Alexander Lowen - Joy : the surrender to the body and to life

Table of Contents

Dr. Alexander Lowen is the creator of bioenergetics, a revolutionary method of psychotherapy designed to restore the body to its natural freedom and spontaneity through a regimen of exercise. The foremost exponent of this method of incorporating direct work on the body with the psychoanalytic process, Dr. Lowen practices psychiatry in New York and Connecticut and is the executive director of the Institute of Bioenergetic Analysis. He and his wife live in New Canaan, Connecticut. Dr. Lowens other titles include Depression and the Body, Bioenergetics, Pleasure and Love, Sex and Your Heart, all of which are available from Arkana.

This book is dedicated to my wife,
Rowfreta Leslie Lowen,
a truly religious person

It is forty-eight years since I saw my first client in therapy. I had just completed my analysis with Wilhelm Reich. Reichs work was becoming known, resulting in a demand for his kind of therapy. As there were very few individuals trained in his approach, I was sought out despite the fact that I was not a physician at the time. As a beginner I charged my first patient two dollars an hour, which was a small fee even then. But as I look back to that early experience, I question if I was worth even that small sum. I had no idea of the depth and severity of the disturbance that afflicts so many people in our culturethe depression, the anxiety, the insecurity and the lack of love and joy in life.

After working with people for almost half a century, during which time I have written eleven books, I believe I have gained an understanding of the human problem and have formulated the principles of an effective therapeutic approach which I call Bioenergetic Analysis. This book will describe the process of that therapy and illustrate its application through the case histories of my clients. Let me say that it is not a quick and easy cure, though it is effective. However, its effectiveness depends upon the experience and self-understanding of the therapist. Since the problems that people struggle with have been structured in their personalities for many years, it is unrealistic to expect any quick or easy cure. True miracles rarely happen. The one miracle that occurs regularly is the miracle of the creation of new life. To that miracle, this book is dedicated.

The underlying theory of Bioenergetic Analysis is the functional identity and antithesis of mind and bodyof psychological and physical processes. Functional refers to the fact that body and mind act as a unit in running the body, and are a unit on the deep level of the energetic processes. The antithesis is reflected in the fact that on the surface the mind can influence the body and the body, of course, affects thinking and mental processes.

Bioenergetic Analysis is based on the concept that a person is a unitary being and that what happens in the mind must also be happening in the body. Thus, if a person is depressed with thoughts of despair, helplessness and failure, his body will manifest a similar depressed attitude, evident in decreased impulse formation, reduced mobility and restricted breathing. All bodily functions will be depressed, including metabolism, resulting in lowered energy production.

Of course, the mind can influence the body just as the body affects the mind. It is possible in some cases to improve ones bodily functioning through a change in ones mental attitude, but any change so induced will be temporary unless the underlying bodily processes are significantly changed. On the other hand, directly improving bodily functions such as breathing, moving, feeling and self-expression has an immediate and lasting effect on ones mental attitude. In the final analysis, increasing a persons energy is the fundamental change which the therapeutic process must produce if it is to reach its goal of freeing an individual from the restrictions of his past and the inhibitions of the present.

The above diagram shows the hierarchy of personality functions as a pyramid with the ego at the top. These functions are interrelated and dependent on each other, and all rest on a base representing energy production and use.

The aim of therapy is to help an individual recover the full potential of his being. All individuals who come to therapy have been greatly diminished in their capacity to live and experience the fullness of life by the traumas of their childhood. This is the basic disturbance in their personality which underlies the symptoms they present. While the symptoms denote how the individual has been crippled by his upbringing, the bottom line is the loss of part of the self. All patients suffer from some limitation in their selfhood: a limited self-awareness, a restricted self-expression and a reduced sense of self-possession. These basic functions are the pillars of the temple of the self. Their weakness creates an insecurity in the personality which undermines all the individuals efforts to find the peace and joy which give life its fullest satisfaction and deepest meaning.

To overcome these limitations is an ambitious goal for any therapeutic undertaking, and, as I said before, it is not easy to achieve. Without a clear understanding of the therapeutic goal one can get lost in the maze of conflicts and ambivalence that confuse and frustrate most therapeutic endeavors. But it is an essential undertaking that can substantially help the many people in our culture for whom life is a struggle to survive and joy is a rare experience.

I would like to thank David Randolph, who supplied the references about joy in the Bible and to Michael Conant and Leslie Case, who read the manuscript and offered some suggestions.

When I work with my patients, most of them will leave the session feeling good. Some will leave feeling joyful. But these good feelings generally do not last. They result from the experience during the session of breaking free from some restricting tension, of feeling more alive and of understanding ones self more deeply. They do not last because the breakthrough was achieved with my help and the patients are not able to maintain their openness and freedom alone. But each breakthrough of feeling, each release of tension, is a step toward the recovery of the self even if one cannot fully hold the gain. These are also temporary gains because the patient, as he goes deeper into himself physically and psychologically in his search, will encounter more frightening memories and feelings from an earlier period of his childhoodfeelings which have been more deeply suppressed in the interest of survival. But as one goes deeper into the self one also gains courage to deal with these early fears and traumas in a mature way, that is, without denial and suppression. Somewhere deep inside each of us is the child who was innocent and free and who knew that the gift of life was the gift of joy.

Young children are generally open to feelings of joy. They are known to jump for joy, literally. Young animals do the same, kicking up their heels and running about in a joyful abandon to life. It is very rare to see a mature or older person feel and act that way. Dancing may be the closest they come to it, which is why dancing is the most natural activity at joyful occasions. Children, however, do not need a special occasion to be joyful. Allow them to be free in the company of other children and joyful activity will soon appear. I remember when I was four or five years old, and was out on the street with several other children as it began to snow heavily. We were excited and we began to dance around a light pole chanting, Its snowing, its snowing, a little boy is growing. I have always remembered the joy I felt on that occasion. Children often feel a sense of joy when they receive a gift of a much-desired object, which leads them to jump and squeal with delight. Adults are more restrained than children in their expression of all feelings, which limits the intensity of their good feelings. In addition, they are burdened by cares and responsibilities and beset by guilt, which dampens their excitement so that joy is rarely experienced.