Body-mind centering® is a somatic therapeutic method that integrates touch, movement, breathing, voice, and thought. It is based on the principles of the body-mind connection and involves studying body systems, developmental movement, movement re-education, and expression through movement. The modality is used in various fields and aims to facilitate movement rehabilitation and improve physical and emotional balance.
Body-mind centering® is a somatic therapeutic method of bodywork focused on creating awareness and integrating touch, movement, breathing, voice and thought. Developed by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, dancer, occupational and neurodevelopmental therapist, body-mind centering® is culminated in years of study of yoga, Laban movement analysis and the Japanese method of katsugen undo. Ms. Cohen has also worked extensively with children who have suffered traumatic brain injury to facilitate movement rehabilitation. In the early 1970s, she opened the School for Body-Mind Centering® in Amherst, Massachusetts to train others in her techniques. Today this modality is used in physical and occupational therapy, psychotherapy, athletics, and has many other applications.
Body-mind centering® is based on two primary principles that embrace the theory of the body-mind connection. First, he argues that the mind is central to the functioning of the body as opposed to being isolated from it. Second, the mind can be explored and communicated with the body. Additionally, body-mind centering® involves four areas of focus: body systems, developmental movement, movement re-education (or remodeling), and expression through movement.
The first step in practicing body-mind centering® is to study the systems of the body, including the skin, skeletal, nervous, muscular and endocrine systems. The tissues and cells that make up each body system are explored through a process called incarnation. First, the fabric is studied through lessons and texts and then remembered through images. The next step is somatization, which involves conscious movement to reveal the “mood” of the tissue.
The therapeutic aspect of body-mind centering® comes into play when concentration is centered on the tissues and cells of a specific body system to effect movement within that system. This is accomplished by paying attention to the occurring thought and inclination to move as concentration is applied to the area. The practitioner facilitates this process by guiding the subject individually or in groups.
Studying developmental movement involves recognizing learned movement patterns and developing subsequent patterns. This forms the three “Rs” of movement: reflexes, righting reactions, and balance responses. Combined, these patterns contribute to the underlying neurological patterns, from which cognitive thinking and physical and emotional balance arise. Incorrect or partial development of any of the basic neurological patterns is thought to result in impaired perception or thought movement.
Movement retraining, or touch and reshaping, aims to identify and elevate the vibrational frequency and resonance of tissue by directing attention to that specific area. The premise is to stimulate tissue through entrainment of vibrations, in much the same way that an orchestra tunes the vibration of a tuning fork. Using this entrainment principle, movement and mental connectedness in tissues and cells become less stressed and available for reconditioning.
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