The Theory of Gentle Bio-Energetics

Gentle Bio‑Energetics involves working with all aspects of the individual , spiritual cognitive, physical, emotional.  It is not just a body‑type therapy. However, there are special areas that the therapy addresses where the memory is carried in our bodies including pre-verbal trauma, unconscious states, and trance states. The traumatic or even joyous experiences of these times may have been repressed or lost to us because of the pain or the lack of permission from others. Now from within ourselves we continue the repression stopping the experiencing of the fullness in life. Through the gentle process of touching we will be enabled to get back to the earliest and deepest memories stored in the cells and body tissues. As a body therapy it focuses on the traumas and their memories carried in the body in such a way as to cause both; emotional and physical ill health or disease‑ease that affects the totality of our lives.

The theory of Gentle Bio-Energetics is very simple and can be taught in two to three hour lectures. However, one should not equate its simplicity with lack of profoundness as the theory can be amplified in many ways and the art of applying the theory is a lifetime endeavor. In summary the theory is that at our center or core is a life energy that pulsates, expanding and contracting, a characteristic of all living things.  We experience this life energy through the flow of emotions and sensations. Emotion is not an idea but an expression of energy, something moves.  Also from our core arises our need to love and be loved. However, from conception to the present we experience traumas that affect the flow of our life energy. As a result of the trauma, we make decisions to protect ourselves by building armor.  The armor is for the purpose of surviving but unfortunately also shuts down the flow of our life energy. Armoring can be in the form of verbal defenses, bodily defenses, or energy field defenses. Its purpose is to prevent the experience from happening again or if it does to avoid experiencing the pain. However, this decision to armor ourselves prevents us from experiencing the full joy of life now. The movement from the flow of life energy to trauma to armoring is a developmental process.

The goal of Gentle Bio-Energetics education and therapy is to enable individuals to restore the flow of life energy. Eva Reich often refers to the phrase "glow and flow" meaning that the life energy glowing in the center of our being is free to flow expanding beyond our being to out field. Glow refers to the field around. Part of the process of therapy is learning how the armor we have developed stops that flow. The process then involves melting the armor by gentle techniques such as touching, experiencing the emotions, healing the memories, and integrating the work into our present life experiences.

"Gentle" in Gentle Bio-Energetics came from Eva's life experience as a physician and observation of her father's work with children and infants. She recalled seeing his gentle touch with them and the resulting expansion of their energy. Eva learned in her own experience while working with premature babies in Harlem Hospital in New York the importance of a light delicate touch to restore the flow of life energy, even keeping dying babies alive from hypostatic pneumonia. She called it Butterfly Touch Therapy. She later found that the baby structure is inside all of us and that the Butterfly Touch Therapy can heal the memories of primal trauma. This level of touch used to melt armor rather than break it down is in stark contrast to some of the forceful even violent Reichian/neoReichian or other body therapies.

Gentle Bio-Energetics is like an umbrella under which can be many healing and educational options provided they accept the basic principles of Gentle Bio-Energetics, honor self regulation, and are gentle in the process. Note that the therapist and client share equal roles. There is an element of education as well as therapy.

The aim of Gentle Bio-Energetics is to restore the natural flow of life energy by:  [1] applying techniques immediately when a trauma happens to avoid having to do therapy many years later; or [2] helping individuals sometime later recover and heal memories of trauma held in the body for years.

Life Energy
At our center, our core, is life energy. It pulsates, expanding and contracting -- a normal, healthy characteristic of all living things. We experience the flow of our life energy through our emotions and sensations. Joy and anger are experiences of expansion, while sadness, fear, and pain are experiences of contraction. When we give a receive love, we experience core energy pulsation.

Trauma
From Conception on, we experience traumas that may modify our life energy flow. Examples of traumas include: problems at conception, in the womb, or at birth (parents' emotional experiences during the pregnancy, drug abuse by parents, difficult birth, anesthesia, caesarean birth, separation from mother after birth), Sexual, physical, emotional, or spiritual abuse; operations, illness, and injury; drug or alcohol abuse; deaths and other grief situations.

Armor
As a result of experiencing trauma, an individual might develop armor, to prevent painful events or emotions from recurring. Armor is the sum of all the ways we protect ourselves in life. When we were children, we sometimes instinctively decided to armor in order to survive. However, the armor also inhibits the flow of life energy. Armor and trauma are connected, and the memory of trauma is maintained in the body. Armor may manifest itself in repetitive life patterns, ill health, painful or tight muscles, lack of life energy, or emotional distress. Some traumas, such as surgeries later in life, do not result in armor but may still shut down energetic flow.

For further information on the theory of Gentle Bio-Energetics, please contact the Institute.