The symbols of the self arise in the depths of
the body. --C. G. Jung
Our moving bodies have stories to tell. --Suzi
Tortora, Ed.D., Dance-Movement Therapist
The
Healing Power of Dance
We
know that
people have danced to heal themselves and to connect with the
sacred since earliest human history. When given safety and permission, the body moves in natural rhythms and unwinds in patterns
of wholeness. This is our birthright as humans, yet we have forgotten that dance and movement are one of the most powerful
healing forces available to us. This doesn't necessarily mean dance or movement as performance, but rather dance and movement
as self expression for what is living in us now—whether known or unknown. Jung records that some of his patients used
dance to embody their dreams and to engage in active imagination.
Dance-Movement
Therapy
The American Dance
Therapy Association defines dance-movement therapy as the psychotherapeutic use of movement to further the emotional,
mental, social, physical and spiritual integration of an individual or group. There are many ways dance and movement can be
used to accomplish this goal and one of these ways is Authentic Movement, which is a main focus of my practice because it
allows for the conscious connection between our embodied self and the unconscious.
Carl Jung says of the
psyche-body connection:
The
distinction between mind and body is an artificial one... In fact, so intimate is the intermingling of bodily and psychic
traits that not only can we draw far-reaching inferences as to the constitution of the psyche from the constitution of the
body, but we can also infer from psychic peculiarities the corresponding bodily characteristics. (CW 6, para. 916)
The
body means as little to us without the psyche as the [psyche] without the body. (CW 6, para. 918)
[The]
whole psychic organism corresponds exactly to the body, which, though individually varied, is in all essential features the
specifically human body which all [people] have. (CW 8, para. 322)
Since psyche and matter [body] are contained
in one and the same world, and moreover are in continuous contact with one another and ultimately rest on irrepresentable,
transcendental factors, it is not only possible but fairly probable, even, that psyche and matter [body] are two different
aspects of one and the same thing. (CW 8, para. 418)
Jung encouraged those he worked with to access
and interact actively with the contents of their bodies and fantasy life through art, dance, and other modalities as a way
to make the contents of the unconscious conscious - and therefore useful and relevant to one's transformation. Referring
to this process, he said:
I was able to recognize that in this method
I was witnessing the spontaneous manifestation of an unconscious process...to which I later gave the name "individuation process"...In
many cases, this brought a large measure of therapeutic success, which encouraged both myself and the patient. (CW 8,
para. 400)
Authentic Movement - One
path of Dance-Movement Therapy
Authentic
Movement, as it is now called, is an embodied awareness practice developed in the mid-twentieth century by Mary Starks Whitehouse,
a dancer and avid student and teacher of Jungian psychology. Mary focused on using dance and body movement as the medium of
the active imagination process referred to by Jung, above. She initially called her work the tao of the body (Whitehouse,
1958) and movement in depth (Whitehouse, 1972).
The ground
form of Authentic Movement takes place between and within two people, who are identified as the mover and the witness. In the following paragraphs, I will briefly
explain these roles and the basic elements of this practice.
Authentic
Movement takes place in a free and protected space (temenos), which is cleared
of all obstacles. Here, in this safe movement space, the mover closes her eyes
and focuses inwardly, holding what Jung described as “the good attitude” toward her body and psyche. She
is listening, opening as fully as she can to her present experience, including all sensations, thoughts, images, emotions,
dreams, energies, and symptoms. She opens to the entire range of experience as she can know it in her body at this moment,
with interest and friendliness. She waits for an inner impulse or interest to arise, which she then follows into actual movement
(posture and gesture). This may lead her into any degree, combination of, or cycling through of movement, stillness, sound,
or silence. The mover is free to choose how she will be in relationship to what arises - perhaps following it, perhaps engaging
with it in active imagination, or perhaps surrendering to it. During the movement, it is the mover’s intention to practice
conscious awareness while simultaneously opening to, choosing, and surrendering to what happens in and through her body; she
is both “moving and being moved” (Whitehouse, 1958), exploring the exquisite balance between will and surrender
in direct relationship with her body and psyche.
During
this movement process, the witness sits to the side of the temenos space with her eyes open and tracks what she can see and
know of the mover, as well as her own internal experience; she is witnessing the
mover as well as herself. Like the mover, the witness practices conscious awareness of her own experience, including thoughts,
images, feelings, sensations, and anything else that may arise in the course of witnessing the mover. Like the mover, she
tries to hold the “good attitude” toward all that arises in the shared field. It may be apparent that, in many
ways, the mover and the witness are participating in the same practice, except that the mover actively engages her experience
through movement and expression, while
the witness actively engages her experience within the framework of stillness and
containment.
At the
end of a mutually agreed-upon time, which has been arranged together before the movement starts, the witness signals to the
mover (by speaking the mover’s name or by sounding a bell) that it is time to bring her movement experience to a close.
The mover gradually does so, opens her eyes, and joins the witness.At this point
in the practice, the mover and witness may speak together about their experience, art materials may be used to express or
record some aspect of the experience, journal writing may be engaged in, or some combination of the above may occur. The intention
here is to capture what has been gleaned from the unconscious (personal or transpersonal) and to ground it in memory and daily
life.There are variations on this ground form, which, for example, would be
somewhat different if the mover/witness dyad is engaged in a psychotherapeutic relationship, or if Authentic Movement is being
done as a group practice.
The
images below illustrate aspects of the Authentic Movement experience.
Important to remember is that the movement happening in the body
is not "put on like a coat or a hat" (Whitehouse), nor is it meant to be a performance. It is a simple opening to
what is, and then a following of what is living in the body at the present moment into movement. Authentic
Movement offers the possibility of an awake experiencing of one's self in one's body and the holding of one's
self in this experience without judgment.
Here is a brief exerpt from Janet Adler's 1990 film
Still Looking about the practice of Authentic Movement:
Through the practice of
Authentic Movement, dreams can be processed, body symptoms can be listened to and danced, transpersonal
healing energy may be received, personal history stored in the body can
be witnessed and lovingly held, and the sacred may be embodied through direct experience. The practice of Authentic
Movement also fosters a respectful listening to the many voices of one's self and others through
the cultivation of witness presence in the body - strengthening and deepening
one's capacity to hold and transform all experiences of Life with compassion and mindfulness.
Although
the practice of Authentic Movement grew directly out of Jungian depth psychology, it also shares deep roots with dance, the
healing tradition of shamanism, mindfulness practice, and compassionate communication - spanning many disciplines and offering
numerous applications.
In the arts Authentic Movement is used by artists, actors, writers,
and dancers to inform, expand, and vitalize their creative process.
In psychological and emotional work Authentic Movement provides
a direct link to the unconscious - including the archetypes, dreams, and personal history stored in the body - giving form
to that which words can’t access, but which must be known.
As spiritual practice Authentic Movement offers the possibility
of a direct, embodied experience of the numinous, as mystical posture and gesture unfold from deepest Source.
In physical healing Authentic Movement creates a space where
deep listening to and moving with body symptoms can lead to insight and information, generating meaningful action toward wholeness.
In the tradition of compassionate communication Authentic Movement
offers a respectful and non-blaming template for speaking from embodied experience. Because Authentic Movement takes
place in a context of relationship - between a mover and a witness - it offers the opportunity both to be and to see one’s
self more clearly in the presence of another - a Thou.
Ultimately, the practice
of Authentic Movement is about creating, strengthening, and enlarging one's capacity, impeccability and compassion -
with self, toward others, and within the larger community - as we aspire toward the wholeness of
embodied presence.
When
we take ourselves seriously,
we
accept the responsibility
of
knowing and loving our body.
(from "Coming
Home to Myself" by Marion Woodman and Jill Mellick, Conari Press, 2001)
