2-2-5 Body and Spirituality – A Love Affair / Körper und Spiritualität
Volume 2 Part 2: Bioenergetic Analysis in the Postmodern Age Chapter 2.5

Body and Spirituality – A Love Affair

This essay describes how spirituality is embodied in a psychodynamic Bioenergetic Analysis. First, the author shows that Bioenergetic Analysis in its modern form is a psychodynamic relational process. Subsequently, the spirituality of the body according to Alexander Lowen is examined with regard to implicit statements on psychodynamics and relationship. In a separate section, the author explains her own approach to body-oriented pastoral care and the spiritual relationship embodied in it. A case study is used to illustrate how body and spirituality are expressed in an intense relationship with a dying woman. The essay concludes with a description of the spirituality inherent in love and sexuality. Three guided meditations round off the essay.

Link to the original publication at Routledge

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  • Life is a relationship – and Bioenergetic Analysis is psychodynamic and relationship-oriented. Both the human body and spirituality can only unfold in relationships.
  • The wholeness of the human being can be seen as a relational process in which the bodily, emotional and mental aspects of being human are mutually dependent and influence each other.
  • Psychodynamic-intersubjective body-psychotherapy should not only focus on the bodily, emotional and mental levels of the person, but also take into account the transpersonal level .
  • For Lowen, the body itself has an inherent spirituality. He is concerned with restoring the natural harmony of the human being. When body and mind are separated, spirituality atrophies into a purely intellectual matter.
  • Spirituality is rooted in a person’s feeling of being in contact with a force that is greater than themselves. For Lowen, there is therefore a direct link to the early mother-child relationship and to basic trust.
  • Grounding is a basic prerequisite for spirituality. A spirituality without grounding degenerates into a lifeless abstraction.
  • The root of spirituality lies within (the body). On the way there, people need spiritual nourishment in the form of faithful trust, i.e., a healing, open attitude towards (divine) love.
  • For Lowen, there is a direct connection between sexuality and spirituality. When sexual partners make intimate love, it is not only a sexual act (located in the pelvis), but also a spiritual act (located in the heart).
  • Human beings can only become one with the divine through surrendering their ego. We experience this devotion most sustainably in the act of love.
  • Body-oriented pastoral care is a psychodynamic method that once again explicitly declares the body to be the object of perception and processing in pastoral care – with explicit consideration of all intrapsychic, intersubjective and interpersonal (relationship) aspects.

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