About the Project

   Embodying Change Through Authentic Movement is an MFA thesis project about the change one encounters when dancing between the conscious and the unconscious space. Allowing the soma (the living body) to speak brings renewal and refreshment to the being (Whitehouse, 1980). A more strongly established relationship to the body increases perceptivity, proprioception, kinaesthetic awareness and...

Origins of Authentic Movement

Mary Starks Whitehouse (1911-1979) was a contemporary dancer taught by pioneers Martha Graham and Mary Wigman (Whitehouse, 1980). Experiencing powerful emotional occurrences while dancing or observing others dance made Whitehouse want to deepen her practice which led her to pursue a training in CG Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland (Whitehouse, 1979). Becoming a psychotherapist, she was able...

What Is Authentic Movement

"We come together in pairs or groups to practice Authentic Movement. We come together to find out what is already within us, waiting for us. We come knowing we don’t know what we will do, what we will find. We come for refreshment, revelation, rest, recuperation. We come for open time, unprogrammed time, in our bodies and in our inner worlds – the unconscious, the imagination, the soul, the...

Embodying Change Through Authentic Movement

Authentic movement is that process of self-exploration which allows you to be anchored in your center while experiencing internal sensations (Pollaro, 2007). It comes from deep felt sense of permitting the energy to flow with or without knowing what it represents. Allowing to be moved by an inner impulse seeking freedom through expression, movement provides with wings, freedom and openness. It...

My Approach to Authentic Movement Sessions

A session usually begins with a small talk for setting the intention followed by a body scan. The participant's experiences are allowed to lead. Throughout that time, I keep in touch with my own physical and emotional state, which informs me intuitively where the other person is, which direction we should follow, and how I personally experience in relation to them (Chodorow, 2004). They act as an...

Soma, Psyche and Emotion

A couple of years ago, amidst completing my BA dissertation (A Psychoanalytical Discussion on the Indivisibility between A Dancing Soma (Body) and Its Psyche Explored through Osho Rebalancing Therapy, 2019), I realized that soma and psyche are not only indivisible, but they are also two opposites of the same whole. The revelation established the beginning of my love for somatic exploration,...

The Witness as the “Self”

"Because of the depth analysis, I came to see and feel C. G. Jung’s distinction between the many aspects of a human being, without his forgetting for a moment the wholeness of each one. It is a wholeness consisting of totality, completeness. Most people say, “self” using the small letter “s” to mean the ego, the individual, the personality. The world of self is the world of Me and its...

Embodying Emotion (Anger): Personal Practice

In a process of AM I often encounter the fear of starting to move. Thoughts such as “what do I feel”, “is this the right thing I need to do”, “is this an impulse from within?”, “should I start now?”, “how do I start?” completely impede the flow of energy. Constant doubting as to what is right or wrong, how something is made, who is watching, can I let go, how much should I let...

Embodying Emotion (Anger): Session

In one of the sessions, a participant had a similar experience where her controlling, but also fearful mind was afraid to let go. Finding AM as a new somatic approach, she felt self-conscious and uncertain. Unable to relax and trust her soma, she shared the control is within her neck. Her experience really moved me reminding me of my control as a representation of the inner child. From my...

Accessing Control: Personal Practice

A witness is staying present for me. In my mind I feel anxious, frustrated, uneasy. I am aware someone is observing me as if they want me to do something. I do not know what I should be doing. I feel out of place. Constantly seeing myself through the witness’s eyes, I am outside of my body. Unable to stay still and simply experience. Frustrated with myself I acknowledge I am angry with myself....

Accessing Control: Session

A participant reminded me a lot of my controlling self. He is a young man from Love & Shakti Centre whom I have known for years. After moving into space, he shared he felt intense sadness in his heart. Later he described: "It feels like a part of me wants to break down and cry while the other one cannot let go of the control. Feels like two parts. The right (the masculine side) one wants to...

The Passive-Aggressive Hurt Self: Personal Practice

This AM practice concerns a situation in which I encountered a wall of impossibilities in the process of completing my thesis. My ego-mind wanted something to be completed in a certain way, and its fear it won’t occur generated anxiety and discontent within my soma. The following text describes my experience: My rational mind wants everything to happen immediately, creating distress in the...

The Passive-Aggressive Hurt Self: Session

This is a participant whom I have known all my life and with whom I have had weekly sessions since the end of 2020. This practice focused on her sensations of lack of self-worth in her workspace. It describes the fear of failure, which is rooted in childhood trauma. It shows how a vulnerable child can start seeking revenge or becoming a victim (Kalsched, 2015).  The session began with a...

A Stressed Psyche and its Soma: Personal Practice

Approaching the end of my thesis, my stress levels reach a peak. My stomach is aching, I had not eaten properly in days, and I can barely feel my belly. It is entirely numb, or rather I am too numb to sense it. It is like a highly concentrated charged ball of energy. Adrenaline and cortisol (stress hormone) provide me with the energy to continue. This has to stop. I need to come back to my...

A Stressed Psyche Needs its Soma: Session

One particular participant reminded me why the connection to the soma is so significantly important to me, especially in stressful situations. This woman had just moved to e different country to start a job. She was dealing with numerous documentation processes concerning her residence in the country, other organizations, and training for a new position at work which made her feel anxious and...

References

Chodorow, Joan (2004). Dance Therapy & Depth Psychology. The Moving Imagination. Brunner-Routledge: Ney York. Eddy, Martha (2016), Mindful Movement: The Evolution of the Somatic Arts. USA: University of Chicago Press Edinger, Edward F. (1992) Ego and Archetype: Individuation: Individuation and the religious Function of the Psyche. London: Shambhala. Franz, Marie-Louise von (1997) Archetypal...