioenergetic Analysis – a form of psychotherapy which integrates work with the body and mind in the context of psychodynamic psychotherapy. In this first module, we describe the origins of bioenergetic analysis, beginning with Wilhelm Reich, who was a contemporary of Sigmund Freud. We discuss how Alexander Lowen, MD, a student and client of Reich, developed bioenergetic analysis in the 1950’s. We discuss the basic concepts of bioenergetic psychotherapy, including the energy economy of the body, physical armoring through muscle tension which constricts expression, and the value of using guided movement which combines moving with feeling in psychotherapeutic settings. In this module, we also describe how bioenergetic therapy differs from other body-based approaches – primarily that it incorporates work with the body within psychodynamic psychotherapy. Recording of Live Session #1 – 1.5 hours = 1.5 CEs
In the first live call we will expand the theory of muscle armor and defensive patterns structured in the body. This will include an experiential exercise for participants to explore in their own body. We will also go into more depth on the basic concepts of bioenergetic analysis including discussing how unconscious breathing patterns impact a person’s energy and the relationship between energy and mental health. We will invite participants to experiment with three different styles of tense breathing to note this impact for themselves. We will review bonus videos #1 Polyvagal Theory and Bioenergetics, #7 Attachment Theory and Bioenergetics, and # 9 The Scientific Origins of Energy in the Human Body with Dr. Martin Picard which further expands understanding of the role of energy in mental health. Module 2: How Bioenergetic Therapy works – 1.5 Hours – 1.5 CEs
Module two begins with an overview of body awareness as a foundational tool used in bioenergetic therapy. This module covers the use of body observations and tracking of a client’s movements as a diagnostic tool in therapeutic interventions. We discuss how a social worker/therapist can begin by increasing awareness of their own body sensations to begin to guide their understanding of how to help their clients. We describe how a social worker can learn to connect their client’s presenting problem to their history by observing the client’s unconscious physical holding patterns. We demonstrate this process through an assessment session of observing, exaggerating, and mirroring the holding patterns in the client. We discuss the perspective, in bioenergetic analysis, that body tensions develop in a person’s childhood to adapt to the expectations and needs of the family and social environment. Recording of Live Session #2 – 1.5 hours = 1.5 CEs
This live call focuses on the important role of body awareness in bioenergetic therapy. We will begin with a body awareness exercise to invite the participation of the students. Next, we will go into depth about using body observations as part of the process in psychotherapy. This will include a participatory exercise to practice body observations as a therapist. We will explain the bioenergetic diagnostic tool of ECP/ERP – the exaggerated contracted position and the exaggerated reverse position. We will provide case examples of using this tool effectively with clients to link their presenting problem with underlying issues from their childhood experience. We will review the bonus track on colonialism and bioenergetics and the application of attachment theory with their applications to bioenergetics. Participants will be encouraged to view bonus video # 5 Considering Catharsis: Avoiding Flooding While Doing Expressive Work and # 6 Releasing Toxic Shame: A Bioenergetic Demonstration prior to the next live call. Recording of Practice Call 1 – No CEs
In these live calls, each technique learned about in the teaching call will be thoroughly demonstrated and practiced. Module 3: Grounding and Boundaries – 1 Hour = 1 CE
In module three we teach the theory, explain the value, and demonstrate two fundamental bioenergetic techniques – physical grounding and verbal combined with non-verbal boundary setting. We discuss how and when to use these tools in therapy settings to provide social workers with specific body-based tools to help their clients. We discuss how the grounding exercises focuses on building self-confidence, decreasing dissociation, and providing an antidote to overthinking – as in anxiety. We provide an expanded definition of personal boundaries as “transactions at the point of contact” which includes both setting limits and reaching out for various forms of connection. We describe how, through addressing both verbal and non-verbal communications, social workers can help their clients express their wishes more clearly and work through the pain of past boundary violations. We illustrate the use of these tools in role play demonstrations. Recording of Live Session #3 – 1.5 hours = 1.5 CEs
The bioenergetic basic tools of grounding and working with personal boundaries physically will be the focus on this call. We will discuss different ways of doing the grounding exercises including sitting, standing, bending over. The session includes discussion about when to use these methods and of the value of grounding in establishing a person’s equality with others. We will invite participants to practice these exercises together while noting and discussing their experience. Next, we will review the bioenergetic way of working with personal boundaries both verbally and non-verbally. In the session, we will do an experiential exercise with participants to practice these techniques together. The session also includes discussion of how catharsis is in bioenergetic analysis and the bioenergetic demonstration about releasing toxic shame. We will discuss the difference between toxic shame and healthy shame, including self-respect as an alternative to living with toxic shame. Participants will be encouraged to watch the bonus videos #3: Inviting Joy and Cultivating Vitality: The Aim of Bioenergetic Psychotherapy and #4: Fostering Pleasure and Sexuality in Bioenergetic Psychotherapy prior to the next live call. Recording of Practice Call 2 – No CEs
In these live calls, each technique learned about in the teaching call will be thoroughly demonstrated and practiced. Module 4: Working with energy in the body – breathing, depression, anxiety – 1 Hour = 1 CE
Module 4 covers the significance of energy in the body, specifically related to a person’s unconscious breathing patterns. These breathing patterns impact a person’s experience of life. We explain how exercises to shift a client’s breathing patterns can increase their overall energy, contributing to improving their overall well-being. We discuss how a person develops these patterns in response to their childhood environment. The module includes illustrations of three classic types of defensive breathing patterns, including how they relate to a person’s presenting problem. We demonstrate a technique used in bioenergetic therapy to help a person shift their breathing patterns. Module 4 continues with a new definition of depression that includes both mental and physical factors. We discuss how this links to environmental and social factors in a person’s life, including poverty, lack of access to resources, discrimination, rejection due to sexual preference, and all type of losses. We review the body based factors of anxiety, including muscle tension, focus in the past or future, and overthinking. We demonstrate exercises to express anger safely and appropriately. Recording of Live Session #4 – 1.5 hours = 1.5 CEs
During this call, we will go into greater depth about the connection between breathing patterns, energy, and specific mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. We will discuss the bioenergetic view of vitality as a body/mind antidote to depression. The experiential aspects of this session will include practicing twisting the towel as a way of expressing anger in a safe and appropriate way and exercises to expand breathing patterns. We will also review the demonstration of bioenergetic ways of opening breathing patterns to increase body awareness, release tension, and expand energy through the use of an exercise ball. We will discuss the bioenergetic view of sexuality, pleasure, and joy. We will encourage participants to watch bonus videos #2 A Touchy Subject: The Ethics of Touch in Psychotherapy, #10 Treating Trauma in the Body with David Berceli, PhD, and #11 The Contemporary Relational Model in Bioenergetics: Interview with Robert Hilton, PhD prior to the next live session. Recording of Practice Call 3 – No CEs
In these live calls, each technique learned about in the teaching call will be thoroughly demonstrated and practiced. Module 5: Trauma, Therapeutic Relationship, Character Structure – 1 Hour = 1 CE
In this module we discuss some of the bioenergetic point of view about treating trauma. We explain the difference between dissociation and repression in response to shock trauma. We discuss advances in brain science which combine with our in-depth knowledge of working with the body in psychotherapy to address our client’s traumatic experiences. We cover the bioenergetic viewpoint of the importance of the therapeutic relationship in helping our clients overcome the challenges they face. This includes addressing transference, countertransference, and resistance in therapy. We explain how bioenergetics is based on a psychoanalytic psychodynamic therapeutic model.

We also present the bioenergetic concept of character structure. In this we describe specific, observable patterns of how people hold tension in their bodies as a defense against childhood wounding. We discuss how social workers/therapists can begin to use this concept in their work to observe tension patterns in their clients. We explain how this awareness can increase a social workers understanding of and compassion for some of the root causes of the pain and suffering which their clients experience.

Recording of Live Session #5 – 1.5 hours = 1.5 CEs
In the final live call in the series will focus on the significance of the relationship in contemporary bioenergetic therapy for relational repair. We will explain the bioenergetic approach to shock trauma, including the differences between dissociation and repression. We will invite participants to experience the tension releasing exercises developed by David Berceli, PhD. We will discuss how the concept of character structure in bioenergetics contributes to understanding, empathy, and an ability to help clients resolve underlying issues. We will invite attendees to participate in an experiential exercise to explore the different body-based character styles identified in bioenergetic analysis in their own bodies. The session will include case examples of how bioenergetic therapists use their understanding of character types in the clinical setting. Our discussion will include an overview of the impact of colonialism and how bioenergetic exercises can help address this. We will finish with a review of bonus video # 12 Grounded Spirituality.

1. Describe how the use of body observations and awareness can help social workers link a client’s presenting problem to underlying issues including developmental history and traumatic experiences to guide therapeutic interventions. 2. Name five specific body-based techniques for social workers to use in therapeutic settings to improve treatment outcomes for clients of varying diagnoses, economic backgrounds, sexual orientations, ages, gender preferences, and racial/ethnic backgrounds. 3. Explain how working with the body and mind in the context of psychodynamic psychotherapy can expand social workers’ ability to help clients improve self-esteem, self-expression, self-respect, and expand personal boundary communications to more effectively advocate for themselves and others. 4. List three basic concepts of bioenergetic analysis. 5. Describe how the therapist can use their own body awareness to track the client.
6. Explain how the client’s body holding patterns connects to their presenting problem and history.
7. Discuss the value of exaggerating tension patterns as a diagnostic tool.
8. Define the value of grounding from a bioenergetic point of view for the therapist and the client.
9. Describe the impact of childhood boundary violations on a person’s satisfaction in their adult relationships.
10. List three ways of working with personal boundaries physically from the bioenergetic perspective.
11. List three types of defensive breathing patterns and ways to modify them.
12. Explain how depression and anxiety manifest in the body.
13. Describe three qualities of vitality as an aim of bioenergetic psychotherapy.
14. Identify how trauma can be seen not only in the nervous system but in the muscular holding patterns in the body.
15. Describe the centrality of the therapeutic relationship in bioenergetics.
16. List the five basic character types from bioenergetics.

This program has been approved for 13 Social Work Continuing Education hours (Distance Learning) for relicensure, in accordance with 258 CMR. NASW-MA Chapter CE Approving Program, Authorization Number D91650. 

Cost
CEs will be available for a $40 fee once the course has been completed in its entirety.  Evaluation and post-test
A course evaluation, as well as a post-test, will be required in order to obtain the CEs for this training.  An email will be sent to each participant after the conclusion of the course with instructions on how to complete the evaluation, post-test and obtain the CE Certificate.  Continuing Education credits offered:
13.0 Credits for Social Workers in Massachusetts (NASW Authorization #D91650)

Please note: Most states will accept the approval of other state licensing boards of the same license type. Some states, either do not require pre-approval of courses, or will allow licensees to retroactively file for course approval themselves. Check with your board to obtain a final ruling.

 

This course is $647. You can purchase it here.

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