Wow, what a great group we had last night at the Bioenergetic Bodywork Group Session. We had some people who had been at the group before, quite a few new people, and some folks with other connections to bio and to bodywork.
I really felt like dancing when we were finished…. The movements were great, we moved a lot of energy (you can tell by the heat and the sound!) and I was very relaxed and also energized by the experience.
Doing this kind of work within a group provides unique opportunities. For example, the movement and sounds may bring up feelings, thoughts, or images. You are invited to just stay with your own inner experience. Doing that in the presence of other people may be new for you. If, for example, you have a pattern of worrying about what other people think, or feeling responsible for other people, you might struggle to be yourself in a typical group. In a bioenergetic group, however, you can just be with yourself, notice any orientation you may have toward other people, but continue to practice being YOU even when there are other people there.
I remember in my early group exercise experiences, I was perpetually looking at the other participants and trying to measure my performance against theirs. Part of me NEVER wanted to be the first to drop out of the bow. I wanted to be the very LAST person to stop sounding, the very strongest, the most stoic. It took awhile to see how that pattern – working as hard as I could, hoping that I would be noticed and seen as a Good Girl – is one that I was also playing out in my life outside. When that became clear, then I was free to start to make changes.
The group exercise moves through a predictable sequence. We connect to the ground, we charge up the body to increase the energy flow, we do some exercises to discharge the energy, and then we move back to a quieter experience after we have opened up some blocks and eased some tensions. But the bioenergetic part of it is about taking the time in the process to reflect, and about staying open to the thoughts, images, feelings, and sensations that arise. This is a way of making the unconscious conscious, and that’s what we are after.
A Body Psychotherapist's Journal 