Our body is constantly talking to us. You can hear and decipher its signals with the help of body-oriented psychotherapy. Practitioners talk about their working methods and how body language helps to solve our internal problems.
“Take care of your body so that your soul wants to dwell in it,” says a Chinese proverb. It is difficult to live if our body is constantly tense or constrained due to stress or negative emotions. Physical ailments, illnesses are sometimes the only manifestation of our negative feelings and experiences. If we are afraid, do not know how or do not have the opportunity to express our fears and anxieties in words, they begin to speak body language, which we often cannot understand on our own.
The psychotherapist takes on the role of translator from the body language. There are many techniques that allow us to understand the problem that worries us through work with the body. We asked four psychotherapists about how they decipher our body signals.
1. Recover
Psychologies: What body signals do you pay attention to?
Nifont Dolgopolov: I observe how during our conversation the client’s facial expression and posture change, what happens to his breathing … I am interested in body movements that reinforce the meaning of words or, on the contrary, contradict it. Sometimes, when visual observation is not enough, I take the client’s hand or touch his back in order to feel for myself what is happening with his body.
How do you interpret these signals?
I analyze the connection of movements with how the client describes the problem, and above all with what he feels at that moment. At the same time, I ask if he is aware that these movements are associated with emotions, memories. I also find out what meaning this or that bodily signal has for him.
What can the information obtained be used for?
Observations of the processes occurring with the body teach the client to better understand the connection between them and his psychological problems. This is often enough to restore mental self-regulation.
2. Be liberated
Psychologies: What body signals do you pay attention to?
Alexander Girshon: First of all, how a person moves, what strategies he uses while dancing. But equally important is what he or she is not doing at that moment. I observe what dominates and what is little used in movement, as well as how a person interacts with space.
How do you interpret these signals?
I always look for interpretation together with the client. Sometimes we find something important by detecting and examining little conscious movements. For example, incompleteness: a person begins to move vigorously and suddenly stops because he is not sure that he is acting correctly. But you could “stay” with this movement a little longer, listen to yourself, understand where to move on. But in any case, we need time to track the essential, not momentary tendencies that the body in motion speaks of.
What can the information obtained be used for?
Firstly, you can work in the “middle way” strategy: if some feature of the movement prevails, weaken it and, conversely, develop what is missing.
The second way is the strategy of “conscious evolution”: there is a certain sequence in the development of the movement, and we find the missing links, try to understand why they fell out, what problem this may be associated with, and then we compensate for them. And the third option is the “creativity” strategy, when I invite a person to dance what bothers him.
3. Relieve stress
Psychologies: What body signals do you pay attention to?
Victoria Berezkina-Orlova: On the peculiarities of the voice, on how the rhythm of breathing changes, the color of the skin … I am also attentive to sudden changes: the client’s breathing may become more frequent, his cheeks may turn red. But I also watch my own body. It helps me get a better feel for the person.
How do you interpret these signals?
They are only preliminary information for further work. For example, a strong tension in the back of the neck may indicate a mismatch between thoughts and actions. But this is just a hypothesis, which I then test.
What can the information obtained be used for?
I can talk about what I see, ask a question so that the client pays attention to his body. And sometimes I tell my clients about how their body works, about what modern science knows, sometimes it helps a lot to understand yourself. If, for example, someone has experienced an attack, they may feel like they are going crazy, so it is helpful to explain how the autonomic nervous system works when experiencing stress. The person calms down and can move on.
I am ready to explain, to do exercises with him, because I am sure: only by listening to ourselves, trusting our body, we can truly understand ourselves, make our life more harmonious.
4. Turn on the unconscious
Psychologies: What body signals do you pay attention to?
Mark Sandomiersky: For me, both external and internal signals of the body are important. External ones, those that I observe during communication with the client, are changes in posture, breathing rhythm, facial expressions and gestures that are not controlled by consciousness. They indicate that at the moment of their appearance something important happens to the client. And internal signals are bodily sensations that are associated with various emotions (for example, a lump in the throat often appears when remembering an insult).
How do you interpret the received signals?
I try to understand how these bodily manifestations are connected with painful problems or experiences of the client.
What can the information obtained be used for?
I discuss these bodily signals with the patient — and we are looking for an answer to the question of what his unconscious is saying with the help of the body. For example, a person may be bothered by constant headaches, and I help him understand what this pain means to him. By listening to oneself, a person can discover many clues (an unexpected image, a new bodily sensation, a random word) that will become the key to understanding.
For example, during a conversation, a client might say, «I need to rest.» Then it becomes clear that the headache occurs in moments of fatigue, overload and pushes him to a break.